Reflections on “God of the Living: A Biblical Theology”

    Joseph Kelly and Charles Halton are to be thanked for drawing attention to a new volume of biblical theology, Der Gott der Lebendigen: Eine biblische Gotteslehre (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011) by Hermann Spieckermann, a professor of Old Testament at the Georg-August-Universität of Göttingen, and Reinhard Feldmeier, a professor of New Testament in the same location.

    Spieckermann, a chief co-editor of an essential reference work in progress, the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (note to Mike Heiser and friends: would that these volumes were offered through Logos), is eminently qualified to write a biblical theology. This is also true of Feldmeier, though I cannot claim to know that from first-hand knowledge of his scholarship beyond this book (the Jesus Festschrift or NT is of unparalleled importance to me, but is not the focus of my research). It does not surprise me that Der Gott der Lebendigen simultaneously appeared in the excellent translation of Mark Biddle, under the title God of the Living: A Biblical Theology (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011). Spieckermann for one is a careful planner. The volume is available through amazon.de auf Deutsch, and in English through Amazon.

    God of the Living is extremely well written (it reads better in German). Its strengths are immense. A first introduction to the creative theological reflection of its authors and, to a lesser extent, of colleagues including Kratz, Köckert, Koch, and Janowski (the list is suggestive, not exhaustive), it is biblical theology in a new key, with careful attention to ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman backgrounds.

    Nonetheless, the truly intrepid scholar will not start with this volume. She will begin with the following monographs, available through Eisenbrauns:

Hermann Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (FRLANT 181/1; Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1989); idem, Gottes Liebe zu Israel: Studien zur Theologie des Alten Testaments (FAT 33; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001); further, a series of volumes edited by Spieckermann and Reinhard Kratz: Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike. Band I: Ägypten, Mesopotamien, Kleinasien, Syrien, Palästina (FAT2 17; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006); Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike. Band II: Griechenland und Rom, Judentum, Christentum und Islam (FAT2 18; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006); Divine Wrath and Divine Mercy in the World of Antiquity (FAT2 33; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008); Zeit und Ewigkeit als Raum göttlichen Handelns: Religionsgeschichtliche, theologische und philosophische Perspektiven (BZAW 390; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009); One God - One Cult - One Nation: Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives (BZAW 405; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010)

    The truly intrepid scholar will read more of Spieckermann and Feldmeier for herself, and (e.g.) Reinhard Kratz, Matthias Köckert, Klaus Koch, and Bernd Janowski. To be sure, most of the pertinent scholarship is in German and is only available, shall we say, at FAT prices. German language scholarship is expensive. At the same time, it is readily available in the best research libraries; otherwise, through interlibrary loan.

    God of the Living is not without significant limitations. I point them out without wanting to overlook the fact that this theology is very well-grounded in the disciplines of the study of the Old and New Testaments, its authors incredibly well-read in their fields. Still, the volume interacts very little with Jewish scholarship on the Old and New Testaments with respect to theological questions. The volume would have been stronger were it informed by sustained and explicit engagement with theses and insights of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Moshe Greenberg, Bernard Levinson, Jon Levenson (I am also thinking of the volume he co-authored with Kevin Madigan), Michael Fishbane, Benjamin Sommer, Israel Knohl, Jacob Milgrom, and Marc Zvi Brettler (a suggestive, not an exhaustive list).

    Nor is Jewish scholarship on the New Testament given adequate attention (for a first orientation, see the volume presented here). The lack of engagement with the scholarship of those who contributed to Christianity in Jewish Terms also represents a missed opportunity. Finally, is it possible to discuss love of God and neighbor without interacting with Meir Soleivichik’s seminal essay, The_Virtue_of_Hate?

    It is also frustrating that the work of non-Fachleute is generally overlooked (an exception: Jan Assmann). A biblical theology that takes into consideration the insights of Mary Douglas, Jacques Ellul, Emil Fackenheim, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas has yet to be written.

    Beyond that, it would have been nice to see a volume of German language biblical theology interact in a sustained fashion with output on the same topic produced in English, by (e.g.) Barr and Moberly; Ellen Davis and Mandolfo; Fretheim, Perdue, Brown, and Brueggemann; Goldingay and Patrick Miller. I also missed interaction with the theses of German language scholars including Ebach and Crüsemann; Lohfink, Zenger and Hossfeld.

