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Word of the Week: W/C 21/03/16 - Paschal

20/3/2016

Pertaining to the Jewish Festival of Passover and the Christian festival of Easter

By the Providence Lithograph Company

This week is Holy Week in the Christian tradition - the week leading up to the festival of Easter when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The term Paschal refers to anything to do with Easter - for example the Paschal Candle, that is lit on Easter morning and burns for 40 days until ascension day.

But the other association of the word is to do with Passover (Pesach) in the Jewish tradition. This of course makes sense as Jesus’ death occurred during the season of Passover; Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the passover meal when Jesus instituted the Eucharist in what is now known as The Last Supper. Many of the themes of the Passover resonate in the Easter festival: Being saved by God, being marked out as a special people and the theme of water in the crossing of the Reed sea and in the waters of Baptism.

But one overlap that I want to explore briefly is that of the Paschal Lamb. This is the sacrifice that is demanded of Jews in Exodus 12 to thank God for their deliverance from Egypt and being freed from slavery. The Law demanded the sacrifice (Korban) of a Lamb to remember the way the Jews in Egypt marked their doorposts with Lamb’s blood so that the Angel of Death would “Passover” the houses of Jews whilst the Egyptian first born all died in the final plague.

This image of a Paschal Lamb was seized upon by the early Church to help them understand and put Jesus’ death into context. In his Gospel, John the Evangelist had John the Baptist describe Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. Jesus is seen as the sacrifice who takes away the sins of the world according to St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. Christians use this image in every Mass when they say or sing the Agnus Dei with the words “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us”.

Jews today no longer offer a Lamb at Passover, and have not done since the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Nevertheless, in both Faiths the image of the the lamb (or scapegoat) remains a potent symbol of redemption and salvation.

Word of the week: W/c 14/03/16 - Debate

12/3/2016

To argue about a subject - especially in a formal manner

By Ian Scott (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This post is both a plug and discussion of principles - first the plug…

On the 21st March we will be welcoming to our school Professor AC grayling to give a talk entitled “Why study the humanities”. In an age where the focus of education is on grades and future employment, we can sometimes forget to stop and think what 'studying' really means. For many students, studying the Humanities comes with a question mark over future employability - 'what can I do with a Philosophy degree?'. In this talk, Professor AC Grayling will argue a case for studying the Humanities on the grounds of immersing oneself in the 'great conversation of life'. To study the Humanities is to take off one's spectacles and think about our values, our history and the best way to live our lives.

Professor Grayling is a world renowned philosopher who, in 2011, founded and became the first Master of the New College of the Humanities (http://www.acgrayling.com/). He is passionate about the importance of the Humanities and communicating how crucial the skills and learning developed in studying them is to employers, society and our economy. If you, your students or your son/daughter is in the process of selecting which university courses, A levels or GCSEs to take then this talk will help them weigh up the merits of different courses.

Local schools and Teachers are most welcome - In order to help us gauge numbers of people attending – please private message @berkophil I will then send you more details.

Now for the principled bit…

I have been disappointed that some of my colleagues in the Religious Studies community have been very negative about AC Grayling coming to speak - he is Patron and vice president of the Humanist society. AC Grayling’s opposition to Sharia law and faith schools has often been expressed (for example in this “Comment is Free” piece in The Guardian). But more often than not, he looks to make the positive case for Atheism as in this interview. These negative views about religion have led some to suggest that he should not be speaking at a school like Berkhamsted and we should offer him no platform. I think this is precisely the opposite of what one should do.

We need to encourage debate and discussion in society - not stifle it. If you disagree with what AC Grayling says come and ask him about it, try to convince him of the counter arguments, make a case.
I could turn to Voltaire for support here who reputedly said; "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. But instead I will turn to the leader of the free world - president Obama and a 2015 speech he gave to a group of college students. I think he says it rather well:

Word of the week - Dukkha

6/3/2016

The concept of Suffering within Buddhism

In the west today we live pretty comfortable lives. Many of us do not lack food, shelter, or suffer from illness or disease. Therefore it is perhaps difficult for us to contemplate a philosophical system that is centred around the removal of suffering. For this indeed is what Buddhism is.

SIddhartha Gautama, now known to his followers as the Buddha, live in North East India and from an early age was intrigued by the suffering of the world. He grew up in a Hindu household, Legend would have it that he was the son of a king and his father was determined that he should never see suffering and so was locked up inside the palace. However inevitably Siddhartha did see suffering: His mother died when he was young, and he was not satisfied remaining within the palace and wish to see outside of the walls. So he instructed his chariot driver Chana to take him outside and show him the world. Here he saw for sights that changed his philosophical outlook forever.

He saw an old man.
He saw a sick man.
He saw a dead man.
And he saw a holy man.

Siddhartha asked how he could avoid getting old, being sick and dying and recognise that one way might be to become like the holy man. So he stole away from the palace and tried to lead an ascetic life - the life of a monk. The legends have it that he managed to get down to eating one grain of rice everyday, and he stabbed himself. But he realise that this was not making him satisfied and he could not concentrate on achieving peace because he was so hungry. So in the end he decided to sit down Under the shade of a Bhodi tree until he achieved enlightenment. eventually after many struggles with his inner demons he managed to realise the truth of the world - he had become a Buddha.

Buddhism is the teaching of those truths - what is known to Buddhist as the Dharma. Buddhism is not in fact all that relaxed and liberal, as some people might have you believe. Rather, it is full of lists and traditions that the Buddha passed onto his followers and they try to remember and practice today. These include the learning of the four Noble Truths, the five moral precepts and the eightfold path. The aim of all these practices is detach oneself from the material things of this life, whilst not depriving oneself fully, to reach a state where at death one will pass into Nirvana.

The Buddha realised that suffering cannot be avoided completely but one can take steps to limit its influence upon oneself and so reach the ultimate goal.