I'm back from the Letter and Spirit Institute

I'm back from Steubenville. I'll post some thoughts in the days to come.

Godspeed,
Taylor Marshall

I'll be in Steubenville for the Letter & Spirit Seminar (May 25-June 1) - Blogging will be light

I had the great privilege of being invited by Scott Hahn to Steubenville, Ohio for the Letter and Spirit Summer Seminar sponsored by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. The of the seminar is to resurrect a liturgical and sacramental hermeneutic for Biblical Theology. If you're interested in this sort of thing, I highly recommend the Letter and Spirit journal volumes and the book by Scott Hahn that inspired them:




[I highly recommend Letter and Spirit Vol. 3. The article in there by G. Anderson on the concept of the "Merit and the Treasury of Merit" in pre-Christian Jewish sources and Rabbinical writings is well worth it.]
I've been looking forward to this for months. There will be many interesting theologians and I believe some of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will be there, as well. Danny Garland of Irish Catholic and Dangerous will be there, too.

The presentations look great:

Dr. Jeremy Holmes: “Participation, Exegesis and Liturgy” (working title)

Dr. Ben Wiker: “The Bible Politicized”

Dr. Jeff Morrow: “Modern Biblical Interpretation and the Sacramental Hermeneutic”

Dr. Bryan Stewart: “Levitical Paradigms for Christian Ministers in the Third and Fourth Century Church”

Dr. John Bergsma: “All Israel: The Eschatalogical Self-Identity of the Qumran Community”

All this is to say that I'll likely have a stimulating week with lots to post about when I return back to Dallas. If I get the chance, I'll try to post something during the week, otherwise I won't be blogging until the beginning of June.

Godspeed,
Taylor Marshall

Why the Blessed Virgin Mary is the "Seat of Wisdom" (Sedes Sapientiae)

Why does the Blessed Virgin Mary bear the title "Seat of Wisdom" (Lat: sedes sapientiae)? There are two reasons. The first regards wisdom absolutely as the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Paul identifies Christ as the "wisdom of God".

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God...He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:24, 30).

Christ fulfills the Old Testament tradition of the primordial Wisdom (חחמה,"Chokmah") of the Lord. St. John used the concept by identifying Christ as the Divine Word or Logos of God (John 1:1-13). As Wisdom Incarnate, Christ is seated on the lap of His Blessed Mother. Mary is the throne from which Christ rules the universe.

Secondly, our Lady is the seat of wisdom relatively as the human fulfillment of "Lady Wisdom" presented in the Book of Proverbs and especially in Proverbs 31 as the ideal wife and mother.

Because she is the mother of Wisdom (Jesus Christ), she participates in wisdom preeminently. She is Lady Wisdom by virtue of her role as Theotokos.

In conclusion, Christ is wisdom absolutely and so Mary is the "Seat of Wisdom" because she bore Christ in her womb and upon her lap. Mary is wisdom relatively in that she is personificaltion Lady Wisdom in the tradition of the Book of Proverbs.

Origin of the Sign of the Cross

Writing in around A.D. 204, Tertullian explained that Christians mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross.

In all our travels and movements in all our coming in and going out, in putting of our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross. (Tertullian, De corona milites, 3)

As is obvious, the original sign of the cross was not the large one that we make from our foreheads to our torsos and then across our shoulders. St. Cyril of Jerusalem confirms the same:

Let us then not be ashamed to confess He who was crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in goings; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are traveling, and when we are at rest. (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, 13)

The widespread use of signing the forehead with the cross is likely Apostolic in origin. I believe that Revelation 7:3, 9:4, and 14:1 are referring to the practice. These redeemed men are "signed on the forehead". Of course, the imagery comes from Ezekiel 9:4 where the faithful are sealed upon their foreheads with a mark of redemption.

In his commentary on Ezekiel, Origen interprets the meaning of the mark:

“The shape of the letter ‘Tau’ presented a resemblance to the figure of the Cross and that therein was contained a prophesy of the sign which is made by Christians upon their foreheads, for all the faithful make this sign in commencing any undertaking and especially at the beginning of prayer or of reading Holy Scripture. (Origen, In Ezekiel, 3)

As to the origin of the large cross that we make today across our shoulders, does anyone know when it became popular?

