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On Amanuenses…

The caption is “Paul Writing His Epistles,” but he really had an amanuensis. (See Romans 16:22.)

The New Testament reading in the Daily Office for Saturday December 13 is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians 3:6-18. (If you’re puzzled about that see What’s a DOR?)

Here’s what Paul said in 2d Thessalonians 3:17: “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.” On that note, here’s what “Pulpit Commentary” said about Paul writing one of the verses in his own hand:

The apostle usually dictated his Epistles to an amanuensis, but wrote the concluding words with his own hand. Thus Tertius was his amanuensis when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:22). [See also (Galatians 6:11), (Philemon 1:19), (1 Corinthians 16:21), and Colossians 4:18)…] Such authentication was especially necessary in the case of the Thessalonians, as it would seem that a forged epistle had been circulated among them…

See the parallel commentaries in 2 Thessalonians 3:17 I, Paul, write this greeting (emphasis added, with (2 Thessalonians 2:2 cited as to a possible forgery: “Now we request you, brethren … that you not be … disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us.”)

I briefly discussed amanuenses in the notes to On the readings for August 31- Part II, citing among other sources Amanuensis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But it seems that such amanuenses may have played a much larger role in writing the Bible.

See for example Were Some Of The Biblical Books Actually Written By A Scribe, which gave a positive “yes” answer: “In the ancient world many books were written by a person dictating his thoughts to a scribe.” The author noted the prophet Jeremiah dictated to his secretary Baruch, and that Paul too dictated his letters, noting the “seal of authenticity” given in 2d Thessalonians 3:17, noted above. The article then noted that even though Paul himself “did not actually do the physical writing,” that had “nothing to do with the divine inspiration of the finished product… [T]he key is where did the words originate – not who put them down in written form.”

It should come as no surprise to us … that not every word purported to appear in certain books was written by the original author whose name may appear on the book. A very simple example of this concerns the death of Moses, which is referenced in a narrative text found in Deuteronomy 34. While this text is certainly a part of the Mosaic body literature … it is clear that this text is added by some type of an authorized secretarial figure. This is just one place where we find this phenomenon taking place. (E.A.)

Martin said it appears “whole books which bear the names of certain persons” were in fact written by others, “known as “amanuenses.” Then too the article The Authorship of Second Peter | Bible.org says Second Peter is a prime example of so-called pseudepigrapha:

Most conservative evangelicals hold to the traditional view that Peter was the author, but historical and literary critics have almost unanimously concluded that to be impossible… The result of this debate is that 2 Peter is concluded by most critical scholars to be pseudepigraphal literature. But the evangelical world rejects the critics’ claims. Conservatives say this has serious ramifications for the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy. The critics, on the other hand, claim this was standard procedure and therefore not dishonest. (E.A.)

See also Pseudepigrapha – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which said the term can apply to either: 1) falsely attributed works, or 2) texts whose claimed author is represented by a separate author, or 3) a work “whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.”

I talked about the idea that – to some people – every word of the Bible must be taken as literally true in On snake-handling, Fundamentalism and suicide – Part II, in On broadminded, spelled “s-i-n”, and in On dissin’ the Prez. (The latter post also raises the possible issue of “selective enforcement” by some…) I also discussed the more reasonable approach – promoted by such scholars as John R. W. Stott – in On Job, the not-so-patient, which noted this:

“…requiring every word of the Bible to be inerrant” brings to mind what Jesus said in Matthew 23:4, as He chastised the scribes and Pharisees. The Easy-to-Read translation says … that such people “make strict rules that are hard for people to obey. They try to force others to obey all their rules. But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules.”

All of which is another way of saying it’s always easier to follow the letter of any given law, rather than trying to follow its “life-giving spirit,” as people like Isaac Asimov have noted:

The priesthood, then as always, was primarily interested in the minutiae of ritual. This was something that could easily be followed by anyone and generally presented no difficulties. It might be a tedious way of gaining God’s favor, but it was not really painful… The prophets, however, were likely to disdain ritual and to insist, instead, on a high ethical code of behavior, something that could present serious difficulties… (E.A.)

Asimov wrote about the prophet Isaiah, but other prophets who shared the same idea included one Jesus of Nazareth, as noted in Woes of the Pharisees – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “The woes mostly criticise the Pharisees for hypocrisy and perjury. They illustrate the differences between inner and outer moral states.”

Which brings up the question of inspiration and inerrancy, noted above: Can the Bible inspire you if you must believe – on pain of hellfire and damnation – that every word in that Bible is inerrant? Most people would say “probably not,” which is one of the themes of this blog.

Another theme is that you can get far more out of the Bible by approaching it with an open mind, and on occasion even “suspending disbelief.” (See On “Titanic” and suspending disbelief: “Consider the person who viewed the movie [“Titanic”] with a closed mind. A person unwilling – even for a moment – to suspend disbelief. A person who simply had to believe that everything in the movie had to be 100% accurate… Wouldn’t that viewer just be short-changing himself?“)

So one way of wrapping up this post would be to say that for a person of deep faith – a faith based on a personal experience of God working in his life, rather than on some courtroom “inerrancy” – it wouldn’t matter if Peter literally wrote the “second letter” attributed to him, or if someone other than Moses wrote Chapter 34 of the Book Deuteronomy attributed to him.

On a possibly-related note, here’s what Will Durant said about Aristotle, whose list of written works is widely deemed as legendary. (For a complete list see Corpus Aristotelicum):

[I]t is possible that the writings attributed to Aristotle were not his, but were largely the compilations of students and followers who embalmed the unadorned substance of his lectures in their notes… About this matter there rages a sort of Homeric question, of almost epic scope, into which the busy reader will not care to go, and on which a modest student will not undertake to judge. We may at all events be sure that Aristotle is the spiritual author of all these books that bear his name: that the hand may be in some cases another’s hand, but that the head and heart are his. (E.A.)

So to sum up: “Who knows? In a sense we may all be God’s ‘amanuenses.’ As has been said, ‘The key is where did the words originate – not who put them down in written form.’ And if that’s true then it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, as long as God gets the glory…”

The upper image is courtesy of Epistle to the Romans – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption: “A 17th-century depiction of Paul Writing His Epistles. [Romans] 16:22 indicates that Tertius acted as his amanuensis.”

The lower image is courtesy of www.catholic-convert.com/blog/2012/01/11/meet-st-paul-as-he-writes-to-the-romans, which included this description of Paul dictating:

Sweat was beading up on his bald head and thick eyebrows. His pointed beard wagged as he paced the stone floor speaking rapidly. His dark eyes flashed, his hands gesticulated in rhythm with his rapid utterance. His quick mind was obviously way ahead of the words that rushed from his mouth.

Tertius struggled to keep up, his quill scratching rapidly across the parchment. After hours of dictation and careful refinement this letter was rolled up and given into the hands of Phoebe who boarded a wooden merchant vessel heading for the hub of the Empire. The words were Greek, written from the Greek city of Corinth, dictated by a Jew of the Hebrew religion and sent to Latin Rome.

