Category: Word Of The Week

Word Of The Week: W/C 11/1/16 - Reformation

10/1/2016

1. The action or process of reforming an Institution or practice

2. a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches.

The Corruption of the Roman Catholic Church was at the heart of Martin Luther's attack on it in 1517 when he wrote the "95 Theses" thus sparking off the German Reformation spread across the whole of Europe including Britain. However Luther was not always rebellious; Luther grew up a faithful Catholic Christian, well educated and intelligent. Having survived being struck by lightning in 1503 he dedicated himself to the religious life and joined an Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, progressing in his studies there to taking on a university lectureship nearby at the new university.

But during his adulthood and time as a priest he began to have serious misgivings about the way the church acted, it’s practices and the claims that it made upon it’s congregations.One day he saw what he needed in the text of St Paul’s letter to the Romans (New Testament) – God’s grace was there for him all the time if only he reached out by faith alone for forgiveness through Christ: Christ had died for him, he could not save himself however hard he tried, but God could! Fired by a new enthusiasm he set about declaring this truth to all around him and denouncing many Church practices such as penance, the veneration of the saints and the Virgin Mary, belief in Purgatory – indeed anything which could not be found in the Bible.

One day John Tetzel, a pardoner (a priest who toured round hearing confessions and pronouncing forgiveness) came to Wittenberg selling indulgences, the profits going to build a new cathedral in Rome (and to a local dignitary who had given him permission). This was the last straw for Luther, who in 1517 nailed 95 Theses against the errors of the Church to his own church door in Wittenberg. Among these he said –
All Christians are saints; the Virgin Mary has no special place in heaven

Priests have no special status – all believers are priests really
The Mass is a reminder of Christ’s Last Supper and sacrifice for our sins, it does not become Christ’s body and blood
The Pope has no authority to represent Christ on earth or to excommunicate anyone

But was Luther justifed in these claims? Well certainly at the start of the C16, the Roman Catholic Church was all powerful in western Europe. There was no legal alternative. The Catholic Church jealously guarded its position and anybody who was deemed to have gone against the Catholic Church was labelled a heretic and burnt at the stake. The Catholic Church did not tolerate any deviance from its teachings as any appearance of ‘going soft’ might have been interpreted as a sign of weakness which would be exploited.

Latimer & Ridley being burnt at the stake - www.wikimedia.com

Relic of the Nail of the Cross - Ipernity.com

Its power had been built up over the centuries and relied on ignorance and superstition on the part of the populace. It had been indoctrinated into the people that they could only get to heaven via the church.
This gave a priest enormous power at a local level on behalf of the Catholic Church. The local population viewed the local priest as their ‘passport’ to heaven as they knew no different and had been taught this from birth by the local priest. Such a message was constantly being repeated to ignorant people in church service after church service. Hence keeping your priest happy was seen as a prerequisite to going to heaven.

This relationship between people and church was essentially based on money - hence the huge wealth of the Catholic Church. Rich families could buy high positions for their sons in the Catholic Church and this satisfied their belief that they would go to heaven and attain salvation. However, a peasant had to pay for a child to be christened (this had to be done as a first step to getting to heaven as the people were told that a non-baptised child could not go to heaven); you had to pay to get married and you had to pay to bury someone from your family in holy ground.
To go with this, you would pay a sum to the church via the collection at the end of each service (as God was omnipresent he would see if anyone cheated on him), you had to pay tithes (a tenth of your annual income had to be paid to the church which could be either in money or in kind such as seed, animals etc.) and you were expected to work on church land for free for a specified number of days per week. The days required varied from region to region but if you were working on church land you could not be working on your own land growing food etc. and this could be more than just an irritant to a peasant as he would not be producing for his family or preparing for the next year.

However, unfair and absurd this might appear to someone in the nowadays it was the accepted way of life in 1500 as this was how it had always been and no-one knew any different and very few were willing to speak out against the Catholic Church as the consequences were too appalling to contemplate.

The Catholic Church also had a three other ways of raising revenue:

Relics: These were officially sanctioned by the Vatican. They were pieces of straw, hay, white feathers from a dove, pieces of the cross etc. that could be sold to people as the things that had been the nearest to Jesus on Earth. The money raised went straight to the church and to the Vatican. These holy relics were keenly sought after as the people saw their purchase as a way of pleasing God. It also showed that you had honoured Him by spending your money on relics associated with his son.