Cutting the Gordian Knot

Legend has it that an eagle once landed on the ox-cart of a poor Phrygian (central Asia minor) man named Gordias. Amazed by this sign, Gordias consecrated the ox-cart to the Phyrgian god Sabazios - the god corresponding to Zeus in the Greek pantheon. The shaft of the ox-cart was tied with an intricate knot to commemorate this ominous event.

Many years later, the Phrygians were without a ruler. A Phrygian seer declared that the next man to enter the city gates on an ox-cart should become next king of the Phyrgians. Ahmidas, the son of Gordias, unsuspectingly drove his ox-cart, the one bearing the knot, through the gates. Ahmidas son of Gordias was crowned king of the Phrygians and established his dynasty. The seers stated that the man who could untie Gordias' knot on the ox-cart would be next king of Phrygia.

Alexander the Great arrived in Phrygia in 333 BC. While spending the winter at Gordion, he was challenged to untie the famous Knot of Gordias. Alexander attempted to untie the Gordian knot, but he could not find the end of the cord. Unable to unbind the knot, Alexander sliced the knot with his sword and loosened the Gordian Knot. He went on to conquer the Phrygians and all of Asia Minor.

Today, "cutting the Gordian knot" refers to someone who quickly solves a problem by thinking outside of the box.

Pope Benedict XVI in Genova

Pope Benedict XVI prepares for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at Piazza della Vittoria in Genova.

My only comment: the dalmatic of the deacon should not out-shine the chasuble of the Vicar of Christ.

Recommended Book for the Feast of the Holy Trinity

Dr. Matthew Levering's Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology

Tongues of Fire and 1 Enoch

There an interesting post over at Singing in the Reign about the significance of "tongues of fire" in Acts as the concept relates to temple imagery in 1 Enoch.

The wounded hip of Jacob (Genesis 32)

Jacob received the name "Israel" because he wrested in the night with God (an angel of God, cf. Hosea 12:4). As the sun began to rise, the angelic being touched the sinew of his thigh (גיד הנשה). This "touch" crippled Jacob and he apparently walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Jacob's miraculous wound is the etiological reason for why Israelites do not eat the meat around the sciatic nerve on any animal.

Prince Caspian - I just saw the new movie

In order to celebrate my having finished writing all my papers and my last final today, my wife and I went to dinner and saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

It was pretty good. It's been about a year or more since I again read the novel and there were MANY sequences in the movie that I do not recall from the book. It was entertaining and the "crypt chapel" built over the stone altar of Aslan was incredible.


If you're a Narnia fanatic, you'll probably be frustrated with the changes, but if you just want to be entertained, it's great.

Pope Benedict Commends Pseudo-Dionysius

In the Holy Father's Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI commended the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius as a means "to place Greek wisdom at the service of the Gospel."

The writings are alleged to be written by Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of St. Paul in Acts 17, but were actually written in 6th century. The Dionysian corpus includes: the Divine Names, Celestial Hierarchy, Mystical Theology, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and ten epistles.

I love Pseudo-Dionysius and he is frequently cited by St. Thomas Aquinas. Dionysius presents Christianity, especially the sacraments and the church, in the mold of Platonism

Also interesting is the Dionysian testimony to the Assumption of Mary recorded in his work Divine Names.

There is also a pseudo-pseudo-Dionysian epistle (i.e. written after the pseudo-Dionysian corpus) preserved by the Armenian Church that describes the Dormition of Mary in greater detail.

Full story from CWN.

Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 3 (On Paradise)

This is a continuation of Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 1 and Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 2.

In Dante’s Paradise the perfection of natural virtue and philosophy is confirmed by the realm of the Sun. Here the great scholastic theologians represent the perfection of philosophy. Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas stand out as giants surpassing the genius of either Plato or Aristotle. Their position in the “sun” contrasts the position of the worthy pagan philosophers who dwell in the shadows of Limbo. Dante depicts for us the powers of natural philosophy residing in the “happiness” of Limbo, but he reveals the full potential of philosophy by the brilliant presence of the Christian philosophers in Heaven.

One might object that Dante’s positive relationship between nature and grace breaks down when one examines the negative depiction of the Church and the State. Dante repeatedly chides the Church and especially the Pope (in the person of Boniface VIII). Dante seems to believe that the Roman Empire as it has resurrected through the Holy Roman Empire is self-sufficient and entirely independent of ecclesiastical intervention. Here it seems that the Church and the State should remain separate like oil and water.