    To be clear, the above lists reflect the limitations of my reading. Moreover, the proper response to such lists is probably: καὶ σὺ τέκνον? Not that I am interested in taking Caesar out. Nor am I ready to write a biblical theology of my own.

    A smidgeon of Sachkritik. So far as I can see, the greatest theological need of the moment is to correct common understandings of "God is Love" in light of passages like Nahum 1, Habakkuk 3, the book of Daniel, Mark 13, and the Apocalypse of John, not the other way around.

    It is the imperturbable response of resignation and disinterest vis-à-vis examples of systemic evil in the world today, the helpless approach of the majority of well-fed and well-heeled Jews and Christians to the same, that needs to be distinguished from the stance of God as the Bible speaks of God vis-à-vis examples of systemic evil. In our day regimes like those that grind the populaces of Syria, Iran, Zimbabwe, Belarus, and North Korea barely register in the consciousness of the typical citizen. If the witness of scripture is any guide, God's stance toward such regimes, and examples of systemic evil endemic to the generality of modern states, is one of implacable and undisguised contempt.

    A specific example: the Occupy Wall Street movement. Whereas I am unconvinced by the rhetoric of this movement, that does not mean I buy the rhetoric of Wall Street. Resources for an alternative to both are found in scripture. That so few utilize them is a judgment on the petit-bourgeois flavor of the generality of academic biblical scholarship. Not on the Bible, one of whose abiding strengths is its failure to legitimize that particular social location.

    The above comments push back at reflections found in God of the Living quoted by Joseph Kelly. In major strands of ancient theology, wrath and judgment are understood as the only proper response to egregious realities of various kinds; a nod to this fact is found in a footnote of God of the Living (fn 3 on p 339). What is love after all, if it knows nothing of what Jacques Ellul called “the violence of love” (introduction here)?

    God of the Living is a splendid accomplishment. It merits, not slavish agreement, but sustained engagement. 

Online Discussion of God of the Living

Larry Hurtado
Joseph Kelly
Charles Halton
Craig Adams

Comments

[Mitchell Powell]

Resources for an alternative to both are found in scripture.

Is there any way I could talk you into expanding on what you see as the alternative to Occupy and Wall Street?

[JohnFH]

Hi Mitchell,

I'm guessing that you may have some insights of your own. Why don't we start with them?

[Mitchell Powell]

If that's what it takes, I'll give it a shot.

I think that the Occupiers are right about there being a class of people who are making money hand over fist by exploiting the volatility of the markets. I also think this class of people is deliberately quiet about the causes of the artificially induced volatility because it is so profitable for them.

So I sympathize with the Occupiers, but only in the same way that I sympathize with the economic concerns of Marxists -- I very much hate their cure but at the very least they have some understanding of the illness.

If as an overconfident twenty-year old I were called upon to lecture Occupiers, Wall Street execs, and policy makers right now on what insights the Bible can give them for solving their problems, it would look something like this:

1. Long-term debt, especially in a democracy, is very harmful on both personal and national levels. Proverbs seems pretty clear about this. At the very least, let's stop encouraging it on the national level by artificially producing a combination of low interest rates and inflation that makes borrowing money so attractive. We also need a serious discussion about whether Deuteronomy 15:1 and Nehemiah 10:31 might provide the basis for laws limiting the length of mortgages and other debts, and whether to default on our national debt.

2. The constant back-and-forth games by which the Fed constantly manipulates the dollar supply and, therefore, the value of the dollar, need to be re-examined in the light of the numerous Scriptural passages which condemn varying weights. Technically, of course, we could argue that the dollar is not a "weight" anymore, but I have a great deal of trouble morally distinguishing the two, especially in light of the pernicious effects of playing around with weights and measures, which have been, perhaps ironically, explained in greatest detail by a pair of agnostic/atheistic Jews: classical liberal Ludwig von Mises and anarchist Murray Rothbard. If they are right, the manipulation of the money supply is the economic cause of constant and massive fluctuations in the markets.