– See more at: http://www.catholic-convert.com/blog/2012/01/11/meet-st-paul-as-he-writes-to-the-romans-a-brief-study/#sthash.TMpsPFz1.dpuf

Sweat was beading up on his bald head and thick eyebrows. His pointed beard wagged as he paced the stone floor speaking rapidly. His dark eyes flashed, his hands gesticulated in rhythm with his rapid utterance… Tertius struggled to keep up, his quill scratching rapidly across the parchment. After hours of dictation and careful refinement this letter was rolled up and given into the hands of Phoebe who boarded a wooden merchant vessel heading for the hub of the Empire. The words were Greek, written from the Greek city of Corinth, dictated by a Jew of the Hebrew religion and sent to Latin Rome.

As to the “challenged” authorship of Second Peter, see also Second Epistle of Peter – Wikipedia.

The Asimov quote is from Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One), Avenel Books (1981), at page 527.

The Durant quote is from The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant, Washington Square Press (“Pocket Books”), 1953, at page 57. See also Aristotle – Wikipedia: “His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy.”

On the original St. Nicholas

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“Saint Nicholas Saves Three Innocents from Death…”

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Normally at this point in the week – by Wednesday afternoon – I publish a post on the readings for the next upcoming Sunday. (As for example On the readings for December 7.) However, I just got back late last night (Tuesday night) from a funeral in Florida (which wasn’t so sunny), and now am struggling to get back up to “game speed.”

So for a change of pace (and a bit of CYA), this week I’ll do a post on the original St. Nicholas, “also called Nikolaos of Myra … a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra (Demre, part of modern-day Turkey) in Lycia[, who b]ecause of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker.” See Saint Nicholas – Wikipedia, and also Saint Nicholas (bishop of Myra) | Encyclopedia Britannica:

Saint Nicholas, also called Nicholas of Bari or Nicholas of Myra [is] one of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches and now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas. In many countries children receive gifts on December 6, Saint Nicholas Day.

Which is being interpreted: December 6 is the Feast for “Nicholas, Bishop of Myra” in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, not to mention numerous other denominations, as noted below. But that gives rise to a reasonable question: Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25, if Saint Nicholas Day is December 6?

There are any number of theories, but the most reasonable seems to be that December 25 is exactly nine months after March 25, traditionally celebrated as the date of The Annunciation, the date of the “announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.” See Annunciation – Wikipedia, and also Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25? — Ask HISTORY,Why December 25? | Christian History, and/or How December 25 Became Christmas – Biblical Archaeology Society.

There were some notes in those sites about about the “pagan origins of the Christmas date,” and also about the confusion caused by the changeover to the Gregorian Calendar:

Another wrinkle was added in the sixteenth century when Pope Gregory devised a new calendar, which was unevenly adopted. The Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants retained the Julian calendar, which meant they celebrated Christmas 13 days later than their Gregorian counterparts. Most – but not all – of the Christian world now agrees on the Gregorian calendar and the December 25 date.

But before the digression we were talking about the original St. Nicholas, who eventually became the prototype for the modern-day Santa Claus, not to mention being the patron saint for sailors, pawnbrokers and “repentant thieves:”

He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, a practice celebrated on his feast day … and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, itself from a series of elisions and corruptions of the transliteration of “Saint Nikolaos…” The historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican,Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians [and others]. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and students in various cities and countries around Europe.

Incidentally, you can see the full set of Bible readings – in the Anglican Church – for this original prototype of Santa Claus at Nicholas, Bishop, but here’s the Collect for the Feast Day: “Almighty God, in your love you gave your servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness both on land and sea: Grant, we pray, that your Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief…”

But this “Saint Nicholas” wasn’t always so popular, especially after the Reformation. (See Protestant Reformation – Wikipedia.) Most of the new “Protestant countries of Europe” abandoned the idea of praying to saints, except for Holland:

Dutch colonists took this tradition [of St. Nicholas] with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country’s English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. The resulting image of Santa Claus in the United States crystallized in the 19th century, and he has ever since remained the patron of the gift-giving festival of Christmas.

See Saint Nicholas … Encyclopedia Britannica. So there you have the rest of the story…

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The upper image is courtesy of Saint Nicholas – Wikipedia, with the caption: “Saint Nicholas Saves Three Innocents from Death (oil painting by Ilya Repin, 1888, State Russian Museum).” See also St. Nicholas Center ::: Saint Who Stopped an Execution:

[W]hile Nicholas was visiting a remote part of his diocese, several citizens from Myra came to him with urgent news: the ruler of the city, Eustathius, had condemned three innocent men to death. Nicholas set out immediately for home. Reaching the outskirts of the city, he asked those he met on the road if they had news of the prisoners. Informed that their execution was to be carried out that morning, he hurried to the executioner’s field. Here he found a large crowd of people and the three men kneeling with their arms bound, awaiting the fatal blow. Nicholas passed through the crowd, took the sword from the executioner’s hands and threw it to the ground, then ordered that the condemned men be freed from their bonds. His authority was such that the executioner left his sword where it fell…

The lower image is courtesy of Santa Claus – Wikipedia, with the caption, “1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, along with Clement Clarke Moore’s poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas,’ helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus.”

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On the readings for December 7

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St. Andrew, by Georges de la Tour…

As noted in On the readings for Advent Sunday, November 30 was the First Sunday of Advent, which means that on Sunday December 7, most churches will be celebrating – and using the readings for – the Second Sunday of Advent. However, on that same December 7, churches with “St. Andrew” in their names (like mine) will be celebrating the Feast Day of St. Andrew. (For more on this saint – whose name means “manly” – see On St. Andrew, the “First Apostle”.)

Thus the readings for Sunday December 7 – when celebrated as the Feast of St. Andrew – are Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Psalm 19, Romans 10:8b-18, and Matthew 4:18-22. For more on the Season of Advent, see Advent Sunday. For more on Psalm 19 – what some call a “masterpiece of poetic literature” and another call “the greatest poem in the Psalter” – see On the Psalms up to December 7. For the complete readings, see St Andrew, Apostle.

Here are some highlights.

The reading from the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 30:11-14:

Moses said to the people of Israel: Surely, this commandment … is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” No, the word is very near to you…

Here’s the background for what the International Bible Commentary (IBC) called a “recap” of the original covenant – or contract between God and His People – from Deuteronomy 29:1 to 30:20, and specifically of Moses’ “appeal to commitment” from Deuteronomy 30:11 to 30:20.

The Book of Numbers ended with the Hebrews on the plains of Moab and/or the territory of Gilead, east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, what is now the nation of Jordan. They were about to enter The Promised Land after their escape from slavery in Egypt, and after 40 years wandering in the Wilderness and numerous battles and other adventures. But as Asimov said, Deuteronomy doesn’t “advance Israelite history but purports to be a series of addresses [“sermons” if you will] given by Moses on the eve of his death.” (Moses getting to the edge of the Promised Land but not allowed to enter was discussed in On the readings for October 26, with a note on the “Transfiguration, where Moses … realized a centuries-old dream.”)

Asimov said these addresses “recapitulate the events of the Exodus and restate key portions of the law as it was received from [Mount] Sinai.” And the IBC said of 30:11-14:

It is natural to emphasize the remoteness of truth and wisdom in daily life and the difficulty of achieving them [see for example Job 28:12 and following]. But God’s law was accessible to every Israelite [see also Psalm 19:7-11, part of the Psalm reading for this Sunday]. In Rom[ans] 10:6-8, Paul uses these words to illustrate the character of the new covenant, based on Our Lord’s incarnation and the free offer of the gospel, in the power of the Spirit, all of which bring the word … very near.

