The Gospel and the Avengers

The Gospel and the Avengers is a bit different from my usual articles, but if you've been watching the Marvel Comics movies, you might find it interesting. There will be more coming on this topic.

Easter and Paganism

It’s that time of year again. A new set of claims that Easter is a pagan holiday is making the rounds. From some of the Richard Dawkins’ Fan Club, we get Facebook posts claiming Easter is actually the festival of Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian fertility goddess, whose name was supposedly pronounced “Easter.” According to them, Constantine took a pagan holiday and inserted it into the church calendar.

This is load of complete nonsense.

Let’s start off with looking at a dictionary, or even Wikipedia, for the origins of the word “Easter.” The source is clear: it comes from Eostre, an Indo-European goddess who was associated in Germanic territories with spring, and whose name was thus used to designate both the season of spring and spring festivals. In other words, the name has nothing to do with Ishtar, and the geniuses who put out that idea simply demonstrate their inability to do even the most rudimentary fact checking.

 Ah, but if the holiday is named after a pagan goddess, doesn’t that make it pagan? No. First, since the name was used for spring and spring festivals, it’s not so outlandish that the important Christian feast that occurs in spring might pick up the name. More to the point, though, variants on the name Eostre are used for the holiday only in Germanic countries. In Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Russian, etc., the word for the holiday is a variant on Pascha, the name for Passover (Pesach in Hebrew). And Greek and Latin Christians were celebrating the holiday long before Christianity made it into Germanic areas. So no, it isn’t a pagan holiday whatever the etymology of the English name.

All of this is to say that the holiday is, or should be, Christian. The holiday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, his victory of sin and the grave, and the hope of our resurrection as well. We need to quit getting hung up over specious comparisons to pagan names and holidays and look at the claims of Christianity and the content of the church’s celebration.

Unless, of course, your Easter celebration is about bunnies, eggs, and chocolate. If so, if you don’t focus your attention on the fact of the resurrection, it might as well be a pagan holiday for you. It certainly ceases to be Christian at that point.

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An added note: a reader pointed out this article to me that questions even the existence of the goddess Eostre. His arguments are worth considering, though I suspect Eostre was an actual goddess connected to the Titaness Eos, the goddess of the dawn in Greek mythology. Hence the reference to Indo-European mythology in my article.

Read an EBook Week

This week, March 2-8, 2014, is Read an EBook Week at Smashwords, one of my online publishers. For this week, Portals: Entering your Neighbor’s World and The Image of God will be available for 75% off list, meaning $1.00 for the first and $1.25 for the second. If you don’t already have them, this will be a great time to pick them up. The books can be found on my author page, https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/GlennSunshine, and are available in any e-reading format. If you don't have an e-reader, you can download the Kindle app for free from Amazon, or you could download the book as a PDF. Use REW75 as the coupon code on checkout.

And while you're at it, you should check out the other very inexpensive or free books that are available on Smashwords.

True Reason launches today

True Reason: Confronting the Irrationality of the New Atheism, edited by Tom Gilson and Carson Weitnauer, launches today! It's a response to the New Atheists written by some of the top scholars and apologists in the English-speaking world. Authors include Gilson, Weitnauer, William Lane Craig, Chuck Edwards, David Marshall, Lenny Esposito, David Wood, Peter Grice, Timothy McGrew, Samuel J.Youngs, Sean McDowell, John M. DePoe, Randall Hardman, Matthew Flanagan, and yours truly, contributing a chapter on Christianity and Slavery. It's definitely worth your time.

New article: Hunayn ibn Ishaq

This article is a reminder that in the early days of Islam, relations between Christians and Muslims within the Caliphate were not as hostile as what we are seeing in the Middle East today. There is no doubt that Christians were second class citizens and faced many social, legal, and religious restrictions, but there were members of the Christian community that rose to prominence under the caliphs. One could only wish that the current Islamists who want to return to the days of the caliphate would remember their own history.

Of the Father's Love Begotten

This is, to my mind, one of the most profound Christmas hymns, one that gets to the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation. It was based on a poem written in the late fourth or early fifth century, translated, and set to a medieval plainchant entitled Divinum mysterium (the Divine Mystery). The following, taken from Wikipedia, gives the original Latin poem, its translation, and the metrical setting in English of the hymn.

May you have a blessed Christmas, and I hope that this poem may help you more fully comprehend the wonders of the Incarnation which we celebrate today.