3. Wealth is best gained by means of work, the Proverbs way, rather than through number games. For decades a great horde of financial advisors have tried to sell the average American on the notion that gains won on the stock market are a viable way for the average Joe to make gobs of cash (usually through allegedly safe investments like mutual funds). In economic terms, the idea that there is automatic money to be had via the stock market (as distinguished from the banking sector) bears strong affinities to a Ponzi scheme.

4. Covetousness is banned in the Ten Commandments for a reason. Politics of envy, even if they are done with the intention of bettering the world, are a destructive force. There will always be rich and poor -- to try to get rid of oppression through taxes is rather like trying to do open heart surgery with a hammer.

Okay. I've showed you mine . . .

[John Hobbins]

Hi Mitchell,

Than you for a thoughtful attempt to address some of the most pressing issues of the day in light of law, wisdom, and perhaps a sliver of gospel.

What you refer to as overconfidence is a gift. I would call it the audacity of hope if someone else had not used that phrase and emptied it of credibility.

I will start elsewhere. My point of departure I consider that of "secular" prophecy, that is, an honest indictment from the inside of my generation (not yours). (It's pretty likely that the roots of this self-critique have a solid Catholic base, but I don't know that for a fact.)

I quote from a famous op-ed of less than a year ago, by Nicola Rossi (b. 1951), one of the few Italian politicians worth hearing out - every country, I would hope, by the grace of God, has one or two, the rest being smoochers, sycophants, and poppycocks. The title of his op-ed: "The Failure of a Generation."

Adulti — uomini e donne, a destra e a sinistra — ... per due decadi non hanno esitato a consumare quel che c’era e, soprattutto, quel che non c’era. L’anomalia vera è la mia generazione: la stessa che oggi guarda i più giovani con occhio umido e li considera come una sfortunata eccezione.

Adults, men and women, of the Right and of the Left ... for two decades did not hesitate to consume whatever there was, and, especially, whatever there wasn't: the same generation that today looks at younger generations with damp eyes and considers them an unfortunate exception.

End quote. Rossi is an economist of the non-stupid variety - therefore without "dimora fissa" - with no place to lay his head, politically speaking.

Among the things he said when he resigned from the Italian Senate (his letter of resignation was rejected by a large majority, by political opponents and allies alike):

Ho solo voluto smentire una delle tante favole che negli ultimi tempi hanno trovato credito soprattutto a sinistra: l’idea ingenua e fuorviante che l’evoluzione dell’umanità sia un processo lineare le cui interruzioni sono da considerarsi anomalie. Spiace, ma così non è. Così non è mai stato. E’ capitato a molti di sperimentare condizioni di vita e livelli di benessere inferiori rispetto a quelli sperimentari dalle generazioni precedenti. I giovani di oggi non sono i primi e non saranno gli ultimi. E la strada che hanno davanti è la stessa dei tanti che hanno in passato affrontato simili difficoltà e hanno saputo risalire la china: rimboccarsi le maniche, studiare e lavorare di più e meglio per riconquistare i perduti livelli di benessere, accettare la realtà e affrontarla a viso aperto, piegandola se necessario e quando possibile”.

I wanted to give the lie to one of the many fables that has been believed and professed on the Left in particular: the ingenuous and misleading idea that the evolution of humanity is to be considered a linear process whose interruptions are to be thought of as anomalies. I'm sorry, but that is not the way it is. It never has been. It has often been the case that a generation has experienced levels of economic prosperity inferior to those of precedent generations. Young people today are not the first and will not be the last to have this experience.

The way ahead for them is the same one that many before them have had to take in order to climb the hill: that of rolling up their sleeves, of studying and working better and harder in order to reconquer the lost levels of economic prosperity; of accepting reality and confronting it with eyes wide open, altering it if necessary and where possible.

End quote. How does the above relate to your remarks? Rossi's comments include a self-indictment your remarks don't (because they don't apply to your generation in the same way as they apply to mine; on the other hand, virtually everyone who participated in the Occupy Wall Street movement belongs to the 1 per cent, globally speaking, so the difference is relative).

