Nature and Senses

When considering imaginative perspectives on the natural world, there are a multitude of works that could contribute to understanding. For example, St. Bonaventure’s “On Seeing God through his Vestiges in this Sensible World”, St. Francis’ “Canticle of Brother Sun”, and Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur” achieve this end. Hopkins is well-known for developing “sprung rhythm” in poems, where he grouped stressed and unstressed syllables together – the idea of his poetry “springing forth” from him. He also used archaic words but also made up his own words (like J.R.R. Tolkien or Lewis Carroll). This idea ties into St. Bonaventure’s notion of finding the fingerprints of Gods – the shadows, snapshots, or echoes of the higher order within the lower order – via the Tolkenian concept of Subcreation. As a reminder, Tolkien argued that anytime we create something new – artwork, music, so forth – we engage in the process of creation, but as God is the Ultimate Creator, we therefore Subcreate. Hopkins is engaging in Subcreation by channeling his energies through sprung rhythm, and creates something new. This allows us further insight into the creative process behind God’s world, and by Hopkins’ creative expression, we see echoes or shadows of the Infinite Being in the context of the creation from a Finite Being – mankind.
Another insight to consider can be found in the hymn from St. Francis of Assisi, where we find the repeated refrain “Let’s praise you, my Lord, for…” followed by the variant “Let us praise you, my Lord, for…”. The essential message of his canticle can be seen in the life of St. Francis. At the time of writing this hymn, he was physically blind. But although he had become blind, he utilized his inner eye, so to speak, and like St. Augustine attempted to do centuries prior, he tried to find God. In doing so, St. Francis believed he could understand the unity and harmony between God’s creatures and God’s overall creation. As such, he wrote this hymn in order to offer praise and appreciation for God’s creation. But the basic principle he promotes is that we can clearly see God’s handiwork – his fingerprints – in His creation, and we ought to praise and appreciate the Creator, not the Creation.
In his poem, Hopkins looks at humanity from a misanthropic point of view wherein the narrator judges other humans – yet even after all of the trodding, the searing, smearing, smudging and wear that man has subjected God’s creation to, “for all this, nature is never spent” (line 8). God gave humans the Dominion Mandate – the mandate to take care of the earth and the creatures within it. Yet, no matter how much we muddy up the world we inhabit, God’s fingerprints are still left all over, and the system He set in place for His creation is still working around the clock; the creation is still there. Now, we were made in the image of God and therefore have some of his attributes, including the senses of God described in Scripture. St. Bonaventure discusses the five senses that we as humans have –sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. These five senses are used to show the intelligent design of God’s creation, but also that we can see God – as the title suggests, “through His Vestiges in this Sensible World.” 

He contends that we can clearly perceive God’s attributes in the world around us, and that the reason for this is because “the created things of this sensible world signify the invisible things of God, partly because God is the origin, exemplar, and final destination of all creation, and every effect is a sign of its cause or origin, every copy is a sign of exemplar, and the road is a sign of the final destination to which it leads” (100). In other words, Bonaventure is postulating that everything in our created world points to God – the Creation points to the Creator. Similar to a mystery novel, one clue leads to another, but those clues eventually add up to form the overall picture. He is perhaps suggesting that to most of the world, our universe is a mystery waiting to be solved. Yet for those keen enough to perceive God’s fingerprints and add up all of the clues, the great cosmic mystery is solved; the answer lies in God.

The Council of Trent: Catholicism and Protestantism

At the time of thirteenth century, the Catholic Church was at its peak in regard to power; it would wane in and out of the sphere of influence and today still holds great sway over the masses, but its golden age of power was around this time, especially during the reign of Pope Innocent III. Unfortunately, the Church was about to enter into a time of utter turmoil, from the early 1300s-mid-1500s. The Church was faced with a number of crises from within and outside of itself. For example, the papacy attempted to extend their power and the attempt utterly failed, which led to what is now called the “Babylonian Captivity,” as well as other events such as there being more than one pope in power. A papal decree in 1302 declared that the Pope had the ability to hold power over reigning kings. The pope who made this decree was later attacked and taken out of power, and Pope Clement replaced him. Clement was much more willing to accept the policies of King Philip so as to retain his papacy and as such, he did little to hinder the King. The reign of the Pope itself became more and more oppressive as well – the church had been corrupted, and virtually indistinguishable from every other monarchy of the time.

There were individuals who stand out to us in history who stood up to such power. Catherine of Sienna is one of these individuals. She literally walked hundreds of miles in order to talk face to face with the Pope who was living in Avignon at the time. Catherine challenged the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, to return to Rome and actually be the Bishop of Rome. She convinced him. Shortly after this time, however, more than one pope came to power – the French sided with Pope Clement whereas the English and Holy Roman Empire were on the side of Pope Urban. Over time, more issues arose in the papacy, and eventually there was at one point three popes vying for power as the legitimate pope – Martin, Gregory and Benedict (Martin won out). Around this time, plagues, wars and other problems create chaos and death all over Europe. People clung to magical and superstitious practices, cherished relics of the saints, and indulgences began being sold to lessen or end a loved one’s time in Purgatory. Those in power in the Catholic Church did little to decrease these growing problems, and certain individuals rose to face these issues face to face.

One of these individuals was Jan Hus. Hus believed that the people ought to have a translation of the Bible to read for themselves, and claimed that indulgences for Purgatory were completely unbiblical. Through a series of events, Hus was not only arrested, he was not given the opportunity to defend himself and was burned at the stake. Around 1517, another individual like Hus came to the forefront, yet history shows that he was much more successful in his reforms: Martin Luther. He disagreed with a number of Catholic teachings and crafted his famous 95 theses, and argued that the papacy, purgatory (and thus indulgences) and various other doctrines were completely unbiblical. After this attempt at reform, reform did indeed come rather quickly. Monks and nuns left their areas and got married, churches were torn down and church images were destroyed, and Masses in various places faced trouble. Luther had not intended for such drastic change, but the essential message of what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation is this: faith is through Jesus only, tradition should not be considered sacred but only Scripture, the Pope is neither needed nor biblical, and the common people ought to be able to discover God’s Word for themselves.

About one-third of Christians became Protestant, and this posed a major threat to the Catholic Church. Not only this, but the king of England’s desires did not line up with the Church, which led to the formation of the Church of England. The Council of Trent was soon called in response to the alleged heresy and falsity being spread by the Protestants, and indeed Trent saved Catholicism. It created documents which clearly spelled out the beliefs of the Church for all to see, and attempted to counter Protestant claims. Reformer Charles Borromeo is perhaps one of the more well-known individuals to come out of this period. He actually cleaned out the church – he took out iconography and ornamentation in order to put an emphasis on the people and the altar, he was respected as a Bishop and personally saw that the reforms made by Trent were carried out.

