Do we start life tabula rasa? No, we are a papyrus written by God with a unique soul. Then we write over courage with riskiness or love of beauty with lust. With faith, God redeems: rubs out the wrong, repairs the places worn through, rewrites with Spirit, in red.
He rewrites in white. At least, I think so. Sins are red, according to the prophets. In Isaiah 1:18, one of my favorite Bible verses, because it tells us so much about God, it says,
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Oh, beautiful! I like this. I was thinking of the red letters of the gospel and the covering blood of Jesus. But he doesn't so much erase our sins as write over them with his holiness, white as snow. Thanks!
Personally, I prefer vellum. Yes, it’s far more expensive than papyrus, but you “palimpsestically” use it many more times than papyrus…if you’re careful. Don’t even get me started on the uselessness of disposable, one-use clay tablets. The Druids are always complaining about what they do to the Earth Mother.
Come to think of it, vellum probably makes me look like just that much more of an insufferable snob, as well. 🤔
Kidding aside, C. S. Lewis’ observation is wonderful, and true. We have mere mortal bodies, but that’s only an infinitesimally small part of it. The immortal part lasts for eternity, making life on Earth very short, and very small, indeed.
My favorite big word is probably juxtaposition or juxtapose, because you can use it fairly frequently and it’s a word with an x in it, so people will probably remember it, because you’re always trying to remember X words for games like scrabble.
Regarding the role of Mary in our salvation, from an Orthodox Christian point of view: In 431, the Christian leaders and hierarchs of the known world came together in Ephesus to discuss her role, and arrived at the term Theotokos (God-bearer) for Mary, and also Mother of God. Nestorius argued that she should be called Christotokos, but it was decided that this would divide Christ into two persons (God and man), rather than the One who is fully God and fully man - hence, she is called Theotokos.
In 1054 came the Great Schism, when the Roman patriarch separated from the other four patriarchs of the Orthodox Church - thus bringing about the Roman Catholic Church as a separate entity.
Much later, In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary - based on the understanding that Mary was conceived without sin, and thus making her a great exception as a member of the human race. In the Orthodox Christian view, the Theotokos is seen as "the great example" because of her humility and submission to God in her response to the archangel "...be it unto me according to thy word," but not as "the great exception" to the normal rule of life.
I once attended a graduation at a girls' Roman Catholic high school. From my seat, I noticed a large plaque above the stage, which said "Jesus and Mary," thus seemingly making them the male and female divine counterpoints (I surmised). But He is the Creator and she is a creature. In the Orthodox Church the Mother of God is highly esteemed and venerated, but she is not worshipped. We ask her intercession, assuming she has the ear of her son, but we do not "pray to Mary," in the sense of elevating her to the level of the Godhead.
As a Catholic, I can say we pray to Mary the same way we pray to other saints, but we worship none of them. Of course, I’m not speaking for all, just for myself and the other Catholics I know.
We pray to the saints, and especially to Mary, due to her close relationship with Christ, hoping they will pray FOR us, just as the ending of the Hail Mary says, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death” (my emphasis).
Yes, absolutely Sierra - and I have devout Catholic friends who pray as you and I do, asking the intercessions of the Mother of God. My point, really, was that the 19th century dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is one that could lead people astray. I've spoken to several Roman Catholic friends who didn't realize that dogma referred to Mary's conception and rightly believe there was only one Immaculate Conception, that of Jesus Christ.
I went to Catholic school and thought the same about the Immaculate Conception for years. In Grades 1-8, I suspect they thought it was a bit too deep for young minds, and by Grades 9-12, they simply went beyond the detail. Or, and this might be the actual truth, my young mind let it go over my head because I wasn’t paying enough attention. We didn’t change rooms in the early grades, so sitting in one spot all day has a way of making a kid bored, and the Theology subject was, for me, especially boring. I got it in school, in church on Sundays, in church during at times, and from my Irish mother (I think my Irish father might have winced in agony, if he passed under the lintel of the church doorways).
I also think, the farther back we go with Catholicism, the more likely Mary is to be considered nearly as divine as Jesus. Fewer people read, fewer had any kind of structured schooling, many more were very superstitious, and critical thinking was for the highly educated, of whom there were relatively very few. So, I’m not too concerned about whether they worshipped Mary, or simply prayed to her. To me, it is understandable for either.
I want to thank you Klavans, unrelated though you be, again, for bringing the Christian discourse to such a high level, and making it accessible to the rest of us poor plebes.
I feel inspired to say something, but I don't know how to say what I want. So I'll do what I know how to do best, which is to talk about myself, and hopefully make a salient point through that.
My dad was an Episcopalian before he met my mom, a staunch Roman Catholic, who, true to her tradition, demanded on receipt of marriage, that we, the children, be brought up in her religion, which he agreed to.
So we were brought up Catholic, and my dad went to Sunday Mass, with us, but never to communion, as the law of Catholicism decrees. It was no big deal. As a side note, we also picked up his mom, my Grandma, and dropped her off at the episcopalian church every Sunday, and then drove around the block and went to Mass ourselves, and then picked her back up and went out to brunch and picked up groceries for and with her. And that was my every Sunday growing up as a child. And it was truly happy and I feel so grateful and privileged, in the best expression of that word, to have had such a wonderful childhood.