(Page 279, emphasis and ellipses in original.) Which brings up the New Testament reading.

In Romans 10:8b-18, Paul quoted Moses in this Sunday’s OT reading: “‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The emphasized part supports a theory that being in a particular “club” or denomination will neither “save” you nor get you to heaven. (Or as has been said, “there are no denominations in heaven.” See the notes for About the psalms.)

Paul continued that theme in verse 11: “The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.'” In doing so Paul quoted Isaiah 28:16, “this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.‘” See also verse 13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Here Paul cited Joel 2:32, “And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”

And Matthew 4:18-22 tells of Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee and seeing brothers Simon and Andrew, and saying to them (in the King James Version, the one God uses), “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” But see also On St. Andrew, the “First Apostle”, which noted the different spin given in John 1:35-42 about that first meeting:

The next day John [the Baptist] was … with two of his disciples, when he saw Jesus walking… The two disciples [followed] Jesus[, who] turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” … “Come and see,” he answered… So they went with him… One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. At once he found his brother Simon and … took Simon to Jesus. [E.A.]

Which brings up the question whether this difference in testimony should shake your faith. After all, if Matthew and John can’t agree on how Jesus met Andrew and Peter, how can you have any faith in the rest of the Bible? The shortest and best answer comes from a theory that the Bible wasn’t written by “giants” but by people just like us. See for example On Harry Truman:

I liked the New Testament stories best, especially the Gospels. And when I was older, I was very much interested in the way those fellas saw the same things in a different manner. A very different manner, and they were all telling the truth… That’s why I always hesitated to call a man a liar unless I had the absolute goods on him.

In turn the Good News is that if the Bible was written by people just like us, we too can accomplish miracles just like Jesus and the rest of the Bible-writers did. See John 14:12, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (Emphasis added.)

The upper image is courtesy of St. Andrew – Georges de la Tour – WikiArt.org, with notes: “Artist: Georges de la Tour; Start Date: 1615; Completion Date:1620; Style: Tenebrism.” See also Tenebrism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “from the Italian, tenebroso (murky), also called dramatic illumination, [a] style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. The technique was developed to add drama to an image through a spotlight effect…”

As to this fifth book of the Bible, see Book of Deuteronomy – Wikipedia, which added:

The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recapitulates the forty years of wilderness wanderings which have led to this moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses; the second reminds the Israelites of the need for exclusive allegiance to one God and observance of the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored.

(Note that the emphasized portion applies to us “even to this day.) See also Book of Numbers – Wikipedia. The notes from Isaac Asimov, as to the end of Numbers and Deuteronomy in general, are from Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One), Avenel Books (1981), at pages 190-192.

The promise of John 14:12 was discussed in Quick summary.

The lower image is courtesy of The Raising of Lazarus (Rembrandt) – Wikipedia, with the caption, “The Raising of Lazarus, Rembrandt. Oil on panel. 37 15/16 x 32 in. (96.36 x 81.28 cm). Late 1620s or 1630-32. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.” The article added:

The painting shows the moment Lazarus re-awakens from death and rises from his tomb as Christ calls him. Lazarus is in the darker half of the painting while the figures at left are far more illuminated. Mary and those assembled look on in amazement as Lazarus comes to life. The painting depicts a parable of spiritual life, the miracle of the hardened sinner receiving first grace (sorrow for sins committed in order to seek penitence and redemption).

Which leads to one final word to the wise: “Kids, don’t try this (miracle) at home!“

On the Psalms up to December 7

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C.S. Lewis (of “Narnia”) on Psalm 19: “one of the greatest lyrics in the world…”

This regular feature focuses on next Sunday’s psalm, and – normally – on highlights from the psalms in the Daily Office Readings (DORs) for the week leading up to that upcoming Sunday. But in this case Psalm 19 is so important that I spent the whole post on it.

At this point there may be some who ask, “What, the psalms again? Why pay so much attention to the Psalms?” For the simple answer see About the psalms.

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As noted, Psalm 19 is widely considered to be a “masterpiece of poetic literature,” and C.S. Lewis (shown above) considered it to be “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” The psalm begins, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.” For the full text see Psalm 19 – For the director.

As noted in Psalm 19 – Bible Teaching Notes, the first six verses of the psalm “speak of God’s general revelation of Himself through nature,” and in these verses “David represents the universe as a cathedral in which the sun is the preacher bearing witness to the existence and glory of God.” And as noted in Treasury of David—Psalm 19 – The Spurgeon Archive:

This song very distinctly divides itself into three parts… The creatures show God’s glory, 1-6. The word showeth his grace, 7-11. David prayeth for grace, 12-14. Thus praise and prayer are mingled, and he who here sings the work of God in the world without, pleads for a work of grace in himself within.

The International Bible Commentary (IBC, 569) said the psalmist – according to tradition, David – may have been influenced by the fact that in the “ancient Near East ‘sun’ and ‘justice’ were thought of as belonging together; e.g. Shamash, the Mesopotamian sun-god, was considered to be the upholder of justice and righteousness.” See also Shamash – Wikipedia:

The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is justice. Just as the Sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to light. Hammurabi attributes to Shamash the inspiration that led him to gather the existing laws and legal procedures into code…

And see also Code of Hammurabi – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, but we digress…

Getting back to Psalm 19, here’s what Wikipedia says:

The psalm considers the glory of God in creation, and moves to reflect on the character and use of “the law of the LORD.” A comparison is made between the law and the sun, which lends a degree of unity to the psalm… Like the Sun, the law is able to uncover hidden faults, and nothing can hide from it. As the Psalmist meditates on the excellencies of the law, he feels that his sins have been laid open before God’s word, and asks for forgiveness and help.

See Psalm 19 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Or as the IBC said, the first six verses are a hymn in praise of God in nature, while verses 7 through 14 are a hymn in praise of God’s law. Note that verse six ends with an ode to the sun; it “goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens and runs about to the end of it again; nothing is hidden from its burning heat.”

Moving on to the law of the LORD, verse 7 said it “revives the soul” and “gives wisdom to the innocent.” Of God’s statutes verse 10 said that they are “more to be desired are they than gold,
more than much fine gold.” Verse 11 adds, “By them also is your servant enlightened,
and in keeping them there is great reward.”

Verse 12 asks, “Who can tell how often he offends? Cleanse me from my secret faults.” I addressed that subject – “secret” or unknown sins – in On Ecclesiasticus (NOT “Ecclesiastes”), which cited Ecclesiasticus 5:5: “Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin.” The post also discussed “Holier than thou”, along with self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

On that note, Psalm 19:13 added, “Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me.” And finally, the psalm ends with the well-known verse 14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.” Wikipedia said of this verse, and the psalm:

Verse 14 is used as part of the conclusion of the Amidah, the main daily prayer in Judaism… As the author spends time thinking about God’s demands, he realizes that his own actions and thoughts fall short of this law that he loves. The author prays to be kept from sins of ignorance as well as deliberate sins [and] that his words and thoughts be pleasing to God.

See Psalm 19 – Wikipedia, and also Amidah – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, referring to the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy recited at each of three prayer services in a typical weekday: morning, afternoon, and evening. “The prayer is recited standing with feet firmly together, and preferably while facing Jerusalem,” and ends with this concluding prayer:

My God, keep my tongue and my lips from speaking deceit, and to them that curse me let my soul be silent, and like dust to all. Open my heart in Your Torah… May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Eternal, my rock and my redeemer.

