I'm a geeky academic
I’m a senior lecturer in theology at Exeter University, and the past seven days have been nothing like one of my average weeks as a geeky academic. I’ve been inundated with emails after the coverage of my upcoming television series, The Bible’s Buried Secrets. The fact that I’m an atheist has stirred debate about the role of faith in public discussion.
I’ve no problem with being labelled an atheist and I find it weird that people should find my lack of faith an issue. It’s like suggesting that only Americans should be able to study American literature. I love the Bible and I’m an academic, an expert and a professional. It shouldn’t matter whether I’m an atheist, a Christian, a Buddhist or a Muslim. My belief system doesn’t affect my research or my teaching, so why should it affect my television work? The Bible doesn’t just belong to the Jewish or Christian faith; it belongs to all of us. But, hey, anything that provokes and challenges has got to be a good thing, right?
There is a Mrs God
When I was at Oxford and met students in the pub they would ask me what I was studying. When I told them I was doing a PhD in theology, they would always express an opinion, but first they would ask, “Oh, are you going to be a nun or a vicar?” Theology is an academic discipline like any other; it combines ancient history, ancient culture, politics and society, subjects that I’m passionate about. And no, I wasn’t going to be a nun or a vicar; I was always going to be a lecturer.
I get excited when the new students arrive at Exeter. In one of the first lectures of the first term I tell them, “Today we’re going to study Mr and Mrs God.” I’m often surprised at how amazed they are. The debate about whether or not God has a wife has been running in academic circles for a good few years now. Old texts tell us that Asherah was a fertility goddess. Ancient Israelites worshipped her as part of their worship of Yahweh (the name of God in the Hebrew Bible), so many, myself included, believe that she was considered to be the wife of God.
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And I’m Morbid Morticia
My mates call me Morticia because I look a bit like her and I’m very morbid in my interests. I’ve written a book about child sacrifice and now I’m writing one about corpses and the role they play in religion. Despite my morbidity, I do enjoy all the comedy in the Bible. There’s a funny story about a man who goes blind because bird crap falls in his eye, and another comic moment comes courtesy of Elisha, a prophet of Yahweh. The story goes that he was walking along one day and a group of kids spotted him and started to tease him, shouting, “Oi, Baldy.” He called up a load of bears from the forest and they mauled the children. My grandmother and I always found that story very amusing — so much so that I read it out at her funeral.
Polytheism... Maybe
My father is Greek and my mother is English. My father wasn’t around very much — he and my mother separated when I was little — but his Greek heritage was always a big part of my identity and there were lots of Greek Orthodox icons at home.
There is no God-shaped hole in the universe, no gap that needs filling, but if I had to choose a religion for myself, I would be an ancient Greek polytheist. I like the diversity of those legends and myths. My mother would describe herself as agnostic but my maternal grandmother was a Christian. It was my grandmother who introduced me to ancient history: she enjoyed taking me to museums, churches and the Greek Easter celebrations, and that sparked my interest in religion.
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I can't Adam and Eve it
It It will be horrendous watching myself on television when the series starts on Tuesday. I don’t expect any viewers to recognise me afterwards. I never recognise people off the telly when I see them in real life.
The final episode is about the Garden of Eden. I explain that, in fact, Eve is a minor character in that story and the emphasis is more on the relationship between God and man and his expulsion from the garden. It was only later, through Judaism and particularly through Christianity, that Eve became a bit of a fall guy.
Interpretations of the Hebrew Bible have always labelled women as troublesome wives. Ahab is married to Jezebel, and it’s Jezebel’s fault that he is a bad king who persecutes prophets. Solomon builds idolatrous temples because he wants to please his foreign wives. I’m not married but I’m happy to defend the unfairly maligned wives.
As told to Audrey Ward