Psalm 23: American Anniversaries
An ongoing exploration of American poetics through references to Psalm 23 — organized by a calendar of cultural anniversaries.
September 26, 1979 – Hyung Jin Moon (aka Sean Moon) is born. The youngest son of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Korean Unification Church, Pastor Sean is the breakaway leader of the violent Rod of Iron Ministries. Both father and son have referenced Psalm 23 in their sermons and speeches.
The senior Sun Myung Moon gave a sermon on Sept. 29, 1957 about science and religion as two separate spheres using Psalm 23 as his primary sermon text. He seized on the metaphor of a guided path (Ps. 23:2, 4, 6) to reflect on truth and divine principles. About the line, “walk through the valley of the shadow of death”, Moon encouraged everyone to find their own path (politics, science, economics, etc.)…elaborating: “when you reflect on whether you have found the eternal value that will allow you to embark upon a new path from the position you are in today, you will find that no one has yet founded that kind of value and purpose.” (Thx, Zeller) Moon is a self-proclaimed messiah with special insight into eternal value, as indicated in his book, Divine Principle: “With the fullness of time, God has sent one person to this earth to resolve the fundamental problems of human life and the universe. His name is Sun Myung Moon. For several decades he wandered through the spirit world so vast as to be beyond imagining. He trod a bloody path of suffering in search of the truth, passing through tribulations that God alone remembers.“
His son, Sean Moon inherited but then broke away from his father and mother’s church, initially calling his movement the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church. Renamed Rod of Iron Ministries in 2015, which Rolling Stone called a “bizarre and dangerous” Moon began wearing a crown of bullets to preach and venerates the violent religious power of the American gun. Sean Moon has been photographed as an active participant in the January 6th Insurrection. In his sermons and speeches, Moon ties the “rod of iron” to several biblical texts in order to scripturalize American gun culture. About Psalm 23, he has said:
“Wolves fear the shepherd that carries the Rod of Iron. The simple act of owning a physical Rod of Iron puts fear into the predator class. But the sheep are comforted by its presence. As Psalm 23 states, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” — Pastor Sean Moon at the fourth annual celebration of the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival (October 15, 2022)
Jacob Hashimoto, “A Hundred Years of Sleep,” 2012.
Rice paper kites, thread, dowels. Tepper Collection. © Jacob Hashimoto
September 13, 1969 — Tyler Perry’s 55th birthday. When Perry accepted the Ultimate Icon award from BET in 2019, he quoted a phrase from Ps. 23 in his acceptance speech. With respect to the fight for a seat at the table, Perry celebrated building his own table that “God would prepare in the presence of my enemy.” Referring to his Atlanta studio, Perry uses Ps. 23 to tell an American story of race, Confederate history, media culture, and the power of liberating labor.
“When I built my studio, I built in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta so that young kids can see that a black man did that and they can do it, too…The studio was once a Confederate Army base, and, I want you to hear this, which meant that there was Confederate soldiers on that base, plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million negroes enslaved. Now that land is owned by one negro. —— It’s all about trying to help somebody cross. —— While everybody was fighting for a seat at the table talking about ‘Oscar so white, Oscar so white” I said “Y’all go ahead and do that, but while you fighting for a seat at the table – I’ll be down in Atlanta building my own” because…Because what I know for sure is that if I could just build this table, God would prepare it for me in the presence of my enemy.” — Tyler Perry
September 10, 2024 — Suicide Prevention day. I found an essay published by a Jesuit priest about having to invent a funeral liturgy for a friend who died by suicide. The liturgy incorporated Psalm 23 as the sung Psalm because the young man loved to read it to “keep depression at bay.”
September 9, 2024 — James Earl Jones died today. Famous voice actor, Jones lent his deeply resonant, acoustic sounds to the voices of Darth Vader and Mufasa, two iconic “Fathers” in American media-mythology. My research today was rather quick — butI found amateur Christian artist, @grossjer123 who compiled a video using excerpted clips of Jones’ voice — producing a choppy but audible version of Psalm 23 in James Earl Jones voice. I have been writing about the “confetti method” of biblical references that characterize American evangelical poetics of durability. This edited video, literally conjuring a famous voice in American media culture, represents a striking example of confetti biblical poetics.
