rituals

Harold Bloom on Joseph Smith’s Genius

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Harold Bloom

Harold Bloom

One of our readers, RBiddulph, recently pointed me to a quote by Harold Bloom, a well-known literary and cultural critic who is currently a Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University, who once said this about Joseph Smith:

I can only attribute to his genius or daemons his uncanny recovery of elements in ancient Jewish theurgy that had ceased to be available either to Judaism or to Christianity, and that had survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched Smith directly. (Harold Bloom, The American Religion, 101.)

Theurgy means the working of divine agency or intervention in human affairs.

The following hymn was written by W. W. Phelps to the memory of Joseph Smith, who was assassinated at Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844:

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus annointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

Praise to his memory, he died as a martyr;
Honored and blest be his ever great name!
Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins,
Plead unto heaven while the earth lauds his fame.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true, he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;
Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.
Millions shall know “brother Joseph” again.

Chorus:

Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

[Via NewTestamentTempleRitual.blogspot.com]

Early Christian Face Veiling

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Early Christian Mosaic in Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy

Early Christian Mosaic in Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy

I came across some references to early Christian ritual vestments this morning in Matthew Brown’s The Gate of Heaven.  He cited The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation by Edward Yarnold, and The Archæology of Baptism by Wolfred N. Cote.  I looked up these references and they were intriguing in describing an early Christian practice of face veiling during initiation rites:  [Read more…]

Blowing out Birthday Candles

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As most people know, it is a tradition in many parts of the world to bake up a birthday cake for a friend or family member celebrating a birthday.  Typically this cake is decorated nicely and topped with birthday candles, one for every year of the celebrant’s life.  When the time comes to eat the cake, there is a tradition that the candles are lit and the birthday boy or girl makes a silent wish and then blows out the candles.  If they are successful in their comedic (and sometimes spittled) extinguishing, it is said that the wish that they made will come true within the year.

Well, as with most things, there is more here than meets the eye. [Read more…]

Temple imagery in “Gabriel’s Revelation” Discovery

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Gabriel's Revelation or "Dead Sea Scroll in Stone"

Gabriel's Revelation or "Dead Sea Scroll in Stone"

The scholarly world is aflutter over the latest discovery of a 3-foot tall tablet being called “Gabriel’s Revelation,” “Hazon Gabriel,” or the “Vision of Gabriel.”  It contains 87 lines of Hebrew text written in ink on stone, and has been dated to the first century BCE.  The tablet was found near the Dead Sea in Jordan around 2000, and has been associated with the Qumran community who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls.  For this reason, it has been called a “Dead Sea scroll in stone.”  An exciting discovery, indeed.

The discussion has been primarily about a certain line of the text which tells of a messiah dying and resurrecting in three days (line 80).  Many scholars are pointing to this as evidence of a resurrection theology in existence in Judaism before the coming of Jesus Christ, therefore raising questions of the conception among some that a messianic 3-day resurrection was a uniquely novel Christian principle.  This is not news to Latter-day Saints, who already firmly believe that Christianity has been known and practiced since Adam (see Moses 5:6-8).

But I want to look at this text from a different angle than that which is making the headlines.  Since this text has been categorized as an apocalyptic text, the Greek apokálypsis meaning “lifting of the veil” or end of days, delivered from the angel Gabriel, it is likely that we should find temple imagery here too.  And we are not left wanting.  [Read more…]

Words: Mysticism & Orientation

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I think many times our culture produces preconceptions or stereotypes about words, images, cultures, forms, meanings, etc., that may not actually be true.  I have found this to be the case with the word mysticism.  Oft times I think we associate this word with gypsies, palm readers, fortune tellers, monks, or other so-called strange or mysterious things.  But is this a correct perception?  Often we just don’t know the origin of a word, which might give us great insight.  [Read more…]