Training for the priests began to become more much of a militarized sort of effort instead of a seminary type of effort. This all led to Catholic priests being seen in an odd light by the lay people: how could the priests expect to relate to the “ordinary” people if they had never themselves lived ordinary lives? Aside from this, however, the reforms and decisions made at the Council of Trent enabled the Catholic Church to return with a strong will, harkening back to the days of Pope Innocent III. The reforms of Trent came to be seen as authoritative and were held and treated as such, and these reforms were mainly in place until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

By the time the Council of Trent had ended, the political, social, cultural, economic and geographic situations were essentially the same as they had been prior to the Council. The papacy did not appear to look fondly on the Council of Trent, and as such, it was hard to believe that the council would bring any important changes to Catholicism as a result. Eventually, however, the Pope had confirmed the decisions made at Trent but there was still hesitation as well as stalling on the part of the Pope. Not long after, efforts begun to come about to attempt to interpret the changes and decisions made by Trent, and the publications to come out of the Council demonstrated that the theology was quite a bit more complicated as well as structured than had been initially portrayed by some. Opposition to the council still continued, however. It was not necessarily Protestants (who often opposed Catholic teachings) who were opposed to the decisions at Trent, but people from within the Catholic faith who did not want to see change done to Church discipline.

During the twenty years following the Council of Trent, there was an intense period of trying to implement the changes and decisions made, yet these were faced with both agreement and further opposition. There were numerous individuals – most famously, it seems, Charles Borromeo – who were even willing to risk their lives to put forth the changes decreed by the Council, even though they knew how Rome was viewing them. Reforms were slow but sure. The reforms were partly concerned with the church structure. It gave the bishops a renewed purpose and role in the church. However, problems still existed. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine pointed out six issues with the implementation of the Council: there were still too many diocese that had no head, the church selection was preferential based on the status of the church, there were many bishops who were still without a home, there were many bishops who had power over more than one diocese, there were still too many bishops who were being transferred from one diocese to the other on a frequent basis, and the resignation of bishops based on personal factors happened much too often. Also, more social power was being given to local parishes: schools, records and overall social control, which forced the parishioners to be loyal to the bishop.

Toward the end of the 1500s onward, Rome conveyed that the Church ought to view the Council of Trent as the final word when it comes to matters of faith. In fact, the decrees of the council not only superseded and replaced the decisions of previous councils, but they also came to be seen as equal with the rest of tradition itself. The idea and system of Tridentinism included the decisions, habits, decrees and practices between the mid-1500s up until the early 1600s. One of the major problems with all of this was the simple matter of what the Council of Trent actually tried to do. It did not seek to reform the entirety of Catholicism but mainly sought to respond to alleged heresy and present a true and coherent Catholic set of beliefs. However, the Council of Trent came to be seen less as a major event in history but instead as a set of disciplines, doctrines and a body of beliefs. Since we now recognize the importance of examining the Council as an event in history within its own historical setting and context as well as its importance as an event, perhaps new light can be shed on Trent.

Vatican II recognized the importance of the Council of Trent as a historical event and in fact utilized terms in their own council such as “implementation” and “reception.” The Council of Trent provided Catholics with the ability to hold firm to their doctrines and beliefs, since the Protestant Reformation had been in full swing at the time and was coming down heavily, specifically upon Roman Catholicism. The council had come about partly in response to Protestant’s alleged problems, yet in our world today, should we not look at these decisions in light of coming together ecumenically in unity? If nothing else, the Council of Trent demonstrates the usage of theological research in the sixteenth century, the kind of faithfulness to the Church that later has been sometimes seen as harmful, yet in many ways is actually much more helpful and enlightening.

A Literary Approach to 1st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

Methodologies

The fourth and fifth chapter of 1^st Thessalonians written by St. Paul, Timothy and Silas around AD 48-51 deals with a variety of issues. The Thessalonian community had seemingly lost some of their believers, and those who remained were worried on several levels: what would happen to the believers who had passed away, would both the living and the dead be reunited one day, how do those outside of the Christian community view the deaths, and how do Christians act in comparison to the pagans? Would the pagans view the deaths as the wrath of the Greco-Roman gods coming upon the Christians? How would they fit into society? These issues and others inform the letter as a whole.

As a result, St. Paul, Timothy and Silas utilize a plethora of literary features, motifs, symbols and traditions as well as engaging in theological discussions in order to comfort and provide hope for the Thessalonians community. In this paper, literary, theological, and ideological methodologies are used to glean further understanding about what the authors were trying to convey, what these symbols, features, motifs and theological understandings meant as well as how they are understood today, and what this means for the two pericopes contained within 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.

The Genre of 1^st Thessalonians and the 4:13-5:11 Pericopes

Within the range of Biblical literature, we find letters, poetry, wisdom, history, narratives, law, prophecy and a variety of other genres. 1^st Thessalonians is considered an epistle – a letter. It bears an introduction, thanksgiving, a body, a rhetorical dimension, and a conclusion. The genre of the 1^st Thessalonians letter has been argued and debated among scholars, yet for a variety of reasons one can contend that it constitutes as a type of consolatory letter.. Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote the 4:13-5:11 pericope to console the brothers and sisters in the Thessalonian community in an attempt to give them peace as well as to exhort them to act differently than the pagans. This may force the reader to view the passage in a different light: it is not written to be a coherent and chronological narrative of the end times, rather, it appeals to the parousia (coming) of Jesus Christ in order to console to Thessalonian community. The 4:13-18 pericope been classified by some scholars as a consolatory topos (a rhetorical theme), given its content intended to provide the grieving and confused community with hope that they will be reunited with those who have “fallen asleep.”

One indication that the letter is to be considered a consolation letter is through considering basic features of a letter written at the time. For example, the “recipient has experienced some major misfortune that is apt to produce grief… [in this case], the Thessalonians’…grief over the death of loved ones (4:13).”¹ In fact, 4:13-18 is filled with this consolation motif, although this motif becomes clear mainly through the framing verses of the periscope, verses 13 and 18.²  According to 4:13, “brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope” (TNIV, emphasis mine). The central idea is, as aforementioned, consoling the community – just as one would find in a consolation letter.

Another indication that this is a letter of consolation is that in the Hellenistic world, suffering is considered to be a “sign of a deity’s approval, blessing or reward to exemplary individuals – not a sign of a deity’s disfavor.” ³ Throughout 1^st Thessalonians, the theme of suffering is very prominent. The Thessalonian audience would likely have understood the suffering to be a sign of divine approval, lending further credence to the idea that this is a consolation letter. Indeed, these letters were quite common in the Hellenistic world, yet Paul’s letter is consolatory with hope injected to it, whereas the Hellenistic writers were devoid of hope in the face of death.⁴

The 4:13-5:11 pericopes are also apocalyptic in nature. In biblical literature, an apocalypse is not necessarily an event, but more of revelation recorded in written form. As with many other Biblical ideas and writings, an apocalypse arises from a crisis and it reveals (hence, a “revelation”) truths about the past, the present, as well as the future generally through symbols. Also, a revelation usually comes in dreams or visions (cf. Joel 2:28), and an angel is usually included in the work to aid in interpretation. An apocalypse is written in order to provide hope and encouragement for individuals who are suffering, and is also a sometimes a coded message. Other examples of apocalypses going around in the first few centuries include the Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas, Apocalypse of James and several others. According to Abraham Smith, “1 Thessalonians included many of the structural features and typical arguments found in the consolatory letter, though the principal hermeneutical context reflected in the letter was an apocalyptic one.”⁶ Indeed, although 1^st Thessalonians and the 4:13-18 and 5:1-11 sections are not primarily apocalyptic, it is evident through the symbols and motifs that it is partly apocalyptic.

