The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'3/30/2016 The film Terminal, a film directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, is about someone who, for political and bureaucratic reasons, becomes a resident of the airport terminal at J.F.K. airport in the U.S.A. The story is that Tom Hank's character, Victor Navorski, arrives in the US from an unnamed eastern European country to discover that the U.S. authorities don't recognise the government which has just taken power in his country and that consequently his papers have become invalid. Because the authorities at J.F.K. airport won't allow him into the US and he because he can't go back home he has to live in the International Lounge of the airport. There he makes friends, learns English and falls in love! It is fascinating idea, that someone can become legally stateless, able to live only in that legal 'no-man's land' between countries which is the airport terminal. The film mirrors the true story of Merhan Nasseri who lived in the airport terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport airport in Paris from 1988 until 2006 after his papers were stolen while travelling from Belgium to the United Kingdom. Charles de Gaulle spokesman Danielle Yzerman said of Nasseri's plight, "An airport is kind of a place between heaven and earth. He has found a home here." That description "a kind of place between heaven and earth" sums up exactly the situation of someone we read about in the ancient Jewish text, the Testament of Abraham. In this comic novel dating (probably) from some time in the late 1st century A.D., the great and righteous patriarch Abraham, the 'friend of God', visits the 'great assize' on the other side of the gate of heaven where the dead are judged. He is taken there by his angel-guide Michael, in order to grasp the cold, brutal severity of true justice. There Abraham sees the dead being judged in three ways; by means a great book which contains the infallible record of each person's life; by a balance, a set of scales held by an angel known as Dokiel, 'the angel of righteousness'; and by the testing fire held in the trumpet of the 'angel of fire', Puriel. In these three ways each soul is measured, weighed and tested and an unerring, precise measurement of their righteousness and wickedness is made. There is no room here for compassion, for mercy or for mitigation. One by one the souls are judged and taken either to paradise or to a place of torment and destruction. In this way Abraham is confronted with the consequences of his desire to call down the punishment of God upon the unrighteous people he has seen during his tour of the earth. But there is one individual for whom the system doesn't seem to work. In the case of one problematic soul no decision can be made. The lists of their good and bad 'works' are of the same length in the Great Book and their good and bad deeds are finely balanced in the scales. They don't fit - no decision can be made on them; they must wait until the coming of God at The Arrival, when the final infallible decision on all mankind will be made. Just like Viktor in Terminal this soul must remain at heaven's 'arrival lounge', unable to go further but equally (because she or he is dead) unable to return to the world to carry on with life. This unfortunate soul too is stateless, stuck 'in-between', inhabiting that 'no-souls land' between this life and the next. And so it would have remained had it not been for the intervention of Abraham. The plight of this one poor soul and the realisation that perhaps he could make a difference, inspires something new and wonderful in Abraham's heart. In this post I explain what that change was and what it meant for Abraham . . . . and for early Christianity.
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We are justifiably afraid of fire. Fire burns and when things burn they are damaged or destroyed. Fire has ravaged powerful cities such as ancient Rome and seventeenth century London. Wildfires have recently destroyed huge areas in drought-stricken parts of the world, bringing destruction, death and terror to the people who live there. Fire hurts and burns, leaving terrible scars and injuries. Fires destroy our homes and possessions. But the destructive power of fire is also something that can produce life. I was struck recently by the comments of a friend here in Sweden talking about the positive impact of a large forest fire which swept through the forests in the north of Sweden some years ago. It was horrendously destructive, destroying tens of thousands of trees and injuring and killing wildlife and people. And yet my friend, who at that time worked for the organisation that manages the forests, explained to me (an ignorant city dweller) that the forests depend on fires like these to grow and develop. Usually of course the fires are managed and kept within safe bounds and clearly this one wasn't! But the effect of such fires, controlled or not, is to is strip away the dead and old material in the forest, to allow new, young life to emerge. And the trees grow back, stronger and better and the wildlife returns and and forms a new ecology. And life goes on and flourishes better and stronger because of the fires. Something like this effect of fire, the rooting out and burning up of the old and tired, lies as the background for the trial scene in the Testament of Abraham, the ancient Jewish comic novel which describes the attempts of Abraham to escape the inevitability of death. Abraham's angel guide, Michael, shows Abraham what happens to souls after they die and Abraham passes through the gate of heaven at the East of the world, where he sees the souls of the dead being judged. He discovers that their eternal fate is decided partly on the basis of how the record of their lives responds to the divine fire blown from a trumpet held by Puriel, the 'angel of fire'. Their record of actions while alive, their 'works', are subjected to a 'trial by fire'. Good deeds survive the flames. They are clearly made of solid stuff, worthy and true, like a precious metal. Bad deeds are consumed by the flames, burnt up entirely, reduced to ashes. These are the deeds done in disregard for God's Law, the deeds born of selfish desire and Godless passions. So, as the dead and ancient material of the forest which inhibit the growth of the new are stripped away by the forest fires, here Puriel's fire consumes the dead and dying parts of individual human lives. The Testament of Abraham of course is not trying to say that the souls so-judged