The only thing that I ever managed to retain from my mandatory Theology class at Notre Dame, is, somehow, Genesis I. I do not know why this is what I remember after four months of learning about the Bible, but on further thought, I feel it is the most universal thing in the Bible that I could relate to. The idea of creation is something each individual belonging to any religion has pondered upon at some point. As human beings, we are created by our parents. Each religion talks about a different God or power that created the Earth and all its wonders. Even an atheist has a scientific or another theory of how the world he or she has come to live in was created. It is because of this universality of the idea of creation that Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountainis relatable. I found John’s story in Go Tell It on the Mountainvery similar to Genesis I. Genesis I states that
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And, God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1)
John’s tale is of the creation or the building of his faith. Earlier, he had a void which contained information about faith, given to him by his father. Later, he processes that information and realizes he must discover the reality of faith himself. The darkness of his father’s thoughts and behavior covered John’s life. However, A wind, or understanding of God, swept over him, towards the end of the book, which illuminated his mind and freed him from his darkness. The darkness was no longer a concern since he had been enlightened about faith. John says that “no matter what happens to me, where I go, what folks say about me, no matter what anybody says, you remember—please remember—I was saved. I was there.” (Baldwin 356) In this moment, John is has a wind that sweeps his dark thoughts away and he is illuminated about God and saved from making the darkness in his life his main concern.