The Pope as the Antichrist, signing and selling indulgences, from Luther's 1521 Passional Christi und Antichristiby Lucas Cranach the Elder. en.wikipedia

Indulgences: These were ‘certificates’ produced in bulk that had been pre-signed by the pope which pardoned a person’s sins and gave you access to heaven. Basically if you knew that you had sinned you would wait until a pardoner was in your region selling an indulgence and purchase one as the pope, being God’s representative on Earth, would forgive your sins and you would be pardoned. This industry was later expanded to allow people to buy an indulgence for a dead relative who might be in purgatory or Hell and relieve that relative of his sins. By doing this you would be seen by the Catholic Church of committing a Christian act and this would elevate your status in the eyes of God.

Pilgrimages: These were very much supported by the Catholic Church as a pilgrim would end up at a place of worship that was owned by the Catholic Church and money could be made by the sale of badges, holy water, certificates to prove you had been etc. and completed your journey

Catholic areas (olive), Protestant areas (blue) and Muslim areas (red) after the reformation - wikipedia.com

It was the issue of indulgences that angered Martin Luther into speaking out against them - potentially a very dangerous thing to do. However, Luther avoided capture or burning at the stake, the fate of several previous (and later) rebels against the Church’s power. He married a former nun, demonstrating that the lifelong celibacy expected of monks, nuns and priests had no place in Protestant Christianity. He bought his former small monastery in Wittenberg and turned it into the family home! He died peacefully at home, having witnessed the transformation of Europe in his lifetime.

Eventually in England William Tyndale headed the reform movement, in Switzerland John Calvin established Geneva as a Protestant city, and princes across the continent joined in, sensing they could get free of the Habsburgs and the Church’s control. Thus a spiritual rebellion and reform movement became a massive political upheaval: for example Henry VIII in England broke with the Catholic Church (now nicknamed ‘Roman’ Catholic), became Protestant and took the entire Church in England with him. Wars were to follow for a new-look Europe over the next hundred years, and considerable conflict occurred under the Tudor and Stuart monarchs in England.

Everywhere Protestant churches were stripped of Catholic emblems or signs, such as saints’ statues or elaborate altars, service books and scriptures were produced in the local language, new Creeds were written for Protestant beliefs, the Bible took centre stage in Christian worship and Christians were encouraged to have a personal faith and to follow their own conscience. Countries gained independence from Rome and from the Empire, scholars were free to undertake new study (hence Protestants were at the forefront of science), and the New World, America, became the home of a vigorous Protestantism.

The question remains as to whether Martin Luther ever intended this all to happen? Did he just want to clean up the church or start a whole new movement? We will never know for certain, but what is for sure is that this single man shaped the destiny of Europe and ultimately the entire world. It shows the power of the individual and the importance of a powerful idea, but it also reminds us to be careful what we wish for!

Word of the Week: w/c 4/1/16 - Epiphany

5/1/2016

Epiphany, held on the 6th January, is a Christian festival which celebrates the revealing of Jesus as the Son of God and the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus

This week is the festival of Epiphany; celebrated in the West on January 6th. It commemorates the arrival of the Magi who came to worship the infant Jesus. I don’t really want to get into a discussion about the likelihood of this event or who the Magi were but I do think It is interesting to think a little more deeply about the gifts that Magi offered and what this tells us about the person of Jesus. At the very least this can tell us what the only gospel writer who records their visit, Matthew (chapter 2), wanted to convey about the Messiah.

Gold is an expression of kingship on Earth, Gold was a highly valued metal and worn by rulers in crowns or other jewellery. Christians believe that Christ is the true king who now reigns in heaven. Jesus was also descended from the line of David, the greatest King of Israel who the Jews of Jesus' day yearned to see return and free them from oppression at the hands of the Romans (although Jesus is ultimately not this kind of Messiah)

Frankincense is an aromatic resin that is burned to give a sweet smell at times of prayer and worship. It was burned in the Temple to cover the smell of blood from sacrifices there is also a sense that the smoke rising carries prayer to God. This therefore is symbolic of Jesus’ role as deity - God made incarnate.

Finally the myrrh is an embalming ointment that was used for anointing the dead. This therefore is representative of Jesus’ future suffering and death. Jesus' resurrection was indeed discovered by women coming to anoint his body - however there is no mention that this myrrh is what they intended to use.

