BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
Describing the character required of a spy, Dunlop says, “He must be
capable of withstanding intense loneliness and the unnerving threat of
hidden dangers [...] must remain cool in a crisis [...].”^36 Making reference
to Elsbeth Schragmuller, a once prominent German instructor in black
intelligence and sabotage, Dunlop says that when a neophyte was
brought to her, she would lock up that person for days on end and with
no one interrupting that person’s loneliness. Regular surveillance, how-
ever, would be made and by the time that candidate was set free almost
everything about him/her was known by the instructor.^37 While so much
could possibly have changed now in the training of spies what remains
true is that they undergo exhaustive training and testing. One could of
course then ask: is this not what we find in the character of Jesus also as
portrayed in the Gospels? If we look at the temptations of Jesus (Mt 4:1-
11; Mk 1:12f; Lk 4:1-13), the character which we indeed see of Jesus as
presented by the evangelists is that of one who was capable of withstand-
ing intense loneliness. Such an exhaustive training and testing which
Jesus underwent and which spies too undergo, is meant to strengthen
one’s character for the job ahead. Apart from time he spent in the wil-
derness before the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had periods in his
ministry when he preferred just to be all by himself (Mk 1:35; 6:45-46;
Lk 4:42: 6:12). Such moments should have enabled him to analyze the
intelligence data he was acquiring during the active parts of his ministry
and thus helped him make important decisions in regard to the direc-
tion of his ministry. Acting almost as the director of operations he knew
the task fell upon him to come up with crucial decisions in consultation
with his Father (God) through prayer and by so doing safeguarding the
vital interests of his group.
To sum up, what the fore-going paragraphs in this paper show is that
intelligence need not always be interpreted negatively as just the cause of
the mysterious disappearance of some people or the cause of wars. In
the recent centuries spying has actually rose to become one of the most
recognised professions and has started to lose its stigma as a dishonest
and disreputable way of making a living. There is more and more recog-
nition of it as a legitimate way of collecting military intelligence.^38 From
(^36) Dunlop, This Business of Spying, 231.
(^37) Dunlop, This Business of Spying, 231, 248.
(^38) Cf. Spies, The National Archives: Research and learning, Exhibitions and Secrets and Spies,
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/spies/default.htm (accessed 29/07/11).