September 2 — Labor Day — In celebration of workers and labor unions, I found this incredible rendition of Psalm 23 published in 1907 by the Switchmen’s Union of North America. The union represented rail workers; the name refers to the track switch operators and railway car couplers. Below, “Psalm ‘23,’” Journal of the Switchmen’s Union 10 (1907): 550.
The politician is my shepherd, I shall not want for anything during his campaign. He leadeth me into the saloon for my vote’s sake. He fills my pockets with good cigars, my cup of beer runneth over. He inquireth concerning my family, even even unto the fourth generation. Yea, though I walk through the mud and rain to vote for him, and shout myself hoarse, when he is elected straightway he forgetteth me. Although I meet him at his own house he knoweth me not. Surely, the wool has been pulled over my eyes all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of a chump forever.
August 31, 1935 — Eldridge Cleaver was born — One of the founders of the Black Panther party, Cleaver was convicted of several crimes, including rape and attempted murder and went on the run to Algeria. While in exile, he had a religious vision and mouthed Ps. 23 in response.
In 1975 while on the balcony of his Paris apartment, Eldridge Cleaver had a vision. In the vision, he saw Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Jesus Christ. According to Cleaver, Jesus told him to surrender to the gospel of Jesus and the American authorities. By 1976 Cleaver claimed that he was a “born again” Christian and toured the country with the support of Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell. Evangelicals heralded him as the Marxist Black Panther turned Bible-believing conservative. After the novelty of Cleaver’s conversion wore off for evangelicals, however, Cleaver became a follower of Sun Myung Moon, sampled Baptist and Catholic churches, converted to Mormonism, and founded the religion he called “Christlam.”” (Wells; thx, Lavelle & Wells)
August 30, 1916 — Ernest Shackleton arrives on Elephant island via the Chilean boat (Yelcho) to rescue his 22 remaining crew members — A story of survival that has become a standard study in American leadership training, from business to religious contexts. Shackleton led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition which attempted to be the first to cross Antarctica in 1915. Yet, within weeks of setting out, the boat got trapped in ice and was eventually crushed. On the day the boat was destroyed, after already ten months of survival on the ice, Shackleton and a small crew set out on foot to find help – he tore out three pages of the Bible the Queen gave him: her signature cover page, Job 38:29-30 asking who birthed the ice and froze the face of the deep, and Psalm 23. [SGeorgia Museum, thx Bowers Museum and Ford]. I am especially interested in the intimate relationships that form on such an expedition, culled from journals and interviews. Shackleton wrote: “We had seen God in his splendours, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.” Of his second mate, he said: 'There is nothing to say about Frank Wild, he is my other self.'" Wild referred to Shackleton as “the boss.” He describes the moment the ship was crushed: "Running out, we were just in time to see the stern of the Endurance rise and then a quick dive and all was over… I felt as if I had lost an old friend." Wild is now buried beside Shackleton, his grave reads: "Frank Wild, 19 April 1873 - 19 August 1939, Shackleton's right-hand man." In his journals, Wild wrote, "Once you have been to the white unknown, you can never escape the call of the little voices." [BBC, PBS, and Caroline Alexander, The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (Knopf, 1998)]
August, 1939 — Robert A. Heinline’s first sci-fi story, “Life Line” appears in Astounding — This career-breakthrough was after an illness that ejected him from the navy and a failed attempt to run for public office. Heinlein decided to turn to writing. His most famous novel draws its title from the Bible. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) is a reference to Moses in Exodus. But one of his “messier” novels that he wrote while gravely ill, I Will Fear No Evil (1970) gets its title from Ps. 23. The book explores body entanglements and transplanting consciousness — a male brain in a female body — and how the two persons (Johann-Eunice) co-mingle and dialogue until the death of Jake adds a third consciousness to their body. In the end, they die while giving birth — the original surgery undoes. The novel’s final words: “An old world vanished and then there was none.”