One of my favourite Christmas carols that considers the symbolism of these three gifts is Bethlehem Downcomposed by Peter Warlock and written by Bruce Blunt. It picks up wonderfully on the duality of Jesus’ life - “gold for a crown” becomes “wood for a crown” and myrrh is given both for its “sweetness” and “embalming”. The juxtaposition of the first two major verses against the minor tonality of the last two works wonderfully. The last verse never fails to bring a lump to my throat. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

When He is King we will give Him a King's gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
Beautiful robes", said the young girl to Joseph,
Fair with her first-born on Bethlehem Down.

Bethlehem Down is full of the starlight,
Winds for the spices, and stars for the gold,
Mary for sleep, and for lullaby music,
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

When He is King they will clothe Him in grave-sheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary,
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down

Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close-huddled oxen to keep him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music,
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem Down.

Word of the Week: w/c 07/12/15 - Temple

4/12/2015

A building dedicated to the worship of gods or God.

The Temple (definite article) refers to the Jerusalem temple

A re-creation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Image: Wikipedia.commons

You might argue that this Word of the Week should be Temples as over the centuries there have in fact been two Temples in Jerusalem. The first was built by King Solomon in 957BCE. It was built to the design of King David but was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. It was later rebuilt and this is known as the “Second Temple”. It had a chequered history being plundered and damaged at various times by invading armies including that of the great Roman general Pompey. The Temple that Jesus would have known was renovated and expanded by King Herod the great when it became known as “Herod’s Temple”

The Temple in Jerusalem was the centre of Jewish religious life. It was used as a place of worship for major religious festivals and as a place of prayer. There would be daily services there. It was also a place of sacrifice where sins could be confessed and guilt transferred symbolically to an animal which was then slaughtered and burnt as an offering to God. The animal had to be unblemished; the best of the flock or herd. Poor people could sacrifice birds if that was all that they could afford.

Image: wikipedia.commons

The Temple site was large and contained a series of courtyards. The outer court was the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only place where Gentiles were allowed to come and pray. If they tried to enter the other courts, notices in Greek, Latin and Hebrew warned them that to do so risked death! Inside that was the Court of the Women. Then you came to the Court of the Men where only Jewish men could pray. The innermost courtyard was reserved for the priests. It contained the altar on which sacrifices were burnt as well as the sanctuary which was the holiest part of the site. The sanctuary was a smaller building which was subdivided into two by a huge curtain. Behind it was the Holy of Holies where God’s presence dwelt. Only the High Priest went into the presence of God and only once a year after making sacrifices for his sins on the day of Yom Kippur. He interceded for the people of Israel.

Image: wikipedia.en

So it was that the temple was a place where a Jew could access God in some ways but it shut many out from the immediate presence of God; Gentiles, women, sinners, sick people (sinners and the sick or deformed were regarded as too spiritually unclean to be allowed in). This may have been what angered Jesus the most – throughout his ministry he had an interest in the outcasts of society.

Sometime during what Christians now call “Holy Week” – the final week before Jesus’ crucifixion - Jesus created a major disturbance in the Court of the Gentiles. The Gospels report that he violently overturned the money-changers’ tables and the booths of the sellers of animals. In a way, each had a legitimate place in the temple. The animals were needed by those who could not supply their own. The temple money alone could be used to pay the temple tax (Roman money was considered pagan and unclean). Mark’s Gospel records that Jesus regarded the temple as ‘a den of robbers’. Perhaps they were guilty of ripping off the people who came. At any rate, quoting the O.T. Jesus said that God wanted it to be a place of ‘prayer for all nations’. Clearly the Court of the Gentiles had gradually become full of traders and money changers and prayer was not possible. So the Temple was not fulfilling its most important function – to unite Man and God.

By creating this disturbance, Jesus was challenging the whole temple system. He knew exactly what he was doing. His ‘riot’ was deeply symbolic. He regarded the system as rotten at its core and perhaps in need of total reform which was really unlikely to happen. He later predicted (to his disciples) the complete destruction of the Temple, something that did in fact happen in AD 70 at the hands of the Romans. Many people at the time regarded the priests as corrupt in any case (many were very wealthy) and Jesus may well have shared that view. Sick and deformed people were not allowed in. He would have been seen as a threat to the moral and spiritual authority of the priests.

