From the Feast of Agape to the Nicene Creed - Part 6

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 5 with:

 

(p.19) " But, in their own time, many Jews and Gentiles might have recognized the

eucharist as typical of ancient cult worship. Justin Martyr the philosopher

worried that pagans would dismiss these rituals with contempt and charge that

Christians were simply copying what worshipers in the so-called mystery

religions did every day in their exotic cults. Justin admits that the priests

who presided over the various temples of " devils " --the gods of Greece, Rome,

Egypt, and Asia Minor--often asked their initiates to perform " washings " like

baptism, and that priests of the Persian sun god Mithras and the Greek Dionysus

" command[ed] the same things to be done " as Jesus allegedly did--even " eating

the flesh and drinking the blood " of their god in their sacred meals. [37] But

Justin insists that these supposed similarities are actually 'imitations' of

Christian worship inspired by demons who hope to " deceive and seduce the human

race " [38] into thinking that the Christian cult is no different from the

mystery cults. Justin might have worried more had he foreseen that, from the

fourth century on, Christians would celebrate a new festival--the birthday of

Jesus--on December 25, the birthday of the sun god Mithras, around the time of

the winter solstice, when the waning sun is reborn as the days grow longer. "

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas) Chapter 1, pg. 19.

 

[37] Justin, I 'Apology' 66. Closer parallels occur within some of the Dead Sea

Scrolls; see, for example, Otto Betz, " Early Christian Cult in the Light of

Qumran, " 'Religious Studies Bulletin' 2:2 (April 1982), 73-85.

 

[38] Justin, I 'Apology' 54. Many scholars have considered the parallels between

the rituals practiced in mystery religions and the Christian eucharist; see, for

example, E. Lohse, 'The New Testament Environment' (London, 1976), and more

recently, A.J.M. Wedderburn, " The Soteriology of the Mysteries and Pauline

Baptismal Theology, " 'Novum Testamentum' 19:1 (1982) 53-72, and " Hellenistic

Christian Traditions in Romans 6? " in 'New Testament Studies' 29 (1983),

337-355.

 

Here now is Part 6.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

From the Feast of Agape to the Nicene Creed - Part 6

 

(p.19) Yet the followers of Jesus invoked the mystery cults less than (p.20)

Jewish tradition as they struggled with a practical--and painful--problem. If

Jesus was God's messiah, why did he die such a hideous death? This question

troubled Paul himself, who, like many others, wrestled to reconcile the

crucifixion with his belief in Jesus' divine mission. In the decades after his

death, some followers of Jesus in Jerusalem invoked religious tradition to

suggest that, just as animal sacrifices were offered in the Temple, so Jesus had

died as a sacrificial offering. And just as those who brought goats, sheep, or

bulls to sacrifice afterward feasted on the slain carcasses, so, some suggested,

those who benefit from this 'human' sacrifice might appropriate its benefits by

symbolically " eating " the sacrificial victim. By placing the drama of Jesus'

death at the center of their sacred meal, his followers transformed what others

would see as total catastrophe--what Paul calls " scandal " [39]--into religious

paradox: in the depths of human defeat they claimed to find the victory of God.

[40]

 

Seen this way, Jesus' capture, torture, and death were not they insisted, simply

disastrous. These events had not devastated their hopes, as someone might think

who heard what happened from the disciple who concluded ruefully that " we had

hoped that he was the one to deliver Israel. " [41] Mark insists that Jesus was

not captured because his followers lacked the strength to fight for him, after

one of them fought with his sword and wounded a member of the arresting party

but was routed and fled like the rest. Rather, Mark says, Jesus moved

deliberately toward his dreadful death because he recognized that it was somehow

" necessary " [42]--but necessary for what?

 

Mark repeats what some of Jesus' followers in Jerusalem had begun to say--that

Jesus foresaw his own death, and voluntarily offered himself as a sacrifice.

Giving his disciples bread, he (p.21) told them to " take, eat; this is my body. "

[43] Mark says that after he had given his disciples wine to drink, he told

them, " This is my blood...poured out for many. " [44] Matthew invokes the theme

of sacrificial atonement, adding to Mark's account that Jesus' blood is " poured

out for many, 'for the forgiveness of sins'. " [45] Mark and Paul include as

well, in different ways, the image of sacrificial blood ratifying a covenant.

