The King's Face

OK, this is the *second time today* I came across something that helped me figure out one of my quandaries! (The first was from today’s Prologue in answer to a question I had about natural law.) This was also in the Young book, Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture. (See previous entry.) Here’s the question she asks:

“How was such a complex body of literature, even in translation, to be made accessible to aural recipients for whom this was foreign and unknown, who had no prior acquaintance with the plots, characters, heroes, contexts? [She’s speaking about early Christians coming from pagan or Jewish backgrounds understanding the Christian texts and Scriptures.] How would they ‘follow’ a text, presumably read piecemeal according to some kind of lectionary system? How would they retain a sense of direction and overview as each extract was heard?” (p. 17)

She goes on to say that Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. Or. v.12) makes explicit the need to summarize scripture. St. Cyril talks about the Canon of Truth or Rule of Faith (the Creed). In a previous book, Young had “stressed the importance of the Rule of Faith or the Canon of Truth as providing the extra-canonical framework or ‘overarching story’ by which the scriptures were to be read and interpreted.” (She also mentions icons as “visual representation of biblical narrative in mural and mosaic, rivalling the traditional art of the Roman world which had communicated the heroes and tales of the ancient pagan culture.”) So to understand Scripture as read aloud from the lectionary, the people need to know the basic outline of the story.

She goes on to talk about St. Irenaeus, how he “appealed to this public tradition, authorised by the apostles, as the guaranteed deposit which ensured that the private esoteric interpretations of the heretics … could not be reliable.” Irenaeus uses his famous analogy of the mosiac of the beautiful king or the fox to show how there is a right way and a wrong way to put the big picture together from the (same) scriptural pieces (texts). The Rule of Faith tells you that you’re supposed to be making the picture of a king, not a fox! So not only does the Creed help you understand what you hear, it helps you not to have a false view of the whole constructed randomly from the pieces.

She concludes: “Thus it was that the notion of the Bible having a particular hypothesis [major message or story or claim], which Irenaeus here identified with the Canon of Truth or Rule of Faith, and characterised implicitly as ‘the king’s face’ or the Christological reference, emerged along with the doctrine of the unity of the Bible, both being quite specifically articulated in response to those who would reject or misread some of the books in the community’s library.” (p. 20)

And what, specifically, does this summary or hypothesis give you? It provides “the proper reading of the beginning and ending, the focus of the plot and the relations of the principle characters, so enabling the ‘middle’ to be heard in bits as meaningful… [It] articulated the essential hermeneutical key without which texts and community would disintegrate in incoherence.” Doesn’t the Creed give us exactly that?

So the Creed provides 1) beginning, 2) ending, 3) the focus of the plot, and 4) principle characters and their relations, enough so that all the middle of the story can be understood as it is read in pieces each week in the lectionary, and so it can be interpreted correctly!

Now when I read that, in addition to the Creed — and to icons — how else does the Church (obviously) help people to keep track of the “whole story” and what’s happening? By the liturgical year! So it goes a long way towards explaining how the Sunday Gospel texts are fit into a yearly cycle around Pascha — and to thinking about how our pastors preach on those texts each week, just as the early Fathers preached on the Gospel texts to their people.

Notebook Form

Here’s something I found very interesting in a new book I’m reading: Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture by Frances Young. I’m only in the first chapter, but already something new and interesting —

She’s discussing the physical manuscripts of books in the early centuries AD. “Real books” (literary classics, scriptures) were written on papyrus scrolls, but people would use wax tablets or codices/notebooks for making notes or doing schoolwork or for use in the business world. In the Jewish synagogues,

“it would be unthinkable that the ‘scriptures’ be inscribed on anything but rolls.

“It is therefore something of a shock to discover that Christians were producing copies of the Torah and Psalms in papyrus codices as early as the middle of the second century — sacred books in notebook format! … it must have seemed to the Jew an act of sacrilege…

“Why did Christians adopt the codex form for their books far in advance of it becoming the norm?” (p. 13-14)

Apparently Origen and Jerome would use a roll for their own literary works, but would use a notebook for Christian scriptures! She comments:

“The use of such a medium for the dissemination of ‘real books’, however, demands explanation. Is it any wonder that cultivated pagans regarded the Christian scriptures as crude and unworthy of attention, that Origen had to defend Christians from the charge of unlettered barbarity? Their books simply were not books in the proper sense at all.”

!!

Here’s her proposed answer:

“In these new Christian assemblies, it was not scrolls and reading which had primacy. The word written and read was testimony to something else, and the living and abiding voice of witness had the greater authority.” (p. 15) Read that: apostles and saints!

And later:

“Thus… the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not apparently a written Gospel but what people have called the ‘kerygma’, has become equivalent to sacred books, within which, in any case, whatever is to be believed is found written. As already for Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ has become the hermeneutical key which relativises the texts, even as they confirm the Christian testimony. (Corresponding to this, maybe, is the retention of their reading and interpretation in the liturgy, but subordinated to the eucharist.)

“The sacred glow on the scrolls consequently begins to fade while they remain important as proof of faith.” (p. 16)

————

What do you think “Bible Christians” would make of that!?

The texts exist to confirm the Christian witness, testimony, and kerygma. They are “proof of faith” and are read and interpreted as such in the Liturgy and are subordinated to the Eucharist. Christ is the hermeneutical key, and He **relativizes** the texts!

