One of the nice perks I still enjoy from teaching in a university context is a request to read and review books. Usually, these are books I would not purchase to have for myself. In fact, at my age I am trying to limit the things that I call my own. But if you took a look at the shelves in my study, it is clear I have not done anything yet about collecting books. I tell students, we actually had to have books once upon a time before everything was on the computer or online.
I just received a book that I am intrigued to read all the way to the end. It is entitled, The Temple in Early Christianity, by Israeli scholar, Eyal Regev. I do not know him, so that will be a treat to get to know a younger scholar. And I have to admit, the theme of the temple is not one I am excited about pursuing. But that is precisely why I like doing this kind of thing. By agreeing to review books, I will read something that otherwise I would never have touched. No doubt, I will learn things I never intended. And that is how interesting things happen for me that I could not have planned.
Since I have only glanced through the book, I wanted to share something about the process I like to employ to engage the task. If folks who are Jewish or Christian think about the temple, a couple predictable things come to mind. The first obvious one is the actual Temple that was built and destroyed in Jerusalem. In fact, if you know your history, there were two temples. The first Temple is typically associated with Solomon, which was destroyed long before Jesus came on the scene. And the second Temple was built and was standing during the lifetime of Jesus. This, too, was destroyed, but after his death. And there has been no Temple since that time, although clearly multiple Jewish synagogues and Christian places of worship have been called temples.
The second thing that might come to mind, particularly for Christians, is a passage from Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth. At one place Paul asks the Corinthians, “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (I Cor 6:19) Like all biblical passages, this verse has a context and the content should reflect its content. But like so many passages, the verse is often taken out of context and all sorts of claims are made on its behalf.
The context of the passage from Corinthians has to do with the Corinthians being part of the body of Christ. This spiritual body of Christ is the result of the Easter story---the resurrection. In fact, the beginning of that section has Paul proclaiming, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.” (6:14) Paul continues to tell the Corinthians since they are part of the body of Christ, they should avoid sins and, in effect, polluting the body. That is when he writes the verse that says our bodies are the temple of the Spirit. There are many interesting interpretative issues here, but I don’t want to pursue them now.
I was more interested in a quick look at how Regev was going to work with things like this. His initial comment on the passages was instructive. He says, “It is not clear whether ‘your (plural) body’ means the individual bodies of the Corinthians or a corporate communal body.” In other words does this idea of our body as a temple refer to the body of each one of us or is it a reference to all of our bodies being part of the one body of Christ? Clearly, most people I know who have used this passage assume it means our individual bodies.
In another interesting point in the book where Regev is dealing with John’s Gospel, he refers back to the Corinthian passage. He tells the reader, “As we saw…the believers are not actually equal to the Jerusalem Temple but possess some of its sacred features, parts of Jesus’s body in a figural speech." A couple noteworthy ideas emerge from this. In the first place, our individual bodies are not equal to the literal Temple. Certainly, when Paul was writing, the real Temple was still standing. I think it is clear he did not mean our bodies are literally like the Temple. When John was writing his gospel, the Temple had been destroyed, so it seems right he does not see our bodies as actual temples in that sense.
I like what Regev suggests. The use of “temple” in both Paul and John likely is being used symbolically---borrowing certain features that characterize temple language. Key to temple language are ideas like sacredness, holy, not profane, etc. This seems like a good way to pursue the still-attractive suggestion to see and treat our bodies as temples of the Spirit.
It calls for respect, honor and valuing our bodies. It affirms that our bodies are part of creation, which God calls good. It warns against polluting or profaning our bodies. Saying that, however, it is not clear to mean what exactly that might mean. There is still room for interpretation. For example, what does it say about tattoos or piercings? This passage from Corinthians has often been used as an argument against such treatment of the body. I don’t think it is that clear.
All of this is what still fascinates me about how one sees the world---or our bodies---and what one does with this perspective on reality---pierce or not? And I wonder an even bigger question: is the way we view our bodies an indication of how we view the larger world? For the moment I just want to treat my body as a temple of the Spirit.
I just received a book that I am intrigued to read all the way to the end. It is entitled, The Temple in Early Christianity, by Israeli scholar, Eyal Regev. I do not know him, so that will be a treat to get to know a younger scholar. And I have to admit, the theme of the temple is not one I am excited about pursuing. But that is precisely why I like doing this kind of thing. By agreeing to review books, I will read something that otherwise I would never have touched. No doubt, I will learn things I never intended. And that is how interesting things happen for me that I could not have planned.
Since I have only glanced through the book, I wanted to share something about the process I like to employ to engage the task. If folks who are Jewish or Christian think about the temple, a couple predictable things come to mind. The first obvious one is the actual Temple that was built and destroyed in Jerusalem. In fact, if you know your history, there were two temples. The first Temple is typically associated with Solomon, which was destroyed long before Jesus came on the scene. And the second Temple was built and was standing during the lifetime of Jesus. This, too, was destroyed, but after his death. And there has been no Temple since that time, although clearly multiple Jewish synagogues and Christian places of worship have been called temples.
The second thing that might come to mind, particularly for Christians, is a passage from Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth. At one place Paul asks the Corinthians, “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (I Cor 6:19) Like all biblical passages, this verse has a context and the content should reflect its content. But like so many passages, the verse is often taken out of context and all sorts of claims are made on its behalf.
The context of the passage from Corinthians has to do with the Corinthians being part of the body of Christ. This spiritual body of Christ is the result of the Easter story---the resurrection. In fact, the beginning of that section has Paul proclaiming, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.” (6:14) Paul continues to tell the Corinthians since they are part of the body of Christ, they should avoid sins and, in effect, polluting the body. That is when he writes the verse that says our bodies are the temple of the Spirit. There are many interesting interpretative issues here, but I don’t want to pursue them now.
I was more interested in a quick look at how Regev was going to work with things like this. His initial comment on the passages was instructive. He says, “It is not clear whether ‘your (plural) body’ means the individual bodies of the Corinthians or a corporate communal body.” In other words does this idea of our body as a temple refer to the body of each one of us or is it a reference to all of our bodies being part of the one body of Christ? Clearly, most people I know who have used this passage assume it means our individual bodies.
In another interesting point in the book where Regev is dealing with John’s Gospel, he refers back to the Corinthian passage. He tells the reader, “As we saw…the believers are not actually equal to the Jerusalem Temple but possess some of its sacred features, parts of Jesus’s body in a figural speech." A couple noteworthy ideas emerge from this. In the first place, our individual bodies are not equal to the literal Temple. Certainly, when Paul was writing, the real Temple was still standing. I think it is clear he did not mean our bodies are literally like the Temple. When John was writing his gospel, the Temple had been destroyed, so it seems right he does not see our bodies as actual temples in that sense.
I like what Regev suggests. The use of “temple” in both Paul and John likely is being used symbolically---borrowing certain features that characterize temple language. Key to temple language are ideas like sacredness, holy, not profane, etc. This seems like a good way to pursue the still-attractive suggestion to see and treat our bodies as temples of the Spirit.
It calls for respect, honor and valuing our bodies. It affirms that our bodies are part of creation, which God calls good. It warns against polluting or profaning our bodies. Saying that, however, it is not clear to mean what exactly that might mean. There is still room for interpretation. For example, what does it say about tattoos or piercings? This passage from Corinthians has often been used as an argument against such treatment of the body. I don’t think it is that clear.
All of this is what still fascinates me about how one sees the world---or our bodies---and what one does with this perspective on reality---pierce or not? And I wonder an even bigger question: is the way we view our bodies an indication of how we view the larger world? For the moment I just want to treat my body as a temple of the Spirit.
Comments
Post a Comment