St. Paul, Silas and Timothy use common apocalyptic images of an “angel”’ (2 Esdras 4:36-37; cf. 1^st Thessalonians 4:16), a “trumpet of God” (Psalms of Solomon 11:1; 2 Esdras 6:17-24; cf. 1^st Thessalonians 4:16), as well as “clouds” (Daniel 7:13; cf. 1^st Thessalonians 4:17). In fact, all of the images found in these sections were common apocalyptic images in the 1^st century.⁵ The descent of Christ is likened to the the descent of the Son of Man described in Daniel 7:13 and Mark 14:62. The "cry of command" seen in 4:16 is likely the voice of the Son of Man as he descends for judgment (2^nd Esdras 11:37; 12:31-34; cf. Revelation 5:1; 6:1). Archangels are only mentioned once in the New Testament outside of 1^st Thessalonians (Jude 9 – “the archangel Michael…”; cf. Daniel 10:13, 12:1). Archangels appear often in intertestamental literature as well as post-NT works (Tobit 12:15; 1 Enoch 20:1-8, etc.), and they were often connected to eschatology. Further, Paul's claim that "the dead in Christ will rise first" is similar to prior Jewish thought concerning who comes first in the resurrection (2^nd Esdras 5:42).

With these considerations in mind, it is evident from the text itself as well as other canonical and non-canonical texts that 1^st Thessalonians is a consolation letter, include the 4:13-5:11 pericopes, yet these same periscopes are also partly apocalyptic. Not only does Paul draw on multiple eschatological and consolatory images and concepts common to the time, but he also utilizes several literary features to convey his message.

Literary Features of the Text

There are a number of literary features evident in the 4:13-18 and the 5:1-11 texts. Antithetical statements (parallels) are often seen in Pauline texts. For example, St. Paul contrasts those who are alive to those who are dead We also find antithetical comparisons in those who are in safety and those prepared for destruction, those who are awake and those who are asleep, the day and the night, the darkness and the light, and those who are sober compared to those who are drunk. This sort of dualistic language is how Paul conveys his point about the difference between believers and non-believers. These statements also bring about a myriad of social and religious implications and associations that are explored elsewhere.

We find within the 4:13-18 pericope the usage of a common euphemism – “fallen asleep,” a metaphorical expression common for the time. The reason for using “fallen asleep” as a euphemism can be seen in the writings of the Greek poet Theocritus, “Hopes are for the living; the dead are without hope.”⁷ It was often “an attempt to avoid confrontation with the harsh reality hiding behind a euphemism,” “to avoid the brutal reality and the offensiveness of the term ‘death.’”^8,9  In the antiquity, the image of sleep was, as aforementioned, a widely used euphemism for death. It was evidently used as early in Greek writings as Homer (Iliad 11.241), and we find death as a form of deepened “sleep” or “rest” in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 47:30; Deuteronomy 31:16; Job 14:10-12; Psalm 13:3; 1st Kings 22:40; Jeremiah 51:39; Daniel 12:2).

It is also found within the New Testament, (Mark 5:39; Matthew 27:52; John 11:11-13; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 2nd Peter 3:4), including in the Pauline letters (1 Corinthians 7:39; 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51). Another literary feature is the parallel structure seen between the two periscopes of 4:13-18 and 5:1-11. For example, the problem is addressed (1st Thessalonians 4:13 and 5:1), followed by an immediate response (1st Thessalonians 4:14 and 5:2), continued with a more in-depth explanation (1st Thessalonians 4:15-17 and 5:3-10), finishing with an exhortation to comfort one another (1st Thessalonians 4:18 and 5:11).¹⁰ Also, “It appears that 4:13-5:11 consists of three units, of which the third corresponds to the first; this section thus has a concentric feature: a: 4:13-18: because of the future resurrection comfort one another; b: 5:1-8: because of the near but uncertain date be sober and awake; a’: 5:9-11: because of the final salvation encourage one another.”¹¹

Evidently, there are a number of literary features seen in and through the 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 passages. As with other Pauline epistles, there is usage of metaphors (and antithetical statements/comparisons), euphemisms, literary structures as well as other such features. Another very common and prominent literary feature of Pauline letters – particularly 1^st Thessalonians – is the usage of themes, motifs, images and intertextual connections between not only works from the Hebrew Bible but also other New Testament documents, elements of the pseudepigrapha and the apocryphal works.

Intertextual Connections and Motifs

One example of this intertextual connection comes from with the Pauline corpus itself. In the book of Romans, written within 5-10 years after 1^st Thessalonians, Paul utilizes a lot of the same (or similar) imagery and themes. Romans 13:11-14, for example, is very similar to the 1^st Thessalonians 5:1-11 pericope. Both Pauline pericopes refer to time (hour, dates), day and night, light and darkness, battle imagery (armor), soberness and drunkenness, immorality and of course, the Lord Jesus. Other material found in 4:13-5:11 is not only strikingly similar to other expressions and concepts in apocalyptic and prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, but also that of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the 1940s at Qumran.¹²

The New Testament refers to the Second Coming of Christ in a variety of ways, and does so in nearly every NT document. Yet it is not only the New Testament but also the Old – the Hebrew Bible, as well as extrabiblical Jewish literature. In each, we read of those who were assumed (caught up; raptured; translated) into heavenly realms while they were still living, just as we read in 1^st Thessalonians 4:17 (see Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2nd Kings 2:11; see also Apoc. Moses 37.3; Greek Apocalypse of Ezra 5:7; 1 Enoch 39:3; 52:1; 3 Baruch 2:1). The verb to be “caught up” is also used in the New Testament in regard to the "snatching away" of individuals or items (cf. Matthew 11:12, 12:29; John 6:15, 10:12, 28-29). The apostle Phillip is also “caught up” by the Holy Spirit and taken to another place (Acts 8:39). Finally, we read in 2nd Corinthians 12:2 and 4 that St. Paul was “caught up” in a vision to the third heaven - to paradise. Also, in Revelation 12:5, the child is snatched up into heaven by God. Of interest, clouds are a divine way of transportation through the air (Daniel 7:13; Revelation 11:12; cf. 1^st Thessalonians 4:17).

