Thank you Rev. Elder for these wonderful words:
Why Good Friday is called ‘good’
One of the most common questions I am asked at this time of year is why Friday this week is called Good Friday by Christians.
Good Friday is the day on which Christians recall the execution of Christ on the cross by Pontius Pilate and the Roman regime in Judea, which falls, of course, before Easter Sunday.
The other question I get at this time of year is why Christians believe that Jesus was supposed to die and stay in the tomb for three days when it seems that he was there for only two, given that he died on a Friday and Christians believe he was raised on a Sunday.
To answer the first question, I admit it does seem odd that the day on which the founder of Christianity was brutally murdered should be called “good.” Presumably, if one is a devout Christian who loves Jesus of Nazareth, the day he was tortured and killed hardly seems good, and so “dreadful Friday” seems a better term.
The term Good Friday comes from one of two possible sources. In Renaissance English, the term “good” and “pious” were often used interchangeably. And so it has been argued that “good Friday” actually may have originally meant “holy Friday.”
A better solution to this question also comes from archaic English usage. In late medieval times, the so-called “satisfaction” theory of the atonement was popular in religious preaching. In this understanding of the death of Christ, mankind’s sins had incurred a dreadful debt to God, which could never be paid for by human efforts.
But Christ’s willingness to shed his sinless blood on mankind’s behalf paid this debt of sin. In medieval English a “good debt” was one that could be paid off, as opposed to a “bad debt” which could not, terms which we still use in the financial arena.
Hence, in this world view, on Good Friday, the debt of mankind to God was paid off, and so it was a “good” Friday which ended the spiritual debt. This interpretation seems to me to be the more accurate historical origin for the term, but I could be wrong on this point.
As for the second question, the answer is simple. If Jesus was to be buried for three days before rising how do we explain that he seems to have been dead for only two days, given that he was buried on Friday raised on a Sunday.
Setting aside the fact that the prophetic claims of a three-day death probably do not depend on a stopwatch observation of time, here is the probable answer. Ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, did not have the concept of a zero, an empty cipher of a place before counting could start.
“Zero” is an Indian Hindu religious concept brought to the west by the medieval Arab Muslims after their conquest of India. In modern mathematics, we might count 0, 1, 2, 3. In antiquity, they had no zero, and so counting began I, II, III. And with this concept of mathematics, Friday was day I, Saturday was day II, and Sunday as day III, the day of the resurrection.
The actual Good Friday, the day on which Jesus was killed, remains a matter of considerable academic debate. Most scholars believe that Jesus was born sometime between 8 and 4 B.C. Since we are told that Jesus was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C., this sets a final limit on the year of Jesus’ birth and therefore helps us calculate his death year.
The gospels suggest that Jesus lived for 30 or 33 years. We know that the Roman procurator who executed Jesus, Pontius Pilate, ruled Judea from A.D. 26 to 36, at the pleasure of Tiberius Caesar. This would suggest that Jesus was killed as early as A.D. 26 or as late as A.D. 33 or 34.
In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that there was a “moon of blood” when Jesus died (Acts 2:20). One astronomical calculation tells us that there was a partial eclipse of the moon over Judea on April 3 in A.D. 33. This seems as good a date as any.
Christians observe this Friday in a variety of ways. In some churches there are sermons on the seven last words of Christ, given between the hours of noon, when Jesus was traditionally crucified, and 3 in the afternoon, when he traditionally died. In the Catholic Church there is traditionally a service of venerating the cross, often by the faithful kissing the base of a crucifix. No Mass is ever said on Good Friday, even by the pope himself. In many churches this is a day of fasting, prayer and repentance.
I think there is a value to pausing on Good Friday, particularly between noon and 3 in the afternoon, for a moment of reflection. A great many people suffer in our modern world, needlessly and for the wrong political, religious and cultural reasons. Perhaps it is worth remembering those who are still crucified along with Christ in our enlightened age, on this solemn day.
Today, people will still suffer for the their religious beliefs, their sexual orientation, their political opinions and their skin color and gender. I have no theological doubt that humanity is indeed reconciled to God by the death of Christ on the cross.
But, as long as God’s children still suffer, I am not sure that Christ’s crucifixion has really ever come to an end.
Gregory Elder, a Redlands resident, is a professor of history and humanities at Moreno Valley College and a Roman Catholic priest. Write to him at Professing Faith, P.O. Box 8102, Redlands, CA 92375-1302, email him at askfathergregory@verizon.net or follow him on Twitter at Fatherelder.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
C.S. Lewis Bible provokes debate
By Nomi Morris
LA Times 2011
April 16, 2011
At a time when the words of the late British novelist, scholar and lay theologian C.S. Lewis are reaching more people than ever, a newly published Bible bearing his name has excited fans and provoked debate over whether Lewis would have approved.
