October 7, 1977: George Burns Plays God

October 7, 1977: The film Oh, God! premieres. George Burns plays God. He was almost old enough.

He was born on January 20, 1896, in Manhattan, as Nathan Birnbaum. When he went into show business, he named himself after two different, but unrelated, star baseball players of his youth: George Burns.

In 1922, already known in vaudeville, he met comedian Gracie Allen, born on July 26, 1895 (yes, she was older) in San Francisco, as Gracie Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen. They married in 1926, and developed a stage act where Burns played the "straight man," and Allen played a silly, addle-headed woman whose convoluted logic Burns was often ill-equipped to challenge. Burns once told an interviewer, "I would say, 'So, Gracie, how's your brother?' and let her talk for 15 minutes while I smoked a cigar." The act always ended the same way: George would say, "Say goodnight, Gracie," and Gracie would say, "Goodnight, Gracie."

The Burns and Allen Show debuted on radio in 1936; the series ran, moving back and forth between NBC and CBS, until 1950. After their radio show's cancellation, Burns and Allen reemerged on television with a CBS situation comedy, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, which ran from 1950 to 1958.

Officially, the show, still popular, ended because Gracie was tired of learning lines. The truth was worse: She had a bad heart, and she died on August 27, 1964, at the age of 69. George later told an interviewer, "I go to her grave, and I tell her my jokes. She doesn't laugh. She's heard them all before."

George continued as a comic actor, and did standup on variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The death of his close friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny in 1974 devastated him. But in 1976, playwright Neil Simon cast George in the film version of his play The Sunshine Boys. At 80, George Burns became the oldest male actor to yet win an Academy Award for Best Picture. He told the media, "It just goes to show that if you stick around long enough, you become new again."

(In 2021, Anthony Hopkins won at age 83 for his role in The Father. The oldest actress is Jessica Tandy, who won in 1990, at 80. for Driving Miss Daisy. The youngest? In 2002, Adrien Brody won at 29 for The Pianist; and in 1987, Marlee Matlin won at 21 for Children of a Lesser God. Tatum O'Neal won at 10 in 1974, for Paper Moon, but she won for Best Supporting Actress, even though she was the female lead. In 1981, Timothy Hutton was 20 when he won Best Supporting Actor for Ordinary People.)

Before Betty White, George Burns was America's favorite elderly celebrity -- or, at least, America's favorite person famous for being old. George, how many of those cigars do you smoke a day? "About 20 a day." And how much do you drink? "I drink 6 martinis a day." And you date young women? "Yes." Why don't you date women your own age? "There aren't any." But couldn't fooling around with a woman that young prove fatal? "If she dies, she dies." What does your doctor say about all of this? "He's dead."

He also liked to say, "I never tell a joke older than I am. There aren't any." In 1977, just before the release of Oh, God!, Burns was the guest host on The Muppet Show. Gonzo the Great held a violin, and said, "It's my new act: Gonzo fiddles while George Burns!" It was a play on the old line -- not possible, because the violin didn't exist in ancient times -- "Nero fiddles while Rome burns." George heard Gonzo, and said, "Finally! A joke that's older than I am!"

In 1971, Avery Corman write a novel titled, Oh, God! Larry Gelbart wrote a screenplay based on it, to be directed by Carl Reiner. Both men had written for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows in the 1950s, as had Mel Brooks. They cast Burns as God. "I originally offered the part to Mel," Gelbart said, "but he didn't want the demotion."

The story centers on supermarket manager Jerry Landers, who is chosen by God to spread His message, despite the skepticism of the media, religious authorities, and his own wife. Instead of wearing a long white beard and a long white robe, as God is often depicted, Burns dressed like a Florida retiree, complete with a sailor cap and loafers. When Jerry asks Him to prove he's God, by doing a miracle, God says, "The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets."

Singer John Denver was cast as Jerry. Burns said, "Denver brought in his fans, and they got me to bring in the young kids." Teri Garr played Jerry's wife.

The movie was a hit. Burns said, "They're doing a sequel. I'm playing God again. Why not? At my age, anything I do is a miracle." Oh, God! Book II came out in 1980, and Oh, God! You Devil in 1984. Both times, Burns was the only returning actor, and there was no connection between the stories.

