Brought to us this month from none other than Eve herself! Or at least, a newly-discovered apocalyptic text written in her name, faithfully translated by Patrick McCullough of kata ta biblia. For a second century source, that writer was eerily prescient!
Scot McKnight finds a blending of old (i.e., Reformation!) and new (post-Sanders) perspectives in Pope Benedict’s book on Paul.
I never fully understood a lot of 80’s music videos. Now I understand why.
(Warning: Safe for work, but some people may take offense at a line or two.)
|
Scot McKnight has completed a thorough (20 parts!) review of N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. Think of it as a kind of justification sutra composed of short (almost aphoristic, but not quite) blog posts that hold together an extended dialogue. Here are links to each installment:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Bob Setzer (my pastor) has some good thoughts on why it’s a good thing for the mind to wander during worship. If I had been subjected to the sermon referenced in the previous post, I would like to think my mind would have checked out in the first three minutes and found something edifying to think about…
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this guy is just making stuff up. There are a few words that ought to be in his vocabulary, but aren’t. One of them, as one of Claude Mariottini’s commentors observed, is “anachronism.” As in, “To assume that people in ancient times had the same sensibilities about what male and female dress should look like is an anachronism.” Three more words (actually, a word and two phrases) that spring to mind are “original languages,” “archeology,” and “Bible dictionary.”
Let’s see what happens when we apply these words and phrases to the issue of how men dressed in the first century. First, there are two Koine Greek words of particular importance for the question of whether Jesus “wore pants.” These are the two common words used to denote the two main garments someone would wear: χιτών (chiton) and ἱμάτιον (himation).
The ἱμάτιον is the outer garment. It is usually translated something like “cloak,” “coat,” or “robe.” Some translators just call it an “outer garment.” Under the ἱμάτιον one wore a χιτών, usually translated “tunic” or “shirt.” The chiton eventually became the alb, the inner garment worn as the basic vestment for priests and deacons in liturgical churches. You can see its modern Middle Eastern descendants in pretty much any crowd scene from the region on the nightly news.
For outer wear in the biblical world, that is pretty much the basic set: a “cloak”—probably nothing more than an oblong piece of cloth wrapped around the body—on top of a “shirt” or “tunic,” the length of which would vary, with women and the most wealthy wearing them floor-length and common laborers exposing at least part of the leg in the interest of ease of movement.
Archeology can help us here. If we can find contemporary depictions of the way people dressed in biblical times, it can either confirm or repudiate a theory about their clothing styles. Here, for example, are a couple of ancient statues of a woman and a man wearing the chiton and himation:
Although quite a bit earlier, here is what the fashionable Israelite was wearing in the late 8th century while being carried away captive by the Assyrians:
It should be noted that “garments worn in biblical times remained rather simple and remarkably unchanged during the entire period” (Donald W. Garner, “Dress,” Mercer Dictionary of the Bible [Mercer University Press, 1990] 220), so tunics like these may not have been terribly different from what Jesus and his followers were wearing several centuries later.
Finally, here is an early depiction of Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” from the San Callisto catacomb in Rome. The Christian art in this catacomb is dated to the second to fourth centuries AD—well before the rise of Islam and the supposedly new innovation of men “wearing dresses.”
You could complement this basic ensemble with a ζώνη (zone) or “belt” and perhaps a workman’s apron or σιμικίνθιον (simikinthion). A wealthy or important person might wear a στολή (stole) or long, flowing robe, perhaps even a ποδήρης (poderes), a robe reaching to the feet. There are other terms indicating the material from which a garment is sewn; thus the rich man in Luke 18 was “clothed with purple garments and fine linen” (πορφύρας καὶ σιρικοῦ / porphyras kai sirikou). Women might wear a κάλυμμα (kalymma), “veil.” For Roman soldiers or travellers, we’ve got the word χλαμύς (chlamys), which is what the soldiers dressed Jesus in when they taunted him according to Matthew 27:28 and is usually translated “cloak.”All of these terms are carefully defined in Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (United Bible Societies, 1989), pages 72-75.
Here is a statue of a man wearing a chlamys. Presumably, they would usually have been worn with something underneath!
