Unorthodox Messages Of Change In The Bible

Throughout history, novel ideas that end up being the basis of change are initially widely rejected. Martin Luther’s religious ideologies caused a major theological shift for many people. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-conformist practices revolutionized the way people fight oppression. Individuals that inspired change can be seen as prophets. A prophet is a person with an unorthodox message that challenges established traditions or practices, and being on the road means being separated from a society. As a result, a prophet needs to be on the road in order to develop a message that opposes accepted beliefs. In order to be considered a prophet, a person needs to preach a message that challenges established traditions. This message can be in direct contrast
to or merely critique a few pre-existing teachings, but it always needs to seek to change something. In Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Dean Moriarty endorses the unconventional message proclaimed by members of the beat movement, which proposedis that a person needs to go out and experience life and suffering to know God. In her prophetic retelling of the scene from the novel where Dean and Sal are driving to Virginia, Abigail Kurth exemplifies this message. As she writes, “[God] wasn’t in the visions, But I knew He was there. We don’t know how it happened, But Dean and I both knew it happened,” and “God is the only one that could have made all this.” Kurth’s retelling emphasizes the message that Sal and Dean endorse in the scene: God can be understood in a variety of ways, especially by experiencing Him through action. This belief directly challenged the traditional church doctrines in America at the time, which criticized the actions performed and activities endorsed by the beats. The beats sought to change the narrow definition of religion under which many Americans practiced.
Unorthodox messages that attempt to change current practice can also be seen throughout the Bible.
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah offers a novel interpretation for why bad things happened to the Jewish people. According to Isaiah, the people were receiving harsh punishments because they failed to take care of the poor, and needed to “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Is 1:2-17 NRSV). Isaiah developed this explanation from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He claimed that the reason for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was failure to take care of the poor, contrasting the widely held belief that the sin of those cities was homosexuality (Is 1:1-31). Additionally, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus offers teachings that directly contrast the Jews’ current practices. As he says, “You have heard that is was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:43-44). The Jewish lLaw clearly states to hate your enemies, but Jesus is saying you should love and pray for them. These biblical texts support the definition of a prophet developed by Kurth, as all three portray a character preaching a message that challenges an established tradition or
belief. Being on the road, in the prophetic sense, does not have to mean literally traveling on the road. Being on the road more broadly means being separate from society. As a result, people being separated gives them a prophetic persona by causing them to stand out. Amanda Manning’s prophetic retelling of the scene where Dean and Sal allegedly see each other for the last time contrasts Kurth’s retelling because it focuses on Dean as a prophet by being separate rather than proclaiming an unorthodox message. For Manning, the scene is prophetic because Dean needs to be on on the road. As she describes it through Sal’s perspective, “Dean knew the true way of life, He knew and he taught me.” Here Manning is highlighting Sal’s opinion for the necessity of prophets to be on the road. Throughout Kerouac’s text, Dean and the other characters are constantly travelling and never stay in one place for too long, and, as a result, are portrayed as separate from the conventional society, as highlighted by Manning in her retelling.
This idea of being on the road as a defining characteristic of prophets is can also be found in other texts.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus emphasizes the need to be separate by leaving his hometown. He even goes so far as to say, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (Lk 4:16-30). As with Dean from Manning’s prophetic retelling, Jesus highlights the importance of being on the road in this passage. In Thomas Merton’s “Fire Watch,” the monk on the nightly fire watch separates himself from the others in order to be able to contemplate God. Walking around the monastery at night is the monk’s version of being on the road. As with Dean and Jesus, the monk creates a prophetic persona by being on the road in the
text. Being on the road, or being separate from society, reflects the experience of prophets because it allows for the creation of messages that oppose established beliefs. As Stephen Prothero points out in his article analyzing beat culture, it seems that if the members of the beat movement did not separate themselves from the traditional churches by going on the road, they would not have been able to develop their message of finding God in suffering and everyday experiences. As Prothero writes, “They went on the road… because they could not find God in the churches and synagogues of postwar America.” In the Bible, Isaiah is separated from the rest people when he sees God in a vision and has his lips touched by a live coal; only after he goes through this is he able to develop and deliver an unorthodox message to the people (Is 6:1-13). In the Merton text, the monk on duty implies that the separation from everyone else is what fosters his contemplative thinking. Although Kurth’s and Manning’s retellings contrast each other with what they focus on for what defines them as prophetic, they also complement each other. In Kurth’s, it seems that Dean and Sal would not be able to develop their unconventional beliefs without Manning’s interpretation stressing being on the road. Dean, Jesus, Isaiah, and figures from the other texts are prophets because their messages that oppose accepted practices or beliefs all required them to be separated from others in some way. Prophets are not just people with a different message; they are individuals with a message that directly opposes established traditions. Additionally, it is necessary for prophets to be on the road, either literally or figuratively separated from society, in order to develop and proclaim their unorthodox views. This version of a prophet is seen throughout the biblical texts in figures such as Isaiah and Jesus, and is also a recurring theme in Kerouac’s On the Road.