Mark looks back to the covenant of Moses, recalling how Moses threw the blood of

sacrificial oxen upon the people, saying, " Behold, the 'blood of the covenant'

which the Lord has made with you. " [46] So now, Mark suggests, Jesus anticipates

shedding what he calls " 'my blood of the covenant'. " [47] But Paul, instead of

looking back to the Mosaic covenant, looks forward to the 'new'--and

better--covenant prophesied by Jeremiah:

 

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a 'new covenant'

with the house of Israel....'Not like the covenant which I made with their

fathers'.... I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their

hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people...and they shall

all know me...and I will remember their sin no more. [48]

 

Thus Paul depicts Jesus offering wine to his disciples with the words " This cup

is the new covenant in my blood. " [49]

 

We do not know for sure whether Jesus actually said these words. Some historians

believe that he must have said something like them; others believe that as his

followers struggled to come to terms with what had happened, and began to

reenact Jesus' " last supper, " they formulated these enormously powerful (p.22)

words. In any case, Jewish tradition suggested a wealth of associations with

sacrifice that Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Luke incorporated into various versions

of the story. [50] In the process, as we have seen, the sacred meal took on not

a single meaning but clusters of meanings that became increasingly rich and

complex. Justin tells us what second-century Christians actually did, in various

groups he visited as he traveled from Asia Minor to Rome (c. 150 C.E.):

 

All those who live in the city or the country gather together in one place on

the day of the sun, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the

prophets are read....Then we all rise together and pray, and then...bread and

wine and water are brought [51]

 

to be shared as Jesus commanded. Christians to this day, including those who do

not center their worship on communion, know that how they interpret Jesus'

death--whether as sacrifice, and what kind of sacrifice--has much to do with how

they understand their faith.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

Chapter 1, pg. 19-22

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[40] For the latter phrase, I am indebted to N.T. Wright, 'Jesus and the Victory

of God' (Minneapolis, 1992).

 

[41] Luke 24:21.

 

[42] Mark 8:31. Mark uses the Greek term 'dei', usually translated " it is

necessary. "

 

[43] Mark 14:22. See note 50 on references to studies of the " words of

institution "

 

[44] Mark 14:24. On the sacrificial imagery, see Edward J. Kilmartin, S.J.,

" Sacrificium Laudis: Content and Function of Early Eucharistic Prayers, "

'Theological Studies' 35:2 (June 1974), 268-286.

 

[45] Matthew 26:27-28.

 

[46] Exodus 24:8.

 

[47] On Mark's allusions to the Mosaic covenant, see the summary in Reginald

Fuller, " The Double Origin of the Eucharist, " in 'Biblical Research: Papers of

the Chicago Society of Biblical Research VIII' (Chicago, 1963), 60-72; see also

Joachim Jeremias, 'Die Abendsmahlworte Jesu' (Gottingen, 1949), translated as

'The Eucharistic Words of Jesus' (London and New York, 1966).

 

[48] Jeremiah 31:31-34.

 

[49] On Paul's interpretation of the words, see, for example, Eduard Schweitzer,

'The Lord's Supper According to the New Testament' (Philadelphia, 1967); also

Paul Neuenzeit, 'Das Herrenmahl: Studien zur paulinischen Eucharistieauffassung'

(Munich, 1960).

 

[50] For a summary of discussion and for references, see Bradshaw, 'Search for

Origins', 48-51. On sacrifice, see, for example, Robert Daly, 'The Origins of

the Christian Doctrine of Sacrifice' (London and New York, 1986); and Rowan

Williams, 'Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Roots of a Metaphor' (Bramcote, Notts,

1982).

 

[51] Justin, I 'Apology 67'. But see, for example, the references in note 23,

which question whether--or to what extent--Justin describes actual practices,

and if so, which he may have in mind.

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Here is Note: [39], which was missed:

 

[39] I Corinthians 1:23. The Greek term is 'skandalon'.

