Think for yourself

Perhaps one of the outstanding messages of the great prophets of the Bible is that we can take nothing for granted. We must think for ourselves.

In a Christian Science Monitor editorial titled “Anni’s letter” (print: 25/9/23), Mark Sappenfield draws our attention to a letter from Anni Ulich to her children dated “Berlin, Fall 1977”. In it, Anni urges her children: “Never stop thinking on your own”.

Anni Ulich has written extensively for the Christian Science magazines. Her article “Demonstrating her life purpose” (The Christian Science Journal October 2011)* praises biographer Robert Peel for his books** on the life of fiercely independent thinker Mary Baker Eddy, and points to her "clear vision about the purpose of her life":

"When the first volume of Robert Peel’s biographies came out, I couldn’t stop reading. I found myself again and again in tears of joy and gratitude because I realized that Mrs. Eddy was not someone who came down from a fairytale heaven—she was a woman, like myself, who was always striving to keep her balance, her health, her happiness, and her peace. To me, the outstanding thing about her was that she had a clear vision about the purpose of her life. And that she did whatever was necessary and possible to express, demonstrate, and live that purpose. As I understand it, this purpose has much to do with Eddy’s conviction of being one with the Divine, and of her radical understanding and vision of the complete goodness and love of God. 

"I was so grateful that Peel took her down from that pedestal of personal adulation where so many of her followers had put her."

The prophet Zephaniah*** seems to have had a clear vision of the purpose of his life and fearlessly wrote: 

“So get yourselves together. Shape up! … Seek God, all you quietly disciplined people who live by God’s justice. Seek God’s right ways. Seek a quiet and disciplined life. … Gaza is scheduled for demolition …” (The Message, Zeph. 2: 1, 3, 4 (portions).

Thinkers never allow us to drift along!!

Julie Swannell

*Thank you to Joyce Voysey for finding this article.        

**Robert Peel’s trilogy: Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority

***Tucked away in my copy of The Reforming Power of the Scriptures: A biography of the English Bible by Mary Metzner Trammell and William G. Dawley (CSPS 1996), I discovered my lift-out Bible Time-Line. It’s a fascinating document. (Redcliffe’s Reading Room may have at least one copy if someone doesn’t have one.) Note the distinction between Zephaniah and Zechariah: although they are separated in the Bible by just Haggai, Zephaniah lived about 100 years earlier than Zechariah.

The period of the great prophets looks something like this:

ISRAEL DIVIDED (NORTH-Israel, SOUTH-Judah) 922-721 BC

Amos

Hosea

I Isaiah (1-39)

Micah

JUDAH STANDS ALONE 721-587 BC

Zephaniah

Jeremiah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Ezekiel

Destruction of Jerusalem

EXILE IN BABYLONIA 587-538 BC

Lamentations

II Isaiah (40-55)

PERSIAN RULE 538-333 BC

Edict of Cyrus allows Jews to return to homeland.

III Isaiah (56-66)

Temple rebuilt (Jerusalem)

Haggai

Zechariah

Proverbs compiled.

Malachi

Obadiah

Ezra

Psalms compiled.

Nehemiah’s governorship of Jerusalem

Joel