The upper image is courtesy of C. S. Lewis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which said Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) “was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he held academic positions at both Oxford University (Magdalen College), 1925–54, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College), 1954–63. He is best known both for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain… Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends.” See also Psalm 19 – Bible Teaching Notes: “The Psalm is considered to be a masterpiece of poetic literature. C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘I take this [Psalm 19] to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.'”

The lower image is courtesy of Psalms – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption: “David Playing the Harp by Jan de Bray, 1670.”

As to David playing the harp, see David – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which noted the account of First Samuel, Chapter 16, which told of Saul, the first-ever king of Israel, being tormented by an evil spirit. In turn it was suggested that “he send for David, a young warrior famed for bravery and his lyre playing. Saul did so, and made David one of his armor-bearers. From then on, whenever ‘the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him,’” as illustrated above.

One final note: the usual post on the psalms up to December 7 would have included this:

For those who already appreciate the psalms – and rightfully so – my usual practice is to review the next Sunday’s readings on the Wednesday before, including the individual Sunday-psalm noted above, and also to review the psalms from the DORs for the week ending on the Tuesday just before that “prior Wednesday.” For example, The Lectionary psalm for Sunday, December 7, is Psalm 19, discussed further below. The Daily Office psalms are from the readings for Wednesday November 26 up to Tuesday December 2.

On “Y1V1” and the Ten Virgins

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“Peter striking the High Priests‘ servant Malchus…”

As noted in On the readings for Advent Sunday, Sunday November 30 marked the end of 2014′s Season of Pentecost and started the new church-calendar year, most of which is in 2015. It also started a new cycle in the Daily Office readings. As noted in What’s a DOR, rather than flipping back and forth in your Bible to find the various readings for the day, you can buy a four-volume set with all the readings in one place, thus “eliminating much of the work involved.” If you use that four-volume set – as I do – then on Sunday November 30 you changed over from Year Two, Volume 2 to Year One, Volume 1. (Thus the “Y1V1” in the title of this post).

Note also that with the changeover to Year One, Volume 1, I began the markings in my Y1V1 book an eleventh trip through the Bible – that’s 11 times – as well as 33 to 40 times through the psalms and Gospels. (For what that’s worth, but at least it means “I’m familiar…”)

For the complete DORs for the week of November 30 to December 6 (in the New Revised Standard Version), see NRSV. For highlights from the DOR psalms from Wednesday November 26 to Tuesday December 2, see the successor post to On the Psalms up to November 30, now in the works. Here are some highlights from the DORs for November 30, which include Isaiah 1:1-9, 2d Peter 3:1-10, and Matthew 25:1-13 (all presented in the Good News Translation).

The readings from Isaiah 1:1-9 mark the start of this Old Testament book that is at once the one most often quoted in the New Testament – second only to the Psalms – and held in such high esteem in the development of the Christian church that it has been called “the Fifth Gospel.” See About the psalms, On the readings for Advent Sunday, and On the Psalms up to November 30. (As you can see, this blog quotes Isaiah a lot as well.)

Isaiah 1:1 begins, “This book contains the messages about Judah and Jerusalem which God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.” (The GNT wrap-up for the passage: “God Reprimands His People.”) The prophet has God calling “earth and sky” as witness against His Chosen People, a people which has fallen short. (And according to Isaac Asimov, the time of this “falling short” was between 780 and 692 B.C., that is, between the reigns of kings Uzziah and Hezekiah.)

Isaiah began by saying the nation of Israel was doomed and dragged down by its sins, then compared Jerusalem to two other corrupt cities: “Jerusalem alone is left, a city under siege[, and i]f the Lord Almighty had not let some of the people survive, Jerusalem would have been totally destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.”

Thus the 66 chapters of Isaiah begin on a gloomy note, but as the International Bible Commentary summarized (at page 718), the book as a whole offers hope:

If chs. [chapters] 1-39 above all invite readers to subject themselves to rigorous critical self-examination, and chs. 40-55 above all challenge readers to make a ready response to the summons of God, chs. 56-66 offer modes of thought and patterns of behavior appropriate to every age as the people of God move, however slowly, towards the fulfillment of His purpose and their destiny. [E.A.]

The Good News Translation (GNT) summary of 2d Peter 3:1-10 reads: “The Promise of the Lord’s Coming.” And in response to criticism that God moves way too slowly for some people, Peter answered (in verse 9), “The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.” (Emphasis added.)

(But as shown in the painting above, Peter himself wasn’t always so patient. See Malchus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “The story is related in all four gospels, in Matthew 26:51, Mark 14:47, and Luke 22:50-51, and John 18:10–11, but the servant and the disciple are named only in John. Also, Luke is the only gospel that says Jesus healed the ear.” See also John 18:26, “One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you with [Jesus] in the garden?'” This was the time when Peter denied knowing Jesus, and probably presents some sort of object lesson…)

And finally, in Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells the Parable of the Ten Virgins – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which begins, “the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise…”

As Wikipedia noted, “The parable has a clear eschatological theme: be prepared for the Day of Judgment.” Wikipedia further noted that the parable neither praised “virginity” nor criticized any of the young women for sleeping, “since both groups do that.” Indeed one interpretation said the parable was “a warning addressed specifically to those inside the professing church who are not to assume that their future is unconditionally assured.” (Emphasis added.)

On that note see On Ecclesiasticus (NOT “Ecclesiastes”), which quoted Ecclesiasticus 5:5 – “Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin” – and also cited “On holier than thou”.

The upper image is courtesy of Saint Peter – Wikipedia, with the caption, “Apostle Peter striking the High Priests‘ servant Malchus with a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane.” The work is by Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640), an “Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called Cavaliere d’Arpino, because he was created Cavaliere di Cristo by his patron Pope Clement VIII… chief of the studio in which Caravaggio trained upon the younger painter’s arrival in Rome.

Re: “according to Isaac Asimov.” See Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One), Avenel Books (1981), at page 526, as to the time of Isaiah’s ministry. See also page 527, as to Isaiah’s being an “unusual” prophet, in that he came from the upper classes, not “from the poor, since the prophets [as a rule] were spokesmen of protest.” On this page Asimov also noted the general tendency of the Established Priesthood to focus on the “minitiae of ritual,” as an easier-to-follow way of “gaining God’s favor,” rather than the more appropriate focus on “a high ethical code of behavior.”

As to an object lesson, that is defined as an “example from real life that typifies/explains a principle or teaches a lesson,” or “Anything used as an example or lesson which serves to warn others as to the outcomes that result from a particular action or behavior, as exemplified by the fates of those who followed that course.” See object lesson – Wiktionary.

The lower image is courtesy of Parable of the Ten Virgins (supra), with the caption, “Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, 1838–1842 (detail), Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.“

On the readings for Advent Sunday

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The prophet Isaiah, featured – and quoted by Jesus – in today’s readings…

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Sunday November 30 marks the end of 2014’s Season of Pentecost and starts the new liturgical (“church”) calendar year. That new church year starts with the First Sunday of Advent:

Advent Sunday is the first day of the liturgical year in the Western Christian churches. It also marks the start of the season of Advent [and] the first violet or blue Advent candle is lit… [T]he symbolism of the day is that Christ enters the church. Advent Sunday is the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. This is equivalent to the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day, 30 November, and the Sunday following the Feast of Christ the King.