This is an overly simplistic reading of Dante. Dante does not dispute that the Church can and should sanctify the State. Dante protests against the intervention of the Church in matters of State. Going back to fourth century, Dante believes that Constantine blended the Church with the State and so confusion has reigned ever since. Dante sets forth a vision whereby the Church and the State exist in full harmony. However, this can only happen when the Church functions as a church and the State functions as a state. Dante is arguing for the nature to function as nature in the case of the State and grace to function as grace in the case of the Church.

Having established the positive way of Dante as putting forth a model of grace perfecting nature, we briefly examine Milton’s treatment of nature and grace as it regards the apophatic or negative way of supernatural fulfillment. At the end of Paradise Lost, Milton places into the mouth of Adam words that could not more perfectly summarize the tradition of negative theology:

Greatly instructed I shall hence depart,
Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill
Of knowledge, what this Vessel can contain;
Beyond which was my folly to aspire.
Henceforth I learn, that to be obey is best. (Paradise Lost 12. 557-61)

Michael responds: “This having learnt, thou has attain’d the sum.” (PL 12. 575) Thus, Milton articulates what he as illustrated all along. Natural reason, natural knowledge, and natural philosophy are at best dangerous, at worst sinful. It seems that the pride of Adam actually began to develop during his discourse with Raphael prior to the fall. Raphael descends with one sole purpose. Raphael has been sent by God to remind Adam to obey the divine command. Instead, Adam seems only interested in what we might call philosophy and science.

The same pattern is seen in the fall of Lucifer. Lucifer cannot comprehend the role and place of the Son in the hierarchy of God’s kingdom. So trusting his reason, he rebels and falls away. Over and over again, we see that natural reason is in conflict with divine revelation. God reveals something that is incomprehensible. The agent then has the decision to rationalize the situation or obey the divine command.

Unlike Dante, Milton would not willing to trust the pagan Virgil through the pathway of Hell. Milton would also have no need for Purgatory. Man’s relationship with God is extrinsic and primarily focused on legal status. Adam is not given the hope of transformation—he is giving the hope of future justification. Milton would also find the guiding role of Beatrice to be superfluous. Beauty and love are temptations used by Satan (and heartily recommended by Belial in Paradise Regain’d). Beauty could not for Milton be a means of salvation. Lastly and most importantly, Milton did not and could not present God as a Trinity, because the Triune spheres of Dante are relational, the divine Son is “depicted with man’s very image”, and the Persons are relational—the very “love that moves the sun and the stars.”

See also:
Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 1
Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 2
and
Dante on Purgatory and Virtues

Dante on Purgatory and Virtues

The role of purgatory in the Comedy also illustrates Dante’s affirmative presupposition regarding nature and grace. The deceased Christian does not die and go straight to heaven. This “Protestant” understanding would entail that the sinner instantly becomes a saint. This is an example of grace replacing nature. Dante’s theology of positive theology would not allow this. The sinner cannot immediately conform to God. Rather, the natural soul must be perfect by grace. The soul, with the help of grace, must ascend the mountain and thereby become perfect. The former life and its sins are not eradicated. Transformation is real. It is a step-by-step “positive” way.

Dante’s Purgatorio also provides insight as to how natural virtue opens the way for supernatural virtue. The poet praises the ancients as “men who with their reason probed the depths…thereby bequeathing ethics to the world.” (Purg 18.67-69) The positive role of reason, philosophy and natural virtue is alluded to in the Christological procession where four ladies dressed in purple robes dance on the “left wheel” of Christ’s chariot and three ladies dressed in red, green, and white, dance on the “right wheel” of Christ’s chariot. (Purg. 32.120-132) Dante shows the balance of the Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance (dressed in purple) with the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity (dressed in white, green, and red, respectively). The formal virtues are natural and the latter are supernatural—yet it seems that they together steer the chariot of Christ.

Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 2

Continued from Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 1.

