Life Breath

 There’s a new translation of the Psalms by Robert Alter. It was given some attention in an interview on NPR because of Alter’s rejection of the word “soul.” According to Alter the word “nefresh,” which in the traditional translation is rendered “soul,” means something more like “life breath.” The image is of someone who has almost stopped breathing and is brought back to life.

So instead of “He restoreth my soul,” Alter’s translation reads, “My life He brings back.”

My own nefresh could use some restoring. As a college student, I puzzled over a painting by Ed Knippers on the wall of a favorite professor. It depicted a hollow cross, with a man trapped inside. He looked cramped and miserable. I decided it stood for the moment between death and resurrection–the moment between rejecting the old ways of thinking and living, and being raised into a new paradigm by the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus himself wasn’t raised for 3 days.

I seem to spend most of my life in that tight, airless space between the death of the old and the life of the new. Right now it’s working itself out practically in the experience of being between churches. My family is between jobs, and between educational approaches. I’ve rejected the old. Now I’m waiting for the surge of life breath that will let me know I’ve reached the new.