In the 3rd film, set mostly in Las Vegas, Burns spent much more on-screen time as the Devil, using the name Harry O. Tophet -- the initials spelling "HOT," as seen on his license plate, and "Tophet" was a place where pre-Judaism Canaanites would sacrifice their children to the god Moloch. As with his version of God, he didn't use a traditional appearance: No horns, no tail, no mustache, no beard, not even exaggerated eyebrows. But he did wear a red sportsjacket, compared to the blue windbreaker he wore as God.

Spoiler Alert: In the true spirit of Las Vegas, when the old enemies finally face each other, God wins the hero's soul back by bluffing through a poker hand. The Devil says, "Why did I fold?" And God says, "I put the fear of Me into you."

How many actors have played both God and the Devil? In live-action, only George Burns, and he played both at the same time. When he was 87 years old.

(Max von Sydow played Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, and the Devil, using the name Leeland Gaunt, in Needful Things in 1993. Willem Dafoe played Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, and the Devil in a 2013 Mercedes-Benz commercial.)

George Burns had a running gag: "I can't die. I'm booked." He wasn't kidding: Years in advance, he had the London Palladium rented out for his 100th birthday, January 20, 1996. But at the age of 98, he fell getting out of the bathtub, and broke his hip. That has been the beginning of the end for many old people, and it looked like he was going to will himself to live to be 100, just for the sake of reaching the milestone. He did, but it was Jerry Seinfeld who took the London Palladium gig. George Burns died on March 9, 1996, just 49 days after turning 100.

*

October 7, 1977 was a Friday. In baseball, Game 3 was played in each League Championship Series. Dennis Leonard, a Brooklyn native, goes the distance, and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees, 6-2 at Royals Stadium (renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993). The Royals take a 2-1 lead in the series, and need just 1 more win for their 1st Pennant.

They will be disappointed. But perhaps not as badly as the Philadelphia Phillies. But in the top of the 9th, trailing 5-3 and down to their last out, the Los Angeles Dodgers benefit from a sickening turn of events, which leads to a 6-5 Dodger win, and they take the Pennant the next day. Philadelphia fans call it "Black Friday." I have a separate entry for this event.

Football was in midweek. And the 1977-78 NBA, NHL and World Hockey Association seasons hadn't started yet.

September 28, 1966: "The Bible: In the Beginning… " Premieres

September 28, 1966: The film The Bible: In the Beginning… premieres. Give the scope of the Bible, covering the whole thing would work better as a TV series. This film covers the 1st 22 out of the 50 chapters in the opening book, Genesis, and still runs 6 minutes short of 3 hours.

20th Century Fox released it, Dino De Laurentiis produced it, and John Huston directed it, narrated it, provided the voice of God, and played Noah.

Michael Parks played Adam, and, when the film was shown on television, provided American TV viewers one of their earliest glimpses of a bare butt. Ulla Bergryd played Eve. It was her 1st film. She made just 1 more, and returned to her native Sweden, becoming a professor of sociology.

The film was mostly filmed in Italy, and aside from the biggest stars, most of the actors were Italian. The Garden of Eden was filmed at, as Bergryd put it, "an old botanical garden on the outskirts of Rome." Mount Vesuvius, the volcano outside Naples, whose eruption in AD 79 had famously destroyed the city of Pompeii, was also used as a filming location, as were the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

Richard Harris played Cain, and Franco Nero played Abel. This foreshadowed their subsequent casting as Arthur and Lancelot, respectively, in the film version of the musical Camelot. George C. Scott played Abraham. Ava Gardner played his wife, Sarah. Stephen Boyd played Nimrod, an opponent of Abraham's. Peter O'Toole played The Three Angels.

Five reproductions of Noah's Ark were built, the largest being 200 feet long, 64 feet wide, and 50 feet high -- as opposed to Genesis' description of it being, according to God's order, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. In modern terms, this comes to about 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high, and a volume of roughly 1.88 million cubic feet, equal to about 450 semi-truck trailers.

