Silence and sexual desire

Christopher Page tells me he gets much more traffic when he writes about homosexuality rather than Boblical Studies or his own profession as pastor. Well, I'm not so sure I want to try, but a Marginalia review of Diarmaid MacCulloch's Silence, A Christian History, reviewed by Sarah Coakley is hard to pass by.

The driving argument, or so it seems at the start of the book, is that the Church’s underlying instinct for silencing truth about sexual desire — or, more specifically, about outlawed homoeroticism — is somehow the underlying impetus for the other forms of (mandated) silence that the Bible and tradition have thrown up along the way.

But O dear, this excellent author, moved, I expect, by his own powerful inner impulse, to the extensive work he has done, is also unable to resolve this problem? So it seems from Coakley's comments at the beginning of this extensive review. And she is quite correct to point out MacCulloch's failure to explore some aspects of Biblical silence:

Oddly, he does not muse on the embracing of desert loneliness by various biblical figures (supremely Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus himself), or on the commendation of judicious or awed silence to be found scattered at points through the psalms, the prophets or the wisdom literature.

Yet, at the end of the review, she comes close to justifying what seems to be an essentially confused and incomplete book.

silent devotion is precisely the condition under which an unspeakable God may disclose the secrets of the heart and give joyful voice to the politically voiceless and the sexually marginalized. So which is it, and how would we tell the difference? That is the spiritual and moral dilemma that this fascinating book most frustratingly never solves.

I find it strange that MacCulloch would somehow fail here. He is a clear and comprehensive writer, but sexuality is never a topic that can be addressed head-on by anyone. What a dilemma! Perhaps silence is vital, but there is some truth in the cultic noise of history. Lewis gets to it in The Great Divorce, and he succeeds only through the death of the cultic object. The image could well go unnoticed. The Psalms get to it. You would expect me to say that. The Scripture is supportive in all ways, but there are so many pieces of advice that it is hard to pick out the salient ones. The New Testament is much more explicit, but again you might miss it.

Perhaps it will not surprise you, that a lesser writer who spent his life running just a step ahead of many fears, ran nevertheless into a story (Seen from the Street edited by Ravinder Ozha) that could illuminate this dark place and 'explain' why circumcision is the sign of the covenant. And to boot, give hope to the marginalized and rebuke to the normal, who think themselves without need of deliverance from normality.

Perhaps a psalm of the anointed is appropriate as a conclusion: (from Psalm 17)

קוּמָה יְהוָה קַדְּמָה פָנָיו הַכְרִיעֵהוּ פַּלְּטָה נַפְשִׁי מֵרָשָׁע חַרְבֶּךָ	13	Arise יהוה confront to its face make it bow down Secure me from the wicked, your sword
מִמְתִים יָדְךָ יְהוָה מִמְתִים מֵחֶלֶד חֶלְקָם בַּחַיִּים וּצְפוּנְךָ תְּמַלֵּא בִטְנָם יִשְׂבְּעוּ בָנִים וְהִנִּיחוּ יִתְרָם לְעוֹלְלֵיהֶם	14	from men, your hand, יהוה from men, from transience, their share in their lives whose bellies you fill with your treasure Let them be satisfied with children and leave their surplus to their progeny
אֲנִי בְּצֶדֶק אֶחֱזֶה פָנֶיךָ אֶשְׂבְּעָה בְהָקִיץ תְּמוּנָתֶךָ	15	I in righteousness will gaze on your face I will be satisfied to awaken in your similitude

But the most obvious lack of silence on this subject is Psalm 139.

לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר יְהוָה חֲקַרְתַּנִי וַתֵּדָע	1	For the leader Of David, a psalm יהוה you have examined me and you know
אַתָּה יָדַעְת שִׁבְתִּי וְקוּמִי בַּנְתָּה לְרֵעִי מֵרָחוֹק	2	You yourself know my sitting and my arising you understand my thought from afar
אָרְחִי וְרִבְעִי זֵרִיתָ וְכָל דְּרָכַי הִסְכַּנְתָּה	3	my path and my lying down and stretching out you sift and all my ways you cherish
כִּי אֵין מִלָּה בִּלְשׁוֹנִי הֵן יְהוָה יָדַעְת כֻלָּהּ	4	For there is not a speech on my tongue but יהוה knows all of it
אָחוֹר וָקֶדֶם צַרְתָּנִי וַתָּשֶׁת עָלַי כַּפֶּכָה	5	rearguard and advance you fortify me and you lay on me your palm
פְּלִיאָה דַעַת מִמֶּנִּי נִשְׂגְּבָה לֹא אוּכַל לָהּ	6	Wonderful - knowledge beyond me I am set on high - I cannot accomplish it

But no psalm can be known solely as 'explanation'. Explanation is not knowledge. It is second-hand. First hand knowledge comes direct from the source through the experience of presence (thinking back to Qohelet chapter 8).