Religious Education Update: April 8, 2007
Reclaiming Easter
When I was a little girl, my best friend was named Mary and lived next door. She had her own theories about how the world worked. If I complained about the evil taste of certain medicines, Mary would explain, “It won’t work unless it tastes bad.” When I went barefoot all summer, she’d warn, “People who go barefoot grow feet the size of rowboats.” She believed that suffering was necessary to produce good, and that pleasure could cause terrible things. Mary and I attended Methodist Sunday School together where we were taught that Jesus died on the cross to save our souls. The message was that he suffered for us, so that we could have eternal life.
Eventually, I cast off all of the beliefs listed above and became a Unitarian Universalist. Mary accepted traditional Christian dogma, and her husband is now the Senior Minister in the same building where we went to Sunday School together.
I enjoyed Easter as a child; how can I reclaim it as a meaningful holiday as an adult UU?
Rebecca Parker, President of the Starr King School for the Ministry, has written about her research into early Christianity in a way that has helped me. According to Dr. Parker, early Christianity did not focus on the Crucifixion. The artwork of early churches never depicted the dead body or Jesus’ death.
In Parker’s words, “Beginning with the first crusade, the crucifixion of Jesus became the central image for Christian worship. Before then Jesus had never been depicted dead, nor had his body been shown suffering in torment on the cross. At the time of the 11th century crusade, images of crucifixion began to proliferate. Anselm of Canterbury, Pope Urban’s friend, formulated an explicit theology of atonement, proposing that God became human in Jesus in order to die on the cross and pay God back for humanity’s sins. He described Jesus death as a pleasing gift to God. This theology supported the crusades: soldiers imitated Christ by offering themselves to be sacrificed for the cause. Such theologies functioned as war propaganda. To kill or be killed for God became the fastest route to Paradise.”
Somehow, knowing that a Pope developed the emphasis on atonement for his own war effort helps. While it is a terrible thing that the conquering Romans crucified 10,000 Jews during their occupation of ancient Jewish lands, the details of Jesus’ death are not important theologically, in my current belief system.
The triumph of Easter for me is that the teachings of Jesus survived his death. His wisdom outlasted his physical body, and has meaning that we can still understand today. In Jesus’ words, “he who taketh up the sword shall perish by the sword. Think ye that evil can be overcome by evil or violence by violence? The way of peace requireth courage and patience, but it will prevail.”
Happy Easter.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
When I was a little girl, my best friend was named Mary and lived next door. She had her own theories about how the world worked. If I complained about the evil taste of certain medicines, Mary would explain, “It won’t work unless it tastes bad.” When I went barefoot all summer, she’d warn, “People who go barefoot grow feet the size of rowboats.” She believed that suffering was necessary to produce good, and that pleasure could cause terrible things. Mary and I attended Methodist Sunday School together where we were taught that Jesus died on the cross to save our souls. The message was that he suffered for us, so that we could have eternal life.
Eventually, I cast off all of the beliefs listed above and became a Unitarian Universalist. Mary accepted traditional Christian dogma, and her husband is now the Senior Minister in the same building where we went to Sunday School together.
I enjoyed Easter as a child; how can I reclaim it as a meaningful holiday as an adult UU?
Rebecca Parker, President of the Starr King School for the Ministry, has written about her research into early Christianity in a way that has helped me. According to Dr. Parker, early Christianity did not focus on the Crucifixion. The artwork of early churches never depicted the dead body or Jesus’ death.
In Parker’s words, “Beginning with the first crusade, the crucifixion of Jesus became the central image for Christian worship. Before then Jesus had never been depicted dead, nor had his body been shown suffering in torment on the cross. At the time of the 11th century crusade, images of crucifixion began to proliferate. Anselm of Canterbury, Pope Urban’s friend, formulated an explicit theology of atonement, proposing that God became human in Jesus in order to die on the cross and pay God back for humanity’s sins. He described Jesus death as a pleasing gift to God. This theology supported the crusades: soldiers imitated Christ by offering themselves to be sacrificed for the cause. Such theologies functioned as war propaganda. To kill or be killed for God became the fastest route to Paradise.”
Somehow, knowing that a Pope developed the emphasis on atonement for his own war effort helps. While it is a terrible thing that the conquering Romans crucified 10,000 Jews during their occupation of ancient Jewish lands, the details of Jesus’ death are not important theologically, in my current belief system.
The triumph of Easter for me is that the teachings of Jesus survived his death. His wisdom outlasted his physical body, and has meaning that we can still understand today. In Jesus’ words, “he who taketh up the sword shall perish by the sword. Think ye that evil can be overcome by evil or violence by violence? The way of peace requireth courage and patience, but it will prevail.”
Happy Easter.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
posted by ddodd @ 8:23 PM
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