But Rossi's comments are like yours in terms of the appeal to notions of basic wisdom about which young people *and* baby boomers are often in denial: we are meant to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow; live within in our means; pass on, not a pile of debts and broken relationships, but a hard-won patrimony of ideals and institutions, to our children and grandchildren.

On the other hand, I don't agree with everything you say about Wall Street. As far as I am concerned, the task of being a fund manager is an honorable profession, one which involves a lot of hard work and due diligence (full disclosure: I sit on the board of a foundation which manages millions of dollars of investments of local congregations, so I am talking a bit about myself and in particular, about a number of fine people (young and old) whom I work with on a regular basis). The goal of a great investment fund ought to be that of sifting and winnowing investment opportunities and picking winners in the sense of genuine wealth creators with a high sense of public responsibility - (yes, I think Jobs and Gates and their respective firms qualify, without wishing to deny in the least the amount of shenanigans both Apple and Microsoft have been involved in; just examples). The unmet challenge has been, to a large extent, that of not vetting companies properly (think Solyndra) or weeding out losers with sufficient ferocity (think Enron).

Your comments deserve more, but I'll stop there for now.

[John Anderson]

John, a correction. Fortress didn't publish this; Baylor Press did. You may want to remedy that in your opening paragraph; you know me, always wanting to make sure Baylor gets the appropriate kudos!

[John Hobbins]

Hi John,

Fixed now. Thanks for pointing that out.

[TheraP]

Two tiny corrections, John: (a) Maybe it's just me, but the "monograph" link leads nowhere. (b) The link for "The Virtue of Hate" leads back to the book you linked just prior (and my copy of that book does not have the essay, which I did find by Googling it).

I sure hope that the LIFE after life includes opportunity for doing the kind of reading that my remaining years (and hopefully remaining cognitive faculties!) are unlikely to hold. Already in college I could see that - but the road ahead is way shorter than the road behind with each passing day...

[John Hobbins]

Hi Thera,

I redid the links and they work now. Thanks for the heads up.

[TheraP]

I'm fascinated with the paper you flagged on “The Virtue of Hate” - and in particular I was struck by the contrasts between the most sacred historical moments/most sacred liturgical days (in Christianity versus Judaism - as cited). To recap, the writer asserts that Judaism's most important historical moment is the giving of the Law on Sinai – BUT its most important religious day is the Day of Atonement, versus the crucifixion as Christianity's most important historical moment – BUT Easter as its most important religious day.

There is so much meat in that article worth pondering. With regard to forgiveness, one is tempted to consider that the crucifixion operates as Christ's “answer” to both the Day of Atonement and the giving of the law on Sinai. For Christ's comment from the cross “Father forgive them...” might be considered as both a deed, the ultimate gift to all, and a teaching - the giving of a final “Law" as a new and shocking interpretation of the “greatest commandment” to love God and one's neighbor. For we all "know not what we do" and we all receive the forgiveness at the same time as we are challenged to "pass it on".

How to transform hatred into love: That is Christianity's great mitzvah. For those most severely abused with whom I have worked, it has been an essential spiritual task – to take in their anger, their rage, and allow it to be transformed and returned as love – exactly as Paul described it to the Corinthians. Is it possible, therefore, that we could do something similar within our own hearts for the Jews - to "take in" (as it were) the hatred for their persecutors, allowing it to be transformed by the Spirit into love?

As an aside, I once went to a conference titled: “Spirituality and Healing in Medicine”. If there was a central theme, it was forgiveness and its (documented) healing power - psychologically, spiritually, physically – even allowing the dying to come to greater peace.

Here is a quote I love (from the Ecumenical Patriarch):

"Implore God for the renewal of your hearts and minds; invoke His grace for the salvation of every human person, even – and especially – the least of our brothers and sisters (Mt 25:45); and pray fervently for the transfiguration of the whole world, to the last speck of dust."

[Angela Erisman]

"It merits, not slavish agreement, but sustained engagement."

Isn't this true of all good scholarship (in terms of what it exacts from a reader) and all good scholars (in terms of the stance they take toward what they read)?