It still seems like hardly enough to have a male and female of every animal on Earth, going in "by twosies-twosies" according to the children's song, to say nothing of going out "by threesies-threesies, all because of birds and beesies-beesies" -- which confused the hell out of me as a kid. How did the birds and bees on board the Ark result in a 3rd of each animal? It wasn't until I was 12 that the term "the birds and the bees" was explained to me. (I was 11 when I learned that "The Facts of Life" wasn't just the title of a sitcom.)

The Bible: In the Beginning… was America's highest-grossing film of 1966. But putting it together was so expensive that it still lost money. "Historical epics" were already on their way out, due to their huge cost, and this film was one reason why. In other words, for historical epics, The Bible: In the Beginning… was pretty much the end.

The film ends with God letting Abraham out of his promise to sacrifice Isaac. It doesn't discuss the later adventures of Isaac, his sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob's 12 sons including Joseph who founded the Twelve Tribes of Israel, or anything after Genesis.

The Ten Commandments, in 1956, had already told the story of the Exodus, which, if it happened at all, probably happened in the 13th Century BC, during the reign of Pharoah Ramesses II in Egypt, the Mycenean Age in Greece, and the Shang Dynasty in China.

A few films have been made about King David, and a few have been made about his son, King Solomon, both of whom are said to have lived in the 10th Century BC, when Egypt was in its 21st Dynasty, Greece was in its Dark Age, and China was in its Western Zhou Dynasty. A few have been made about the Babylonian Exile of 597-537 BC, during the Saite Dynasty in Egypt, the early Athenian Democracy in Greece, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in China.

And, of course, many movies have been made about Jesus, including The Greatest Story Ever Told, a year before this in 1965. But the New Testament after Jesus' Ascension has not been a popular topic. There aren't many films about the Apostles as a whole, or any of them in particular, including Paul and John. And The Revelation of John, the last book in the Bible -- or, as a few really dumb Americans call it "The Book of Revelations" -- defies description to the point of possibly being unfilmable, so films about the idea tend to be present-day allegories.

*

September 28, 1966 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* A doubleheader was split at Shea Stadium. The Chicago Cubs won the opener, 4-1. Dick Ellsworth outpitched Dennis Ribant, and went 2-for-4 with an RBI in his own cause. The New York Mets won the nightcap, 1-0. Bob Shaw pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Rich Nye. Cleon Jones singled Jerry Grote home with the only run in the bottom of the 7th inning. On the day, Jones went 3-for-7 with a walk, and both Met RBIs.

For the Cubs, over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 1-for-3 with a walk, Ron Santo went 4-for-7 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs, and Billy Williams went 0-for-7 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 and 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Blass outpitched Jim Bunning in the 1st game, and Bob Veale outpitched Larry Jansen in the 2nd game.

Willie Stargell did not play in either game. Over the 2 games, Roberto Clemente went 2-for-8 with an RBI, and Dick Allen went 3-for-7 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Gaylord Perry outpitched Tony Cloninger. Willie Mays went 0-for-5. Willie McCovey went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1st game, 7-1. The Houston Astros won the 2nd game, 4-3. After not playing in the 1st game, Pete Rose went 0-for-4 in the 2nd game.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Luis Tiant pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Jim Kaat. Tony Oliva got 3 of those hits. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4. Joe Azcue hit a home run for the Tribe.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Larry Jaster pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching rookie Don Sutton. Lou Brock went 0-for-2 with 2 walks and a stolen base.

The Dodgers now led the National League by a game and a half over the Pirates, and 3 over the Giants, with 4 games to play. They hung on to beat the Giants by a game and a half, and the Pirates by 3.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The Angels scored 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, but Al Kaline hit his 2nd home run of the game, for 2 runs, in the top of the 10th, and the Angels could only pull 1 run back in the bottom of the 10th.

* And the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Athletics and the Washington Senators were not scheduled. The Orioles ran away with the American League Pennant, beating the defending Champion Twins by 9 games.

August 20, 1979: Bob Dylan Finds God

August 20, 1979: Bob Dylan, raised Jewish, releases his album Slow Train Coming, reflecting his recent conversion to an apocalyptic brand of Protestantism. Guitarist and record producer Joseph "T-Bone" Burnett had introduced him to the Vineyard Fellowship, and, along with 2 members of his band, Steven Soles and David Mansfield, he joined.