When asked, my dad simply answered my childish questions about his religion simply, by saying he was a little bit different but everything was okay, which assuaged everything I might have been inclined to have a childish anxiety about.
And now we come to the crux of the matter I'm trying to relay. He always had a devotion to Mary, the mother of God. He was drafted during Vietnam, though went into the Air Force and was sent to Germany, rather than the tropical hellscape, and thus avoided that inferno. But while he was in Germany he bought a modern art, faceless, glass sculpture of Mary, that was nonetheless somewhat beautiful, and which we always had in a place of prominence in our house. When I asked him why he bought the statue, he said, he didn't really know why he bought it, that he thought it was beautiful, he thought it was important somehow, and at the time he felt called, I would add, even compelled, somehow to buy it. I think he even spent his stipend for the week to buy it, so he couldn't even buy beer for the rest of the week. That's how strongly he felt he had to buy it. He sacrificed, is my point, to get it. He was a simple man, but in the profound sense of that word, and brief in words in my recollection of him. And he always simply said, "Mary is important. She was central to Jesus Christ's life, so I think she should be central to mine."
He never articulated anything more than that and I don't think anything more needs to be. Somehow, I feel inspired to relate this story, especially in this time, and with this letter. I think it's all important to make Christ center to our lives and understanding of everything, as Mary his mother did. But I think if we miss the key person in Christs life, it is all too easy to spiral to extremity. Mary is not as important as Christ, but Christ without Mary is an incomplete picture. If we, as Christians, want a direction forward in this ever increasingly mad world, I think it should be through Mary to Christ, as both, I think, would agree.
I love the metaphor of palimpsest! In truth, our redeemed, justified, New Creation lives are surely that: the mortal (still recognizably us) overwritten with immortality. Even Christ's resurrection body has palimpsestic properties. Thank you, Spencer!
Wow...I learned a new word today. I probably won't remember it so I can show it off to friends, because I'm older than your dad, Spencer. Nevertheless, it was a good analogy. (And kudos for avoiding the "Mary" controversy.) Oops, just looked at the comments and I guess you didn't avoid it completely.
Do we start life tabula rasa? No, we are a papyrus written by God with a unique soul. Then we write over courage with riskiness or love of beauty with lust. With faith, God redeems: rubs out the wrong, repairs the places worn through, rewrites with Spirit, in red.
He rewrites in white. At least, I think so. Sins are red, according to the prophets. In Isaiah 1:18, one of my favorite Bible verses, because it tells us so much about God, it says,
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Oh, beautiful! I like this. I was thinking of the red letters of the gospel and the covering blood of Jesus. But he doesn't so much erase our sins as write over them with his holiness, white as snow. Thanks!
Well said.
I really enjoyed reading this. Look forward to using this word while smoking cigars with my friends. I even look forward to the mockery that follows.
Personally, I prefer vellum. Yes, it’s far more expensive than papyrus, but you “palimpsestically” use it many more times than papyrus…if you’re careful. Don’t even get me started on the uselessness of disposable, one-use clay tablets. The Druids are always complaining about what they do to the Earth Mother.
Come to think of it, vellum probably makes me look like just that much more of an insufferable snob, as well. 🤔
Kidding aside, C. S. Lewis’ observation is wonderful, and true. We have mere mortal bodies, but that’s only an infinitesimally small part of it. The immortal part lasts for eternity, making life on Earth very short, and very small, indeed.
My favorite big word is probably juxtaposition or juxtapose, because you can use it fairly frequently and it’s a word with an x in it, so people will probably remember it, because you’re always trying to remember X words for games like scrabble.
Regarding the role of Mary in our salvation, from an Orthodox Christian point of view: In 431, the Christian leaders and hierarchs of the known world came together in Ephesus to discuss her role, and arrived at the term Theotokos (God-bearer) for Mary, and also Mother of God. Nestorius argued that she should be called Christotokos, but it was decided that this would divide Christ into two persons (God and man), rather than the One who is fully God and fully man - hence, she is called Theotokos.
In 1054 came the Great Schism, when the Roman patriarch separated from the other four patriarchs of the Orthodox Church - thus bringing about the Roman Catholic Church as a separate entity.
Much later, In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary - based on the understanding that Mary was conceived without sin, and thus making her a great exception as a member of the human race. In the Orthodox Christian view, the Theotokos is seen as "the great example" because of her humility and submission to God in her response to the archangel "...be it unto me according to thy word," but not as "the great exception" to the normal rule of life.
I once attended a graduation at a girls' Roman Catholic high school. From my seat, I noticed a large plaque above the stage, which said "Jesus and Mary," thus seemingly making them the male and female divine counterpoints (I surmised). But He is the Creator and she is a creature. In the Orthodox Church the Mother of God is highly esteemed and venerated, but she is not worshipped. We ask her intercession, assuming she has the ear of her son, but we do not "pray to Mary," in the sense of elevating her to the level of the Godhead.