We also see the repeated motif and image of God riding on a cloud in Isaiah 19:1 and elsewhere. Indeed, in Deuteronomy 33:26 for example we read, of the God “who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty,” or in Psalm 68:4, “Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him – his name is the LORD” (alternate reading “prepare the way for him who rides through the deserts”). Revelation 1:7 also says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds.” According to Matthew 24:30 and 26:64, Jesus claims to be the Son of Man who will come on the clouds of heaven in “power and great glory” (cf. Mark 13:26-27). Psalm 18:9-10 and 104:3 also refer to the Lord, who “makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind,” and “He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.”

Now, as for parallels in regard to the parousia in the Hebrew Bible, there exist a few. For example, in Micah 1:3 we read, “For behold the Lord comes forth out of His place and will descend” and Joel 2:1, “Blow the trumpet in Zion… for the day of the Lord comes, it is nigh at hand.” Finally, Isaiah 29:5b says, “Suddenly, in an instant, the LORD Almighty will come” (cf. 1^st Corinthians 15:51-52). There is also the motif of the world being gathered together, although this gathering takes on more of a prominent role in later Jewish apocalyptic literature (Tobit 13:15; Baruch 5:5-9; 2^nd Maccabees 2:7-8) as well as the pseudepigrapha (1st Enoch 57; Psalms of Solomon 11:2-3; 17:26).¹³ According to Daniel 7, the nations will be gathered under the Son of Man – something Jesus refers to (Matthew 24:30-31), evidently showing his intention as the Son of Man to fulfill this gathering.

One of the more interesting intertextual connections is the allusions, expressions and concepts related to Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13. As Blaising points out, these connections “include the metaphor of ‘a thief in the night’ (1 Thess. 5:2; cf. Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39-40); the element of ‘surprise’ (1 Thess. 5:4; cf. Matt. 24:43-44, 50); ‘sudden destruction’ when people will be saying ‘peace and safety’ (1 Thess. 5:3; cf. Matt. 23:37-41, 50-51; Mark 13:33, 35, 37; Luke 21:34, 36)… [and] is the metaphor of the beginning of labor pains… (1 Thess. 5:3; cf. Matt. 24:8; Mark 13:8).”¹⁴ The connections between the Olivet Discourse and the Pauline pericopes are significant as they appear to establish that Paul is dependent upon the teachings of Jesus (perhaps heard during one of his visits o Jerusalem as recorded in Galatians 1:17-19, 2:1-10), and also to further establish further what the Pauline eschatological viewpoint is on the day of the Lord. Also, Paul and Jesus emphasized the commencement of the labor process, not the culmination of that process (the birth itself). This is consistent with the use of the labor metaphor with the day of the Lord in the Old Testament, which conveys the notion of extended trauma (Isaiah 13:8; cf. 21:3; Jeremiah 48:41; 49:22; Micah 4:9-10).”¹⁵

Another common image is the divine trumpet seen in 1^st Thessalonians 4:16. There are a number of passages in the Hebrew Bible where we read about a trumpet used in connection with the Lord (Exodus 19:16; Psalm 47:5; Isaiah 27:13; Joel 2:1, 15; Zephaniah 1:14-16; Zechariah 9:14) as well as in the New Testament and other writings of the time (Matthew 24:31; 1st Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 8-9, 11:15; cf. Didache 16:14; the Qumran War Scroll).^16-17 Indeed, just as God’s descent upon Mount Sinai was proclaimed with a great trumpet, so too is the return of the Lord for his people announced with a great trumpet blast.

It is worth noting that that St. Paul, Silas and Timothy called the Thessalonian community the “sons of light,” which is a concept also found in one of the Qumaran scrolls “The War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness” As Young notes, “It was especially important for the Dead Sea sect at Qumran, who considered themselves the "sons of light" (the literal rendering of "children of light," v. 5) and God's only righteous remnant (1QS 1:9-10; 3:13,24-25; 1QM 1:1, 3).”¹⁸ Indeed, the “children of light” or “children of the day” is found in both 1^st Thessalonians 5 and in Romans 13. According to Morris, “In this context we must understand ‘day’ to refer to the ‘day of the Lord’”¹⁹, or rather, “the sons of the day of the Lord.” Jesus, in his sermon on the Mount, also makes reference to an Essene teaching of hating your enemies – but he goes against this and says to love your enemies.²⁰ In the New Testament, outside of 1^st Thessalonians we also read of the “sons of light” (Luke 16:8 and John 12:36) and the “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

There are also a number of other literary motifs, traditions, allusions and themes, most of which revolve around the image of the “thief in the night,” those in labor pains as well as the Jewish concept of the “day of the Lord.”

The Day of the Lord and other Traditions

The phrase the “day of the Lord” is an ancient phrase, mentioned at least by the time of Amos and appears to be much older than the prophet, as it was mentioned in order to dispel ideas that had come up by basing his claims on the older idea of the day of the Lord (Amos 5:18-20). The day of the Lord is understood as being the day God comes to judge the world, hence why 2^nd Peter 2:9 refers to it as the “day of judgment.” It is not simply a well-documented phrase and concept from the Hebrew Bible but – as seen in the quote from 2^nd Peter – a New Testament phrase and concept as well. It is seen as the “the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5) but also as the “the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). It is also referred to as “the day of the Lord” (1st Corinthians 5:5), “the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6), “the day of God” (2^nd Peter 3:12), as well as” the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1^st Corinthians 1:8). Elsewhere it is called ‘that day’ (2^nd Thessalonians 1:10), or “the last day” in the Johannine gospel (6:39-40), as well as or “the great Day” (Jude 6).

Along with the “day of the Lord,” the usage of a “thief in the night” is a common NT phrase. According to Dr. Christopher Stanley, “As an apocalyptic image, the phrase is uniquely Christian; it has no precedent in the Hebrew Bible or Judaism.”²¹ In fact, the image of Jesus coming back “like a thief” is prominent in later Christian writings such as in that of John Chrysostom and St. Augustine as well as Tertullian, Gregory the Great and Basil of Caesarea.²²  It was, of course, Jesus who first spoke of this idea. As Stanley points out, there is no parallel in the Hebrew Bible, although we do indeed find this Christian phrase in the canonical and non-canonical works (Matthew 24:43-44; Luke 12:39-40; 2^nd Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3, 16:15; Gospel of Thomas 21). This image “plays upon common stock of cultural lore regarding the nocturnal activities of house burglars… [and] poor people and women had the most to fear from burglars.”²³

Indeed, women would have been particularly troubled with the image of a “thief in the night,” possibly associating the coming with fears of rape or helplessness. To double this fear, Paul, Silas and Timothy also utilize the image of labor pains. As aforementioned, the image of labor pains was a common way of relating suffering in the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah 4:31; Hosea 13:13) and is also found in other Jewish apocalyptic literature (1^st Enoch 64:3-6). Jesus Himself used the same image to describe the tribulations that would accompany the end (Mark 13:8), just as Paul did – both describing the beginnings of the labor process, not the actual birth itself. Later on, St. Augustine, in his Confessions uses the phrase “birth pains.” In the Biblical tradition, women have birth pains because of Eve’s transgression in Genesis 3:6 – and birth pains are seen as intensified sensations. As a result, God said to Eve, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).

