Cow or Calf

Acts 7:1-8:1a

The Bible isn’t always a treasure house of great rhetoric. Sure, there’s the Beatitudes, but there’s also a bunch of speeches that the Bible just insists had a tremendous impact on the listeners, but they don’t read like much of anything in English translation.

The story of St. Stephen and his martyrdom revolves around a long speech he gives to the high priest who confronts him with accusations of blasphemy. What follows is a run-on thumbnail retelling of nearly the whole Old Testament, sort of like 10-minute Shakespeare, leading up to some key points where the people show themselves to be “a stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears…forever opposing the Holy Spirit.” The result of Stephen’s oratorical efforts? The crowd stones him. Generally considered a bad outcome from an attempt at persuasion. But I guess Socrates had the same problem.

A lot of Stephen’s speech recounts the history of the Jews: Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses bringing them out of Israel. All of this leads to exhibit A in the charge of stiff-neckedness, that whole golden calf thing.

Well, I’ve been thinking of the Golden Calf ever since my world was enriched recently by something I learned about in Iowa: The Butter Cow. Dear readers, I probably have no need to explain the Butter Cow to you, but in case there are some of you who suffer from the same level of ignorance in which I wallow, the Butter Cow is a feature of the Iowa State Fair. Since 1911, a sculptor has created a life-sized dairy cow out of layers of butter applied to wood, metal, and mesh frame. Carving the cow is the responsibility of a single artist who performs this feat each year until the time to retire and hand over the reins. This artist also carves another figure or maybe more—Elvis one year, Tiger Woods, the Last Supper, Brandon Routh as Superman (the actor is from Iowa). The State Fair is on only its 4^th butter sculptor.

The Butter Cow strikes me as one of those things everyone would have heard of, and my ignorance of it makes me question what cave I’ve been living in (I’ve been watching Letters from Iwo Jima on DVD this evening, so I’ve also got caves on the mind).

But here’s the question:

Charming Midwestern tradition?

Or rejection of the covenant with God?