The positive way of Dante conforms to the high scholasticism of his day. Dante, particularly in the Paradiso, conforms to the way in which Thomas Aquinas values philosophy as a true and proper power to prepare the mind for grace (cf. Par. 4.118-32; 29.13-45). Subscribing to the scholastic presuppositions of his time, Dante firmly believes that theology builds on philosophy, and that revelation clarifies and fulfills reason. The role of theology as a the “queen of the sciences” supports a hierarchical view of reality deeply intertwined with the cosmology and poetic structure of the Comedy. Confirming the kataphatic or “positive” way, Dante depicts the universe as governed by the supreme divine intellect through a hierarchy of lesser intelligences who in turn enlighten the lower ones. The progressive hierarchy of hell-purgatory-heaven and the prominent role of mediating guides (Self > Virgil > Beatrice > Bernard > Mary) further confirm the affirmative way by which Dante perceives God and creation.

While Dante certainly believes that grace compliments nature, he also depicts nature and grace as formally distinct. The inability of the pagan Virgil to ascend into Paradise demonstrates that nature without grace cannot in fact prepare the soul for the beatific vision. Moreover, the presence in Limbo of ancient pagan worthies such as Homer, Plato, and Aristotle, alongside virtuous non-Christians such as Avicenna and Averroes, confirms that nature can attain a kind of natural beatitude, but it cannot ascend to the supernatural beatitude that Dante shall experience in the final canto of the Comedy.

See also Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 1.

Assyrian Bishop and 3,000 Faithful Received into the Catholic Church

One bishop (Mar Bawai himself), six priests, 30+ deacons and subdeacons and an estimated 3,000 faithful were received into full communion during liturgical celebrations for the Feast of Pentecost. The announcement by the Chaldean Catholic Church can be found here.

Full story from Black Cordelias.

The Gospel of Peter and the Talking Cross

The resurrection account from the pseudapigraphal "Gospel of Peter" (so-called) translated by Raymond Brown:

[35] But in the night in which the Lord's day dawned, when the soldiers were safeguarding it two by two in every watch, there was a loud voice in heaven; [36] and they saw that the heavens were opened and that two males who had much radiance had come down from there and come near the sepulcher. [37] But that stone which had been thrust against the door, having rolled by itself, went a distance off the side; and the sepulcher opened, and both the young men entered. [38] And so those soldiers, having seen, awakened the centurion and the elders (for they too were present, safeguarding). [39] And while they were relating what they had seen, again they see three males who have come out from they sepulcher, with the two supporting the other one, and a cross following them, [40] and the head of the two reaching unto heaven, but that of the one being led out by a hand by them going beyond the heavens. [41] And they were hearing a voice from the heavens saying, 'Have you made proclamation to the fallen-asleep?' [42] And an obeisance was heard from the cross, 'Yes.'

This account seems Docetic as the body of Christ seems to be extremely large. The talking cross is an odd addition. John Dominic Crossan suggests that the cross is the cruciform procession of the faithful following Christ to heaven. N.T. Wright disagrees. Whatever it is, I imagine that it is depicting something allegorical. Another problem with this Gospel account is that the resurrection and the ascension seem to be a single event.

Serapion, Bishop of Antioch from 190–203, wrote a polemic against the Gospel of Peter on grounds of docetism. We don't have it, but Eusebius attests to its existence.

Comparing Dante and Milton, Part 1

The pilgrimage described by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy is one whereby the pilgrim is raised up by the means of grace. Dante employs the aide of a pagan poet and perceives divine mysteries through the eyes of Beatrice whose beauty increases by levels of ascent. Finally, the Blessed Virgin Mary intercedes so that Dante might contemplate the essence of God. Nature, beginning in the dark wood outside the gates of hell, is progressively perfected until Dante perceives the Blessed Trinity interposed with “man’s very image”. Dante illustrates the mystical journey of the soul in a kataphatic or positive way. This earthy, sacramental way that holds that grace perfects nature. Philosophy, reason, even earthly love—each is a stepping stone by which grace draws humanity toward God.

John Milton, on the other hand, expresses mystical union and redemption in a apophatic or negative way. His epic begins with reminders that he is a blind man grasping for the only tool left for him: words. Milton depicts humanity as torn between two loyalties. On the side stands natural reason with its promise of divine similitude. On the other side stands supernatural revelation with its promise of beatitude and restoration. Whereas Dante depicts grace and revelation as restorative of nature and reason, Milton depicts grace and revelation as replacements for nature and reason. Since Milton mistrusts natural means, he presents the sinner’s love for God as a path of energetic negation—a road on which the soul closes its eyes in blindness to reality so that it can ascend to God without distraction.

