Scholarship

Washing of Feet

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Jesus Washing Peter's Feet by Ford Madox Brown. 1852-56, retouched several times up to 1892. Oil on canvas 46 x 52 1/4 in Tate Gallery, London.

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet by Ford Madox Brown. 1852-56, retouched several times up to 1892. Oil on canvas 46 x 52 1/4 in Tate Gallery, London.

A reader has asked, “Do you have any insight into what happened to the washing of feet? Could the washing of feet have been preparatory to the full ordinance of washing as we now have it in the initiatories?”

The ordinance of washing of feet is still performed in the temple, for it is a restored ordinance, but it is part of the culminating sealing ordinances which are reserved for those who make their calling and election sure through faith. Temple scholar Matthew Brown has offered this:

The Lord mentioned in a revelation on 1 November 1831 that he had granted unto his disciples the authority to “seal both on earth and in heaven” (D&C 1:8). During the same month he indicated that God the Father would reveal to his servants who should be sealed up “unto eternal life” by this power (D&C 68:12). The ordinance of the washing of feet was then introduced by the Lord as the means whereby someone could be rendered “clean from the blood of this generation” (D&C 88:138-141), and when Joseph Smith administered this ordinance, he stated that those who received it were not only “clean” in a ritual sense but were also “sealed up unto eternal life” (HC, 1:323-24; see also MD, 829-32). ((Matthew B. Brown, The Gate of Heaven, 235.))

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John Welch on Margaret Barker’s Temple Studies

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John WelchThere is an interesting post at The T&T Clark Blog with a transcription of an address that BYU’s John Welch gave on March 5th in London at a conference about Margaret Barker’s latest book, Temple Themes in Christian Worship, and her scholarly work on temple subjects in ancient Christianity and Judaism. FARMS lists Welch as serving on the executive committee of the Biblical Law Section of the SBL, but in this review he also mentions that he has been selected as one of the organizers of a new section on Temple Studies in the SBL. I am not very familiar with the SBL, but this sounds like a fantastic leap forward in temple studies among biblical scholars.

Some highlights from this address are: [Read more…]

Why Don’t we Find Our Modern Temple in the Old Testament?

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The Tabernacle and the Temple - 1900 atlas from London (click for a larger view)I used to ask myself that question, and I believe that many others probably still do. We believe that our current temple ordinances as revealed by the prophet Joseph Smith are as old as the human race, and were first revealed to Adam, the Ancient of Days ((TPJS, 237)). So why don’t we read more about temple practices similar to our own today in the Old Testament? It can get very confusing trying to compare our modern-day temple ordinances to those of Moses in the Tabernacle, or Solomon’s temple, or even Herod’s temple at the time of Christ. And our critics also love to point out the dissimilarity.

The ordinances just aren’t the same. We might initially think that it is because of the sacredness of the temple that it was kept from being written about much by the ancient patriarchs. But this is not the case. Many details are given about the Tabernacle of Moses in the first books of the Bible. While there are still some similitudes in the structure of the temples, the priestly clothing, and even in the rites, if the ordinances were the same or very similar as we have them today we would find many more allusions to them. But they just aren’t there.

So where are they? [Read more…]

A Hopi Anointing

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Crow Mother - 12 inch tall kachina by Kevin Pochoema <http://www.ancientnations.com>In connection with yesterday’s post about early Christian purification ordinances, isn’t it interesting that we find very similar practices in the new world, among those whose culture, beliefs, traditions, history, and religion seem so different to a superficial eye? The Hopi Native Americans have a vast array of rituals, ceremonies, customs, dances, rites, and sacred dresses, which are very interesting for us to study.

In Boyd Petersen’s excellent biography Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life we read about Dr. Nibley’s travels and studies of the Hopi people. He had a fascination with the Hopi, particularly because many of their beliefs and practices mirror our own, and also those of many ancient civilizations. These have been passed down for centuries and are still practiced by the Hopi today.

Br. Petersen had the opportunity to accompany his father-in law, Dr. Nibley, and others to Hotevilla in July 1996. It proved to be a singular experience:

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Cyril of Jerusalem on Washings and Anointings

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Arian Baptistry in Ravenna, Italy, depicting Christ's baptism, washing, or anointing - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arian_Baptistry>. Also note the gammadia marks on the apostles' robes

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

I was first introduced to Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures by Hugh Nibley in his phenomenal work The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Cyril of Jerusalem is a prominent early Christian theologian, and is considered a saint by many. His most famous writings are set of twenty-three catechetical lectures which he delivered around 347 or 348 A.D. while still a presbyter or priest before he became the Bishop or See (Seer?) of Jerusalem. Most of these lectures were given as instruction to candidates before baptism and initiation. One of the appendices of Dr. Nibley’s book contains snippets from Cyril’s lectures on the “mysteries” (ordinances) or advanced instruction given to the newly baptized or initiated, having already performed these rites. These are contained in the last five of the twenty-three lectures, or lectures 19-23, often called the lectures on the mysteries. All the lectures can be read in full online at New Advent or at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, albeit the translation is different than Nibley’s which he takes directly from the Patrologia Graeca by J.P. Migne (Vol. 33, cols. 1065-1105). [Read more…]