Guns, Germs, Steel, and God
Posted on | May 29, 2009 | No Comments
PBS has recently aired a documentary on Jared Diamond’s book and thesis that “guns, germs, and steel” are the driving forces of history as we know it. In his episode on European invasions of Africa, he highlights the Battle of Blood River, complete with scenes from the historic location and its recreated (in bronze) wagons. The point of the episode: the guns won the day. I was immediately thrown back to the interchange in Red Clay, Blood River between Fortius Lieberman and Karel Landman after the battle:
“Guns. It was our guns. And the weather. Clear sun. It kept the powder dry. We were lucky.”
“No, Fortius, God. God gave us the victory. The land is ours now. They will never recover.”
“Nor will we, Karel. Nor will we.”
What is missing from Diamond’s account is, of course, the complex cultural and religious dynamics contained in “God.” Attendant to conceptions of ultimate order and justice contained in that term are also basic visions of how to order human societies and relationships. Surely these less tangible dimensions of human action were present as well.
In our own time, diverging and often distorted conceptions of “God” legitimate governments, armies, and terrorist squads, as well as ventures in peace-building and cooperation. To reduce history to metal and technology is to narrow the focus for our understanding and our imaginative alternatives for dealing with the ecological and political challenges we face.
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William J. Everett
In my teaching career I authored eight books and numerous articles in social ethics and religion. After over thirty years of academic work — in Germany, India, and South Africa as well as in the United States — I wanted to turn my hand to a poetically written novel to probe the issues of ecological and human reconciliation.
When I am not writing, I create furniture for worship settings. For more about my work, go to www.WisdomsTable.net, where you will also find galleries of artwork by my wife Sylvia, whose ancestors were the original inspiration for Red Clay, Blood River. Click to read my complete bio...
Red Clay Blood River
Red Clay, Blood River is a story told by Earth about two brothers from Germany and an enslaved South African woman whose lives bind together America’s “Trail of Tears” and South Africa’s simultaneous “Great Trek” of 1838. Memories of their journeys through oppression, estrangement and reconciliation reverberate in the lives of three contemporary students brought together by their interests in ecology. Through their often difficult friendship and a surprising discovery they begin to unravel the mystery of their estrangements, struggles, and deep connections to each other and to the earth.
Based on extensive research in the United States, South Africa, and England, this book takes readers through a sweeping saga of love and conflict in the context of emigration, invasion, slavery, and exploitation. Through its stories we are invited to see our fractured human history from within the sensibilities of an earth that seeks the flourishing of all creatures and transcends their deaths within its life.
I welcome you to read Excerpts from Red Clay Blood River.
You can also view some Reader's Responses to the book.
If you are already reading Red Clay, Blood River, check out the Reader's Guide and Glossary of Names.
If you are in a Book Club, go to the Guide for Discussion Groups.
If you want to know more about people who helped me in writing this book check out the People Present at the Creation.