Lies Breathed Through Silver vs. Truth Made Fact

[alanajoli]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that most of you are aware of the conversation between C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien that was one of the final steps of Lewis in Lewis's conversion to Christianity. One of the most interesting things to me about that conversation was always Tolkien's notion of Christianity being Truth made Fact. The idea Tolkien proposed was that much of the body of mythology was a practice run for the story of Christ.

It is, therefore, not Earth-shattering to me to hear that the idea of a three-day resurrection may have predated the story of Jesus of Nazareth. A tablet, called "Gabriel's Revelation," was found about ten years ago, but it's just now making the news, may feature a scene where Gabriel commands a revolutionary named Simon to rise three days after he was dead. It also implies that the messiah will rise three days after his death. The scholars discussing it now are saying this means that the relationship between Judaism and Christianity needs to be reevaluated. Apparently one of the literary arguments for Christianity being true was that the three-day-resurrection only appeared in the New Testament--and who'd make that stuff up? So apparently the idea that it may not have appeared solely in the New Testament is shaking things up.

I suspect, if Tolkien were to hear of this tablet, he would say, "Well, of course." Given how much of the Christian story has resonance with other mythic themes, why not add one more? The idea that Christ fulfilled yet another prophecy would only be more reason to believe--not a reason to question the whole faith. Alas for the lack of application of mythic theory in the news!

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that Christ's life was lived to resonate the strongest with the paradigm of the time, so it would make sense. He taught in parables, he lived one.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

He taught in parables, he lived one.

I *love* how you put that.

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

Three is a myth-encrusted number, and not only in New Testament Christianity. (Quick: How long did Jonah hang out in the whale before it barfed him out again?) The idea of the Resurrection of the Body is not peculiarly Christian, nor even the Resurrection of a Jewish Messiah. The NYC Lubavitchers who followed Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson up to his death in 1994 expected him to rise again after three days in the grave. (There is a rumor not in mainstream accounts that they buried him with a working cell phone, in case he needed help getting out of his granite tomb.)

The very fact that the secular press got all worked up over this indicates that they no longer have any idea whatsoever how the Judeo-Christian tradition evolved, nor what it includes. The whole affair says a lot more about the cultural gaps that divide us than it does about the roots of Christianity.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that story about Schneerson. Wild!

To be fair, I think a lot of practing people don't have much more understanding of the history of Christianity than the mainstream press. As one of my preachers said, there's not much wrong with this--Jesus used to tell his parables on three (again, three!) levels, and sometimes told them three times: one for the masses, one for those who wanted to dig a little deeper, and a third for the apostles. My pastor said that it was valid to be any one of those people, to be anywhere in your relationship with Christ. That was something I hadn't thought about before, and I think it was a good step in stopping me from looking down my nose at folks who didn't want to be as academic about religion as they did. They were probably looking down their noses right back at me!

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

You (and your pagan traditions) will be assimilated! ;)

In the Methodist hymnal, we have a number of tunes attributed to being English drinking songs that were converted into hymns! Whatever it takes to get the folks to sing along, right?

[home.greywulf.net (from livejournal.com)]

Don't forget the links between Jesus and Horus (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm). Pretty compelling stuff!

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Wow! I hadn't seen that comparison done before. Given the history of the relationship between Egypt and the Hebrew people (back to Joseph & the Amazing Techni--I mean, Joseph, the dream interpreter in Genesis), it makes a lot of sense that tropes from Egyptian religion would be present throughout--moreso than some of the other religions/mythologies with parallels. Tolkien wrote about all of those things roughly being in a large mythological cauldron, Jung talks about the collective unconscious, and Barfield about original participation--the correspondence of ideas just makes sense!

Thanks so much for posting. Great link.