Many Waters [Paperback]

A snowstorm forces the fifteen-year-old twins indoors from an impromtu hockey game. They are alone in the Murray house, and soon boredom sets in, leading the boys to start snooping in their father's labratory. A time machine is unwittingly discovered, the boys wish for "some place warm and dry", and the next thing they know, they are whisked away to a strange desert, not knowing that their father's invention has transported them to the Biblical times of Noah and the great flood. Here they discover that humans live for hundreds of years, that nephilims (angels thrown down from heaven) are the bad guys, and seraphim (good angels still in the service of God) are the good guys. Noah has just been told by God to build an ark, but everyone, including his children, thinks he's crazy. Yet with the twins' help, God's will is eventually carried out, but with a price.

Much angst, adventure, conspiracy, violence, romance and Biblical lessons insue. I'll say one thing--Sunday school never taught you THIS about the famous story of Genesis! L'Engle flawlessly incorporates Biblical texts with her own fictional twists. The end result is a wonderful read that will make you adore the members of the Murray family even more.

One might already take issue with the idea of crafting a speculative story around a Biblical event. But L'Engle's chances of pulling this off this successfully is reduced even more by the fact that the Biblical account of the flood includes several difficult exegetical questions. Readers should be aware that L'Engle's position on these questions is highly questionable. Firstly Genesis, 6:2 speaks about "the sons of God" marrying "the daughters of men". Although this is commonly interpreted to refer to intermarriage between believers and unbelievers, L'Engle adopts the controversial explanation that this refers to relations between men and angels: "winged creatures who sleep with the daughters of men" (p.72). She takes the "Nephilim" of Genesis 6:4 to be fallen angels who have relations with human women, as opposed to the "Seraphim" who are the good angels (p.59,96,126,171). This understanding becomes a foundational element of the novel. However this explanation of Nephilim and Seraphim is highly questionable for various reasons, including the fact that the only seraphim in the the Bible are pictured in heaven and not on earth (Isa. 6), and that the traditional understanding of this Genesis 6 has a great deal to commend it. Further, the idea that the angels can switch between human form and within an animal host is entirely without any basis (p45-6). Secondly, Genesis 6:3 speaks about man's days being 120 years. L'Engle takes this to refer to a shortening of life span, rather than a period of 120 years of warning prior to the flood. Admittedly this is a controversial but certainly not unpopular explanation, and does not really hamper the novel significantly.

However, there are also many simple blunders and inaccuracies where it seems that close attention has not been paid to the Biblical text. For instance, Noah's father Lamech is described as dying shortly before the flood, whereas the Bible indicates his death occurred five years earlier (Gen 5:30; 7:11). And Shem is pictured as a hunter of animals, even though God only gave animals as food after the flood (Gen. 9:3). The fact that he thanks the animal rather than God is also bizarre (p180-1). On these points the book goes beyond speculation, and is simply incorrect. The idea of listening to, obeying and trusting the stars is also somewhat vague and troubling because it lends credence to a form of divine revelation never mentioned in Scripture (p.141, 282). Perhaps L'Engle's own view of divine revelation accounts for this. The way the Bible was referred to made me seriously wonder about the author's own view of Scripture: the Bible is described as "chauvinistic" (p168) and "It's supposed to be the Word of God, not written by God." (p169). Furthermore, the constant to attention to lust and sexual content made me wonder whether this book is really suitable for children.

If one can overlook the speculation, the plot itself is well-written and fascinating. And certainly there are many wholesome ideas and concepts. The aspect of spiritual war is certainly Biblical, although the portrayal of this war as a battle between the nephilim and seraphim is of course pure speculation. "I think the seraphim like us. But the others don't ... I mean, the other ones, the nephilim." (p.188) The twins are involved in this spiritual war, and must resist temptation and maintain their integrity. The historical redemptive significance of Noah's salvation is correctly pointed out: "If the flood had drowned everybody, if the earth hadn't been repopulated, then Jesus would never have been born." (p198). The ongoing problem of human depravity after the flood is not diminished: "We do even worse things to one another because we know more." (p197). And the title is a very creative application of Song of Solomon 8:7 ("Many waters cannot quench love") to the waters of the flood (p242,296), although the "love" is never fully worked out, and the exact significance of the title remains rather obscure even by the end of the book. In the end, however, I found the whole notion of Biblical fiction with its heavy dependence on speculation rather disturbing. If there's one book in the Time Quartet that you can afford to miss, it is this one. You will have to make up your own mind about this, but at the very least you should be aware ahead of time that this is not just a work of fiction, but a work of Biblical science fiction.