"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third film created from Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series, has earned more than $400 million since its December release. Next month, Lewis' translation of Virgil's Aeneid will be published. A stage adaptation of "The Screwtape Letters" is on national tour. And C.S. Lewis College, a Christian school, is expected to open in 2012 in Massachusetts.
For HarperCollins, which has published nine of Lewis's nonfiction books on Christianity and is the main licensing manager for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, it made sense to issue a Bible with 600 Lewis excerpts interspersed through the text.
"What a great fit," said Michael Maudlin, executive editor of HarperOne, the publisher's imprint for religion and spirituality. "This is a devotional Bible. It uses Lewis' writings to illuminate what is being addressed in the Scripture."
Overseen by Lewis' stepson Douglas Gresham and Lewis scholar Jerry Root, who teaches at Wheaton College in Illinois, editors sifted through the suggestions of nearly two dozen academics to decide which insights to include.
After Genesis 3:1-13, for example, about Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the editors use this Lewis excerpt: "He would rather have a world of free beings, with all its risks, than a world of people who did right like machines because they couldn't do anything else."
After Hosea 14:1-7 comes Lewis' view that "God gives what He has, not what He has not: He gives the happiness that there is, not the happiness that is not."
Born Clive Staples Lewis in 1898, Lewis became a professor of literature and classics at Oxford and Cambridge universities. An atheist in early adulthood, he converted to Christianity at age 32. He often discussed religion with his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, the "Lord of the Rings" author, who was also a believer.
In its first few months, the C.S. Lewis Bible has sold 19,000 clothbound copies and 5,300 leather-bound copies.
But no sooner had the new Bible appeared than some evangelical conservatives circulated a petition saying Lewis' name and writings should not be paired with a gender-neutral translation of the Bible that came out decades after his 1963 death.
Louis Markos, an English professor at Houston Baptist University, sent the petition to 1,000 academics urging that HarperOne withdraw the book. About 35 representatives of colleges and religious journals have signed. "The majority consensus among C.S. Lewis scholars is that Lewis was firmly against gender-neutral usage and the egalitarianism on which it is based," the petition says.
Markos, who has written two books on C.S. Lewis, says the late writer believed instead in "complementarianism," that God created men and women with different roles and responsibilities.
"C.S. Lewis' position throughout his works is the traditional Christian position that men and women are different but of full and equal value," said Markos, who is urging HarperOne to reissue the Bible in the King James Version — used during Lewis' time — or the Revised Standard Version.
Some scholars say Lewis was leaning more toward egalitarianism in his later years.
Maudlin responds that the New Revised Standard Bible is used by a wide swath of Christian denominations. He says the petition may have discouraged some conservative evangelical bookstores from carrying the Lewis Bible but hasn't slowed overall sales. "It caused a few ripples but in the end helped us with publicity," he said.
Bibles remain the backbone of the book publishing industry. According to a survey last year by the Pew Research Center, 37% of Americans say they read it more than once a week, not including during services.
Weighing in at 1,568 pages, the Lewis Bible is the latest of about 60 Bibles published by HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The media conglomerate also owns Walden Media and 20th Century Fox, which are putting the Narnia books onscreen.
In recent years, Lewis has become so popular among traditional Christians that Eastern University professor Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen was quoted in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today warning that some evangelical Christians wish to turn him into "the 13th Apostle."
"He is treated like a saint, which is ironic since it is a community that doesn't believe in saints," said Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University.
Even Sarah Palin, who is also published by HarperCollins, cited C.S. Lewis as a source of "divine inspiration" when broadcaster Barbara Walters asked her about her reading habits in a December interview.
Both Joy Behar of ABC's "The View" and MSNBC commentator Richard Wolffe poked fun at Palin for citing a children's book author. But Lewis, an Anglican, wrote many adult books on Christian philosophy that are well respected by many theologians.
"He articulated Orthodoxy so cogently," Detweiler said. "No one has assumed such a sharp, insightful and authoritative voice from within the evangelical community. So Lewis is bandied about to settle old arguments and even new ones."
The new Bible with Lewis' writings, says Detweiler, is typical of the issues that divide progressives from conservatives among evangelical Christians.
"Lewis was a pipe-smoking, alcohol-drinking Anglican who has been embraced by an evangelical community that may not have room for him in many of their churches," he said.