August 18, 1920 — The 19th Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified (Aug 18) and certified (Aug 26) granting women the right to vote. [No specific reference to Ps. 23 yet]: It was known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. However, because of state legislatures, many women still could not vote in 1920. More than 75% of women of color were blocked by state laws. And not all states agreed to ratify. Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan were the first to do so. The last state, needed for the ¾ ratification requirement, was Tennessee. Of those that did not ratify, Connecticut, Vermont, and Delaware ratified in the next couple of years. But it took much longer for Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi (1984!) to ratify the 19th amendment. — Several American women in the late 1800s through 1920 and beyond drew on religious thought in their speeches and writing. From what I have seen, Psalm 23 was not all that common, but it does get referenced — I will have to publish these under their own brief at some point.
August 18, 1978 — Andy Samberg was born. He plays Conner Friel in “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” (2016). Conner quotes Ps. 23 via the opening lines from Coolio’s “Gangsta Paradise” (thx, Scott) during his memorial service for pet turtle, Maximus: “as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothing left.” He continues, “Maximus was my best friend who struggled daily with soggy bone syndrome but never complained once. [scenes of rock bottom in news] …Now go and join your family in turtle heaven.” In the background, bagpipes play Amazing Grace. When he then lights the floating turtle coffin on fire at the end of the pool funeral, the fan/media audience takes this as a signal to let out a roar, jump in the pool, and start dancing to lewd-lyric music pumping for a party. Conner is in tears. Across the screen, we learn that sis lucrative “Aquaspin releases him from his contract” and “The tour is canceled.”
Maximus’s death becomes one in a series of low points in a film about many sad and embarrassing events in the CONNQuest album tour that breaks Conner4Real’s “dope” pop star veneer. The whole Coolio song is not in the film, but after opening with “as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” the song explores the dizzying effects of power, money, tv, media, street energy, and hood paradise and ends asking why we can’t see that “the ones we hurt are you and me?” Whether the director/writers intended the intertextuality between “Gangsta’s Paradise” and the film, the song is a good summary of Conner4Real’s story, which ultimately sees him repair his bonds with his true friends.
August 17, 1887 — Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born on this day. Jamaican leader Marcus Garvey had a big impact on American audiences — “A typical meeting of Garveyites in Pine City, Arkansas in 1925 opened with a reading of Psalm 23” which is said to have followed the UNIA Universal Negro Ritual guidance. (Roll)
August 14, 1994 – American playwright and activist, Alice Childress died 30 years ago. Childress’s play, “Trouble in Mind” (1955) includes a scene where main character, Wiletta is urged to recite Psalm 23. Instead, Wiletta opts to recite Psalm 133, which speaks to the unity of humanity: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head…” (Psalm 133).
Childress’s play was met with enormous opposition during production, thwarting her creative vision. Production requests for editing were so frequent that the process broke her authorial vision AND the play’s potential:
“Childress recalls that after two years of rewrites, she “couldn’t recognize the play one way or the other.” Eventually, she made the difficult decision to stop rewriting, and the negotiations for the transfer broke down completely. According to dramaturg Mark Perry (in his notes for a 2015 production of the show): “Burned by the experience, she vowed never again to cave artistically to producer pressure. She went back to her original ending, but had lost some steam in promoting the play in the process. As a result, the first Broadway play by an African-American female would be 1959’s A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.” It was not until Trouble in Mind was published that Childress chose to restore her original ending. It is this original ending that is a part of our production here at Roundabout.” (Thx, Roundabout & Next Stage)
Given the racial and gender dynamics of the editing process, I do not yet know if the scene about Psalm 23/Psalm 133 was Childress’s craft or the result of a production edit — which is crucial to the poetics of Psalm 23 in Childress’s play. Either way, the psalm-switch highlights how individual subjectivity is positioned in the two Psalms: Psalm 23 is about individual protection while Psalm 133 is about the power of belonging in group cohesion. Was group solidarity Childress’s vision for Wiletta?