Biblical traditions, motifs and themes are not only seen throughout 1^st Thessalonians, but they also form and inform the message that Paul, Silas and Timothy are conveying about hope.  

Gaps and Textual Ambiguities

As with many Biblical passages, there are a number of textual ambiguities and gaps. One can read a variety of interpretations back into these gaps and ambiguities, and throughout the centuries several different ways have been put forth to fill in (or answer) some of the gaps in the text. For example, who is the archangel mentioned in 1^st Thessalonians 4:16? When St. Paul refers to the “word of the Lord,” is it an actual saying of Jesus, or is it something else? Also – did Paul actually believe he would live to see the parousia of Jesus? Lastly, what happens to non-believers according to this apocalyptic sequence of events?

The archangel in this passage is not named. The only archangel mentioned in Scripture is Michael (Jude 9), Gabriel is called an angel only (Daniel 8:16-26, 10; Luke 1:19, 26) and Lucifer is called a “guardian cherub” (cf. Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; 1^st Corinthians 11:14). However, in Jewish writings we see mention of seven archangels: Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqa’el, Gabriel, and Remiel. Indeed, the archangel Raphael appears in the apocryphal book of Tobit, which pre-dates Paul’s letter by about two hundred years. The phrase has been translated “with the voice of the archangel” or “the voice of an archangel,” so the possibility remains open as to whether or not Paul intended to allude to one of these traditions. Not only is Michael the only named archangel in the New Testament, it is interesting that he also appears in the apocalypses of both Testaments (Daniel 9:12, 21, 12:1; Revelation 12:7). As a result of these considerations, it is quite likely that Paul was simply referring to the archangel Michael – yet the possibility remains open that it was an archangel from Jewish literature or simply an angel in general.

The Word of the Lord is another ambiguity in the text. According to Houwelingen, there are three general options for determining what is meant by this expression. “The word of the Lord is taken as a pronouncement of the earthly Jesus, which is not preserved in the gospel tradition. So, we may think of an unwritten word (cf. Acts 20:35; 1^st Corinthians 7:10; 9:14) or perhaps an apocryphal word… [second,] The word of the Lord is taken as a pronouncement on behalf of the heavenly Jesus made by a prophet in the church… [third,] The word of the Lord is taken in a general sense (cf. 1 Thess. 1:8; 2 Thess. 3:1). We are dealing, then, with a summary of what Jesus taught about the lot of the dead.”²⁴ One could perhaps also posit that Paul received this word of the Lord – as well as other early creeds, statements, hymns and poems – on his visit with the disciples in Jerusalem as documented in Galatians 1-2 (cf. 1^st Corinthians 11:2, 23-25, 15:3-7a; Ephesians 5:14; Philippians 2:6-11; 1^st Timothy 3:16b).

Subsequently, another textual ambiguity rises. What happens to the unbelievers? Does this event signify the end for all, if so, what happens to non-Christians, and where do the Christians actually go? The text itself does not say. Based on other canonical texts, we assume that – using the general idea of the “day of the Lord” – God is coming to judge the unbeliever, and that the believers will then be with God when Heaven touches down on earth and God reigns from a new earth. The text itself, however, is silent on the topic. Another textual ambiguity is this: did Paul actually think he would be alive at Christ’s coming or did he believe it could be after his death? For some, Paul’s words here as well as Jesus’ words “this generation will not pass away” clearly show that the early church was convinced that Jesus would return within their lifetime. However, by “this generation” Jesus may have meant the generation who would be alive at that time. Pauline eschatology overall seems to imply that he believed Jesus would return within his lifetime, yet when he did not, this is one of the reasons why Christians began collecting and writing what we now have as the canonical New Testament.

Among other ambiguities, there is also no consistent or coherent apocalypse narrative within these pericopes. Although Paul, Silas and Timothy do not discuss other considerations such as what the new body will be like or how those are alive will actually be caught up, but Paul discusses this elsewhere in his writings (see 1^st Corinthians 15:5). Indeed, perhaps much of the reason for these textual ambiguities and gaps is due to the whole purpose of Paul’s writings is thus – “his description of the end at this point is tailored to the pastoral needs of the Thessalonians. As grieving believers, they need the assurance that God will keep their departed Christian friends in God's care. An exhaustive script of the end-times is not called for, but attention to the readers' spiritual needs is.”²⁵

Ideological and Modern Interpretations

As with many Biblical texts, there are a number of ideological interpretations as well as modern ideas that are read back into the text, either to support a particular ideology or one that – because of living in a different time period and cultural – are ideas skewed due to the barrier between the original audience and the modern audience. For example, based on passages such as 4:13-5:11, there are some individuals who believe that heaven is actually in the sky, neatly tucked away. Popular television shows have sometimes portrayed this concept, yet it is not found explicitly in the text.

Another example of modern thinking is the image of the “thief in the night.” For a modern audience unfamiliar with Greco-Roman and Jewish homes, society, crime and fears, the image brings to mind someone in the 21^st century who can bypass security systems, dogs (or cats), security cameras and alarm systems in order to break into the house. However, this was not the socio-historical situation at the time the text was written, as historical, textual and archaeological evidence clearly shows. The image of labor pains coming on a woman is another example of how modern thinking and occurrence is different than that of the 1^st century. We now have medicine to alleviate the pain of the birth process – they did not have these anesthetics in the 1^st century. Therefore, when St. Paul, Timothy and Silas appeal to this image, those who have already given birth would know (and perhaps convey to the male audience) just how painful labor pains could actually be.

One example of how the ideology of a particular group uses a text such as 4:13-5:11 to support their dogma is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus was once the archangel Michael, and not actually equal to the Father. The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that 1^st Thessalonians 4:16, which says that the Lord Jesus will descend “with the voice of the archangel” supports their Christological view connecting Jesus to Michael the archangel.²⁶ Others point out early understandings of Jesus as God, and attempt to demonstrate that this view was actually a later development not present in the text.

Perhaps one of the most well-known ideologies to emerge from this text and several others is the concept of the Rapture. The concept is as follows: the Rapture is the upcoming event in which Jesus Christ returns in the clouds to "snatch up" (rapture) his Church. There are differing views on when this will occur, and this is where the issue lies. There are three dominant views concerning the Rapture: the Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, and Post-Tribulation. The Pre-Tribulation states that Christ will return to rapture His Church "in the twinkling of an eye," and seven years of Tribulation will follow. The Mid-Tribulation states that this event will occur in the middle of the tribulation, 3.5 years in. The Post-Tribulation view states that this event will occur at the end of the seven years. There is also, to be sure, the view that this will simply not occur as a way to save the Church from a Tribulation but will be the event that brings about the final judgment instead.