pass through to Paradise, better and wiser people; rather that those who see their life's work burn up pass directly to a place of horrendous torment and punishment (without passing go!). There is no sense here that these flames are intended to purify the souls who pass through them but, like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter, they decide where the souls belong, in Paradise or in the 'other place'. But it was this very idea of flames that consume the dross, the old, the broken and the godless and leave the good and the new and the Godly unharmed that led some in the early church to imagine that what might happen after death is that souls would face the fire of judgement, not to destroy them but, like the beautiful forests of Sweden, to make them better. It was ideas like those we find in the Testament that led eventually to the birth of the idea of purgatory, to the idea of the flames that purify. In this post we come close to that place where such powerful ideas began to emerge. The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2 Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner3/10/2016 Courts can be rather intimidating places. They should be - after all the dispensation of Justice is extremely important. The judges are usually imposing figures, the courtrooms are hushed and respectful, the clerks and officials note and record everything and dispense justice quickly and efficiently. There is no room for disagreement with the final decision or sentence and bad behaviour in the courtroom is not tolerated. Even the furniture of the court emphasises the solemn importance of what is going on there, with the judge usually seated 'up on high' and the accused 'spotlighted', sat or stood separately, in a place reserved for them, alone and isolated from family and friends. But all of this is nothing compared to the scene of post-mortem judgement described in the Jewish/Christian writing known as the Testament of Abraham. At one point in this ancient Jewish story, in which Abraham tries (with great comic effect) to evade Death, we read how Abraham follows the archangel Michael through the gates of heaven and find himself at the tribunal where the dead are judged. There he finds an awesome, even terrifying vision of divine justice in action, a scene that includes a magnificent judge, gigantic books, glowing tables, scary angels and of course thousands of souls being weighed, burned and whipped! And this, he is told, is just the first stage! This wonderful comic novel originally written by a Jewish writer and then used and preserved (and perhaps adapted) by Christians, dating from perhaps the first or second centuries A.D., provides a wonderful insight into how ideas about heaven and hell and the judgement that sends us there, were developing in the first centuries after the birth of Jesus. In this post I try to describe the elements of divine justice as shown to Abraham and what they mean and why they are there. Once upon a time, the bible tells us, Abraham the great patriarch of the Hebrews was visited by God. The story says that God came to Abraham in the form of three 'men' (who were, in fact, divine messengers or angels) and without knowing who these three men were, Abraham welcomed them into his home and fed them. This was a sign of Abraham's holiness and generosity of spirit. If he had known who it was he was entertaining and was lavish with his hospitality then that would be unremarkable. Everyone would put on a special spread for God! But Abraham didn't. What made the story so special was in being hospitable to three complete strangers Abraham was in fact being hospitable to God. And so the story became the basis for a whole tradition of seeing God in 'the stranger', which we find again in the New Testament story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, who unwittingly entertained Jesus, and which in the last century found it's best known moral expression in the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta who famously said that when she took care of the destitute in Calcutta she saw in each one 'Jesus in disguise'. For the rest of us mere mortals, we are reminded by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews that when that unwelcome knock comes on the door, late on a friday night when we are ready to go to bed or entertaining friends Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13.1-2) But this story also became the basis for a wonderful comedy-fantasy adventure based on Abraham's life (or more precisely, his death) called the Testament of Abraham. It was written sometime in the first or second centuries A.D. by a Jewish writers for a Jewish audience, but the story also found a home in Christian groups and it was in fact they who preserved the story so that it reached us today. The story is about God's desire to prepare Abraham for his death. Most of us assume that we would appreciate the chance to know when we are going to die so that we could come to terms with the fact and put all our affairs in order. But I wonder if that's really true. Wouldn't most of really prefer just to go quickly, peacefully and unexpectedly? Wouldn't we prefer ignorance? Well, despite his best intentions, that's what God discovers in this wonderful, irreverent and hilarious story. First of all God discovers that it's almost impossible even to tell Abraham (how do you tell someone you love that they are going to die . . . many of us have been there and know how hard that is!). Next he discovers that even the godly Abraham doesn't want to leave his life behind and God is forced to grant him a 'last wish' which turns out to be a disaster and has to be cancelled. And then, thirdly, when eventually God sends Death (yes a figure called Death . . . . and with a scythe!) to wrap things up, he discovers that Death just isn't up to the job! This whole idea of telling his friend he is going to die to allow him time to come to terms with it gradually unravels as the story goes on and begins to look like a very bad idea! The reader is left with the impression that God made a big mistake by telling his friend the news of his impending death. The story is really about how messy death is (I don't mean blood and gore but socially and psychologically). We talk about a 'good death' and 'preparing ourselves' and 'letting go', but in reality death is chaotic and terrible. We poor human beings hold on to life for as long as we can and even the best laid plans (even God's, it seems) can go terribly awry in the face of the grim reality that faces all of