Andy Angel, Playing with Dragons: Living with Suffering and God (Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press, 2014), xviii+120 Pps., $33.00.
Andy Angel is an Anglican priest and the Vice Principal of St John’s College, Nottingham. In this title, Angel takes a refreshing look at the problem of suffering, one which I dare say is novel: through the proverbial lens of dragons. Allow me to explain. Angel recognizes that the language of dragons in the bible is most probably of mythic origin, and he even posits that the biblical writers – or rather, compilers – knew this also (100). However, talk about monsters has a vivid and irreplaceable way of saying things about our lives, and this is what the biblical writers sought to portray. The multi-layered imagery of the ancient myth is perhaps more relevant to our own world than we are ready to acknowledge.
Angel begins the book by noting that when he asked kids, teens, and adults at various and disparate times if they believed in dragons, they all said no. But the did seem to agree the concepts were meaningful; Angel builds on this and avers that people have used this aspect of ancient mythology to express their spirituality, down to the present day. The biblical writers especially employed this imagery of dragons during critical periods of suffering, both individual and corporate. Angel hopes in part that by exploring the biblical concepts of dragons and suffering people in today’s environment might learn how to suffer “better” (xiv). In using the language of dragons, Angel contends, these ancient texts and their authors are playing with both metaphor and myth.
Chapter one gives background information on the notion of myth in the ancient world. In noting how the stories of dragons have abounded in earlier civilizations, Angel notes that the general motif is that the dragon presented some sort of existential threat to society, and the warrior god of record would proverbially swoop in and save the day. Probably the best known of these ancient texts is Enuma Elish, a story deriving from Babylonia. In this chapter Angel also tells of the Hittite myth from what is modern-day Turkey, which concerned the Storm God and the Serpent, and the Ugaritic myth (modern-day Syria), which dates from about 1400 B.C.E. The biblical writers assumed their audience was familiar with these stories, and employed allusions, or even fragments of the various myths that surrounded their culture.
In chapter two, Angel develops both bible studies and non-canonical accounts, noting how the ancient dragon myth was appropriated by these texts. In the 6th century B.C.E., Judah was in exile in Babylon. It was during this time that the first chapters of Genesis were written, as the biblical text shares marked similarities with the Babylonian myth. Notably, in the non-canonical text of 4th Ezra, God neither created the chaos monsters nor totally removed them; rather, the monsters are independent of God before creation, and God does not fully subdue them. This seemingly indicates that part of the ancient tradition was having the same problem that we are today: to what degree can we say God is truly in control of the chaos we see around us?
Chapter three examines different ways of praying through suffering, with particular attention being paid to examples of such in the Psalms. Angel notes that in the ritual act of lament, the Psalmists reconcile the reality of their suffering with their belief in the faithfulness of God. Angel suggests that whereas modern theologians often seek explanations of suffering, their ancient counterparts turned to God in prayer. The fourth chapter explores how the book of Job uses the ancient myth to vent about his lot in life, and it seems to indicate that God does not always appear to win in the battle between him and dragons. But for all of the thundering from storm clouds during the course of the story, God seems, in the end analysis, to approve of Job’s struggles with understanding his ways; indeed, God commends Job instead of his friends. The idea that God might test us through suffering is unappealing but it must be pointed out that the story of Job displays a God who restores the righteous.
Chapter five probes how Matthew transforms this mythic element, in order to express how disciples are expected to display lament with discipline and growth in faith. In two stories – the stilling of the storm and Peter attempting to walk on water – Matthew critically appropriates various Psalms, noting that Jesus hears the cries of his disciples, and answers their prayers. The final chapter is a summation of the argument heretofore, as well as a platform that Angel uses to stipulate some interesting theses. For example, he notes that beauty of spiritualties that he explored is that they are open, free, and creative. Those who “played” with the dragon myth did so with the freedom that allowed them to live out a spirituality that was not only relevant, but also one that helped them to fully enter their own experience (97). The texts that play with dragons hold out hope that one day God will finally conquer all chaos and evil, and we might be wise in appropriating this idea from those writers.
Bradford McCall
Regent University