Jesus spent a lot of time in The Temple once he came to Jerusalem. Its courts were a place where people gathered to discuss and argue about matters of faith and belief. Mark records a number of disputes that Jesus had with religious leaders. More controversy!

Word of the Week: w/C 30/11/2015 - Hospice

29/11/2015

A home providing care and support to the sick or dying and their families. Originated as a lodging for travellers run by religious Organisations.

Image: cicelysaundersarchive.wordpress.com

The School's Philosophy Society, Ontos, was fortunate enough to receive a talk earlier this month from Joanne Fernandes, a hospice nurse at The Hospice of St Franics, Berkhamsted.

Ms Fernandes initially set out the purpose and origins of the Hospice movement including the story of Dame Cicely Saunders and the role of St. Francis' hospice within Berkhamsted. Her respect for Dame Saunders was evident as she stressed the range of intellectual disciplines that she embraced and experienced on the way to founding the hospice movement; a fantastic message for any young person setting out on their academic career to garner as many experiences as possible. She also stressed her emphasis on an holistic approach to death and the need to give everybody intrinsic value.

She moved on to set out the work of St Francis' dispelling the myth that hospices are merely places that people go to die. Indeed, 40% of patients go home from the hospice. She also stressed the holistic treatment of St Francis; not just about the patient but also their families especially in providing bereavement services and preparing families for the death of their relatives. The hospice also provides a teaching role supporting doctors and nurses and visiting schools. It aims to provide "The best of the biomedical with the care of the spirit".

She then moved on to address the debate around assisted dying and the Bill in the House of Lords last summer. She set out the various arguments for and against assisted dying that were put forwards in the House of Lords. The main question being should the autonomy of the individual trump all others? Or does society, and especially doctors and nurses, have the right to decline such requests? She set out extremely well the problem of rights and duties and the clash between autonomy and the implication this would have on healthcare professionals.

Ms Fernandes was a fantastic communicator, full of energy and conviction about the hospice movement balanced with a good understanding of the intellectual arguments surrounding this debate. She may have had a personal opinion about these issues but she did not give it away or try to sway pupils one way or another. Her talk reminded me of how lucky we are to have such passionate and educated nurses working in palliative care.

Word of the Week: w/c 23/11/16 - Teleological

22/11/2015

From the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Teleological arguments try to establish the existence of God by suggesting that the universe contains evidence of purpose which only God could be responsible for.

William Paley Image: Wikipedia Commons

Over the centuries that Philosophy has been going on a great number of people have wondered at the apparent design on the world and suggested that this must lead the to conclusion that there is a divine being responsible for it. Aquinas, Derham, Swinburne, Tennent and Behe have all had their part to play, but probably the most famous version (and I don’t really know why!) was by William Paley - a nineteenth century Natural Theologian.

Paley’s famous argument for the existence of God proceeds analogically, taking the idea of a watch, and making an analogy with the universe. Paley concludes that since the watch requires a watchmaker in order to exist, the universe must exist by virtue of some being capable of creating such a magnificent and intricately designed thing; God is the only suitable candidate for this.

Paley’s argument is a species of teleological argument. The word teleological is derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Teleological arguments try to establish the existence of God by suggesting that the universe contains evidence of purpose which could only have been put there by God.

When we see certain effects in nature, it is reasonable to suppose that these effects have been produced by a particular type of cause. When we observe a snooker ball rolling along a table, for instance, it is usually reasonable to suppose that it has been caused to move by another ball or a snooker cue colliding with it, even if the cause itself was never seen (David Hume challenged this kind of thinking before Paley had even put pen to paper, but Paley seems unaware of his predecessor’s writing).

This type of argument is inductive: it proceeds from general premises to a specific conclusion. We know that complex objects having specific purposes are the product of intelligence, and teleological arguments apply this generalised fact to observable instances of complexity in the universe in order to establish that the universe was created by an intelligent being, i.e. God.

Image: Wikipedia.Commons

In Paley’s time, humans were discovering more and more about the natural world. As technology advanced that allowed us to observe objects at ever-smaller scales, and allowed us to cross oceans and continents to make new discoveries, we began to uncover the complex ways in which things in the natural world seem to fit various purposes. In particular, the minute details of living organisms (now visible through microscopes) could be seen to be working together in ways that allowed the creature’s body to perform all sorts of functions. Not only that, but they performed these functions in a mechanistic fashion: predictable movements were made, with predictable results.

