Welcome to my blog, The Light of Christ in the Darkness: Meditations on Scripture for Latter-Day Saints, and for all people of faith. I’m Holly Hamilton-Bleakley, an Idaho-farm-girl-turned-philosophy-professor. It wasn’t that hard of a transition, actually.
In one sense, this blog is a simply a journal. It is a journal of my daily (or near daily) scripture study.
Since I’m also a philosopher, some of my philosophical reflections which relate to my scripture study will be here, too. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I write from the perspective of my own faith tradition. However, I hope that this blog will be of benefit to any person of faith, no matter what their tradition.
Although I am a scholar, I claim no scholarly expertise in writing this blog. I write for spiritual connection, to clarify my thoughts, to seek the light of Christ in my life, and to shine that Light in whatever way I can for others. All mistakes are my own.
My scripture journal has always been a personal endeavor. Over the years, it has been a tremendous source of comfort and insight for me. But lately, I have felt moved to shift my scripture study from the private realm, into something more public. People of faith simply cannot be silent anymore about their faith. Not in this age.
Of course, silence must not be confused with privacy, and many things regarding my experiences with the scriptures will remain private. But the more I study the scriptures, the more I know that they contain, in some way, the answers to whatever problems we face. And, in 2021, we face some very big problems.
It would be hard to overstate the shift in my thinking over the past few years regarding the times in which we live. I’ve gone from thinking about how we could extend human rights and increase the capacity of all groups to exercise them more fully, to thinking about whether anyone will have rights in the future. I’ve gone from worrying about the gridlock of our democratic institutions, to worrying about whether we will have any democratic institutions in the future. I’ve gone from worrying about the quality of my children’s education, to worrying whether they are getting educated at all. Our systems are failing, the events and ideologies of the past are haunting us, and – despite the rise of social media which keeps us ‘connected’ – people seem to be increasingly less able to engage in constructive forms of connection which we so desperately need. And a future dominated by an ever-increasing big-tech power – unelected, unaccountable, and uncontrollable – looms before us.
Now, it’s not that the scriptures speak directly to these particular, specific concerns. The answers given in the scriptures are not political, any more than they are medicinal or mathematical. Of course, there are discussions of these things here and there, but overall, the answers that we find in the scriptures are spiritual answers. As such, they are answers that contain power – not social power, economic power, political power, or military power, but spiritual power. They are a lifeline to Almighty God, who has all power.
As Simone Weil once argued, when an individual is rooted in the good, they have a real force that they can exert against whatever collective evil they may face. I would add that, in this sense, becoming rooted in the good transforms your agency – you have more power to be good, and to do good, both for yourself and for those around you. My scripture study is an attempt to root myself in that Good.
I try not to weep for my children and grandchildren. But I think any honest person can see that we are failing to build a good future for them. This seems to be an age of tearing down, rather than of building up. It remains to be seen what we will leave for future generations, but nihilism and destruction seem to setting the agenda, rather than truth-seeking and the pursuit of goodness. All of this makes me think that my children will need whatever spiritual insights I might have sooner, rather than later. And I have sensed God telling me this, too. We must fortify them with love and edification now.
I welcome comments on my posts, to further conversation, reflection, and self-reflection.
I used to think I would publish my scripture journals late in life, and that my descendants would read them when I was gone. But I’m starting to think that my journals are for now, the present moment. Any wisdom that is received in the far-off future may be wisdom received too late.
Holly Hamilton-Bleakley, March 2021
The Light of Christ in the Darkness 