As a Catholic, I can say we pray to Mary the same way we pray to other saints, but we worship none of them. Of course, I’m not speaking for all, just for myself and the other Catholics I know.
We pray to the saints, and especially to Mary, due to her close relationship with Christ, hoping they will pray FOR us, just as the ending of the Hail Mary says, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death” (my emphasis).
Well said Sierra Charlie.
Thanks.
Yes, absolutely Sierra - and I have devout Catholic friends who pray as you and I do, asking the intercessions of the Mother of God. My point, really, was that the 19th century dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is one that could lead people astray. I've spoken to several Roman Catholic friends who didn't realize that dogma referred to Mary's conception and rightly believe there was only one Immaculate Conception, that of Jesus Christ.
I went to Catholic school and thought the same about the Immaculate Conception for years. In Grades 1-8, I suspect they thought it was a bit too deep for young minds, and by Grades 9-12, they simply went beyond the detail. Or, and this might be the actual truth, my young mind let it go over my head because I wasn’t paying enough attention. We didn’t change rooms in the early grades, so sitting in one spot all day has a way of making a kid bored, and the Theology subject was, for me, especially boring. I got it in school, in church on Sundays, in church during at times, and from my Irish mother (I think my Irish father might have winced in agony, if he passed under the lintel of the church doorways).
I also think, the farther back we go with Catholicism, the more likely Mary is to be considered nearly as divine as Jesus. Fewer people read, fewer had any kind of structured schooling, many more were very superstitious, and critical thinking was for the highly educated, of whom there were relatively very few. So, I’m not too concerned about whether they worshipped Mary, or simply prayed to her. To me, it is understandable for either.
Thank you for this thoughtful summary and helpful church history
You’re welcome, Karen!
I want to thank you Klavans, unrelated though you be, again, for bringing the Christian discourse to such a high level, and making it accessible to the rest of us poor plebes.
I feel inspired to say something, but I don't know how to say what I want. So I'll do what I know how to do best, which is to talk about myself, and hopefully make a salient point through that.
My dad was an Episcopalian before he met my mom, a staunch Roman Catholic, who, true to her tradition, demanded on receipt of marriage, that we, the children, be brought up in her religion, which he agreed to.
So we were brought up Catholic, and my dad went to Sunday Mass, with us, but never to communion, as the law of Catholicism decrees. It was no big deal. As a side note, we also picked up his mom, my Grandma, and dropped her off at the episcopalian church every Sunday, and then drove around the block and went to Mass ourselves, and then picked her back up and went out to brunch and picked up groceries for and with her. And that was my every Sunday growing up as a child. And it was truly happy and I feel so grateful and privileged, in the best expression of that word, to have had such a wonderful childhood.
When asked, my dad simply answered my childish questions about his religion simply, by saying he was a little bit different but everything was okay, which assuaged everything I might have been inclined to have a childish anxiety about.
And now we come to the crux of the matter I'm trying to relay. He always had a devotion to Mary, the mother of God. He was drafted during Vietnam, though went into the Air Force and was sent to Germany, rather than the tropical hellscape, and thus avoided that inferno. But while he was in Germany he bought a modern art, faceless, glass sculpture of Mary, that was nonetheless somewhat beautiful, and which we always had in a place of prominence in our house. When I asked him why he bought the statue, he said, he didn't really know why he bought it, that he thought it was beautiful, he thought it was important somehow, and at the time he felt called, I would add, even compelled, somehow to buy it. I think he even spent his stipend for the week to buy it, so he couldn't even buy beer for the rest of the week. That's how strongly he felt he had to buy it. He sacrificed, is my point, to get it. He was a simple man, but in the profound sense of that word, and brief in words in my recollection of him. And he always simply said, "Mary is important. She was central to Jesus Christ's life, so I think she should be central to mine."
He never articulated anything more than that and I don't think anything more needs to be. Somehow, I feel inspired to relate this story, especially in this time, and with this letter. I think it's all important to make Christ center to our lives and understanding of everything, as Mary his mother did. But I think if we miss the key person in Christs life, it is all too easy to spiral to extremity. Mary is not as important as Christ, but Christ without Mary is an incomplete picture. If we, as Christians, want a direction forward in this ever increasingly mad world, I think it should be through Mary to Christ, as both, I think, would agree.
I love the metaphor of palimpsest! In truth, our redeemed, justified, New Creation lives are surely that: the mortal (still recognizably us) overwritten with immortality. Even Christ's resurrection body has palimpsestic properties. Thank you, Spencer!
Can one be palimpsestuous, asking for a friend😜
Wow...I learned a new word today. I probably won't remember it so I can show it off to friends, because I'm older than your dad, Spencer. Nevertheless, it was a good analogy. (And kudos for avoiding the "Mary" controversy.) Oops, just looked at the comments and I guess you didn't avoid it completely.
Palimpspence The Wise of Sesquipedalia 😝