Tag: book

Another second-hand religious text. 

With The Divine Retreat Master, by J Schrijvers, translated by a Kansas bishop named E.V. O’Hara and first published in 1939. It’s essentially a week-and-a-half-long pep talk to ambivalent priests, written in the first person, from the perspective of Jesus. Himself. 

The table of contents makes it sound like a very stressful and emotional ten days. 

“…an ocean of bodily suffering inundated my being. My flesh was torn by the iron scourges, my head tortured by the thorns, my hands and feet pierced with nails, my shoulders mangled by the heavy Cross, my knees bleeding from repeated falls, my bones disjointed, my muscles loosened, my tongue parched by a cruel thirst. The executioners tortured me and the Justice of my Father did not restrain their blows. 

My body was like a mysterious harp marvellously delicate and sensitively attuned to pain. And because I was bruised for the sins of man, every fibre responded with a groan, and these vibrations, veritable waves of pain, course and recoursed through all my being, sending their tides even to the shores of infinity…”

It was written by one “Judge” J.F. Rutherford, and published in 1937 by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Brooklyn, NY. 

Cover:

The Judge’s thought processes are somewhat elusive, but as far as I can make out, he seeks to dissociate faith in the Christian god from “religion” generally, which he classes as a form of politics. He defines religion as

“the product of the devil, employed specifically to deceive the people and to turn them away from Jehovah…”

He identifies the violence of the 20th Century as a product of an ill-defined fear that Jesus prophesied would one day sweep the earth. Judge apparently holds this Fear responsible for a dazzling variety of societal ills ranging from Nazism and “pestilences” to “sit-down strikes and other senseless labor disturbances”. 

To help you cope with your crippling fear, Judge means to identify and expose your spiritual Enemies. (They’re everywhere.) 

The Enemy, by the way, is the Religionist.

The illustrations are illuminating. 

Above, Eve in the Garden of Eden, being tempted by the Serpent, here seen taking the form of a sassy Komodo dragon. 

Cain having slain an adorably pudgy Abel, apparently with a baseball bat. Note Lucifer’s disembodied head floating at a jaunty angle over Cain’s shoulder. 

It’s implied that this rather fey gentleman above is meant to be Nimrod, descendant of Noah, although it’s by no means obvious from the text. (The good Judge describes Nimrod as “ambitious, warlike and bloodthirsty, and reveled in wicked deeds”. Whereas this fellow and his entourage seem to be revelling in his off-the-shoulder toga and well-groomed moustache.)

The text offers no context or explanation for this image. I can only assume that’s John the Baptist’s head in the bucket, ruefully eyeing Salome’s nipple as she performs a victorious lap-danse macabre for Herod. Yon corpse remains a mystery, unless it’s just some naked courtier with an over-developed sense of theatre, swooning at the whole grotesque spectacle. 

You weren’t there, but this is what the Inquisition was like. 

Just to reiterate, this is not an atheist tract. This is a religious text that happens to rely on an eccentric definition of religion. 

To clarify:

If you’re still a little confused, let Judge Rutherford’s further teachings enlighten you.