 

regards,

 

violet

 

 

, " Violet " <violetubb

wrote:

>

> Dear All,

>

> We concluded Part 5 with:

>

> (p.19) " But, in their own time, many Jews and Gentiles might have

recognized the eucharist as typical of ancient cult worship. Justin

Martyr the philosopher worried that pagans would dismiss these rituals

with contempt and charge that Christians were simply copying what

worshipers in the so-called mystery religions did every day in their

exotic cults. Justin admits that the priests who presided over the

various temples of " devils " --the gods of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Asia

Minor--often asked their initiates to perform " washings " like baptism,

and that priests of the Persian sun god Mithras and the Greek Dionysus

" command[ed] the same things to be done " as Jesus allegedly did--even

" eating the flesh and drinking the blood " of their god in their sacred

meals. [37] But Justin insists that these supposed similarities are

actually 'imitations' of Christian worship inspired by demons who hope

to " deceive and seduce the human race " [38] into thinking that the

Christian cult is no different from the mystery cults. Justin might

have worried more had he foreseen that, from the fourth century on,

Christians would celebrate a new festival--the birthday of Jesus--on

December 25, the birthday of the sun god Mithras, around the time of

the winter solstice, when the waning sun is reborn as the days grow

longer. "

>

> Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas) Chapter 1, pg. 19.

>

> [37] Justin, I 'Apology' 66. Closer parallels occur within some of

the Dead Sea Scrolls; see, for example, Otto Betz, " Early Christian

Cult in the Light of Qumran, " 'Religious Studies Bulletin' 2:2 (April

1982), 73-85.

>

> [38] Justin, I 'Apology' 54. Many scholars have considered the

parallels between the rituals practiced in mystery religions and the

Christian eucharist; see, for example, E. Lohse, 'The New Testament

Environment' (London, 1976), and more recently, A.J.M. Wedderburn,

" The Soteriology of the Mysteries and Pauline Baptismal Theology, "

'Novum Testamentum' 19:1 (1982) 53-72, and " Hellenistic Christian

Traditions in Romans 6? " in 'New Testament Studies' 29 (1983), 337-355.

>

> Here now is Part 6.

>

> Enjoy,

>

> violet

>

>

>

> From the Feast of Agape to the Nicene Creed - Part 6

>

> (p.19) Yet the followers of Jesus invoked the mystery cults less

than (p.20) Jewish tradition as they struggled with a practical--and

painful--problem. If Jesus was God's messiah, why did he die such a

hideous death? This question troubled Paul himself, who, like many

others, wrestled to reconcile the crucifixion with his belief in

Jesus' divine mission. In the decades after his death, some followers

of Jesus in Jerusalem invoked religious tradition to suggest that,

just as animal sacrifices were offered in the Temple, so Jesus had

died as a sacrificial offering. And just as those who brought goats,

sheep, or bulls to sacrifice afterward feasted on the slain carcasses,

so, some suggested, those who benefit from this 'human' sacrifice

might appropriate its benefits by symbolically " eating " the

sacrificial victim. By placing the drama of Jesus' death at the center

of their sacred meal, his followers transformed what others would see

as total catastrophe--what Paul calls " scandal " [39]--into religious

paradox: in the depths of human defeat they claimed to find the

victory of God. [40]

>

> Seen this way, Jesus' capture, torture, and death were not they

insisted, simply disastrous. These events had not devastated their

hopes, as someone might think who heard what happened from the

disciple who concluded ruefully that " we had hoped that he was the one

to deliver Israel. " [41] Mark insists that Jesus was not captured

because his followers lacked the strength to fight for him, after one

of them fought with his sword and wounded a member of the arresting

party but was routed and fled like the rest. Rather, Mark says, Jesus

moved deliberately toward his dreadful death because he recognized

that it was somehow " necessary " [42]--but necessary for what?