Seriously, that is a good 90% of the New Testament vocabulary for articles of clothing. According to J. M. Myers, “the same general terms are used for women’s clothing as for men’s” (”Dress and Ornaments,” Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible [Abingdon, 1962] 871). Five basic articles of clothing were worn by both men and women: an outergarment, an undergarment, a belt or sash, footwear, and headgear (Garner, 220).
In some readings of Daniel 3:21, the word translated “trousers” in English is σαραβάροι (sarabaroi). This word does not appear in the Greek New Testament. The “breeches” the preacher goes on about
are mentioned only in connection with priestly vestments and were designed to cover the naked body “from the loins to the thighs” (Exod. 28:42; “linen breeches”). They were made of linen (Exod. 39:28; cf. Ecclus. 45:8) and were used in connection with the removal of the ashes of the burnt offering from the altar (Lev. 6:10—H 6:3) and by the high priest on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4). According to the Ezekielian order (44:18), the Levitical priests were to wear them when on duty. Josephus calls these breeches ἀναξυρίδες (Antiq. III.vii.1), a term used by Herodotus (1.71; 3.87; 7.61) to describe the customary drawers of the Persians. (Myers, 1:870)
These “breeches” are usually called περισκελῆ in Greek—another word not found in the New Testament. Whatever form they took took in Old Testament times (and in the LXX of Lev 6:3 [Hebrew 6:10], the word used to describe them is χιτών!), they are clearly a badge of priestly office, and the layperson Jesus would no more have worn them in daily life than he would have worn a clerical collar (or physician’s lab coat, or any other garment associated with a specific vocation) today.
"I'm not wearing a dress!"
Now, to the heart of the matter: Did Jesus wear a dress? No, of course he didn’t. A “dress” is culturally defined as a woman’s garment. I wouldn’t say that Jesus wore a dress any more than I would say that William Wallace, the fourteenth-century Scottish freedom fighter, wore one. Wallace wore a medieval Scottish léine or tunic, possibly under an early version of a man’s féileadh mòr or “great kilt”—and no self-respecting medieval Scottish woman would have been so immodest as to wear such a masculine garment!
Similarly, in the New Testament world people perceived differences between a man’s chiton and a woman’s. Most obviously, most men’s chitones were shorter. More significantly, “the difference in clothes between sexes was not style. Women’s apparel was distinguished by its finer and more colorful materials, sometimes the presence of a veil (Gen 24:65; 38:14), and probably the use of a special headdress” (Garner, 220).
This is a lesson that preacher could have learned from my mother-in-law. When the scandal of women wearing pants first presented itself in the rural Appalachian community where she grew up, she understood that women’s pants are not men’s clothing: no man ever wore them! Nor should we confuse the simple, homespun tunic and cloak Jesus wore with the more colorful and ornamented garments of his female disciples. Common sense like that would correct a lot of peoples’ theology, and it should.
The moral of the story? Please do try to learn something about the historical context of the Bible before you make a career of trying to expound upon its message. Otherwise, you’re likely to get caught with your pants down.
The concluding prayers of my experimental liturgy based on the language of Hebrews are fairly obvious choices. After the Lord’s Prayer and the Breaking of Bread comes the Communion proper:
(Upon receiving the bread: )
We have been sanctified once for all through the body of Jesus Christ. (Heb 10:10)
Amen.
(Upon receiving the cup: )
This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you. (Heb 9:20)
Amen.
We thank you, O living God,
that we have an altar
from which those who officiate in the tent
have no right to eat.
Since Jesus also suffered outside the city gate
in order to sanctify the people by his own blood,
let us then go to him outside the camp
and bear the abuse he endured.
For here we have no lasting city,
but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Heb 13:10, 12-14)
(A final hymn may be sung, then: )
Now may the God of peace,
who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant,
make you complete in everything good
so that you may do his will,
working among us that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ,
to whom be the glory forever and ever.
Amen. (Heb 13:20-21)
Here is a first draft of how the first part of the Service of the Table might go in a liturgy drawn strictly from the language of Hebrews:
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,
for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Heb 13:16).
Brothers and sisters,
since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary
by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way
that he opened for us through the curtain
(that is, through his flesh),
and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us approach with a true heart
in full assurance of faith,
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering,
for he who has promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-23)
Grace be with all of you. (Heb 13:25)
And also with you.
Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:22)
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.
For he who has promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23)
It is fitting that we should have such a high priest,
holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners,
and exalted above the heavens. (Heb 7:26)
Your throne, O Christ, is forever and ever,
and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. (Heb 1:8-9)
(The Sanctus hymn may be inserted here.)
In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end. (Heb 1:10-12)
You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.
Therefore, you have become the guarantee of a better covenant.
You hold your priesthood permanently,
because you continues forever.
Consequently you are able for all time
to save those who approach God through you,
since you live forever to make intercession for us. (Heb 7:21-25)
When you came into the world, you said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
See, God, I have come to do your will, O God.” (Heb 10:5-7)
(The Institution Narrative may be inserted here.)
After you came as a high priest
of the good things that have come,
then through the greater and perfect tent
you entered once for all into the Holy Place,
not with the blood of goats and calves but with your own blood,
thus obtaining eternal redemption.
May the eternal Spirit,
through whom you offered yourself
without blemish to God
rest upon this offering of bread and wine,
and may your precious blood
purify our conscience from dead works
to worship the living God! (Heb 9:11-12, 14)
Amen.
The Eucharistic Prayer is probably the most problematic text in the liturgy because different communions have different standards as to what should be included and how it should be phrased. The proposed text cleaves closely to the actual language of the book of Hebrews, and thus does not include an Institution Narrative (although there is a pretty good place where one could be inserted, as I’ve indicated). Also, it seemed most fruitful to cast the entire prayer as addressed to Jesus. It thus comes across vaguely “East Syrian” in form.
A Sanctus would easily in the location I have indicated (perhaps introduced with language reflecting Heb 1:6). I would also suggest that theologically appropriate elaborations on the Epiclesis could be inserted if desired between “…this offering of bread and wine” and “and may your precious blood….”
I don’t like that Heb 10:22 features in both the Invitation to the Lord’s Table and the Opening Dialogue, which in itself is a good argument for sticking with the traditional Sursum Corda. Still, I’ve provided the alternative texts in case somebody can propose something better.
In my experimental liturgy drawn from the language of the book of Hebrews, the Service of the Word begins with the following prayer for Illumination:
Your word, O God, is living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing until it divides soul from spirit,
joints from marrow.
May your word judge the thoughts
and intentions of our hearts. (Heb 4:12)
Amen.
(The first and second lessons conclude with: )
We have tasted the goodness of the word of the Lord. (Heb 6:5)
Thanks be to God!
(The Gospel lesson concludes with: )
For indeed the good news has come to us. (Heb 4:2)
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
After the readings and the sermon, we move to the Affirmation of Faith and finally the Prayers of the Faithful:
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors
in many and various ways by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things,
through whom he also created the worlds.
He is the reflection of God’s glory
and the exact imprint of God’s very being,
and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
When he had made purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become as much superior to angels
as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Heb 1:1-4)
In the days of his flesh,
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears,
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Heb 5:7)
Brothers and sisters, let us pray to the God of peace (see Heb 13:20).
For the concerns of our nation and of the world. May we not grow weary or lose heart as we look forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb 11:10; 12:3).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
For this fellowship and for the church in every place, that mutual love may continue. (see Heb 13:1)
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
That we not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Heb 13:2)
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
For those in prison and those who are being tortured. May we remember them as though we ourselves were tortured or imprisoned. (Heb 13:3)
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
That marriage be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed undefiled. (Heb 13:4).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
That our lives be free from the love of money, and that we may be content with what we have. (Heb 13:5).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
That our leaders [especially N., N.] may keep watch over our souls, remembering that they will give an account. May they do this with joy and not with sighing. (Heb 13:17).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
For those who endure hard struggle with sufferings [and especially for N., N.]. (Heb 10:32).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
For the spirits of the righteous ones made perfect. May we consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith, that we may have a part with [N., N., and] the great cloud of witnesses enrolled in heaven. (Heb 12:1, 23; 13:7).
God of peace:
Hear our prayer.
Greet all your leaders and all the saints. (Heb 13:24)
Grace be with you. (see Heb 13:25)