us. When faced with the prospect of leaving 'all this behind' even the best of us can become irrational, fearful, angry and manipulative. Even the greatest of the great heroes of faith, Abraham is no exception. We don't like death. It's not natural. There is something deeply wrong about it. The story is a great insight into this struggle between the reality we all face and our stubborn, powerful hold on life. But the story (because it is about death) is also a fascinating insight into the attitudes of some Jews in the first two centuries after the birth of Christ (and possibly before) towards the afterlife. Here in the Testament of Abraham souls leave their bodies and face immediate post mortem judgement. Here the writer imagines that post mortem judgement in terms of passing through either the broad or the narrow gates, being weighed in the balance by angels and having our works 'tested by fire'. It is a story that reveals that in this era some people believed that the righteous find eternal life in paradise if the weight of their good deeds is greater than the weight of their bad deeds and that if they don't, their destiny lies in hell, a place of everlasting fire and torture. We discover here that it is possible for God to restore the lives of some who have died before their time and send them back to their lives on earth. In other words it is a story that shows that around the time the New Testament was being written, God-fearing Jews (and the Christians who valued and preserved this story) believed in most of the things that went on to form the popular view of death and afterlife that people believe today! Now of course if you have been following these posts you will realise that I think most of those things just mentioned are not part of the biblical picture of death and afterlife. But the reason for writing about the story (apart from the sheer joy I have found reading this wonderfully witty story) is my fascination in finding so many of these ideas already in currency in such an early story from the Jewish tradition. The point of the blog is not (just) to attack views I think are wrong but to try to understand how we got from the biblical perspective to the place we are today and I think stories like these show that the powerful influence of Greek thought was already having on Jewish (and so christian) thinkers and writers of faith at this time. In the Greek, Hellenistic word-view, souls could be detached from bodies, people could exist in a meaningful way after death and the worth of your soul could be discovered by placing it on a set of scales. None of these ideas is found in the Hebrew bible. But they are found here, in this fantastical Jewish 'fairy story'. Yes all these things are possible here . . . . but before we are tempted to think that this story is a reflection of the authentic biblical tradition we should also remember that the story also asks us to believe that Abraham lived to the age of a thousand years, that he could take a tour of the entire creation in the divine chariot in the space of half a day and that our lives are ended by the arrival at our houses one day of a tall, scary figure holding a scythe! Or maybe it doesn't ask us to believe any of these things. Maybe it is just a wonderful story about an old man who loved his life and didn't want to give it up! Maybe these popular motifs about the afterlife are just the tools the writer uses to tell a far more meaningful story about the tenacity of human life and its deep seated resistance to death. Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version of the bible got it so wrong about Hell.6/10/2015 So often, when we try to express ourselves in a foreign language, the true intended meaning gets 'lost in translation'. As an English man living in Sweden trying to express myself in a foreign language I know how hard this can be to make myself understood. Sometimes although we are using a form of words that should accurately express what we want to say we are missing the idiomatic way of saying it and our words come over as clumsy and strange. Sometimes it is simply because there is simply no word or concept in the other language for what we mean. Similar problems confront translators of the bible. Their intention is to translate into a modern, living language, texts written in languages no longer spoken (modern Hebrew is different in many significant ways from biblical Hebrew) and written by people living in a very different world. When the translators of the new English version of the bible commissioned by King James in 1604 started work, they adopted a very important principle that was to profoundly influence the character of the work they produced, namely that consistency was less important than clarity. So the same Hebrew or Greek word could be translated by different English words depending on the context. One of the most significant results of this approach was that the Hebrew word Sheol was sometimes translated grave or pit but in the great majority of cases as hell. Sheol really means something like the land of the dead (like the Greek Hades . . . but different) and 'grave' or 'pit' is therefore quite an accurate translation, but their principle of inconsistency meant that many generations of readers found in the King James version Old Testament references to 'hell' where none was intended in the original Hebrew. This has had an enormous (and deleterious) influence on present day assumptions about the biblical teaching on hell. The concept of Sheol as the land of the dead, or as the grave, was simply 'lost in translation'. Thus inconsistency in translation was then, a deliberate policy and implied a rejection of the advice of one of the greatest English Hebrew scholars of the age, Hugh Broughton, who although not invited to join the panel of translators, nevertheless gave them his advice in a letter, where, among other points, he urged them to translate words consistently. In his opinion the same word or phrase in the original Greek and Hebrew should always be translated by the same English word. This was advice they ignored. So, the translators felt at liberty to translate Sheol sometimes by grave or pit, but more often by hell. They seem to have used grave when there was an overwhelmingly clear reference to death, especially as expressed by a biblical hero (such as Abraham). They used hell in the great majority of cases.
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Archives
April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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