According to the well-known Pretribulationist viewpoint, one of the major issues is as follows: Jesus says in Matthew 24:36, "that day or hour no one knows..." The second phase of Christ's return is called the Glorious Appearing (Titus 2:13), and in this second phase, He does not return in the clouds but sets foot on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4), just as the angels told the disciples that Jesus "will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11) This second phase in Christ's Second Coming (the parousia) will occur at the very end of the seven years, and because of this, those living during the Tribulation will know that He will return to set up His kingdom exactly seven years after the Tribulation begins. The Tribulation (in this ideology) begins with the signing of the treaty between the Antichrist and the rest of the world, including Israel (Daniel 9:27). Those living during the Tribulation need only take the date of the signing of the treaty and add seven years to reach the date of Christ's return - the second phase, the Glorious Appearing. Therefore, Pretribulationists determine that when Christ says, "that day or hour no one knows," He is referring to the first phase of His coming, the Rapture. 

As Blaising points out, however, “Pretribulationists commonly admit that the Scriptures include no explicit statement on the timing of the rapture with respect to the tribulation. As John Walvoord often noted, this is a matter of inference.”²⁷ Certainly, the idea of being “snatched up” or “caught up” is a Biblical concept as previously addressed. Enoch, Elijah, Jesus and others are taken up into heaven. In visions we see Isaiah taken up (Isaiah 6), Ezekiel is lifted up by the Spirit multiple times (Ezekiel 2:2; 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 37:1; 43:5), as well as St. Paul and likely others – John included (Revelation 4:1-2). The Pre-Tribulation Rapture allegedly came from John Darby in 1827, but it actually seems that this view has been around longer. For example, Joseph Mede, who lived 1568-1638, wrote, "Therefore, it is not needful that the Resurrection of those which sleep in Christ, and the Rapture of those which shall be left alive together with them in the air..."²⁸ This view has also been explored in popular end times fiction.

Indeed, the Left Behind series is one of the most influential end-times series. It puts forth the view described above. The Chronicles of Brothers series by Wendy Alec is another example. The main idea behind this series is that it follows the three brothers: Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. In a cinematic style of writing that makes the reader picture the scene in their head with vivid detail, the series begins with the Creation of Time, and of the Universe, and goes from the chambers of the First Heaven to the Fall of Lucifer and what he did to be banished, and the series will conclude with the end of time, with the final battle between Michael and Lucifer, and the Christians going to live with the "Nazarene," Jesus, for eternity. From her book introductions, Alec notes that she has done research into conspiracy theories and has carefully woven them into the tapestry of her novels. Ideas such as the inception of the Antichrist - a clone of Lucifer himself, the Illuminati, 9/11, Black Ops, and many others are found in the pages, in vivid detail. The difference between the two series is the Rapture. The Chronicles of Brothers seems to support a Mid-Tribulation Rapture. Both series are fictional in nature, but such works also influence popular thinking and thus, ideological interpretations of texts such as 1^st Thessalonians.  

Setting the date of the end of time is another point of consideration. People have been trying to set the date of the end times for a long time. The oldest surviving prediction we have is from the Assyrians, inscribed on a clay tablet, "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are common."²⁹ This may sound remarkably familiar. In the second century AD, the Motanists, who were founded ca.155 AD by Montanus, believed that Jesus' return was imminent and proceeded to set up a base in Anatolia in central Turkey, where they lie in wait for doomsday - which came and went.³⁰

March 25, 970 was predicted by the Lotharingian computists. Pope Innocent III predicted that the year 1284 was the return of Christ, basing his prediction solely on the date of the formation of Islam and adding 666 years. February 1, 1524 was predicted by London astrologists, when they were anticipating a great flood from the Thames. 1648, 1666, 1792, 1914 and others were said to be the end of time. Jehovah's Witnesses have continued to set dates: 1914, 1915, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, 1994, among others. Harold Camping, who set the May 21, 2011 date, previously predicted that Christ would return on September 6, 1994. When nothing occurred on that day, he claimed he had miscalculated concerning the numerology, and re-set the date, and both dates have come and gone.³¹

It is not difficult to take our modern presuppositions, worldviews, doctrines and ideologies and either read them into a text such as the 4:13-5:11 pericopes or to tailor the text to our needs and claim that it says whatever we desire to say. This is a fundamental problem among many Christians and non-Christians today, particularly when the original audience, what symbols, images, phrases and ideas meant during that time period and a heap of other considerations. One of the other sides of this is the ethical implications that come from the text and those who use the text to support their ethics.

Ethical Implications

The Amish may be a good example of those who separate themselves from the world as “sons of light,” just as the community at Qumran did. Although their primary text to support separation from the world is found in James 1:27, texts such as these which admonish the believing community to “not be like the others” (5:6) provide further verses used to support their cause. The language that Paul uses in this passage was likely intended to remind the Thessalonian believers that they need to show with their actions that they are different from the pagans. His contrasting images of light and darkness, day and night, sober and drunk, as well as the battle imagery all support this. The usage of armor as a symbol may have implied that they ought to stand firm in their beliefs and go against the grain of the ethical system at work in pagan Thessaloniki.

The eschatological worldview put forth by Paul, Timothy and Silas in these pericopes was what drove home the point of the ethical exhortation. The ethics and the eschatology were closely tied together, and in many Pauline works we find similar ties between the two.³² The Ethical and moral implications of the passage are this: our good works are external signs of an inward faith, and they also show the secular society that we are different in our thinking, our words and our actions. We serve Jesus Christ, who is master over the earth, the air (by appearing in the air He shows mastery over the demons, who were thought to have their abode in the air) as well as the heavens. He is the Son of Man who will gather His people. As Jesus is master over all, the Christian communities ought to bear this in mind, hold hope, but not use this fact to gloat but rather to help others, build up others and care for others. To be sure, this is where Christian theology comes into play.

The Theology of 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

As a Biblical text, 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 is subject to theological interpretation. Indeed, there is plenty of theological implications at work here. A simple example can be seen through authority, in the authority of apostles compared to the authority of Christ. Paul uses “We believe” (v.14) and “we believe that” when appealing to his own authority. However, the early Christians taught that Jesus was Lord and God, and hence, the authority of Jesus would have held more weight. He therefore says, “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you” (v.15). Paul, Timothy and Silas appeal to their own authority in belief, but speak firmly and authoritatively when appealing to the authority of Christ. This demonstrates further how Jesus was viewed in the community.

A better example of theology is through the triadic formula. 1st Thessalonians 1:3 and 5:8 has the triadic Pauline formula, “faith, love and hope.” Readers find this formulation used in other Pauline letters as well (1^st Corinthians 13:13; cf. Colossians 1:4-5; 2nd Timothy 2:22). According to 1^st Thessalonians, when Timothy reports back to Paul about the church, he speaks of their “faith and love” (3:6), which seems to imply that hope is not present. Paul seeks to “supply what is lacking” (3:10) and restore and provide hope in the Thessalonian community, and as a form of consolation and admonishment, does so. Significantly, we see that Faith is used 7 times (faithful is used once), hope is used 4 times, love is used 8 times (loved is used twice), and peace appears 3 times in this epistle. Therefore, in the 4:13-5:11 pericopes, he is likely attempting to supply that hope.