Herods of the Bible (the Great, Antipas, Agrippa)

Herod the Great: This is the Herod who sought to manipulate the Magi from the East so that he could kill the Christ Child who had been acclaimed as King of Jews. Herod the Great is responsible for the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents.

Herod Antipas ("the Tetrarch"): The son of Herod the Great. He married Herodias who was still the wife of his half-brother Philip. This is the Herod who is responsible for the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. On Good Friday, Pilate send Christ to Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was banished to Gaul (modern day France) where he died in A.D. 39.

Herod Agrippa: Grandson of Herod the Great through Herod's son Aristobulus IV. Herod Agrippa was thus the nephew of Herod Antipas. This is the Herod of the Book of Acts. He is responsible for the martyrdom of St. James the Greater and the imprisonment of St. Peter in Jerusalem. Acts 12 records that shortly after this, Herod Agrippa died and was "eaten by worms" in about A.D. 44.

Saint Justin Martyr on the Gospels and the Eucharist

Justin Martyr wrote:

For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me..." First Apology 66

This quote is interesting because: A) it identifies "the Gospels" (plural) as the memoirs of the Apostles, and B) because Justin ties the Gospels with the Eucharistic liturgy.

As we study the origins of the Gospels, we must be mindful of the fact that they were written to be read at Eucharistic assemblies. They were not written for private Bible studies, small groups, or academic seminars on Jesus.

The context of their composition does not exclude the Gospels being used at Bible studies or wherever, but we cannot think of the Gospels as somehow broken off or removed from the Eucharist and the liturgy of the Church. This should be inconceivable for the Christian.

Caption Contest

Who can create the best caption for this photo?

Bush hopes for "International Day of Prayer"

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush said Thursday he had found comfort in prayer over the past seven years and that he hoped the world would one day agree to set aside an "International Day of Prayer."

"I think it makes sense to hope that one day there may be an international day of prayer," Bush, a Methodist who often invokes God in his speeches, said as he marked the US national day of prayer.

"It will be a chance for people of faith around the world to stop at the same time to pause to praise an Almighty. It will be a time when we could prayer together for a world that sees the promise of the Psalms made real: 'Your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth,'" he said.

Bush said he and First Lady Laura Bush had prayed throughout the seven years of his presidency, but singled out the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes as a time when he sought divine guidance.

"Over the last seven years, our country has faced many trials. And time and time again we have turned to prayer and found strength and resilience," he said.

Text from AFP

Blogging will be light - I'm studying, writing, and grading

Sorry for the lack of posts. I'm studying, writing, and grading.

Soon, I'll be back in the saddle again.

Pope Benedict to visit France in Sept 2008

The Pope will begin his visit in Paris, with his schedule including Vespers at Notre Dame cathedral, a meeting with young people and a public papal Mass. On September 13, Pope Benedict will travel to Lourdes for the anniversary observances there. The Holy See has not yet formally announced the timing of the papal trip. The Vatican traditionally reveals plans for a papal voyage only a few weeks before the trip takes place.

Full story from CWNews

Reverend Wright and Black Liberation Theology by Anthony Bradley

This is an excellent introduction to Black Liberation Theology by Anthony Bradley. Bradley is a research fellow at the Acton Institute, and assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He's an African-American who seems to have firm grasp on the sources of "Black Theology". As I know nothing on the subject, I found it very helpful. Here’s an excerpt:

Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright catapulted black liberation theology onto a national stage, when America discovered Trinity United Church of Christ. Understanding the background of the movement might give better clarity into Wright's recent vitriolic preaching. A clear definition of black theology was first given formulation in 1969 by the National Committee of Black Church Men in the midst of the civil-rights movement:

Black theology is a theology of black liberation. It seeks to plumb the black condition in the light of God's revelation in Jesus Christ, so that the black community can see that the gospel is commensurate with the achievements of black humanity. Black theology is a theology of 'blackness.' It is the affirmation of black humanity that emancipates black people from White racism, thus providing authentic freedom for both white and black people. It affirms the humanity of white people in that it says 'No' to the encroachment of white oppression.

In the 1960s, black churches began to focus their attention beyond helping blacks cope with national racial discrimination particularly in urban areas.

Check out the full article over at the Acton Institute.