See Advent Sunday – Wikipedia, emphasis added (with the image at right). See also Advent – Wikipedia, which noted that Advent is “a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.” The theme of Bible readings is to prepare for the Second Coming while “commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas.”

The article added that for a time – starting about 300 A.D. – Advent was “kept as a period of fasting as strict as in Lent.” And just as Lent today is preceded by the celebration of Mardi Gras, so back in the olden days the penitential season of Advent was preceded by the “feast day of St. Martin of Tours,” in many places “a time of frolic and heavy eating, since the 40-day fast began the next day.” On the other hand, in “Anglican and Lutheran churches this fasting rule was later relaxed,” and somewhere around 1917 the Roman Catholic Church “abolished the precept of fasting … but kept Advent as a season of penitence.”

The readings for Advent Sunday – in my church – are Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1st Corinthians 1:3-9; and Mark 13:24-37. For more on Psalm 80 see On the Psalms up to November 30. (Which includes the image at left.) The full readings are at First Sunday of Advent. Here are some highlights.

As to Isaiah 64:1-9, verses 1 through 7 are generally summarized as “guilty in God’s presence,” while verses 8 and 9 begin a discussion of the “desolation of Jerusalem.” The International Bible Commentary said of verses 1 through 6 that they anticipate the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, but warned that “neither the rebuilding itself nor the offering of many sacrifices” would in themselves please God. “What God wishes to see is the man who is humble and obedient to His word,” while to Him insincere worship “is no better than blatant idolatry.”

Beginning with verse 7, the prophet returned to the theme of the future well-being of Jerusalem. While God had “delivered us into the hand of our iniquity,” Isaiah called on Him to remember that “you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever.”

In 1st Corinthians 1:3-9, Paul began his letter to the members of the church in Corinth, a Greek seaport notorious for its depravity and licentiousness:

The name of Corinth had been a byword for the grossest profligacy, especially in connection with the worship of Aphrodite… This monstrosity – sexual perversion in the name of religion – overshadowed the life of the city as a mushroom cloud of moral destruction.

(IBC, 1347) Yet despite those surroundings – and the dissensions evident in the church – “Paul gives thanks! Assailed by Satan as they are, their spiritual life is evident… [I]n a missionary situation surrounded by pagan depravity, this is abundant cause for praise.” (IBC, 1350; and that’s not to to mention thanksgiving…) Paul noted, “you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mark 13:24-37, followed after Jesus foretelling the Destruction of the Temple and the “Desolating Sacrilege” (Mark 13:1-23), and in this reading He foretold the trials and tribulations to come for His disciples. In Mark 13:24-26, Jesus told those disciples:

“In the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine,the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses.Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other.”

In doing so He quoted the Book of Isaiah – twice – and the Book of Daniel. See: 1) Isaiah 13:10, “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” 2) Isaiah 34:4, “All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.” And 3) Daniel 7:13, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.”

See also Jesus and messianic prophecy. He followed with the lesson of the fig tree – not to be confused with Cursing the fig tree – Wikipedia – with the lesson, “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” He concluded, “what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

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“Peace, 1896 etching by William Strutt, based upon Isaiah 11:6,7…”

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The upper image is courtesy of Isaiah – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption, “Isaiah, by Michelangelo, (c. 1508–1512, Sistine Chapel ceiling, Vatican City).”

The full “Mardi Gras” citation is Mardi Gras – Wikipedia.

The lower image is courtesy of Book of Isaiah – Wikipedia, which noted:

The Book of Isaiah has been immensely influential in the formation of Christianity, from the devotion to the Virgin Mary to … modern Christian feminism and liberation theology. The regard in which Isaiah was held was so high that the book was frequently called “the Fifth Gospel,” the prophet who spoke more clearly of Christ and the Church than any others. Its influence extends beyond the Church and Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel’s Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as “swords into ploughshares” and “voice in the wilderness.”

Isaiah 11:6-7, is part of the prophet’s well-known tribute to the Peaceful Kingdom to come: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”

On the Psalms up to November 30

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“A woman playing a psalterion,” an instrument used to accompany psalms…

This regular feature focuses on next Sunday’s psalm, and on highlights from the psalms in the Daily Office Readings (DORs) during the week leading up to that upcoming Sunday.

At this point there may be some who ask, “What, the psalms again? Why do you pay so much attention to the Psalms?” The simple answer is: See the notes below.

For those who already appreciate the psalms – and rightfully so – my usual practice is to review the next Sunday’s readings on the Wednesday before, including the individual Sunday-psalm noted above, and also to review the psalms from the DORs for the week ending on the Tuesday just before that “prior Wednesday.” For example, The Lectionary psalm for Sunday, November 30, is Psalm 80, discussed further below. The Daily Office psalms are from the readings for Wednesday November 18 up to Tuesday November 25.

Here are some highlights from last week’s “Daily Office” psalms.

From Saturday, November 22, Psalm 33:12, “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! Happy the people he has chosen to be His own!” (Which pretty much speaks for itself.)

Also from Saturday, Psalm 108:13, “With God we will do valiant deeds, and He shall tread our enemies under foot.” Note the emphasis there, “with God,” or in some translations, “through God…” Or as one commentary put it, “God’s help shall inspire us to help ourselves.” (See Psalm 108:13 Commentaries: Through God we will do valiantly.)

From Sunday, November 23, Psalm 118:22, “The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” That psalm-passage was quoted by Jesus in Matthew 21:42 (NIV), “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'” And by Peter in Acts 4:11 (when he and John were on trial before the Sanhedrin), “Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.'”

Also, Psalm 145:9 and 19: “The Lord is loving to everyone and His compassion is over all His works;” together with, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him faithfully.” These passages contradict the idea that the Christian faith is “exclusive:”

Jesus accepts anyone who comes to Him [and] the Faith is not an exclusive club designed for members only. (Another prevailing perception promoted by some….)

See On St. Mary, Mother, and also About this Blog: “those who choose to read the Bible in a strict, narrow or ‘fundamental’ way are only cheating themselves.”

From Tuesday, November 25, Psalm 127:4-6, “Children are a heritage from the Lord… Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.” That passage gave rise to today’s “Quiverfull Movement,” discussed in notes for On snake-handling, Fundamentalism and suicide – Part I.

Getting back to Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18, the one for Sunday, November 15, the International Bible Commentary (IBC) indicated that it addressed the so-called Ten Lost Tribes of Israel:

They were named Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun – all sons or grandsons of Jacob. In 930 BC the 10 tribes formed the independent Kingdom of Israel in the north and the 2 other tribes, Judah and Benjamin, set up the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 tribes were gradually assimilated by other peoples and thus disappeared from history.

See Ten Lost Tribes of Israel — Encyclopedia Britannica. That is, after the Assyrian Conquest starting around 740 B.C., 10 of the original 12 tribes of Israel were lost to history, and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were left. See also Assyrian captivity of Israel – Wikipedia.

It is to and about these lost brethren– the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” – that the writer of Psalm 80 pleads to God, beginning, “Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock … stir up your strength and come to help us.” At verse 3 and again at verses 7 and 18 he prays, “Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.”

The psalm-writer’s theory is that since all things are under God’s control, the humiliation of His Chosen People had to be a response to their shortcomings and sins. Accordingly – after asking “how long will you be angered despite the prayers of your people?” – the psalmist both pleads and promises, “give us life, that we may call upon your Name.”

