Is the Temple Troubling?
Someone recently asked me the following:
Perhaps you can explain how a person who finds the [temple experience] to be … troubling should express those feelings.
This was my reply, with additional edits: [Read more…]
rituals
Asking for Her Hand in Marriage, Tying the Knot, and Handfasting
I was thinking yesterday that there might be more to the common saying “asking for her hand in marriage.” Doing a few searches and I found that some believe it comes from a medieval ritual known as handfasting. Today it has been adopted by certain Neopagan groups as part of their engagement or marriage rituals, but it has a history which dates back to the Middle Ages in the Christian context, and is certainly much more ancient still ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handfasting)). Apparently this practice has fallen out of usage and been lost among most of mainstream Christianity, except in Eastern Orthodoxy.
The modern handfasting ritual typically consists of tying the right hands of the couple to be betrothed or wed with a ribbon or cord while the couples exchange their vows. This is also probably the origin of the common phrase, “tying the knot.” In some cases, all four hands are tied together to make a figure 8 when viewed from above, the symbol of infinity or eternity (as in the photo on the right) ((http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_hand.htm)).
There is a good treatment on the history of Medieval handfasting on MedievalScotland.org, in which the author quotes from A.E. Anton:
Among the people who came to inhabit Northumbria and the Lothians, as well as among other Germanic peoples, the nuptials were completed in two distinct phases. There was first the betrothal ceremony and later the giving-away of the wife to the husband. The betrothal ceremony was called the beweddung in Anglo-Saxon because in it the future husband gave weds or sureties to the woman’s relatives, initially for payment to them of a suitable price for his bride but later for payment to her of suitable dower and morning-gift. The parties plighted their troth and the contract was sealed, like any other contract, by a hand-shake. This joining of hands was called a handfæstung in Anglo-Saxon, and the same word is found in different forms in the German, Swedish and Danish languages. In each it means a pledge by the giving of the hand. …. [Read more…]
The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 4
In the last parts of our series on the Egyptian hieroglyph of the ankh, and other related symbols, I’d like to look at where these symbols are found on the extant portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri, related documents, and the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, to see if Joseph Smith was correct in any of his interpretations, or even on the right track. I’ve written a brief into to these documents here.
As we’ve noted before, the themes that show up in the rituals of the Egyptians have unique parallels to our modern temple practices and ordinances. This is not to be interpreted as an adoption of pagan rites, plagiarism of ancient rituals, or a belief in Egyptian polytheism, for the Egyptians had a corrupt imitation of the true order of God, and Joseph knew it. Indeed, such attacks leveled at Joseph might actually be counterintuitive to our critics’ position, for such would mean that Joseph understood what he was looking at in the papyri, yet such inspired translation is precisely what our critics claim he could not do. Note that the field of Egyptology had just recently been born in the 1820s, and the reading of hieroglyphics was only barely in its infancy in Europe at the time Joseph was translating the papyri in the 1830s, ruling out any scholarly approach to reading the papyri. The critics have yet to explain, therefore, if Joseph did not receive the temple ordinances by revelation from God, and he could not read the papyri, then how did he teach temple rites that have remarkable parallels to the Egyptians which were written on the papyri? Could he read the papyri or couldn’t he? Either way our critics find themselves in a quandary.
Instead of being detrimental to Joseph, such a connection between the papyri and the temple actually serves as evidence of his divine calling, and that he was inspired to translate the papyri. As in many instances of the early experiences of the prophet, Joseph had a question about something that he experienced in his life, and inquired of the Lord about it ((See the history behind the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood and baptism)). What followed was a restoration, through revelation, of the true and perfect ordinance or teaching of that particular thing. The papyri quite possibly were such a springboard for the restoration of the temple endowment, as H. Donl Peterson has noted: [Read more…]
The Degree Ceremonies of Oxford University – Part 1
The University of Oxford in Oxford, England is “the oldest university in the English-speaking world” ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford)). It is also one of the “world’s leading academic institutions” ((ibid.)). Its history dates back to the 11th century CE, and its Christian ties are evident from its crest which reads “The Lord is my Light” in Latin ((ibid.)). When an argument broke out in 1209, some disbanded and headed north-east to found the University of Cambridge, “the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world” ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge)).
While there are many interesting implications that could be stated from the antiquity of this institution, the aspect which interests us here is that they claim their commencement ceremonies have remained unchanged for over 800 years. [Read more…]
The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 3
The ankh symbol appears frequently with several other hieroglyphics in certain formulas and invocations that immediately call our attention. These are wedja, seneb, djed, & was.
This table summarizes the different possible explanations for these hieroglyphics that I have been able to find: [Read more…]