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Questions
to Guide Your Reading
Philip Hallie, "The Hands of Joshua James," from In the Eye of the Hurrican: Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm A couple of quick questions about the story you've just read. 1. If you were on one of those life-saving boats, and Joshua James ordered you to do something that seemed ridiculous, would you do it? If you saw in the distance that six ships were headed for the reef, and he ordered you to go to dinner, would you go? Why, or why not? 2. If you would follow his orders, would it be simply because he is in command and you're not? Or would there be something else? Would you only obey his orders if you understood why he was telling you to do something? Or would there be something else? If so, what is that "something else"? Is it rational? Irrational? Stupid? Cowardly? Un-scientific? 3. If you would follow his orders, would there be limits to your obedience to this man? What would they be and why? 4. In his book on The Theology of Faith, John Coventry distinguishes between our original act of faith and the subsequent acts of faith that we make to particular doctrines. Apply this distinction to the faith Joshua James's men had in him. 5. Did the faith Joshua James's men had in him destroy their individuality? Did they lose themselves by listening to and obeying Joshua James? 6. Is it always the case that when you obey someone else's authority, you lose your own person-hood? Is it ever the case that when you obey someone else's authority, you lose your own person-hood? Can you identify the difference? |