Latin text by Prudentius (b. 348).	Translation by Roby Furley Davis, for the English Hymnal (1906).	Translation by J M Neale, extended by Henry W. Baker (1851/1861)
Corde natus ex parentis Ante mundi exordium A et O cognominatus, ipse fons et clausula Omnium quæ sunt, fuerunt, quæque post futura sunt. Sæculorum sæculis.	Of the Father's heart begotten, Ere the world from chaos rose, He is Alpha, from that Fountain All that is and hath been flows; He is Omega, of all things, Yet to come the distant Close, Evermore and evermore.	Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He, Of the things that are, that have been, And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore!
Ipse iussit et creata, dixit ipse et facta sunt, Terra, cælum, fossa ponti, trina rerum machina, Quæque in his vigent sub alto solis et lunæ globo. Sæculorum sæculis.	By His Word was all created He commanded and 'twas done; Earth and sky and boundless ocean, Universe of three in one, All that sees the moon's soft radiance, All that breathes beneath the sun, Evermore and evermore.	At His Word the worlds were framèd; He commanded; it was done: Heaven and earth and depths of ocean In their threefold order one; All that grows beneath the shining Of the moon and burning sun, Evermore and evermore!
Corporis formam caduci, membra morti obnoxia Induit, ne gens periret primoplasti ex germine, Merserat quem lex profundo noxialis tartaro. Sæculorum sæculis.	He assumed this mortal body, Frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created, Might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced In the depths of hell to lie, Evermore and evermore.	He is found in human fashion, Death and sorrow here to know, That the race of Adam’s children Doomed by law to endless woe, May not henceforth die and perish In the dreadful gulf below, Evermore and evermore!
O beatus ortus ille, virgo cum puerpera Edidit nostram salutem, feta Sancto Spiritu, Et puer redemptor orbis os sacratum protulit. Sæculorum sæculis.	O how blest that wondrous birthday, When the Maid the curse retrieved, Brought to birth mankind's salvation By the Holy Ghost conceived, And the Babe, the world's Redeemer In her loving arms received, Evermore and evermore.	O that birth forever blessèd, When the virgin, full of grace, By the Holy Ghost conceiving, Bare the Saviour of our race; And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer, First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!
Psallat altitudo caeli, psallite omnes angeli, Quidquid est virtutis usquam psallat in laudem Dei, Nulla linguarum silescat, vox et omnis consonet. Sæculorum sæculis.	Sing, ye heights of heaven, his praises; Angels and Archangels, sing! Wheresoe’er ye be, ye faithful, Let your joyous anthems ring, Every tongue his name confessing, Countless voices answering, Evermore and evermore.	O ye heights of heaven adore Him; Angel hosts, His praises sing; Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King! Let no tongue on earth be silent, Every voice in concert sing, Evermore and evermore!
Ecce, quem vates vetustis concinebant sæculis, Quem prophetarum fideles paginæ spoponderant, Emicat promissus olim; cuncta conlaudent eum. Sæculorum sæculis.	This is He, whom seer and sibyl Sang in ages long gone by,; This is He of old revealed In the page of prophecy; Lo! He comes the promised Saviour; Let the world his praises cry! Evermore and evermore.	This is He Whom seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the prophets Promised in their faithful word; Now He shines, the long expected, Let creation praise its Lord, Evermore and evermore!
Macte iudex mortuorum, macte rex viventium, Dexter in Parentis arce qui cluis virtutibus, Omnium venturus inde iustus ultor criminum. Sæculorum sæculis.	Hail! Thou Judge of souls departed; Hail! of all the living King! On the Father's right hand throned, Through his courts thy praises ring, Till at last for all offences Righteous judgement thou shalt bring, Evermore and evermore.	Righteous Judge of souls departed, Righteous King of them that live, On the Father’s throne exalted None in might with Thee may strive; Who at last in vengeance coming Sinners from Thy face shalt drive, Evermore and evermore!
Te senes et te iuventus, parvulorum te chorus, Turba matrum, virginumque, simplices puellulæ, Voce concordes pudicis perstrepant concentibus. Sæculorum sæculis.	Now let old and young uniting Chant to thee harmonious lays Maid and matron hymn Thy glory, Infant lips their anthem raise, Boys and girls together singing With pure heart their song of praise, Evermore and evermore.	Thee let old men, Thee let young men, Thee let boys in chorus sing; Matrons, virgins, little maidens, With glad voices answering: Let their guileless songs re-echo, And the heart its music bring, Evermore and evermore!
Tibi, Christe, sit cum Patre hagioque Pneumate Hymnus, decus, laus perennis, gratiarum actio, Honor, virtus, victoria, regnum aeternaliter. Sæculorum sæculis.	Let the storm and summer sunshine, Gliding stream and sounding shore, Sea and forest, frost and zephyr, Day and night their Lord alone; Let creation join to laud thee Through the ages evermore, Evermore and evermore.	Christ, to Thee with God the Father, And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee, Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving, And unwearied praises be: Honour, glory, and dominion, And eternal victory, Evermore and evermore!

O Come, O Come Emanuel: Christ as Emanuel, God with us

O Antiphon for December 24

Latin:

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,

exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:

veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.

English:

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God. 

O Come, O Come Emanuel

Latin:

Veni veni, Emmanuel

captivum solve Israel,

qui gemit in exsilio,

privatus Dei Filio.

Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,

nascetur pro te Israel!

 
English:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel

shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

Scripture references: Isaiah 7:14