Although members of the congregation were dying or already deceased, Paul wanted these believers to understand that victory over death had been won – “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  Paul uses this in 1^st Corinthians 15:55 (AD 54), which is itself a quote from Hosea 13:14 (710 BC). Notably, Paul alludes to the concept found within the 1^stThessalonians 4:13-5:11 in the previous verses in 1^st Corinthians 15:51-53, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” Here we see the usage of the trumpet, the resurrection of the dead, and “sleep” as a euphemism for death, just as in the 4:13-18 pericope. 

The relationship between the problem of deceased believers and the parousia’s prominent place in Paul’s theology is summarized in 1st Thessalonians 5:9-10: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.” 1^st Thessalonians was written in order to console the brothers and sisters in the Thessalonian community and provide them with hope, which they were lacking. With this hope, they are exhorted to realize that they are different than the pagans and so too ought to act like it – all the while expecting the sudden and imminent “day of the Lord” to come “like a thief in the night,” which will be as labor pains – not the birth itself, but the circumstances leading up to it. If we have faith and love, the primary purpose in the 4:13-5:11 is to provide us with a sense of hope.

Conclusion

Literary, ideological and theological methodologies not only clarify items within the text but also enhance our understanding, sometimes lead to further questions while at the same time answering others. 1^st Thessalonians can be considered a consolation letter, and the 4:13-5:11 pericope is both consolatory and apocalyptic in nature. Regarding literary features, St. Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote the two pericopes in a way that euphemistic and antithetical language brought across their point to the Thessalonian believers, and also structured the letter in a way to make the repeated phrases a way to bring out the message.

Intertextual connections with other letters in the Pauline corpus, connections to the Olivet Discourse as well as elements from the Hebrew Bible and apocryphal Jewish literature are woven together into the tapestry portrayed in these pericopes. However, as this is not intended to be a chronological eschatological narrative, it has several gaps and ambiguities which readers continue to debate and argue over. Along with this, readers continue to bring their modern assumptions and ideas as well as doctrines into the text, in order to promote a particular ideology or simply as a difficulty created across the time barrier. Theological interpretation also sheds light on the intention behind the consolation letter – while the community has faith and love, they lack hope. As the believers are in the light and not of the darkness, not only are they to act differently than the pagans – they are also to be full of hope until the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Endnotes

1. Smith, Abraham. Comfort One Another: Reconstructing the Rhetoric and Audience of 1 Thessalonians. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press, 1995. 53. Print.

2. Donfried, Karl P., and Johannes Beutler. The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis?. 1st ed. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000. 186. Print.

3. Smith 90.

4. “Juan Chapa has noted the similarities between 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 and "letters of consolation," missives which were designed to ease the grief of relatives mourning the loss of a loved one. Such letters were a common convention in the Hellenistic world. But whereas these letters often appealed to reason as the best remedy for grief, Paul appeals to the dual realities of the resurrection of the dead and the lordship of Christ as it will be manifested at Christ's parousia.” (Young 267 – see below)

5. Young, R Garland. "The Times And The Seasons: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11." Review & Expositor 96.2 (1999): 269. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials.  Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

6. Smith 59.

7. From the Idyll 4.4.2.

8. Malysz, Piotr J. "Paul's Use Of The Imagery Of Sleep And His Understanding Of The Christian Life: A Study In The Thessalonian Correspondence." Concordia Theological Quarterly 67.1 (2003): 69. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

9. Malysz 73.

10. Smith 309.

11. Donfried and Buetler 171.

12. Collins, Raymond F. Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians. 1st ed. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1984. 156. Print.

13. Houwelingen, P H R van. “The Great Reunion: The Meaning And Significance Of The ‘Word of The Lord’ In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.’” Calvin Theological Journal 42.2 (2007): 316. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 4 Dec 2013.

14. Blaising, Craig A. “The Day Of The Lord And The Rapture.” Bibliotheca Sacra 169.675 (2012): 260-261. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.

15. Blaising 262-263.

16. Houwelingen 318.

17. Morris, Leon, and F.F. Bruce. New International Commentary on the New Testament. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William E. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1991. 144. Print.

18. Young 272.

19. Morris 155.

20. Admittedly, there is still debate among scholars as to whether or not the community at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found or not is an Essene community.

21. Stanley, Christopher D. "Who's Afraid of a Thief in the Night?." New Testament Studies. 48. (2002): 468. Print.

22. Stanley 469.

23. Stanley 468.

24. Houwelingen 314.

25. Young 269.

26. According to the JW, Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man (The Watchtower, May 15, 1963, p. 307; The New World, 284.)

27. Blaising 259.

28. Huebner, Precious Truths Revived and Defended.

29. Hitchcock, Mark. 2012: The Bible and the End of the World. 1st ed. Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2009. 102. Print.

30. Hitchcock 102.

31. Hitchcock 103-104

32. Young 271. 

Women and Discrimination

According to men, "Women are utterly and absolutely inferior to Men and are only good for bearing our offspring and providing us with sexual pleasure." At least, this was the dominant view regarding women among the majority of the world for a long time. Among some individuals, this still is a view that is held. Women were classed together with African Americans and Jews as being those under heavy discrimination. Indeed, there were male as well as female African Americans and Jews, but it was the females of the class who were looked down upon the most and considered absolutely inferior.

Simone de Beauvoir, in her 1949 Le Deuxieme Sexe, does a lovely job of laying out many of the issues that are raised concerning women as well as some of the history behind this gender discrimination. Men had (and in a sense, still have) considered women to be outside of themselves – that is, they are “others.” Unfortunately, many men still perceive women as sexual beings only, something – not someone – that is constantly objectified and lacking an identity apart from the male - an “other.”

This “other” has been around for as long as we have been able to form words: God is superior, we are the Others. Zeus is superior, Hera is the Other. Whites are superior, Blacks are the Others. In like manner, the majority view had been that Men are superior and Women were the Other, but in the past few hundred years (particularly in this last century) women have challenged these stereotypes, assumptions and social “rules” and have gained much more of a standing in society as a whole. Women are unfortunately not always treated as equals, however, and in many countries outside of the United States we find that women are still sold as sex slaves (the U.S. equivalent could perhaps be street prostitutes) and are also rarely given high positions of authority.

When considering how this reading relates back to our previous reading the question had been – what were the benefits of Christ’s act? This act of love was done for ALL people, including females, so that ALL could climb the ladder to reach God. When the Godman was on the earth, not only did he have male followers but also many female followers. Mary Magdalene (who is often mistaken for a prostitute, a supposed “fact” not actually in Scripture), Martha and many other female followers are recorded in early Christian writings.

Also, there are entire books of Scripture devoted to stories of women – the books of Esther and Ruth, for example. Stories of heroes such as Jael and Deborah in the book of Judges or the apocryphal book of Judith also bear out that the Judeo-Christian view of women is perhaps a tad more exalted than that of the time. Indeed, in various mythologies we see that women are created out of the head of the man (so that his mind is superior to hers) or from the foot of a man (so that she is “under” him). Yet in the Genesis account, Eve was created from the rib of Adam not to be a slave to him but was indeed taken from his side to stand side by side together as equals in love and in society.