This tendency toward predictability bore an uncanny resemblance to the operation of human machines. Paley’s was an age in which engineering was advancing apace: from the large scale steam-ships and suspension bridges to large scale industrial mass-production to the minute world of mechanised automata, machinery and mechanisation seemed the very key to human advancement. These machines were designed by human beings who had specific purposes in mind, and designed the machines in such a way as to satisfy those purposes, making use of mechanisms that would produce predictable results and thus reliable machines. It would therefore seem compelling to suggest that evidence of predictability in nature suggested the existence of a designer who had a purpose in mind when it created the universe.

This was therefore the context of the argument in which Paley declared that if, in crossing a heath, he had struck his foot against a stone, he would not have wondered how it came to be there. After all, stones are not complex. They do not (superficially, at least) bear any marks of having been designed. But had he come upon a watch instead, Paley would have felt sure that the object had been designed by an intelligent being, due to its complex, intricate and purposeful nature.

Paley then went on to argue that if all the hallmarks of design present in the watch, they must also be present in the natural world. Paley gave the example that “the hinges in the wings of an earwig, and the joints of its antennae, are as highly wrought, as if the creator had nothing else to finish.” The characteristics that denote carefulness of design in man-made objects are present in the universe.

Not only are the hallmark complexities of design present in nature, but in Paley’s words are more evident in nature than in the watch “to a degree which exceeds all computation”. Paley thus concludes that God possesses not only the characteristics of a human designer, but an infinite degree of care and attention to detail. Not only does Paley’s argument thus claim to establish the existence of any deity, but an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God.

Paley’s argument builds on Aquinas’ argument before his. For Aquinas, the universe shows evidence of God’s design because of regularity: in Aquinas’ terms, “bodies that lack knowledge … act for an end, and this is evident in their acting always, or nearly always in the same way, so as to obtain a result.” Paley’s argument depends on a similar thesis of regularity, but (in keeping with the time of his writings), he expands this to encompass ideas of complexity as well. An examination of the watch’s workings reveals complexity that explains why it works with regularity when it is in motion.

This means that Paley can anticipate his critics by pointing out that if the watch failed to keep time exactly, that would not nullify the evidence of design found in it. The high degree of complexity and the fact that this aims at a function, even if that function is not fully achieved, still counts as strong evidence of design. Therefore even if things in the world do not always function perfectly, such as potatoes being wiped out by blight, and animals going extinct this does not nullify the evidence of design to be found in the complexities of the potato plant’s biological workings. The greatness of designed complexity to be seen in nature points to God’s existence even if its intended function is not always achieved.

There are of course many who dismiss the Teleological argument as fanciful, overly positive about the purpose of the world and simply wrong. As Darwin proposed and Dawkins & Dennett would later argue, the world is not designed with a purpose in mind, rather it is that we perceive order and purpose when there is none. But if you want to learn about these criticisms you will have to wait for another word of the week...

Word of the Week: w/c 16/11/15 - Covenant

15/11/2015

Literally, a contract. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

Image: Pixabay

The story of Abraham and his descendants is found in the book of Genesis. We first meet him in Genesis chapter 11, although at this stage his name is Abram. There is very little detail about him apart from the fact that he was a shepherd and came from Ur in Mesopotamia - modern day Iraq - after which he and his family moved, with his father Terah, to Haran.

Abram and his family journeyed from Ur in modern-day Iraq to Israel via Syria

This was a polytheistic age, an age when people believed in and worshipped many gods. Yet within this atmosphere, Abram answers the call of God and it is because of this that he accepts and realises the reality of there being only one true God.

Abraham was the first person to recognise and worship the one God. And so, monotheism was born.

At the beginning of Genesis chapter 12, God asked Abram to leave his home and country and he makes Abram three promises: the promise of a relationship with God, numerous descendants and land (Genesis 12: 1-3).