The 1st song on the album was titled "Gotta Serve Somebody." He cited several well-known activities in life: Gambling, dancing, drug use, illicit affairs, drinking booze, theft. (A lot of Dylan's songs have had thieves in them.) He mentioned several professions: Ambassador, businessman, doctor, Chief, policeman, TV network head, construction worker, landlord, banker, preacher (of course), City Councilman, barber. He even invoked comedian Bill Saluga's cigar-smoking, Zoot Suit-wearing character Raymond J. Johnson Jr.: "You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray."

He said, "You may be the Heavyweight Champion of the World," a title which, at the time the song was recorded on April 30, 1979, was split between the apparently retired Muhammad Ali, who had an even more famous religious conversion, and Larry Holmes. He said, "You might be a rock 'n' roll addict, prancing on the stage," which sure sounds like a swipe at Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. When Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & The M.G.'s, acting as the house band for the tribute concert held for Dylan at Madison Square Garden in 1992, sang the song, he added, "You may be the President of these United States."

But, to everybody listening, Dylan sang, "It may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord, but you've gotta serve somebody." The song won him a Grammy Award -- for Best Rock Recording, not Best Religious Recording.

Note that the railroad worker's pickax

and the tracks themselves look like crosses.

Another song on the album was "Man Gave Names to All the Animals," inspired by Genesis 2:19-20, in which Adam named the animals and birds. Describing an animal's "muddy trail" and "curly tail," Dylan sings, "He wasn't too small and he wasn't too big," and Adam named it a pig. The cow got its name because Adam "saw milk comin' out, but he didn't know how," and the bear because it has a "great big furry back and furry hair." Then:

Saw an animal as smooth as glass

Slithering his way through the grass

Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake...

And that's where the song ends, without Dylan's Adam naming the snake, the animal that ended up tempting Eve. It's worth pointing out that the Bible never says that the snake is also the Devil, or even possessed by the Devil. (And, at the other end of the Bible, The Revelation makes it clear that the Devil, the Antichrist, and "The Beast" are all separate beings.)

Dylan's next album, in 1980, would be titled Saved. The next, in 1981, Shot of Love. But the next one, in 1983, would be titled Infidels, and the Bob of the 1960s, who dabbled in biblical imagery to make on-Earth points, was back, with blistering songs like "Jokerman" and "License to Kill."

His public statements since have varied. In 1984, he said, "I've never said I'm 'born again.' That's just a media term. I don't think I've been an agnostic. I've always thought there's a superior power, that this is not the real world, and that there's a world to come."

In 1997: "Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else... I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that."

In 2009, told after a Christmas concert that he sounded like a "true believer": "Well, I am a true believer."

*

August 20, 1979 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 17-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Luis Tiant looked strange in a Yankee uniform, but then, he looked strange in any uniform. He was the winning pitcher, while, between them, Rich Gale and Steve Mingori only lasted 3 innings.

Jim Spencer went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Bobby Murcer went 1-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. George Brett went 2-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 8-1 at Shea Stadium. Joe Niekro outpitched Craig Swan. Rafael Landestoy went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Nino Espinosa pitched 8 strong innings, but Ron Reed blew a 2-0 lead in the 9th. Phil Niekro was the starting and winning pitcher. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4. Pete Rose went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Flanagan pitched a 3-hit shutout. Ken Singleton went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Eddie Murray went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Bert Blyleven and John Montefusco started. The winning run scored in the bottom of the 8th inning, when, with Lee Lacy batting against Gary Lavelle, Mike Sadek allowed a passed ball that allowed Alberto Lois to score. Willie Stargell hit his 452nd career home run.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench hit a home run.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor did not play.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 6-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 1-for-2 with 3 walks and an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rookie Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

July 3, 1905: France Finally Separates Church and State

Émile Loubet

July 3, 1905: The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of France's national legislature, passes a bill for the separation of church and state, 341 to 233. It becomes law in the nation's Third Republic, and remains so into its Fifth Republic.

