I loved watching ventriloquists when I was a kid. They seemed to be everywhere. I saw them at school, church, parties, and on television. I don't see them much anymore, but I know they are still out there because I found a list of some at the International Ventriloquists' Association. There have been some good and bad ventriloquists, but the king had to be Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy.
I can remember my parents' and grandparents' stories about listening to these two (actually one). You know how good Bergen was because the programs were on the radio. Bergen got you to imagine the dummy was speaking, and he got you to imagine the dummy!
I understand that modern ventriloquism using a dummy started in the 1800s. However, I suspect its origins were much earlier. I found one website called Dumbstruck that traced the art of throwing the voice to another object back to ancient Semitic people. This doesn't surprise me because we have several instances of it throughout the Bible. It started as a communal activity. People would make an idol (often out of wood) and then throw their communal voice into the idol. They were so good at it that they actually believed in their own dummy.
When the nation of Israel rebelled, God sent them prophets. What did the people do? They tried to play ventriloquist, using the prophets as their dummies.
Isaiah 30:9-11 NRSV
9 For they are a rebellious people,
faithless children,
children who will not hear
the instruction of the LORD;
10 who say to the seers, "Do not see";
and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
It didn't stop there. There have been ventriloquists throughout the ages. I take a stab at it every now and then. I pick up a Bible, read it, and then try to make it say something more appealing. I suspect we all do. In fact, entire movements do it. I wonder if maybe we need to establish a Charlie McCarthy Theology Award. Hollywood has the Oscars. We could have the Charlies.
Such an award would require several distinct categories. For instance, Lifetime Achievement Awards could be given to Jim Jones, Charles Taze Russell, and Mary Baker Eddy. An award for political movements like the Spanish Inquisition or the ideas of Manifest Destiny and Slavery in the United States might be good. The Ku Klux Klan would surely merit consideration. There could be cultural accommodation awards like the "Health and Wealth Gospel" folks or the "Justice Love" advocates preaching consensual sex between two or more persons of any age, race, or creed is just what God is telling us in Scripture. You get the idea.
Yes, the Charlie McCarthy Theology Awards. The possibilities are endless. I think I could nominate myself for one or two.
Anyway, the floor is now open for nominations. Nominations anyone? Anyone?
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