What Does Bonaventurian Theology Teach?

St. Bonaventure was a well know follower of St. Francis who taught that there is a specific unity and harmony in the created cosmos. He believed that humanity was able to perceive this harmony and unity, as we are both physical (our bodies) and non-physical (our souls). St. Francis was known to have a deep appreciation for the created world, something which St. Bonaventure picked up on and continued. He understood perfection to essentially be demonstrated through reconciliation, loving relationships and wise discernment.

In Genesis, God gave humanity the dominion mandate not to rule others but to care for others, including non-humans. Bonaventure described humans as being unique among God’s work in that we were created with a body-soul union, and that the various aspects of the soul is the very core of human action – it senses, it grows, it has intellect. However, although the soul is non-physical and non-material, the soul is co-dependent upon our body, which is itself physical and material. Thus, our soul is currently tied to the things of the flesh. Bonaventure taught that much as there is a harmony and unity that reflects the nature of God, so too does the human. Our body is subject to the soul, and the soul is subject to God. The two-fold nature of the person reflects, in some respect, the nature of the Divine Being. Indeed, he claims that in this earthly life, the soul is dependent upon the body, but in future heavenly life, the body will be dependent upon the soul.

Imitation (mimesis), or rather, “image,” is an extremely important concept in Bonaventurian thought. According to Genesis 1:26, we are created in the very image of God, and God breathed the soul (breathed life) into mankind.  St. Augustine once noted that our memory is what contains the past, present and future – and St. Bonaventure picked up on this when he noted that the image of God is still contained or imprinted upon the mind, so that through memory, intellect and will we can perceive God. This divine imprint allows us to have a sense of God’s existence and nature, so that we can come to Him. The image of God is not what is found on the mind, however – it is the likeness of God that we bear as humans, and the sense that our true self or true identity can only be found in God. Bonaventure essentially understood that the Word of God is the image of the Father, and that we are the image of the Word. In this view, we are each a sort of word spoken by the Father and each contain a part of God (his imprint or fingerprints). Since the Word of God became flesh and lived as Jesus, it is through our relationship with Jesus that we can come to God and discover our true self. The love of God displayed on the cross is the kind of transformative love that we receive from God, so that God is manifested in the human experience through love itself.

As aforementioned, mimesis/imitation is an important Bonaventurian concept. From birth we imitate those around us, which seemingly shapes us as individuals. Bonaventure’s concept of sin is that mankind wanted to imitate God (to be “like God” as the serpent tempts Eve), and as a result of this, creation fell to corruption. For Bonaventure, there once existed a time when mankind lived in perfect good with God. Adam and Eve stood before God face to face in His image, and the spiritual and natural world freely interacted and both realms were open to each other. Yet when humanity tried to grasp God’s power and God’s knowledge, we fell into darkness. This is why there is a burning desire within humanity, as we always seek to reacquire that which we have utterly lost. Try as we might, we cannot re-obtain this lost innocence. The sin of some affected the lives of all, and the darkness and corruption of sin is still felt today. When sin entered into creation, the image of God in man was distorted so that a sort of wedge has been driven between the soul and the body, the supernatural and the natural. This problem is solved in the person of Jesus, who took on flesh as the Godman and as the truth of existence and the core of reality, took on the sin for mankind and through faith (trust) in Him, we can become reconciled to God. This is St. Bonaventure’s view of humanity.

As humans, however, we are all on a journey to God. St. Bonaventure taught that we must start with expanding our mind and then moving forward through faith to find a mystical union with God. Christ was not merely the renewal of humanity but of all creation, he argued, and this journey to God illuminates the steps creation must take. After St. Bonaventure left the University of Paris, he began to write more spiritually. It is through these spiritual writings that we find his idea of the soul’s journey to God. According to Bonaventure, we have come from God, we live and breath in the image of God and we are ourselves coming back to God. In The Soul’s Journey Into God, Bonaventure lays out the journey to God in six steps, with the seventh as the stage where we find blissful wisdom and virtue. He contended that the human is created with an insatiable, unquenchable desire. We seek all of our lives to satisfy this desire and find a way to at least be content with it – yet apart from God, no satisfaction will arise.

This journey begins in poverty, or rather, with the poor in spirit. Those who are poor in spirit and have hardened hearts will be transformed, essentially given a new heart and by the end of this journey, be rich in spirit. To enable this journey to occur at all, one must engage in prayer with God. This form of communication that is faster and stronger than any wireless connection in our world is an instantaneous uplink to the Divine. The dialogue between the lover and the loved, between the Creator and His creation, is one of prayer. With this foundation the journey truly begins. Creation is the start, in which our original parents – Adam and Eve – had what Bonaventure called a “triple eye.” This “triple eye” is the eye found on our body, the eye of reason and the eye of meditation, yet when humanity fell to sin, we became blind through our various senses to the supernatural. We are like those who have fallen to the ground, yet Christ comes along to pick us up if we choose to accept His aid. While we currently walk in the shadow of the divine because of sin, it is through Jesus that we can come out of the darkness and into light.

Bonaventure believed that God is infinite and we are finite. As finite or imperfect creatures, we cannot hope to experience the perfect and divine being unless we approach him through means other than our own. In other words, we exist as body and soul (physical and spiritual), and since God is Spirit we can only approach Him through our soul. The imprint of the Great Artist that has been left in the very core of our souls can be reached if we only look inward enough. Although sin has darkened our understanding and experience, there is still a divine light that sheds light on truth, and it is with this truth that we can reach God. This concept of illumination is one also taught by St. Augustine. We gain knowledge not simply for knowledge’s sake, but in order to find and become closer to God. Our image, however, is a fallen image of God. We exemplify both God’s divine nature but also the tragedy of the human drama, so that our image of God is a tainted one. We are dim images of the true light. Although our ancestors sinned and the ladder was broken between God and Man, the Godman in the person of Jesus descended and repaired this ladder, so that through Jesus we can come to the Father. Indeed, regardless of how much knowledge and learning we gain in this life, apart from Christ we could never hope to achieve mystical union with God.

St. Bonaventure also wrote a work called The Tree of Life, a work focused specifically on the life and person of Jesus Christ. In the work, Bonaventure often uses relational words to enable and provide the reader with the opportunity to engage with the life of Jesus and participate with Him in his life as One. Jesus opens up our spiritual senses and through the man in Jesus, we can experience God. Once our spiritual senses are recovered, we can then relate to the divine. Bonaventure often quoted Isaiah 45:15, “truly, you are a hidden God,” to illustrate that when our senses are blinded we cannot seem to find God. When we accept Jesus, however, we are not simply to do nothing further. Instead, we ought to be completely and utterly transformed so that continually grow in the image of God. Jesus is therefore the beginning, the middle and the end of our journey to God. This journey must also be transformative in nature.