"I will make you a great nation
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you will be a blessing
I will bless those who bless you,
And whoever curses you I will curse;
And all the peoples of the earth
Will be blessed through you"

Abraham and his family Image: Wikipedia

The only problem is that both Abram and his wife, Sarai (later called Sarah) are old people and childless. They will have to leave their homeland and they don't even know who this God is! They seem to be an almost impossible set of promises for God to keep. But the amazing fact about Abram is that he does what he is asked. Abram has to place his trust in this nameless God. Consequently, Abram has gone down in history as a man of tremendous faith. As a result of his obedience, God changes his name to Abraham, meaning father of the people, and they solemnly promise each other that God will give them a land, many descendents and special care. Abraham for his part promises that he will be obedient to God, worship him and circumcise his offspring as a sign of the covenant (a practice carried out by Jews to this day)

The important thing to learn here is the uniqueness of the Covenant relationship between God and Abraham. For the first time, we see the beginning of a 2-way relationship: God is doing something for Abraham, and Abraham is doing something for God. The blessings of God are passed on from one generation to another.

Word of the Week: w/c 05/10/15 - Stewardship

4/10/2015

The belief that humans are responsible for the world and should look after it for God.

Image: Stokpic

We only have to open a newspaper or turn on the TV to be confronted by that fact that humanity is facing a very large problem - how to deal with our environment and the effects that we have had upon the natural world. Climate Change is a phenomena that many scientists agree is being directly affected by human actions and in the past 40 years there has been a growing movement to ensure that humans act to reduce our impact upon the environment.

Christians have also been part of the green movement and there is a great deal in the Bible to support the idea that they have a special duty to care for the environment: As it says in Pslams: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1) or in Deuteronomy: "To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 10:14). Many Christians feel that they should care for the world because it is not really theirs but rather belongs to God.

This can be seen in the second creation story in Genesis 2 when God creates the world and then creates Adam to “till and keep” the Garden of Eden; many liberal Christians interpret this Myth to mean that they have a responsibility to maintain the world and use its resources sustainably. They will have to give it back to God one day and certainly have to pass it on to the next generation.

Image: ClkerFreeVectorImages

The wider debate is how we are to achieve this - are we to try and have the least impact upon the world by reducing, reusing and recycling straight away? Are we to turn to low-energy technology and renewable sources of energy such as wind, tide and solar? Do Governments have a duty to force us to adopt these practices? Should they be heavily subsidising the production of electric vehicles and taxing products with poor environmental credentials? Or would it be better in the long run to not try and interfere in the process of development and trust that necessity and market forces will bring about the changes needed. Indeed, there are many “Climate Change deniers” who argue that the state of the planet and man’s influence upon the climate has been over-stated.

Whatever the answer to these questions Christians still have many areas of their lives where they should consider Stewardship and the impact of everything belonging to God on their lives. Often Christians focus on Time, Treasures and Talents when considering how to act. This video from the Church of Scotland highlights the range of areas that Christians might consider in their lives:

Word of the Week: W/C 21/09/15 - Messiah

19/9/2015

The Hebrew word meaning “anointed one” and used to refer to the king or leader who would be God’s servant. Jesus was called the Messiah by his followers.

Life for the Jews in first century Palestine was pretty tough, in fact it had never been easy! They had been conquered by the Romans in 63 BC by Pompey; but this was only the last in a line of foreign rulers including the Greeks, the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians. The problem for Israel is that it lies at a very important crossroads between the Mediterranean, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Far East. Spices, silks and food-stuff were constantly being traded across its borders and this made it a profitable and well as strategically important land to hold. It is no wonder that by 30AD the people of Israel had begun to rather fed up of all this foreign rule and yearned for the golden age of David and Solomon, the great kings of Israel to return.

Israel's important strategic position. Image: Wikipedia Creative Commons

Into this cauldron came a man, called Jesus of Nazareth, who was soon being hailed by some to be The Messiah, the redeemer of Israel. I do not want to get into a debate here about who Jesus really was. The options are various and have been hotly contested over the centuries: from God incarnate, to liberal Rabbi and from political dissident to strict Jewish reformer. The “quest for the historical Jesus” has long generated a great deal of heat and not much light. One thing that cannot be disputed is that the different Jewish groups who lived in Palestine at the time of Jesus certainly had different ideas about whether a Messiah was going to come and if he did, what sort of a leader he was going to be.

The Sadducee: The Sadducee were the upper class who held power in the temple and held the majority of seats on the council of elders at Jerusalem (the Sanhedrin). They often tried to work with the Romans to ensure peace. Religiously, they believed that the Torah (the first five books of the bible) was the only part of Judaism with any authority - they therefore did not believe in the Messiah asthe he was not predicted in the Torah.

