The model of how a...
Illustration
The model of how a person becomes chief or ruler among the Bantu people of Africa provides an interesting insight into this text. According to Kwesi Dickson and Paul Ellingworthin Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, they explain, "The Bantu think of the chief as undergoing an ontic change, a profound transformation; he enters upon a new mode of being. This new mode of being modifies or adapts the inner being so that it can live and act according to its new situation ..."
A rite of investiture effects this ontological transformation and afterwards, there is evinced a perceivable difference. They elaborate further, "The King is not a man ... He is a man before he is nominated to the throne; but once appointed, he separates himself from the ordinary nobility, and obtains a place apart ..."
This metamorphosis from the ordinary to something raised above that status can also be illustrated in nature. When, for example, a caterpillar is changed from an earthbound crawler into a butterfly, its entire inner and outer structure is transformed. Even its molecules, sweat, bodily wastes, and scent preceptors are altered. In mating, the earthbound creatures leave a ground trail that attracts its kind. An airborne creature, like the female butterfly, however, has a characteristic scent which she squirts into the air that can only be tracked from above.
Theologically, with regard to humanity the same principle applies. As Augustine argues, "a person cannot look both ways at once."
A rite of investiture effects this ontological transformation and afterwards, there is evinced a perceivable difference. They elaborate further, "The King is not a man ... He is a man before he is nominated to the throne; but once appointed, he separates himself from the ordinary nobility, and obtains a place apart ..."
This metamorphosis from the ordinary to something raised above that status can also be illustrated in nature. When, for example, a caterpillar is changed from an earthbound crawler into a butterfly, its entire inner and outer structure is transformed. Even its molecules, sweat, bodily wastes, and scent preceptors are altered. In mating, the earthbound creatures leave a ground trail that attracts its kind. An airborne creature, like the female butterfly, however, has a characteristic scent which she squirts into the air that can only be tracked from above.
Theologically, with regard to humanity the same principle applies. As Augustine argues, "a person cannot look both ways at once."