This is bigger than it might appear to a 21st Century audience. It is often presumed that the French Revolution of 1789 to 1795 fully overturned the established order, known as the Ancien Régime. Certainly, there was a desire to overturn the Roman Catholic Church, as much as there was to overturn the royal House of Bourbon. Writer and philosopher Denis Diderot, who died a few years before the Revolution, is credited with saying, "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."

But the Revolution fell into the Reign of Terror, and ultimately failed. The stated ideals of Liberté, égalité, fraternité -- liberty, equality and brotherhood --  were tossed aside for the dictatorship, and then the empire, of Napoleon Bonaparte.

This was followed by a conservative retrenchment, a new monarchy that teamed up with the Church to reassert the old values and turn back a few attempted revolutions, including the June Rebellion of 1832, the centerpiece of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. This was followed by the Second Empire, run by Napoleon's grandnephew, Emperor Napoleon III, before it fell in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The Third Republic was subsequently founded.

The Dreyfus Affair that began in 1894 uncovered a considerable amount of anti-Semitism in France, particularly among the nation's Catholics. Finally, in 1905, President Émile Loubet wanted full separation. His popularity, having grown through his settling of the Dreyfus Affair and his diplomacy in building the Triple Entente with Britain and Russia, helped to pass it.

And so, 116 years after 1789, when France had its Revolution, and America's Bill of Rights enshrined freedom of religion into the First Amendment to its federal Constitution, France also had an official separation of church and state -- something that Canada took until 1982, with its Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to have; and that Britain still does not have, as it is officially tied to the Church of England. France has been a largely secular nation ever since, though Catholicism remains the leading religion.

Speaking of Canada: It has been noted that, due to its separation from France proper, the Canadian Province of Quebec, formerly known as New France, faced a tighter grip from the Church than did the "mother country." It would take until the "Quiet Revolution" of the 1960s for that grip to be broken.

This is not to say that the Catholic Church said, "Oh well, we lost this one. Let's move on." Hardly. On February 11, 1906, Pope Pius X wrote a papal open letter titled Vehementer Nos, which is Latin for "We strongly." Given that the Pope is, technically, the Church's monarch, he was speaking for the Church and using "the Royal We."

Pope Pius X

He wrote, "Our soul is full of sorrowful solicitude and Our heart overflows with grief... How, indeed, could it be otherwise, immediately after the promulgation of that law which, by sundering violently the old ties that linked your nation with the Apostolic See, creates for the Catholic Church in France a situation unworthy of her and ever to be lamented?"

He said the new law "must be deplored by all the right-minded." Why? Because it was "disastrous to society as it is to religion." He called it a "great calamity." He wrote, "That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error." And why is that? Because it was "a great injustice to God."

God's thoughts on the matter were not recorded by the media that existed at the time.

*

July 3, 1905 was a Monday. Johnny Gibson was born. From my original hometown of Bloomfield, New Jersey, he was a runner who competed in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, although he did not win a medal. He later served as the longtime track & field coach at Seton Hall University, and lived to be 101 years old.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Highlanders beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-0 at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan. Al Orth, a pitcher known as "The Curveless Wonder," pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie Keeler went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Highlanders, who became the New York Yankees in 1913.

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-1 at National League Park (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia.

* The Brooklyn Superbas beat the Boston Beaneaters, 2-1 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Superbas became the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1911, and the Boston team became the Braves in 1912.

* The Boston Americans, forerunners of the Red Sox, beat the Washington Senators, 6-2 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* And the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Naps (forerunners of the Indians and the Guardians), the Detroit Tigers, the St. Louis Browns, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.

May 17, 2018: "The Story of Jonah: A Lesson in Courage and Mercy" Premieres

May 17, 2018: The film The Story of Jonah: A Lesson in Courage and Mercy premieres, 2 days after another Biblical film had, The Book of Job. Directed by M. Stephen Lett, it credits none of the actors. Nevertheless, it has become the definitive cinematic telling of the story of the Prophet Jonah.

The Bible's Book of Jonah does not say when he lived, but he is mentioned in 2nd Kings, 14:25, which means he lived during the time of King Jeroboam II of Israel, who reigned from 786 to 746 BC. Jonah is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, near the modern-day city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, for their great wickedness and offenses to Him.