>

> Mark repeats what some of Jesus' followers in Jerusalem had begun to

say--that Jesus foresaw his own death, and voluntarily offered himself

as a sacrifice. Giving his disciples bread, he (p.21) told them to

" take, eat; this is my body. " [43] Mark says that after he had given

his disciples wine to drink, he told them, " This is my blood...poured

out for many. " [44] Matthew invokes the theme of sacrificial

atonement, adding to Mark's account that Jesus' blood is " poured out

for many, 'for the forgiveness of sins'. " [45] Mark and Paul include

as well, in different ways, the image of sacrificial blood ratifying a

covenant. Mark looks back to the covenant of Moses, recalling how

Moses threw the blood of sacrificial oxen upon the people, saying,

" Behold, the 'blood of the covenant' which the Lord has made with

you. " [46] So now, Mark suggests, Jesus anticipates shedding what he

calls " 'my blood of the covenant'. " [47] But Paul, instead of looking

back to the Mosaic covenant, looks forward to the 'new'--and

better--covenant prophesied by Jeremiah:

>

> Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a 'new

covenant' with the house of Israel....'Not like the covenant which I

made with their fathers'.... I will put my law within them, and I will

write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be

my people...and they shall all know me...and I will remember their sin

no more. [48]

>

> Thus Paul depicts Jesus offering wine to his disciples with the

words " This cup is the new covenant in my blood. " [49]

>

> We do not know for sure whether Jesus actually said these words.

Some historians believe that he must have said something like them;

others believe that as his followers struggled to come to terms with

what had happened, and began to reenact Jesus' " last supper, " they

formulated these enormously powerful (p.22) words. In any case, Jewish

tradition suggested a wealth of associations with sacrifice that Paul,

Mark, Matthew, and Luke incorporated into various versions of the

story. [50] In the process, as we have seen, the sacred meal took on

not a single meaning but clusters of meanings that became increasingly

rich and complex. Justin tells us what second-century Christians

actually did, in various groups he visited as he traveled from Asia

Minor to Rome (c. 150 C.E.):

>

> All those who live in the city or the country gather together in one

place on the day of the sun, and the memoirs of the apostles or the

writings of the prophets are read....Then we all rise together and

pray, and then...bread and wine and water are brought [51]

>

> to be shared as Jesus commanded. Christians to this day, including

those who do not center their worship on communion, know that how they

interpret Jesus' death--whether as sacrifice, and what kind of

sacrifice--has much to do with how they understand their faith.

>

> Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

> Chapter 1, pg. 19-22

> Elaine Pagels

> Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

> ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

>

> Notes:

>

> [40] For the latter phrase, I am indebted to N.T. Wright, 'Jesus and

the Victory of God' (Minneapolis, 1992).

>

> [41] Luke 24:21.

>

> [42] Mark 8:31. Mark uses the Greek term 'dei', usually translated

" it is necessary. "

>

> [43] Mark 14:22. See note 50 on references to studies of the " words

of institution "

>

> [44] Mark 14:24. On the sacrificial imagery, see Edward J.

Kilmartin, S.J., " Sacrificium Laudis: Content and Function of Early

Eucharistic Prayers, " 'Theological Studies' 35:2 (June 1974), 268-286.

>

> [45] Matthew 26:27-28.

>

> [46] Exodus 24:8.

>

> [47] On Mark's allusions to the Mosaic covenant, see the summary in

Reginald Fuller, " The Double Origin of the Eucharist, " in 'Biblical

Research: Papers of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research VIII'

(Chicago, 1963), 60-72; see also Joachim Jeremias, 'Die

Abendsmahlworte Jesu' (Gottingen, 1949), translated as 'The

Eucharistic Words of Jesus' (London and New York, 1966).

>

> [48] Jeremiah 31:31-34.

>

> [49] On Paul's interpretation of the words, see, for example, Eduard

Schweitzer, 'The Lord's Supper According to the New Testament'

(Philadelphia, 1967); also Paul Neuenzeit, 'Das Herrenmahl: Studien

zur paulinischen Eucharistieauffassung' (Munich, 1960).

>

> [50] For a summary of discussion and for references, see Bradshaw,

'Search for Origins', 48-51. On sacrifice, see, for example, Robert

Daly, 'The Origins of the Christian Doctrine of Sacrifice' (London and

New York, 1986); and Rowan Williams, 'Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Roots

of a Metaphor' (Bramcote, Notts, 1982).

>

> [51] Justin, I 'Apology 67'. But see, for example, the references in

note 23, which question whether--or to what extent--Justin describes

actual practices, and if so, which he may have in mind.

>