Image: Wikipedia Creative Commons

The Pharisees: This group were middle class Jews who were mainly businessmen and they dominated the Synagogues, the small meeting places of ordinary Jews throughout the country. They did take the rest of the Jewish Bible (the Tanakh) seriously and so were expecting a Messiah, but they took the Law so seriously that they were obsessed by it and following it closely. Laws about cleanliness, food and professions were taken extremely seriously and so they come across as uncompassionate in the New Testament. The Messiah for them would be a prophet like Moses, a Priest and a King like David. He certainly would not be “the son of God” and they did not believe that God could become man.

The Essenes: The Essenes were a small sect of Judaism that were very like the Pharisees with a few key differences: They were extremely secretive and they were expecting an imminent catastrophe that would end the world and they believed the Messiah would usher in this end time. They seem to have not accepted Jesus as Messiah, although there are some scholars who think that John the Baptist might have been an Essene.

The Zealots: These were a group of political dissidents who wanted to rebel against Roman rule - they would have looked for a Messiah who was a political leader. It is interesting to note that amongst Jesus’ disciples was a man called “Simon the Zealot”. In fact they did eventually cause a revolt in 66 AD after Jesus’ death which eventually led to the Jewish expulsion from Palestine in 70AD and the destruction of the Temple.

Image: Flickr/Freestone Wilson

In the end Jesus seems to have been rather different to what these final three groups wanted: He was not a military man as he showed when he arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding on the colt of a Donkey so the Zealots rejected him. He was not pure enough for the Pharisees as he mixed with Romans, tax-collectors and sinners. And finally he did not bring about the end of the world as the Essenes wanted. Perhaps it was this, added to the fact that the Sadducees did not believe in a Messiah at all that lead to him being arrested and handed over for crucifixion. Of course for Christians today this is not an issue, as we saw last week it was all part of God’s plan for salvation that Jesus would be despised and rejected to unite God and Humans.

Word Of The Week: w/c 07/09/15 - Gnosis

5/9/2015

Knowledge of Spiritual mysteries

Image: frankbeckerde

Welcome back for a new academic year!

Gnosis is the greek word for knowledge and often refers to spiritual knowledge that is supplied by a particular religious group. The most famous group of early Christians that match this description are now known to scholars as the Gnostics: they are a collection of early Christian sects who were eventually persecuted out of existence by the Church Fathers and Roman Emperors. The Gnostics stressed the importance of knowledge (gnosis) over faith (pistis) - this knowledge gave the knower the ability to gain everlasting life after death, however it was secretive and only could be gained once members had undergone complex initiation. This went against the mainstream belief that Christianity was open to all and was received through revelation rather than instruction.

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Although the Gnostics were ultimately unsuccessful and hounded out of existence they were onto an important idea; knowledge is power. Nothing is more valuable than knowing facts and concepts; they are the building blocks of what Aristotle called Pronesis (practical wisdom).

Learning facts has become rather underrated in the modern world; sometimes people suggest that transferable skills are more important such as empathy and lateral thinking; but knowledge should not be neglected. For example imagine that you were a businesswoman trying to seal the deal on a new Oil Contact in Saudi Arabia. Whilst being empathetic and being able to think quickly on your feet will be important in securing the deal, knowledge of the religious customs of the region will also be very important. Should you wear a headscarf? What times during the week should you arrange the meeting to best suit the prayers of the clients? What if it is the month of Ramadan? If you do not know these things then you might jepordise the entire operation by causing unnecessary offence.

This is of course only one example but the adage is true in numerous situations. And even in the more mundane life of GCSEs and A-levels it is all very well and good to know how to structure an essay or plan your exam answer, but without any facts to populate the essay you are not going to earn many marks!

What Gnosis do you hope to learn this year and how will your studies in R&P impact upon your future life?

Word of the week: W/c 29/06/15 - Charisma

28/6/2015

From the Greek; charisma is any good gift that flows from God's love (charis) to humans; any Divine grace or favour, ranging from prophecy and teaching to serving and healing.

