The Bible tells us that Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth. But this became the source of a protracted debate among medieval scholars who couldn't figure out what became of the foreskin. Did it remain here on Earth? Was it reunited with Christ and ascended with him into Heaven? Or did it ascend into heaven separately, on its own?
The belief that the "holy prepuce" remained on Earth was probably the most popular position. In fact, no less than 21 medieval churches and abbeys claimed to be in possession of the holy foreskin.
St. Catherine of Siena reportedly wore the foreskin of Jesus as a ring on her finger.
However, the Austrian nun Agnes Blannbekin (1244-1315) took a different view. She became obsessed by the holy foreskin, dwelling on the loss of blood and pain Christ must have suffered during his circumcision. Such thoughts led her to a revelation. While celebrating the Feast of the Circumcision (traditionally held on January 1), Agnes suddenly "felt the Lord's foreskin on her tongue, thin as the membrane of an egg, and swallowed it with great sweetness 'about a hundred times'. Christ then revealed to her that his foreskin had been resurrected with him on Easter." Because of this revelation, Blannbekin's writings were banned by the church.
However, my favorite theory about the fate of the holy foreskin is the one put forward by the 17th century theologian Leo Allatius. In an essay, De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba, he speculated "that the holy foreskin may have ascended into heaven at the same time as Jesus himself, and might have become the rings of Saturn."
Source of info: Mattelaer, JJ, et al. (2007). "The Circumcision of Jesus Christ". The Journal of Urology. 178: 31-34.
(Not that I prescribe to labels here at "Talking At The Ceiling" - I prefer my relationship with God to be more plastic and fluid. But thats just how He and I roll!)
Atheism and Agnosticism Those without belief in God may be either atheists or agnostics. Atheism may be defined either weakly as the absence of belief in God, or in a stronger form as active disbelief in God.
Agnosticism too comes in weaker and stronger forms; agnosticism may be understood as simple uncertainty, indecision concerning God’s existence, or it may be understood as the view that the question as to whether God exists is one that in principle can never be answered.
Pantheism and Panentheism Pantheism, meanwhile, instead of affirming the existence of a God who is outside the universe, transcending it, identifies God with the universe. Everything, according to pantheists, is a part of God, because God simply is the sum total of all that exists.
This view is close to, but distinct from, that of panentheism, which holds not that God is everything, but that God is in everything. This view combines the pantheist’s reverence for the natural world with the theist’s insistence that God himself is a supernatural being.
Deism In Western society, one of theism’s strongest rivals, historically speaking, has been deism. Deists affirm the existence of God, but deny that he has revealed himself to us as is claimed by the monotheistic religions. They thus accept the idea of God as Creator, but reject purported revelation such as the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran. The deist god merely set the universe in motion; he does not intervene in it on a continuous basis in the way that theists have claimed.
Theism Theism, against each of the views described above, affirms both the existence of a transcendent God and that that God is involved in Creation. It comes in different forms: monotheism insists that there is only one God; polytheism holds that there are many; henotheism agrees with polytheism that there are many gods but pays special homage to one of them.
The Holy Foreskin
ReplyDeleteThe Bible tells us that Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth. But this became the source of a protracted debate among medieval scholars who couldn't figure out what became of the foreskin. Did it remain here on Earth? Was it reunited with Christ and ascended with him into Heaven? Or did it ascend into heaven separately, on its own?
The belief that the "holy prepuce" remained on Earth was probably the most popular position. In fact, no less than 21 medieval churches and abbeys claimed to be in possession of the holy foreskin.
St. Catherine of Siena reportedly wore the foreskin of Jesus as a ring on her finger.
However, the Austrian nun Agnes Blannbekin (1244-1315) took a different view. She became obsessed by the holy foreskin, dwelling on the loss of blood and pain Christ must have suffered during his circumcision. Such thoughts led her to a revelation. While celebrating the Feast of the Circumcision (traditionally held on January 1), Agnes suddenly "felt the Lord's foreskin on her tongue, thin as the membrane of an egg, and swallowed it with great sweetness 'about a hundred times'. Christ then revealed to her that his foreskin had been resurrected with him on Easter." Because of this revelation, Blannbekin's writings were banned by the church.
However, my favorite theory about the fate of the holy foreskin is the one put forward by the 17th century theologian Leo Allatius. In an essay, De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba, he speculated "that the holy foreskin may have ascended into heaven at the same time as Jesus himself, and might have become the rings of Saturn."
Source of info: Mattelaer, JJ, et al. (2007). "The Circumcision of Jesus Christ". The Journal of Urology. 178: 31-34.
What Kind of a Theist are You?
ReplyDelete(Not that I prescribe to labels here at "Talking At The Ceiling" - I prefer my relationship with God to be more plastic and fluid. But thats just how He and I roll!)
Atheism and Agnosticism
Those without belief in God may be either atheists or agnostics. Atheism may be defined either weakly as the absence of belief in God, or in a stronger form as active disbelief in God.
Agnosticism too comes in weaker and stronger forms; agnosticism may be understood as simple uncertainty, indecision concerning God’s existence, or it may be understood as the view that the question as to whether God exists is one that in principle can never be answered.
Pantheism and Panentheism
Pantheism, meanwhile, instead of affirming the existence of a God who is outside the universe, transcending it, identifies God with the universe. Everything, according to pantheists, is a part of God, because God simply is the sum total of all that exists.
This view is close to, but distinct from, that of panentheism, which holds not that God is everything, but that God is in everything. This view combines the pantheist’s reverence for the natural world with the theist’s insistence that God himself is a supernatural being.
Deism
In Western society, one of theism’s strongest rivals, historically speaking, has been deism. Deists affirm the existence of God, but deny that he has revealed himself to us as is claimed by the monotheistic religions. They thus accept the idea of God as Creator, but reject purported revelation such as the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran. The deist god merely set the universe in motion; he does not intervene in it on a continuous basis in the way that theists have claimed.
Theism
Theism, against each of the views described above, affirms both the existence of a transcendent God and that that God is involved in Creation. It comes in different forms: monotheism insists that there is only one God; polytheism holds that there are many; henotheism agrees with polytheism that there are many gods but pays special homage to one of them.