Maybe Christianity isn’t really a “religion of the Book” after all. It is a religion of the God-man, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The books and texts testify to and support HIM.

I like it. =D

Later parts of this book deal with the role of education and culture on exegesis (and the formation of a Christian culture), a *sacramental* (!) understanding of the meaning of scripture (language and what it refers to), and the life of faith as the context of interpreting the Bible — i.e. the Fathers as homilists, catechists, polemicists, and liturgists. She says: “The Bible’s principal function in the patristic period was the generation of a way of life…” :)

She’s neck deep in all the latest scholarly debates, of course, but I think she’s going in the right direction. Apparently her book is hot stuff even in the academic world. Andrew Louth (Orthodox) says, “This is a book which could, and should, transform the study of patristic exegesis.” Obviously I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but it might be a recommended read.

Now We Exhort You

1 Thessalonians 5:14-23

• Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
• See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
• Rejoice always,
• pray without ceasing,
• in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
• Do not quench the Spirit.
• Do not despise prophecies.
• Test all things; hold fast what is good.
• Abstain from every form of evil.
• Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bread 3 - Grumbling

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.

Click to read more ...

Bread 2 - Give Us This Bread

John 6 cont’d

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

30 So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”

32 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Bread 1

The Reading is from Luke 4:1-15

At that time Jesus returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command the stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

John 6

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

… (walking on water)

In Praise of Psalms 4

Oh! the wise invention of the teacher who contrived that while we were singing we should at the same time learn something useful; by this means, too, the teachings are in a certain way impressed more deeply on our minds. Even a forceful lesson does not always endure, but what enters the mind with joy and pleasure somehow becomes more firmly impressed upon it. What, in fact, can you not learn from the psalms? Can you not learn the grandeur of courage? The exactness of justice? The nobility of self-control? The perfection of prudence? A manner of penance? The measure of patience? And whatever other good things you might mention? Therein is perfect theology, a prediction of the coming of Christ in the flesh, a threat of judgment, a hope of resurrection, a fear of punishment, promises of glory, an unveiling of mysteries; all things, as if in some great public treasury, are stored up in the Book of Psalms. To it, although there are many musical instruments, the prophet adapted the so-called harp, showing, as it seems to me, that the gift from the Spirit resounded in his ears from above. With the cithara and the lyre the bronze from beneath responds with sound to the plucking, but the harp has the source of its harmonic rhythms from above, in order that we may be careful to seek the things above and not be borne down by the sweetness of the melody to the passions of the flesh. And I believe this, namely, that the words of prophecy are made clear to us in a profound and wise manner through the structure of the instrument, because those who are orderly and harmonious in soul possess an easy path to the things above. Let us now see the beginning of the psalms.

~ St. Basil the Great

In Praise of Psalms 3

A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, charity. A psalm is a city of refuge from the demons; a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from toils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women. It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with God. For, a psalm calls forth a tear even from a heart of stone. A psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense.

~ St. Basil the Great

Extraordinary! A psalm “peoples the solitudes… it is the voice of the Church… the spiritual incense.” It “calms bewildering thoughts… forms friendships… produces charity.” It is a “city of refuge from the demons… a rest from toils… the work of angels.”

To You, O God, is due praise, to you is due a hymn, to you glory is due, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In Praise of Psalms 2

When, indeed, the Holy Spirit saw that the human race was guided only with difficulty toward virtue, and that, because of our inclination toward pleasure, we were neglectful of an upright life, what did He do? The delight of melody He mingled with the doctrines so that by the pleasantness and softness of the sound heard we might receive without perceiving it the benefit of the words, just as wise physicians who, when giving the fastidious rather bitter drugs to drink, frequently smear the cup with honey. Therefore, He devised for us these harmonious melodies of the psalms, that they who are children in age or, even those who are youthful in disposition might to all appearances chant but, in reality, become trained in soul. For, never has any one of the many indifferent persons gone away easily holding in mind either an apostolic or prophetic message, but they do chant the words of the psalms, even in the home, and they spread them around in the market place, and, if perchance, someone becomes exceedingly wrathful, when he begins to be soothed by the psalm, he departs with the wrath of his soul immediately lulled to sleep by means of the melody.

~ St. Basil the Great

In Praise of Psalms

ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED by God and is useful (Tim 3:16), composed by the Spirit for this reason, namely, that we men, each and all of us, as if in a general hospital for souls, may select the remedy for his own condition. For, it says, ‘care will make the greatest sin to cease.’ (Eccles. 10:4) Now, the prophets teach one thing, historians another, the law something else, and the form of advice found in the proverbs something different still. But, the Book of Psalms has taken over what is profitable from all. It foretells coming events; it recalls history; it frames laws for life; it suggests what must be done; and, in general, it is the common treasury of good doctrine, carefully finding what is suitable for each one. The old wounds of souls it cures completely, and to the recently wounded it brings speedy improvement; the diseased it treats, and the unharmed it preserves. On the whole, it effaces, as far as is possible, the passions, which subtly exercise dominion over souls during the lifetime of man, and it does this with a certain orderly persuasion and sweetness which produces sound thoughts.

~ St. Basil the Great, Exegetic Homilies, #10, on Psalm 1