[John Hobbins]

Hi Thera,

Here are a couple of thoughts. I'm convinced that authentic forgiveness comes at a great price for the forgiver and the forgiven. The Lutheran truth, though one-sided, that there is no forgiveness without repentance (from the side of the forgiven), needs to be filled out with the symmetrical truth, that there is no forgiveness without reconciliation (from the side of the forgiver). And yet how often one or both of these sides never materializes on the ground. Furthermore, I often find it necessary (with Christians) to give people permission *not* to forgive. To be honest (I don't want to scare anyone), I am sometimes known to preach and counsel people to hate those who have harmed them. Paradoxically, this seems to be a stepping stone to authentic forgiveness later on. If I'm not making sense here, let me know.

I also have a question related to forgiving and forgetting. On the one hand, I realize that forgetting is one of the great eschatological promises. It is a wonderful gift, often, to be able to forget. On the other hand, there is a great need in another sense not to forget, past crimes included, but if that is so, then there is a need to combine forgiving with *not* forgetting.

As for Christians helping Jews, that makes sense to me only if we are also able to name ways in which Jews help Christians. You imply that, I think, simply by your willingness to give "The Virtue of Hate" a fair and authentic hearing.

[John Hobbins]

Hi Angela,

What you say is very true and you say it very well.

BTW, I had a great time reading your Eisenbrauns volume and am now in your debt for a a number of new insights, but I have not yet found the time to collect my thoughts into a review of the kind I am confident you would appreciate.

[Mitchell Powell]

John,

Thank you for the thoughts. Let me say, for the record, that I don't think that being a hedge fund manager is necessarily dishonorable. There is good and evil in every line of work, including pizza delivery. I do, however, think that there are some huge systemic issues in our economy that need to be addressed, ones which go far beyond the prudent picking of stocks. And I do think that many of the people who are architects and upholders of our current financial order make handfuls of money off it in unjust ways: Newt Gingrich being just one example among many. If I didn't make that sufficiently clear, it is because I was trying to write about politics and economics without giving a massive lecture of how Qui bono? and the "Austrian" theory of the trade cycle have formed my views on economics.

Did Nicola Rossi write anything in English that you would recommend? By combining my rusty Spanish, Latin, and French, I can just barely get through his wikipedia page, let alone anything more complex in Italian. I'm applying most of my linguistic energy to the Mishna right now, so the time I have to work through Italian writing is limited.

[Mitchell Powell]

PS: With regard to the Occupiers being in the top "1%" worldwide, your point is well taken. Having spent my first five years in and around the slums of Caracas (which were, in turn, called with some justification "the richest slums in the world") I'm well aware of the irony that exists when students here at OSU sip $5 coffees while listening to songs about how the rich have robbed them. Though I spent my first eighteen years officially below the US poverty line (and nothing's changed since then other than a really good scholarship), I know how wealthy I am every time I buy textbooks.

Michael Moore can speak to a large crowd and, with a straight face, tell middle-class Americans that, "Our nation is awash with wealth and cash, but it's just not in your hands." While I live an extremely comfortable life here in a Muslim immigrant neighborhood that is widely considered poor and dangerous by US standards, it is impossible for me to feel any sympathy for the self-pity of the middle class, and it is close to impossible for me to feel any sympathy for the self-pity of the poor people who live around me. (I speak with regard to material standard of living; when it comes to the familial and societal anarchy that many of our poor and others live in, in the US, I am much more concerned.)

If I am concerned about financial dirty deeds, it is not because I am concerned for our material standard of living here in the US, but for the moral and social problems that attend a culture of ripping people off.

[TheraP]

John, I understand and and I agree with most of your reply. I myself NEVER tell anyone what they "must" do or proscribe things (unless it pertains to suicide or intentional harm of another). I too have supported people who simply knew they could never forgive. And yes, supporting someone's "dug-in" position definitely allows for further reflection down the road and a possible change of mind. (And that goes for more than forgiveness or non-forgiveness.)

However, I'm not sure forgiveness necessitates repentance or even a face to face forgiveness. (You seem to allude to that yourself.) And while I understand where the Rabbi is coming from and feel a sense of compassion for his position (let's face it, it's a pretty common reaction), I really can't describe hate as a virtue. I'd say, rather, that in a hierarchy of goals, he has explained how he'd view hatred as a virtuous choice, in view of his assumed long term consequences.