Jesus would return to the theme in His Parable of the Lost Sheep – Wikipedia, as shown below:

The parable shares themes of loss, searching, and rejoicing with the Parable of the Lost Coin. The lost sheep or coin represents a lost human being… As in the analogy of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is the shepherd, thus identifying himself with the image of God as a shepherd searching for stray sheep in Ezekiel 34:11–16… The rejoicing of the shepherd with his friends represents God rejoicing with the angels. The image of God rejoicing at the recovery of lost sinners contrasts with the criticism of the religious leaders which prompted the parable.

And finally, note Matthew 19:28 (in the NIV), where Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” But what of the 10 Lost Tribes, and the fact that by that time there were – literally – only two tribes left?

For the answer, see the notes below…

The upper image is courtesy of Psaltery – Wikipedia, with the full caption: “A woman playing a psalterion. Ancient Greek red-figured pelike from Anzi, Apulia, circa 320–310 BCE.”

For more on the “Ten Lost Tribes” see sites including Ten Lost Tribes – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and/or NOVA Online | Lost Tribes of Israel | Where are the Ten Lost Tribes?

The lower image is courtesy of Parable of the Lost Sheep – Wikipedia, with the caption, “Etching by Jan Luyken showing the triumphant return of the shepherd, from the Bowyer Bible.”

As to the discrepancy between Jesus saying His disciples would judge the 12 tribes of Israel and there being literally only two of those tribes left by then, the best answer seems to come from the site Commentary on Matthew 19:28-29 – LHIM.org. Responding to the question as to what “Israel” Jesus was referring to, the writer answered, “I believe that when Christ says ‘Israel’ here he is referring the New Covenant church which includes both Jews and Gentiles.” He cited examples from the New Testament Epistles (“Letters”), including Galatians 6:16 – “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” – and James 1:1, “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.” (E.A.)

All of which would require an expansive or “liberal” interpretation of the Bible, rather than a strict, restricted or “fundamental” interpretation, but that’s pretty much the theme of this blog. See also On arguing with God, which indicated the name “Israel” should be interpreted liberally to include anyone who either “struggles with God” or struggles with the idea of God.

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As to the reason we spend so much time on the Psalms: The Church itself spends a lot of time on the psalms, and aside from that, they are arguably critical to spiritual growth.

See for example Thomas Merton’s Praying the Psalms (Liturgical Press 1956), where he first noted the Catholic Church has “always considered the psalms her perfect book of prayer,” then added:

There is no aspect of the interior life, no kind of religious experience, no spiritual need of man that cannot be depicted and lived out in the Psalms.

See also Psalms – Wikipedia, which noted the following: 1) the Psalms have been used throughout traditional Jewish worship, for millenia. (See also On “originalism”.) 2) Many Jews complete the Book of Psalms on a weekly or monthly basis. 3) The reading of psalms is viewed in Jewish tradition as a vehicle for gaining God’s favor. 4) The Psalms have remained an important part of worship in most Christian Churches. 5) In the early centuries of the Church, it was expected that any candidate for bishop would be able to recite the entire Psalter from memory (all 150 psalms). 6) Several conservative Protestant denominations sing only the Psalms, and do not accept the use of any non-Biblical hymns. 7) The Psalms have always been an important part of Catholic liturgy as well.

In the Anglican tradition, every Sunday Bible reading includes a psalm (or portion), along with readings from the Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel. In the Daily Office, each day’s readings usually includes three or more psalms. For more on the Prayer Book’s take, see The Psalter.

See also The Significance of the Psalms | Bible.org, which said Psalms is one of two Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New Testament (along with Isaiah). “In their preaching and writing, the apostles often quoted from the Psalms as biblical proof of the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 as proof that Jesus must be raised from the dead (Acts 2:24-36)… Any book so prominent in the minds of the New Testament writers should also be important to us.”

For more on Thomas Merton see On Thomas Merton.

On St. Andrew, the “First Apostle”

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Caravaggio: The calling of Sts Peter and Andrew

“The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew,” by Caravaggio…

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Here’s a hint: The church I attend has “St. Andrew” in its title, but that can present a problem.

For example, the Feast Day for St. Andrew is November 30, but this year November 30 is also the First Sunday of Advent. (See St Andrew, Apostle and First Sunday of Advent .) So there’s always a question of which readings to use, if for example you’re doing the bulletins for your church. This year “the rules” say that we’ll be doing the readings for the First Sunday of Advent on November 30, and transfer the readings for St. Andrew’s Feast Day to December 7, thus superseding the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent. (Hey, rules are rules…)

According to the National Catholic Register, “St. Andrew was one of Jesus’ closest disciples, but many people know little about him.” He was St. Peter’s brother, and so would have been known as Andrew bar-Jonah (“son of Jonah”). He’s regularly mentioned after Peter, which suggests Andrew was the younger brother. Like Peter and their partners James and John, Andrew was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. The article noted the name Andrew is Greek, and that that reflected the “mixed Jewish-Gentile environment of Galilee” at the time of Jesus. (Jonah gave his older son Simon an Aramaic name, but his younger son Andrew a Greek name.) See www.ncregister.com/blog/st.-andrew-the-apostle-11-things-to-know and share.

The article continued that Andrew was “one of the four disciples closest to Jesus, but he seems to have been the least close of the four.” (E.A.) That’s ironic because Andrew was one of the first followers of Jesus; “In fact, he discovered Jesus before his brother Peter did.” (He was one of the two initial disciples of John the Baptist who encountered Jesus at the beginning of John’s Gospel.”) And so – because he followed Jesus before St. Peter and the others – he is called the Protoklete or ‘First Called’ apostle.” Then there’s the matter of how he died:

A later tradition … tells of Andrew’s death at Patras [in Greece], where he too suffered the torture of crucifixion. At that supreme moment, however, like his brother Peter, he asked to be nailed to a cross different from the Cross of Jesus. In his case it was a diagonal or X-shaped cross, which has thus come to be known as “St Andrew’s cross.”

The x-shaped cross – also known as a saltire – is a “heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross.” See Saltire – Wikipedia, which added that the saltire is featured in the national flags of Scotland and other countries, as well as the Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia and today’s 10th Mountain Division in the U.S. Army.

(“The 10th Mountain Division[‘s] bayonets ‘in saltire’ [for] the Roman numeral X (10).”)

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See also Andrew the Apostle – Wikipedia, which added this:

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ)… [He was] bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or “saltire”), now commonly known as a “Saint Andrew’s Cross” — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.

(Emphasis added.) St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, as well as several other countries and cities including Barbados, Romania, Russia, Scotland and the Ukraine, as well as cities like “Patras in Greece. He was also the patron saint of Prussia and of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is considered the founder and the first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and … patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.”

So there you have it. St. Andrew was the first Apostle and yet now is one of the least-known of the Apostles. (There’s probably some kind of lesson there.) On that note see John 1:35-42:

The next day John [the Baptist] was … with two of his disciples, when he saw Jesus walking by. “There is the Lamb of God!” he said. The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher.”) “Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him. One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. At once he found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” (This word means “Christ.”) Then he took Simon to Jesus. [E.A.]

So you might say Andrew was the Catholic Church’s sine qua non; “without which there is none.”

