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The first thing I noticed were the colors: the brilliant, vibrant red contrasted with the deep, oceanic blue. Hot and cold. Fire and ice. The flames were actually coming off the painting, reaching to its upper borders and leaping up and out. In front of them stood a man who looked, well, uncertain about whether he wanted to be there. His arms were raised at the elbow, in a vague gesture. Was he calling fire down from heaven, or was he surrendering? If so, to what or whom?
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Earlier this year I read a book about this figure: the Old Testament prophet Elijah. The book by Russell Moore is called The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul. Russell was until this year the head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, and he is now at Christianity Today magazine starting up a new public theology effort.
Elijah is the central character of Russell’s book. The prophet is perhaps most well known for calling fire down from heaven, in a smack down of rival prophets. But Moore focuses instead on the moment when Elijah was driven into the wilderness by threats to his life from the a hostile ruler, Ahab. As Elijah was being hunted, he sat down under a tree, prayed that he would die, and literally said, “I’ve had enough.”
Through Elijah, Russell explores what Christianity has to say about strength, courage and…