But Jonah instead attempts to run from God, by going to Jaffa, which is now part of the Tel Aviv area, and sailing to Tarshish, whose modern location is not clear, but both the Italian island of Sardinia and the coast of Spain have been suggested.

If Jonah thought this would get him away from God, he thought wrong. A huge storm arises, and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, come to believe that Jonah is to blame. He offers to be thrown overboard, so that the storm will cease. They do. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a "great fish," which is usually misidentified as a "whale." In other words, rather than representing potential death for Jonah, the fish saved him.

After 3 days and 3 nights, Jonah offers God a prayer of thanksgiving, and vows to carry out his mission. The fish spits Jonah out, and he travels to Nineveh, telling the people of the city, "In forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown." The people believe him, and the King of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance. God sees the people of the city repentant, and spares them and their city.

Jonah's experience is also mentioned in the Quran, and his survival of his experience makes his story popular with children, with songs written about him.

*

May 17, 2018 was a Thursday. These 9 games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 7-0 at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Kenta Maeda allowed 2 hits over 8 innings, and Kenley Jansen completed the 4-hit shutout.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-5 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. 

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now just "Rate Field") in Chicago.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-1 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Carlos González singled home the winning runs in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

Football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played on this day. One game was played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

May 15, 2018: "The Book of Job" Premieres

May 15, 2018: The film The Book of Job premieres. Directed by Lindsay Darnall Jr., it stars Joseph Pfaff as the title character, who has been called the original Jew who wonders why so much crap happens to him.

The story dates to about 2,000 BC, after the time of Noah and the Flood, but before almost everything that comes after that in the Bible, although the Patriarch Abraham, if he existed, may have lived at around the same time. The Bible's Book of Job is believed to have been written in "the Persian period," 540 to 330 BC.

According to the story, Job (pronounced with the long O, as "Johb") is a wealthy God-fearing man with a comfortable life and a large family. God discusses Job's piety with a character called "the adversary" -- in ancient Hebrew, הַשָּׂטָן, ha-sāṭān, which became the modern name "Satan." The adversary rebukes God, stating that Job would turn away from God if he were to lose everything within his possession. God decides to test that theory by allowing the adversary to inflict pain on Job.

Job is tested through extreme suffering, including the loss of his wealth, children, and health. Yet he maintains his piety, while nonetheless challenging the justice of God. Job defends himself against his unsympathetic friends, whom God admonishes. The dialogues explore human frailty and the inaccessibility of divine wisdom, culminating in God highlighting His omnipotence, and Job confessing his limited understanding. Job's fortunes and family are restored in the epilogue.

The story is considered an important part of Jewish history, even though no archeological evidence has been found to confirm that it happened. In writing God: A Biography, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1996, Jack Miles made the conflict with Job the centerpiece of his narrative.

Job also inspired Jewish writer Franz Kafka to write The Trial, the Coen Brothers to direct their 2009 film A Serious Man, and Terrence Malick to direct his 2011 film The Tree of Life.

*

May 15, 2018 was a Tuesday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Mets beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 12-2 at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard was the winning pitcher. Devin Mesoraco hit a home run.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at SunTrust Park (now Truist Park) in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Trevor Williams allowed 6 hits over 7 innings, and Kyle Crick and Richard Rodríguez completed the 7-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-8 at Comerica (now Fifth Third Park) Park in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Jordan Lyles pitched 7 1/3rd innings, allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out 10. Kirby Yates and Brad Hand finished the 1-hit shutout.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 9-8 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

Guillermo Heredia singled Ryon Healey home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The New York Yankees and the Washington Senators were tied, 3-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning at Nationals Park, when the game was suspended due to rain. The game was resumed on June 18, and the Nats won, 5-3. Reliever Chad Green blew the game for starter Masahiro Tanaka. Anthony Rendon and future Yankee (and future Met) Juan Soto hit home runs. Tyler Austin hit one for the Yankees. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Camden Yards. The game was made up on July 12. The Phillies won, 5-4.

Football was out of season. One game was played in the NBA Playoffs: The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-94 at the TD Garden in Boston. LeBron James scored 42 in defeat.

One game was played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada.

April 8, 1966: Time Magazine's "Is God Dead?" Cover

April 8, 1966: Time magazine prints its most famous cover, asking a big question: "Is God Dead?"