Tony Blair: An example of a charismatic politician Source: commons.wikimedia.org

The word Charisma, when used today, means someone who is compelling, inspirational and has a great deal of charm; leaders, speakers, politicians or even comedians are all said to be charismatic. But this is a corruption of the original term as used by St Paul in his letters to the early Churches. When he wrote to the Romans and the Corinthians, Paul used the term to denote any gift that might built up the life of the Church and these are many and various:

“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness”.
Romans 12:6-8

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Last week we took our Year 7 pupils to St Albans Abbey and the United Synagogue in St Albans. Both visits shared in common that they they were highly educational, experiential and gave pupils a chance to be immersed in the history and practices of Christianity and Judaism. At the same time they were vastly different in the size and grandeur of the buildings; The Abbey is an ornate Norman Cathedral, one of the largest buildings in the country and amongst the most beautiful. By contrast, the Synagogue is a small, unassuming building that lacks the splendour of the Abbey yet is no less loved by the community it serves.

Source: www.flickr.com

The other striking similarity was the enthusiasm and devotion of the volunteers who looked after us during our visits. All had given of their time and talent to serve their community and their faith; in short, they used their charisma. Whether they were telling the story of Alban, teaching about Baptism or the History of the Abbey; or if they were showing us how Tefillin are put on, showing us the Sefer Torah or retelling the story of the Passover; they used their own gifts of teaching to enrich our pupils’ learning.

When thinking about this post I was worried that by using the term Charisma to describe the work of both the Abbey and the Synagogue volunteers I might cause offence by using such an overtly Christian term. But actually the term seems rather fitting; Paul was writing to mixed communities of Jews and Gentiles and he himself was a Jew by birth. He would have developed his understanding of the importance of community and the various roles that need to be played from his own Jewish community and transferred this structure onto the fledgling Church. There is a great deal of shared heritage to be celebrated here.

The challenge to my students is this: Where, in your own life and over the summer holiday, can you make the most of your own particular gifts? How can you use your charisma to enrich the lives of others, just like those who served us at the Synagogue and Abbey did?

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Word Of The Week: W/C 11/1/16 - Reformation

1. The action or process of reforming an Institution or practice

2. a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches.

Word of the Week: w/c 4/1/16 - Epiphany

Epiphany, held on the 6th January, is a Christian festival which celebrates the revealing of Jesus as the Son of God and the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus

Word of the Week: w/c 07/12/15 - Temple

A building dedicated to the worship of gods or God.

The Temple (definite article) refers to the Jerusalem temple

Word of the Week: w/C 30/11/2015 - Hospice

A home providing care and support to the sick or dying and their families. Originated as a lodging for travellers run by religious Organisations.

Word of the Week: w/c 23/11/16 - Teleological

From the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Teleological arguments try to establish the existence of God by suggesting that the universe contains evidence of purpose which only God could be responsible for.

Word of the Week: w/c 16/11/15 - Covenant

Literally, a contract. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

Word of the Week: w/c 05/10/15 - Stewardship

The belief that humans are responsible for the world and should look after it for God.

Word of the Week: W/C 21/09/15 - Messiah

The Hebrew word meaning “anointed one” and used to refer to the king or leader who would be God’s servant. Jesus was called the Messiah by his followers.

Word Of The Week: w/c 07/09/15 - Gnosis

Knowledge of Spiritual mysteries

Word of the week: W/c 29/06/15 - Charisma

From the Greek; charisma is any good gift that flows from God's love (charis) to humans; any Divine grace or favour, ranging from prophecy and teaching to serving and healing.

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Categories

1. The action or process of reforming an Institution or practice​2. a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches.

Epiphany, held on the 6th January, is a Christian festival which celebrates the revealing of Jesus as the Son of God and the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus

A building dedicated to the worship of gods or God.The Temple (definite article) refers to the Jerusalem temple

A home providing care and support to the sick or dying and their families. Originated as a lodging for travellers run by religious Organisations.

From the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Teleological arguments try to establish the existence of God by suggesting that the universe contains evidence of purpose which only God could be responsible for.​

Literally, a contract. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

The belief that humans are responsible for the world and should look after it for God.

The Hebrew word meaning “anointed one” and used to refer to the king or leader who would be God’s servant. Jesus was called the Messiah by his followers.

Knowledge of Spiritual mysteries

From the Greek; charisma is any good gift that flows from God's love (charis) to humans; any Divine grace or favour, ranging from prophecy and teaching to serving and healing.

Archives

Categories

1. The action or process of reforming an Institution or practice

2. a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches.

A building dedicated to the worship of gods or God.

The Temple (definite article) refers to the Jerusalem temple

From the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Teleological arguments try to establish the existence of God by suggesting that the universe contains evidence of purpose which only God could be responsible for.