Reflections

Abstract

When Mark Twain looked into the mirror of heaven and the book of nature, he saw what for him was the “real God,” the “One who created this majestic universe and rules it.” He would not have human characteristics like jealousy, “a trait so small that even men despise it in each other”; “He would regard self-praise as unbecoming the dignity of His position”; “He would not have the spirit of vengeance in His heart” (“Mark Twain’s God,” The Three R’s 153–54). Twain recognized that our sacred texts throughout history, especially the Bible (his immediate concern), have created as objects of worship preposterous personae—a grandmother slaughtering and dismembering Marduk, a tyrannical, womanizing, child-abusing Zeus, or an angry, jealous, biased, sex-preoccupied, self-promoting, vengeful Yahweh. Twain found the biblical God repellent and responded with sardonic laughter directed toward those who created and perpetuate his story. Even so, Twain was unwilling to relinquish the metaphor of a masculine, divine author, king, and originator. He is the “one who created this majestic universe and rules it.”