i try to be a minimalist, so i've never bought a copy, but my little branch of the one holy catholic and apostolic church publishes my pedigree. it lists my consecrating bishop richard's chief consecrator, and his chief consecrator adrian's chief consecrator, and so on all the way back to peter in antioch. peter was martyred in rome, and he may have been the bishop of rome, but he almost certainly was the bishop of antioch, and his chair is there to prove it. when each year in mid-january even the roman church celebrates the feast of peter's chair, it his chair in antioch that is remembered.
this is one of the meanings of apostolic succession: the physical reception of the power of the holy spirit to perform the office of a bishop by the laying-on-of-hands of previously consecrated bishops. there is another part, the nature of which can be a bit mor controversial: the passing on, the tradition, of the faith and teaching of the apostles. one of the specific parts of the teaching i received was the liturgy of sts. addai (thaddeus in the new testament) and mari (addai's barnabas, as it were). this liturgy, this work of the people of god, was widely spread in the first days of the church's going into all the world, being taken into persia, burma, and india. as we recite these ancient prayers still today, we gather "to remember that which we have received through tradition from [the father], rejoicing, glorifying, exalting, commemorating, and celebrating this great mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of our lord jesus christ."
i take this somewhat backwards entry to discussing the "begats" because to many who call themselves christian they are perhaps even less interesting than the details of my apostolic succession. in the big church, however, apostolic succession is what assures church unity, and in a similar way it is the begats that assure the unity of the story of scripture. the new testament begins with the begats leading to jesus (and apostolic succession may be thought of as the spiritual begats after jesus). like themes in much great music, the begats start simply, and grow. so we find simply in the fourth chapter of genesis, "and adam knew eve his wife: and she conceived, and bare cain . . . ." (4:1) what follows is easy to understand as part of the same story that began innocently in the garden.
as the story grows longer, and more complicated, the acts are often separated by longer periods of time with fewer details. the begats that start matthew's gospel will lead all the way from abraham. luke's gospel takes them back to adam. but whever the song of the begats is sung, it reminds us that the acts it connects are part of the same great operatic story, assuring its unity. "and celebrating this great mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of our lord jesus christ."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
mis en scene: genesis 1:27-28
this passage says far more than one might wish.
"so god created man in his own image,
in the image of god created he him;
male and female created he them.
and god blessed them,
and god said unto them,
be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth and subdue it.
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowls of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
this is one of the most commented-upon passages in all scripture. these few sentences, which to some readers have seemed to describe a more-or-less self-evident situation, can also be very controversial. for many non- or anti- or even professing-christian environmentalists, they seem to be the reason for western, nominally "christian" civilization's trashing of creation. then there are christian apologists who defend the bible and argue that modern westeners have it all wrong. in fact there is even a green bible (new york: harpercollins, 2008), with all the words in green which support an environmentally aware reading of the texts.
i would point out merely two examples to suggest that the text is not responsible for our greedy subduing without replenishment. first there is the demise of the anasazi, a native american culture which should act better if our idea of the noble savage is correct, but who apparently acted just as greedily as we do and over-consumed themselves right out of existence without the benefit of this story. then there was the necessity for nineteenth-century capitalists to free themselves from any restraints of scripture, a desire that expressed itself as darwinism, which was well-described by nietzsche, and which led to the modern wonders of the war to end all wars, and then endless war.
(please note that what was most helpful to the expanding capitalism of the nineteenth century was not a theory of evolution. indeed, gregory of nyssa, commenting on genesis in the creation of man, had assumed an evolutionary working out of creation in the fourth century. but gregory's understanding was of creation, with a creator. nineteenth-century darwinism removed the creator from the mix. no longer were all men created in the image of god. if, say, the zulu had to be destroyed for the species to make progress, it could be written off as the survival of the fittest.)
in this passage of genesis is expressed the biblical understanding of humanity's place in the universe, a place the psalmist would find quite remarkable:
"what is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
thou madest him lower than the angels,
to crown him with glory and worship.
thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands;
and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet:
all sheep and oxen; yea, and the beasts of the field;
the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea;
and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas." (psalm 8:4-8)
it is a place we find difficult to accept, either yielding to the temptation to "be as gods" (genesis 3:5), or denying our responsibility: "am i my brother's keeper?" (genesis 4:9) these extremes of human behaviour are not limited to the early stories of genesis. still today we overreach ourselves, gleefully unleashing nuclear power, a force over which truly we are powerless. and we look around at global warming, demonstrably the result of human activity, and say, these are just natural cycles; no need for us to act responsibly.
"and god said unto them,
be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth and subdue it.
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowls of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
it is possible to look at the bible as the story of how poorly we have carried out these first commandments, with jesus the ultimate example of how it should be done.
"so god created man in his own image,
in the image of god created he him;
male and female created he them.
and god blessed them,
and god said unto them,
be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth and subdue it.
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowls of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
this is one of the most commented-upon passages in all scripture. these few sentences, which to some readers have seemed to describe a more-or-less self-evident situation, can also be very controversial. for many non- or anti- or even professing-christian environmentalists, they seem to be the reason for western, nominally "christian" civilization's trashing of creation. then there are christian apologists who defend the bible and argue that modern westeners have it all wrong. in fact there is even a green bible (new york: harpercollins, 2008), with all the words in green which support an environmentally aware reading of the texts.
i would point out merely two examples to suggest that the text is not responsible for our greedy subduing without replenishment. first there is the demise of the anasazi, a native american culture which should act better if our idea of the noble savage is correct, but who apparently acted just as greedily as we do and over-consumed themselves right out of existence without the benefit of this story. then there was the necessity for nineteenth-century capitalists to free themselves from any restraints of scripture, a desire that expressed itself as darwinism, which was well-described by nietzsche, and which led to the modern wonders of the war to end all wars, and then endless war.
(please note that what was most helpful to the expanding capitalism of the nineteenth century was not a theory of evolution. indeed, gregory of nyssa, commenting on genesis in the creation of man, had assumed an evolutionary working out of creation in the fourth century. but gregory's understanding was of creation, with a creator. nineteenth-century darwinism removed the creator from the mix. no longer were all men created in the image of god. if, say, the zulu had to be destroyed for the species to make progress, it could be written off as the survival of the fittest.)
in this passage of genesis is expressed the biblical understanding of humanity's place in the universe, a place the psalmist would find quite remarkable:
"what is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
thou madest him lower than the angels,
to crown him with glory and worship.
thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands;
and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet:
all sheep and oxen; yea, and the beasts of the field;
the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea;
and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas." (psalm 8:4-8)
it is a place we find difficult to accept, either yielding to the temptation to "be as gods" (genesis 3:5), or denying our responsibility: "am i my brother's keeper?" (genesis 4:9) these extremes of human behaviour are not limited to the early stories of genesis. still today we overreach ourselves, gleefully unleashing nuclear power, a force over which truly we are powerless. and we look around at global warming, demonstrably the result of human activity, and say, these are just natural cycles; no need for us to act responsibly.
"and god said unto them,
be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth and subdue it.
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowls of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
it is possible to look at the bible as the story of how poorly we have carried out these first commandments, with jesus the ultimate example of how it should be done.
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