13
Clip 5: Mama
1. In the book of Solomon, could it be?
2. >yeah: ’s a book of Solomon<
3. ok, where it talks about two lovers,
(2.5) the bride, and the groom /
4. (1.5) ↑ God is the groo:m
5. ok, so you can see how some people
see God as being like a lover, like being a boyfriend, or being a husband, or being a groom
6. he's th:e husband >of the church< /
7. ok
8. yeah, ’at's the way you look at that
9. you don't look at that in a /
10. <he's my lover / he comes to me at night and we have s:ex> / no
11. that's >very, very ↑ u:nchristian talk<
12. I don't even talk like that
I just want to highlight that Mama throughout the interview was alluding to Biblical verses, but perhaps
the Song of Songs at chapter 5, verse 2 wasn’t relevant to her. It reads:
I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
"Open to me, my sister, my darling,
... my hair [is damp] of the night."
Other metaphors besides God is Lord, Creator and Father analogously seemed implausible for her
conceptual system.
23 As for Edward, Edward basically refused any alternative metaphors for God other than God is a Father.
When asked if God is a mother he only accepts this view in that God is a creator, and says “but as far as
anything like that.nah”. When asked if God is a lover, he replied without thinking “he’s not!”. But listen to
what he replied when I asked him to tell me if God can be thought of as a doctor:
X [CLIP edward-doctor 37’’]