The psycho-spiritual-political activities that held her play down and broke her connection to free poetics involved writing, editing/revision, both theatrical and social performing, and interactive social dynamics of individuation, solidarity, and subjugation.
August 14, 2024 — Gena Rowland died today. Her character in “Hope Floats” (1998) references Ps. 23 — “In the movie, Hope Floats, Gena Rowlands played the role of Ramona, set somewhere in the south. She had two daughters. One was off in California “finding herself”, leaving her only child Travis, with the grandmother to raise. The other daughter, Birdie, played by Sandra Bullock, finds herself in the midst of an ugly divorce and has come home to live with mom, bringing her daughter Bernice. During the movie we learn that Ramona’s husband has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home. Her life hasn’t been easy. But, tucking her granddaughter into bed one night, she remarks about her love for her family and her life, “O honey,” she says, “My cup runneth over.”” [revwaltp]
August 13, 1899 — English auteur filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock’s 125th birthday. In Hitchcock’s film, “Lifeboat,” Joe Spencer (Canada Lee) was the only survivor on the raft who knew all the words to Psalm 23. His voice corrects the recitation and steps into the scene at the words, “he restores my soul.” I hear Black/African American poetics about the soul in this scene, like W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903), in which Du Bois explains “double consciousness” to describe the psychic effects of the White gaze. Joe recites the whole poem during a life-raft liturgy for burial at sea. The racist portrayal of Joe drew criticism while a handful of African American organizations praised Lee’s performance. In “The Baffling Cruelty of Alfred Hitchcock,” (Atlantic) it is said that Hitchcock subjected his female leads to “intense degrees of psychosexual torment” — which caused me to note a gendered visual trope at the end of the Psalm 23 scene: the beatific face of a white female character pondering Psalm 23’s poetics. Filmed in Los Angeles and Florida, “Lifeboat” is about Nazi German, British, and American survivors on a life raft with only one Black character — the highly troped cast produces tight American poetics about spirituality and race at the tail end of World War II. [Thx, atl and mss]
August 7, 1974 — The Wicker Man refers to Ps23. I found a 34-minute video of this horror movie on YouTube.
August 2, 1924 — James Baldwin, an American writer and poet, was born 100 years ago. During a phase of his adolescence, Baldwin was an effective preacher (especially at Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, 1937–42), and he was raised by a Baptist step-father. Pentecostal imagination is skilled at seeding inflections of Scripture into poetics. The only time Baldwin explicitly mentions the Psalms of David, he says he was “bull-whipped” through them and lists them among “a forced march” of biblical books “designed to prepare the mind for conciliation and safety.” One of these seeded inflections, in No Name in the Street, Baldwin thinks with a “shadow of death” about race, power, and fear in relational dynamics of liberation from subjection to white man’s fantasies:
“When the black man’s mind is no longer controlled by the white man’s fantasies, a new balance or what may be described as an unprecedented inequality begins to make itself felt: for the white man no longer knows who he is, whereas the black man knows them both. For if it is difficult to be released from the stigma of blackness, it is clearly at least equally difficult to surmount the delusion of whiteness. And as the black glories in his newfound color, which is his at last, and asserts, not always with the very greatest politeness, the unanswerable validity and power of his being—even in the shadow of death—the white is very often affronted and very often made afraid. He has his reasons, after all, not only for being weary of the entire concept of color, but fearful as to what may be made of this concept once it has fallen, as it were, into the wrong hands. And one may indeed be wary, but the point is that it was inevitable that black and white should arrive at this dizzying height of tension. Only when we have passed this moment will we know what our history has made of us.” [James Baldwin: Collected Essays (1998) – No Name in the Street: “To Be Baptized” - p.479.]
August 2, 2023 — Clifton Oliver died one year ago. He passed while his partner, Richard read Psalm 23. Oliver was a stage actor in Broadway’s The Lion King, In The Heights and Wicked.