Why did the question come up? The question was already steeped in German philosophy in the 19th Century. In 1797, German writer Jean Paul wrote Siebenkäs (Sevencheese), in which a character says, "'The Dead Christ Proclaims That There Is No God." Philipp Mainländer and George Hegel had also written on the subject. In 1862, French writer Victor Hugo had his character Gerard de Nerval say, "God is dead, perhaps" in Les Misérables.

In his 1882 book The Gay Science (sometimes translated as "The Joyful Science," it has nothing to do with homosexuality), Friedrich Nietzsche came right out and said it: "Gott ist tot." He said, "The belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable," adding that everything that was "built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it," including "the whole of European morality," is bound to "collapse." He repeated the line "God is dead" in his next and most-known book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

The World Wars of the 20th Century, in which both Germany as aggressor and the nations defending themselves used God as justification, would likely have convinced him that he was right, at least about the collapse part.

What's more, Nietzsche believed it was a good thing: He often wrote of an "overman" who was "beyond good and evil," superseding established concepts of what was moral and what was not. And that was part of the problem: After his death in 1900, this belief in an Übermensch was twisted into the official beliefs of the aggressors of the World Wars, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

It was an American of German descent, Otto Fuerbringer, who, as editor of Time, released that cover, the magazine's first without a photograph in its 43 years of publishing to that point. But the issue did not attempt to answer the question. In more recent terms, the cover was "clickbait."

The article accompanying the magazine cover, titled "Toward a Hidden God" and written by the magazine's religion editor, John T. Elson, mentioned the so-called "God Is Dead" movement only briefly in its introduction. In a footnote, it identified the leaders of the movement, and explained how those theologians had been trying to construct a theology without God.

Otto Fuerbringer

The article pointed out that, while this movement had roots in the philosophy of Nietzsche, it also drew on a broader range of thinkers, who had expressed concerns about the role of God in an increasingly secularized world. The immediate reality did not indicate a death of God, or a death of religion, and the article pointed out that the recent Second Vatican Council had done much to revitalize Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular.

The article cited a poll in which 97 percent of Americans declared a belief in God, but only 27 percent called themselves "deeply religious."

Time received around 3,500 letters to the editor, still the largest number of responses to any one story in the history of the magazine. In its issue of December 26, 1969, Time ran a follow-up cover story asking, "Is God Coming Back to Life"?

A month before the controversial cover, John Lennon of The Beatles gave an interview in which he said, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now." When it was published in the American magazine Datebook on July 29, evangelical Americans lost their minds, and convinced radio stations to ban the Beatles, and even held record burnings, as if it was Nazi Germany. Lennon had to apologize.

On November 29, 1993, Time did a cover story on psychology, discussing how people were moving away from the teachings of Sigmund Freud. Freud had died in 1939, and was famously atheist: He wouldn't have said God was dead, he would have said God never existed in the first place. But the 1993 cover showed a painting of Freud, with his head coming apart like pieces of a puzzle, asking, "Is Freud Dead?"

And on April 3, 2017, with Donald Trump having become President, despite so many of his statements having been proven to be lies, Time printed this cover.

Trump was defeated in 2020, so the answer was, "No, but it sure was sick for a while." (UPDATE: Trump was returned to the Presidency in 2024, indicating that truth remains seriously ill.)

Otto Fuerbringer died in 2008; John T. Elson, the following year.

*

April 8, 1966 was a Friday -- indeed, it was Good Friday, the traditional date of the Crucifixion of Jesus, with Easter to follow on Sunday. Actresses Cynthia Nixon and Robin Wright were born on this day.

The baseball season started 3 days later. Football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were in the Divisional Finals, but both were between games. The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games, while the Los Angeles Lakers needed 7 games to beat the St. Louis Hawks. The Celtics then beat the Lakers in the Finals.

And the Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but both Semifinal series were between games. The Montreal Canadiens would sweep the Toronto Maple Leafs in 4 straight, while the Detroit Red Wings would need 6 games to finish off the Chicago Black Hawks, and then the Canadiens would beat the Wings for the Cup. So there were no scores on this historic day.