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St. Andrew and his “x-shaped cross” or saltire…

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The upper image is courtesy of Caravaggio: The calling of Sts Peter and Andrew – Art, which added:

A beardless Jesus gestures Peter (who was still called Simon at the time) and his brother Andrew to follow him: “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” According to the gospel Peter and Andrew were out fishing on the lake when they were called. Caravaggio gives his own interpretation. Because of his prominence, the man on the left is thought to be Peter. It is only since 2006 that this painting is attributed to Caravaggio… One of the details that shows this work must be the original is a carving in the ground layer under Peter’s ear. Caravaggio often used such incissions, and they are very uncommon in copies.

Re: “rules are rules.” See rule – Macmillan English Dictionaries, noting the phrase “used for telling someone that they have to obey a rule, even if they do not want to.”

The lower image is courtesy of www.ncregister.com/blog/st.-andrew-the-apostle-11-things-to-know and share, which included the full text of St. Andrew’s words before he died, thus showing “a very profound Christian spirituality. [He] does not view the Cross as an instrument of torture but rather as the incomparable means for perfect configuration to the Redeemer, to the grain of wheat that fell into the earth. Here we have a very important lesson to learn: Our own crosses acquire value if we consider them and accept them as a part of the Cross of Christ…” See also Andrew the Apostle – Wikipedia.

Re: “sine qua non.” See Sine qua non – Wikipedia, explaining that the Latin phrase “refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. It was originally a Latin legal term for ‘[a condition] without which it could not be,’ or ‘but for..’ or ‘without which [there is] nothing.'” See also sine qua non – The Free Dictionary, defining the term as an “essential element or condition: ‘The perfect cake is the sine qua non of the carefully planned modern wedding’ (J.M. Hilary).”

On returning from a pilgrimage – and the coming holidays

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November 22, 2014 – I last posted on November 1, with a nod to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. (See On the first Thanksgiving – Part I and Part II.)

Since then I – The Scribe – have been on a pilgrimage of my own. My brother and I took eight days to canoe out to some offshore islands in the Gulf of Mexico. Those islands – 10 or 12 miles offshore – included Half-moon Island, Cat Island and the Ship Islands. (I.e., both East and West Ship Island. “WSI” is in the foreground at right.)

I drove down to Biloxi on Sunday November 2, and we left Slidell LA – north of the I-10 bridge – on Lake Ponchartrain on Wednesday November 5.

It took us eight days – through the morning of Wednesday November 12 – to get through the Rigolets (“pronounced “RIG-uh-leez”) out to the Gulf islands noted above, and back to Biloxi. (Formerly known as “Fort Maurepas.” See Rigolets and Fort Maurepas – Wikipedia.)

But it’s taken more than the eight days to get back home. And to get back up to game speed.

And to get used to such luxuries as indoor plumbing and more than one-and-a-half granola bars for breakfast at 3:00 in the morning. (That’s the best time to “hit the water,” before the wind and contrary tides pick up.) I’ll be “waxing poetic” on that spiritual pilgrimage in later posts.

However, for now you may want to revisit “pilgrimages in general, and ‘St. James the Greater,’ the patron saint of pilgrims and pilgrimages.” See also First Thanksgiving – Part II:

The post on St. James included this: “In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.”

Other sites include Life is a Pilgrimage – teosofia.com, A Different Kind of Pilgrimage [Can] Change Your Life – which included the image at left – and/or Our lives are a pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God.

The latter post is from The Catholic Herald. It talks about such things as the upcoming Last Sunday After Pentecost – on November 23. (2014.) That’s also known as “Christ the King Sunday.” That Sunday also focuses on the “kingdom of the heart, whose inner struggle ultimately determines the direction of our lives.”

(Put another way, the “direction our earthly pilgrimage will take…”)

See also Hebrews 13:16, which first noted the faith of our spiritual forebears, then said:

These all died in faith … having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

(Emphasis added.) See also 2d Corinthians 5. In one version: “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” And of course there’s the well-known John 14:2, where Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you.”

So the theme here – in case I’m being too subtle – is one of “coming home in general.”

For example, from an extended pilgrimage like I just went through. (Or like the one on the Mayflower, as shown at right.) And especially in the sense that such a “coming home” serves as a kind of dress rehearsal for our heavenly “coming home for good.”

That’s the end-of-earthly-pilgrimage “coming home for good” in which we depart this “vale of tears” earthly incarnation and get reunited with the loved ones who died before us.

(See also Psalm 119:19, “I am a stranger here on earth…”)

Now, getting back to that upcoming holiday season…

In its simplest form, Advent is a time of getting ready for Christmas. This year the season of Advent starts on November 30, the First Sunday of Advent, and ends on Christmas itself:

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming…” [The] Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used to refer to the Second Coming of Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming.

See Advent – Wikipedia. And as if you didn’t know already, Christmas – a holiday “central to the Christian year” – comes on December 25.

Christmas ends the season of Advent and begins the 12 days of Christmas. Those 12 Days end on 12th Night, which marks the start of The Epiphany. “12th Night” in 2015 is the evening of January 5, also called the Eve of 12^th Day. It’s also called the Eve of Epiphany, and was formerly known as the last day of the Christmas season, “observed [also] as a time of merrymaking.”

Note also that in medieval times, 12^th Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve – now called Halloween – back on October 31. See the notes below on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a play that immortalized the occasion for revelry. See also Christmas – Wikipedia, which added the following:

In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in western Christianity focused on the visit of the magi. But [by] the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days… The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.

And finally, the Epiphany falls on January 6 and celebrates the revelation of God as a human being in Jesus Christ (Jesus’ physical manifestation to “us”). See Epiphany (holiday) – Wikipedia, which also noted, “Western Christians commemorate principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Baby Jesus, and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles.”

So there you have it. We’re now smack dab in the middle of an old-time winter festival that started on Halloween and ends on January 6, also called Plough Monday. See Plough Monday – Wikipedia, which noted January 6 is the “traditional start of the English agricultural year“:

The day traditionally saw the resumption of work after the Christmas period. In some areas, particularly in northern England and East England, a plough was hauled from house to house in a procession, collecting money. They were often accompanied by musicians, an old woman or a boy dressed as an old woman, called the “Bessy”, and a man in the role of the “fool.” “Plough Pudding” is a boiled suet pudding, containing meat and onions. It is from Norfolk and is eaten on Plough Monday. [See below.]

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“Plough Monday,” which ends the full Season of Christmas, on January 6…

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The original post had a upper image related to there being “no place like home.” With a link to No Place Like Home – Wikipedia, which noted that – aside from the famous line in the movie Wizard of Oz – the phrase may also refer to “the last line of the 1822 song ‘Home! Sweet Home!,’ words by John Howard Payne and music by Sir Henry Bishop; the source of inspiration for the other references here: ‘Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home,'” and/or “‘(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays,’ a 1954 Christmas song most famously sung by Perry Como.” For a “live” version, see also There’s No Place Like Home – YouTube.

The canoe trip noted above sought to follow – for the most part and in segments- the water path established in 1699 by the French explorer “d’Iberville,” from Biloxi, through Lake Ponchartrain and various bayous to the Mississippi, then up the Red River to Natchitoches Louisiana. See e.g. Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville – Wikipedia.