As for my question, I phrased it that way because I truly had never considered it until I was writing (and revising) my comment. And the idea of taking on the forgiveness on behalf of the Jews arose like something from my unconscious, related to my own experience treating severely abused individuals, who direct a lot of anger toward the therapist as a safe target really. But what to do with all that anger? On their behalf? I think it's a spiritual task at that point. And if it works in therapy, why might it not work on some mystical level? As a sharing in Christ's mission to extend forgiveness? I have no "systematic theology" of this. But it's like a prayer perhaps. Or a blessing one could try to confer. Across both sides of the divide. Of any divide. A prayer for transfiguration.

As for whether Jews help Christians: Do I really need to provide evidence? My own therapist was a Jew. During 3 years of my training. My first "best friend" was Jewish and her extended family embraced me. The first truly holy person I ever encountered was a Jew (Heschel). We owe a great legacy to the Jews. Jesus was a Jew!

As for "forgetting" mostly the neurons are opposed to that - it's how we learn... making use of painful experiences, pondering them.

Forgiveness, to me, is the heart of the message of Jesus. It goes against our natural inclinations. Hatred, by itself, is an emotion, which arises unbidden. Forgiveness is the work of a lifetime.

[John Hobbins]

Hi Mitchell,

I don't know if anything by Rossi has been translated into the language of the empire; I have his volume, "Meno ai padri, piu ai figli: Stato sociale e modernizzazione dell'Italia" = "Less to the fathers, more to the children: The social welfare state and the modernization of Italy."

Rossi talks about the fact that the form modernization in Great Britain, Italy, and like countries including our own has taken is inconceivable without the structures of the social welfare state. At the same time, those structures and entitlements are so tilted in the direction of the non-young and healthy that the young and healthy, not to mention their children, are in consequence struggling with declining levels of economic prosperity. There needs to be a very significant course correction.

I think he has a point but I am aware of the irony of writing that in a comment on a blog. Even if I were living below the poverty line as defined by who knows what US agency - I am not - I would still consider my children, 8, 17, and 20, not just me and my wife, as very much in the 1 per cent because, among other things, we are electronically wired. The internet is after all a freebie (or almost) brought to us originally by the military-industrial complex. Even though we as parents pay in big money every year to finance a number of entitlement programs for seniors and beyond, with the shortfall put on their credit card (the national debt), I am apt to consider my children as better off than I was at their age.

Are they better off from the moral and social points of view? I hope that it is the case, but in large part that is in spite of, not because of, the immense amount of wealth and cash that sloshes around in this country, in their own hands and out of them.

[John Hobbins]

Hi Thera,

Thanks for the conversation. In the world in which we live, I believe there is a place for hate, as there is a place for anger.

Still, the general rule applies: "do not let the sun go down on your anger." That does not always work, with respect to anger or hatred, but it is a goal well worth pursuing.

[TheraP]

I've enjoyed the conversation too, John. I always appreciate your intellect and your astute moral reasoning.

All emotions are OK. They are God-given and we need to respect them as sources of information. It's important we stress, however, that when it comes to hate, feelings are different from plans and plans are different from action. Hate is a useful emotion. Wishing is even OK. But murder or torture or terrorist acts are not. (To be clear, I did not see the Rabbi as at all urging putting hate into deeds. Nor have you suggested that.)

[Angela Erisman]

Glad you enjoyed it, John. I look forward to your thoughts.

[Margo, Children's Ministry Academy]

What a thoughtful, precisely written blog post! I've heard a bit about "God of the Living: A Biblical Theology", but not enough to urge me to go out and pick up a copy—until now, that is. Your have definitely given me that push I needed to buy the book and immediately jump in to reading it. Thank you so much!

[Benjamin Smith]

On the subject of hate, I have to say that I don't think I can trust myself to hate individuals 'righteously.' Organizational injustice, perhaps, but every time I hate an individual it's more out of self-righteousness and spite than concern for what's right.

[JohnFH]

Hi Benjamin,

That's a good point. Hatred in any case ought to be proportional to the amount of harm someone is doing.

Still, it pays to ask: On what grounds would you *not* hate someone who makes a sport of ruining the lives of others?