LA Times 2011
April 16, 2011
At a time when the words of the late British novelist, scholar and lay theologian C.S. Lewis are reaching more people than ever, a newly published Bible bearing his name has excited fans and provoked debate over whether Lewis would have approved.
"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third film created from Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series, has earned more than $400 million since its December release. Next month, Lewis' translation of Virgil's Aeneid will be published. A stage adaptation of "The Screwtape Letters" is on national tour. And C.S. Lewis College, a Christian school, is expected to open in 2012 in Massachusetts.
For HarperCollins, which has published nine of Lewis's nonfiction books on Christianity and is the main licensing manager for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, it made sense to issue a Bible with 600 Lewis excerpts interspersed through the text.
"What a great fit," said Michael Maudlin, executive editor of HarperOne, the publisher's imprint for religion and spirituality. "This is a devotional Bible. It uses Lewis' writings to illuminate what is being addressed in the Scripture."
Overseen by Lewis' stepson Douglas Gresham and Lewis scholar Jerry Root, who teaches at Wheaton College in Illinois, editors sifted through the suggestions of nearly two dozen academics to decide which insights to include.
After Genesis 3:1-13, for example, about Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the editors use this Lewis excerpt: "He would rather have a world of free beings, with all its risks, than a world of people who did right like machines because they couldn't do anything else."
After Hosea 14:1-7 comes Lewis' view that "God gives what He has, not what He has not: He gives the happiness that there is, not the happiness that is not."
Born Clive Staples Lewis in 1898, Lewis became a professor of literature and classics at Oxford and Cambridge universities. An atheist in early adulthood, he converted to Christianity at age 32. He often discussed religion with his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, the "Lord of the Rings" author, who was also a believer.
In its first few months, the C.S. Lewis Bible has sold 19,000 clothbound copies and 5,300 leather-bound copies.
But no sooner had the new Bible appeared than some evangelical conservatives circulated a petition saying Lewis' name and writings should not be paired with a gender-neutral translation of the Bible that came out decades after his 1963 death.
Louis Markos, an English professor at Houston Baptist University, sent the petition to 1,000 academics urging that HarperOne withdraw the book. About 35 representatives of colleges and religious journals have signed. "The majority consensus among C.S. Lewis scholars is that Lewis was firmly against gender-neutral usage and the egalitarianism on which it is based," the petition says.
Markos, who has written two books on C.S. Lewis, says the late writer believed instead in "complementarianism," that God created men and women with different roles and responsibilities.
"C.S. Lewis' position throughout his works is the traditional Christian position that men and women are different but of full and equal value," said Markos, who is urging HarperOne to reissue the Bible in the King James Version — used during Lewis' time — or the Revised Standard Version.
Some scholars say Lewis was leaning more toward egalitarianism in his later years.
Maudlin responds that the New Revised Standard Bible is used by a wide swath of Christian denominations. He says the petition may have discouraged some conservative evangelical bookstores from carrying the Lewis Bible but hasn't slowed overall sales. "It caused a few ripples but in the end helped us with publicity," he said.
Bibles remain the backbone of the book publishing industry. According to a survey last year by the Pew Research Center, 37% of Americans say they read it more than once a week, not including during services.
Weighing in at 1,568 pages, the Lewis Bible is the latest of about 60 Bibles published by HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The media conglomerate also owns Walden Media and 20th Century Fox, which are putting the Narnia books onscreen.
In recent years, Lewis has become so popular among traditional Christians that Eastern University professor Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen was quoted in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today warning that some evangelical Christians wish to turn him into "the 13th Apostle."
"He is treated like a saint, which is ironic since it is a community that doesn't believe in saints," said Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University.
Even Sarah Palin, who is also published by HarperCollins, cited C.S. Lewis as a source of "divine inspiration" when broadcaster Barbara Walters asked her about her reading habits in a December interview.
Both Joy Behar of ABC's "The View" and MSNBC commentator Richard Wolffe poked fun at Palin for citing a children's book author. But Lewis, an Anglican, wrote many adult books on Christian philosophy that are well respected by many theologians.
"He articulated Orthodoxy so cogently," Detweiler said. "No one has assumed such a sharp, insightful and authoritative voice from within the evangelical community. So Lewis is bandied about to settle old arguments and even new ones."
The new Bible with Lewis' writings, says Detweiler, is typical of the issues that divide progressives from conservatives among evangelical Christians.
"Lewis was a pipe-smoking, alcohol-drinking Anglican who has been embraced by an evangelical community that may not have room for him in many of their churches," he said.
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