As to the idea of life as a spiritual pilgrimage, the teosofia.com site said this:

Those who are students of religions and mysticism of the East as of the West, will be familiar with two similes used for the human soul: that of the traveller, and that of the pilgrim… In more profound and truer mystical traditions man is compared to a pilgrim… The human soul is on a journey; all human souls are seeing sights, learning lessons and gathering experience; all are moving from stage to stage of evolution. But many souls do not recognize that they are bound for a particular destination, that there is a purpose to life, and that purpose is holy and sacred…

As to Christ the King Sunday, see All About Christ the King Sunday | Prayers, History, Customs:

Christ the King Sunday celebrates the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of the cosmos. Officially called the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, it is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent. In 2014, the feast falls on November 23rd.

The lower image is courtesy of Plough Monday – Hymns and Carols of Christmas. See also Plough Monday – Wikipedia, which said in “the Church of England, the eve of Epiphany used to be celebrated as Twelfth Night. The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday… Plough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year[, ] usually the first Monday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany), January 6. References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century.”

One final note (courtesy of “Mi Dulce”), regarding the title of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night:

“Twelfth Night” is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany. It was originally a Catholic holiday but, prior to Shakespeare’s play, had become a day of revelry. Servants often dressed up as their masters, men as women and so forth. This history of festive ritual and Carnivalesque reversal, based on the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia at the same time of year (characterized by drunken revelry and inversion of the social order; masters became slaves for a day, and vice versa), is the cultural origin of the play’s gender confusion-driven plot. [E.A.]

See Twelfth Night – Wikipedia, which added that the play “centers on the twins Viola and Sebastian,” separated in a shipwreck, followed by a Countess Olivia falling in love with Viola (disguised as a boy), and “Sebastian in turn falling in love with Olivia.” In turn Olivia “falls in love with ‘Cesario’, as she does not realise ‘he’ is Viola in disguise. In the meantime, Viola has fallen in love with the Duke,” Orsino. Finally, Wikipedia noted that the play “expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion,” that is, the occasion of the “drunken revelry” of 12th Night.

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On the first Thanksgiving – Part I

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The Mayflower Pilgrims, leaving behind their homeland for a “whole New Wo-o-o-orld…*”

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The Scribe is about to embark on a spiritual pilgrimage of his own, of a type noted in On “St. James the Greater”. It could last two weeks or more and – to cut to the chase – that means he won’t be doing a new post until he gets back, some time before the Feast Day of Thanksgiving. So this ode to the original Thanksgiving – and its full meaning – will be a two-parter.

For the full Thanksgiving-day Bible readings, see Thanksgiving Day, which includes this from the Collect: “Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them.” The first reading for the day continues that theme and is from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 8:7-18. It begins like this:

Moses said to all Israel: For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing…

(Emphasis added.) But of course we all know things are never that simple.

See for example the site, Freedom isn’t free – Wikipedia, about the “popular American idiom, used widely in the United States to express gratitude to the military for defending personal freedoms… [T]he freedoms enjoyed by many citizens in many democracies are only possible through the risks taken and sacrifices made by those in the military.” But see also Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty (Quotation), attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

These days that could also mean taking full heed of Proverbs 4:27 Do not turn to the right or the left. See also The Ultimate Meaning of the Middle Way and Centrism – Wikipedia:

But we digress…

We were talking about the First-ever Thanksgiving. It was celebrated by the Mayflower Pilgrims, who – after a rough trip across the North Atlantic – first set foot on land on November 11,1620.

Here’s the timeline. Before it set sail for the New World (disambiguation), the Mayflower was docked at Southampton, Hampshire, waiting to hook up with a smaller ship, Speedwell. Speedwell sailed over from Holland and met up with Mayflower, and both ships left for America on what we would call August 15, 1620. (See “Old Style” on the differences in dating.)

Unfortunately Speedwell proved unseaworthy, so both ships had to put in at Dartmouth, Devon, meaning they got about 90 or 100 miles at sea – “as the crow flies” from Southhampton – before stopping for repairs. (It’s 149 miles by road.) At the harbor in Dartmouth, Speedwell was “inspected for leaks and sealed, but a second attempt to depart also failed, bringing them only so far as Plymouth, Devon.” (Meaning on their second try they made about 31 miles by road, but a bit more than that around Start Point, Devon – Wikipedia and the South Devon coast.)

So at that point the group ended up selling the smaller ship and transferring as many of its passengers and goods as possible to Mayflower, which then had to go it alone.

Incidentally, Plymouth in England is the present-day site of the Mayflower Steps, “the spot close to the site … from which it is believed the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for North America in 1620. The Mayflower Steps are flanked by the British and American flags and mark the final English departure point … from which the Pilgrim Fathers are believed to have finally left England aboard the Mayflower, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to settle in North America on 6 September 1620.” See Mayflower Steps – Historic Site in Plymouth and Mayflower Steps – Wikipedia. It also provided the name of the spot where – according to tradition – the Pilgrims first landed in America. See Plymouth Rock – Wikipedia.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. To get back on track, Mayflower left Plymouth – alone – on or about September 6, 1620. The crew and passengers had before them some 65 days of sailing the North Atlantic, and at first there was nothing but smooth sailing…

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The upper image is courtesy of Pilgrim Fathers – Wikipedia, with the caption, “The Embarkation of the Pilgrims (1857) by the American painter Robert Walter Weir at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.”

The lower image is courtesy of Mayflower Collection – Mike Haywood’s Artwork – Mayflower HMS, with the caption, “A prosperous wind The Mayflower leaving English shores.” The home-page of the site notes “Mike Haywood has a growing International reputation as a marine and portrait painter. He has a Doctorate in Oceanography and loves painting rough or lively seas. He has a Doctorate in Oceanography and loves painting rough or lively seas. Each painting is painstakingly researched to ensure accuracy.” The site’s “Mayflower Collection” includes more images of the voyage. (Note that the lower image shows Speedwell in the background, indicating that is shows either the first or the second attempt to reach the New World.)

The asterisk – “*” – signifies, “with a nod to the song by that name in the movie Aladdin.” See Aladdin – A whole new world [Lyrics] – YouTube. See also Aladdin – A Whole New World Lyrics, including: “A whole new world, A new fantastic point of view, No one to tell us no, Or where to go… Unbelievable sights, Indescribable feeling, Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling, Through an endless diamond sky…” All of which could describe the feelings of any pilgrim setting out for any “new world,” before reality sets in and the real work begins…

See also Cut to the chase – Wikipedia, which explained that the phrase meaning “to get to the point without wasting time” originated from early silent films.

The article Centrism – Wikipedia indicated that Americans today are fed up with the political status quo and are looking for a “New Political Center,” intermixing liberal instincts and conservative values; “tolerant traditionalists” who believe in “conventional social morality that ensure family stability,” while being “tolerant within reason” of those who challenge such traditional morality, “and as pragmatically supportive of government intervention in spheres such as education, child care, health care as long as budgets are balanced.” See also On Jesus: Liberal or Fundamentalist?

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DOR Scribe

Expand your horizons – Read the Bible with an open mind

Author Archives: dorscribe@aol.com

On Amanuenses…

On the original St. Nicholas

On the readings for December 7

On the Psalms up to December 7

On “Y1V1” and the Ten Virgins

On the readings for Advent Sunday

On the Psalms up to November 30

On St. Andrew, the “First Apostle”

On returning from a pilgrimage – and the coming holidays

Now, getting back to that upcoming holiday season…

On the first Thanksgiving – Part I

But we digress…