Conclave

Since I brought up Dan Brown in my last post and the Pope has recently resigned, now seems like a very appropriate time to bring up conclave. As anyone who has read or seen Angels and Demons knows that conclave figures rather prominently in its plot line. So, I thought I might give a basic overview of the process. Basically, out of the 194 total cardinals, 120 of them are allowed to be eligible to be elected to the papacy. These 120 must be less than 80 years old, and are transported between St. Martha's House and the Sistine Chapel once conclave begins. There, they hold votes twice a day and are overseen by three scrutineers elected by the College of Cardinals. Smoke is sent out to the public to indicate the results of the votes-black smoke if the vote was inconclusive and white smoke if a two thirds plus one count has occurred and a new Pope has been elected. That Pope will then serve until his death or retirement.
Here's the link to the website that contained this information!
http://people.howstuffworks.com/papacy3.htm

Sophia

So a couple of years ago, I read a book called The Shack.  It was fiction, albeit religious fiction, and it mentioned, among other things, a person called Sophia.  In the context of the book, Sophia was not a goddess but rather the personification of God's wisdom.  The whole thing seemed like a very strange concept to me and now I've decided to do a bit of research on it.  The Sophia tradition arises from verses such as Proverbs 8:1, which goes as follows: "Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?"  In the original languages, the word for wisdom was a feminine noun.  The implication (personification) that wisdom and understanding are female eventually led to the creation of Sophia.  Apparently, Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom.  There are also apparent references to her in other wisdom books such as the apocryphal books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon.  She is sometimes seen as the wife of Solomon (who was himself given the gift of wisdom by God), has been accepted as the goddess of wisdom by many different traditions throughout history (including the Greeks, who know her as Athena, and Eastern Christians), was known as an actual physical representation of wisdom itself, and today is venerated by the Gnostics.  The Gnostics, a sect devoted to finding secret meanings in the scriptures, see her as a sort of "quasi-deity" and, according to the website below, even believe that she is possibly the Holy Spirit part of a female trinity, one that also includes the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.  Interesting...sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel.  Da Vinci Code, anyone?  Anyway, here's the website where I got most of this information, but there's definitely a lot more out there about the mysterious Sophia.
http://www.northernway.org/sophia.html

Ash Wednesday

I meant to post this a couple of days ago (actually on Ash Wednesday), but somehow I just didn't get around to it. So, I thought I'd just post it now in the spirit of "better late than never."
As Richard Bucher says on the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church website, "Ash Wednesday is the name given to the first name of the season of Lent, in which the pastor applies ashes to the foreheads of Christians to signify an inner repentance." Although it is actually not mentioned in the Bible, Ash Wednesday has been a tradition in the Christian Church since about the 8th Century. Essentially, the service consists of the pastor putting ashes in the shape of a cross on the participant's forehead before Holy Communion is served. The ashes are a symbolic manifestation of repentance of sin, and are a direct reference to the verse in Genesis which states, "for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (This refers to the creation story). The idea of ashes representing repentance is also rooted in the Bible, as the following article mentions.
http://www.orlutheran.com/html/ash.html

Pope Benedict XVI Resigns

I just saw on Yahoo News today that the Pope has resigned, citing old age. Pope Benedict XVI was tied as the oldest person elected to the papacy at age 78 (he was tied with Pope Clement XII, who was ordained in 1730) and has now become the first Pope in 600 years to step down. The last occurrence of this was during the Great Schism when Gregory XII resigned in order to prevent conflict. Benedict, originally born Joseph Ratzinger, ascended to the papacy in 2005, and his notable accomplishments as Pope include: restoration of the traditional Latin mass, a visit to a Roman synagogue, and the establishment of an ordinariat system that would allow the Anglican Church to rejoin the Catholics. Because of his resignation, the College of Cardinals will need to meet soon to elect a new Pope. Oh, and here's a link to an article talking about this.

http://m.christianpost.com/news/pope-benedict-xvi-to-resign-cites-advanced-age-89819/

The Legend of the Sand Dollar

This summer, my family and I took a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to visit some cousins and I came across a mug that had the sand dollar legend written on it. The full thing is attached at the end of this post, but basically it goes something like this. Essentially, the holes in the sand dollar represent the wounds that were inflicted upon Jesus, the flower design on one side symbolizes Easter and the other Christmas, and inside are five doves that represent the spread of God's peace. Personally, I think this is a beautiful story and it actually holds some meaning for me. As a kid, my grandfather and I had always searched beaches for sand dollars. Then, when we built bird houses at my grandparents' house, my grandpa would break a sand dollar and glue a dove to the house-it was his signature. So basically, what I'm getting at is that sand dollars remind me of my childhood and of many things that are very important to me. Anyway, I don't want to ramble too much about personal stuff, so here's the legend, if anyone wants to read it.

Stained Glass

Earlier today, I came across a picture of the stained glass pineapple that I had made in crafts my junior year in high school and, surprisingly enough, it was actually pretty good!  Anyway, it reminded me of the stained glass that seems to always be present in churches and then I thought I could do some research on the history of it as well as share some pictures of the most beautiful windows!  As the All-Saints Episcopal Church says on its website, "stained glass windows are a vehicle for sharing the story of God's great love for all who will look upon them."  These windows have been popular since the time of ancient Rome, and the art reached its height between 1150 and 1500, when huge windows were commissioned for great cathedrals like Chartres.  As many people in the congregations of this time period couldn't read, the windows played an important role in teaching people religious stories as well as helping them to understand their beliefs. 

This window is located in Notre Dame Cathedral and depicts many different Bible stories.

This window sits in the Cathedrals of Liverpool.  It depicts what I assume are the disciples sitting in a boat, which refers to a Gospel story.

 

Amazing Grace

Last year in my European History class, we watched a movie called Amazing Grace.  While it was mainly about the ending of the European slave trade, it also included, as a minor character, the man who composed the famous song "Amazing Grace."  As "Amazing Grace" is one of my favorite hymns, this movie piqued my interest enough to do a bit of research on the subject.  And frankly, what I discovered was pretty incredible.  John Newton, the composer, was born in 1725 as the son of a merchant ship captain.  In 1744, he was impressed into service on a man-of-war, but deserted and was flogged brutally.  Eventually, he ended up as a servant on a slave ship and would go on to captain his own slave ship in time.  Having given up religion as a child, he experienced a "great deliverance" in 1748 when his ship was spared destruction in a violent storm at sea.  For the rest of his life, he celebrated this day as the day of his conversion, and decided to become ordained as a minister.  Throughout his life, he composed many hymns, but by far the most famous was "Amazing Grace."  I have included the verses of this hymn below:

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d! Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home. The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures. Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.   Oh also, here's the link for the website where I obtained a lot of this information: http://www.anointedlinks.com/amazing_grace.html

La Virgen de Guadalupe

Today in my Religions in the US class, we covered La Virgen de Guadelupe, the patron saint of both Mexico and the Americas.  And it was really fascinating!  Guadalupe, representing the Virgin Mary, is a sort of blending between Catholicism and indigenous Aztec culture (this is known as Mestizaje).  The Guadelupe tradition began in 1521, when an apparition appeared to an Aztec convert, Juan Diego, on the Hill of Tepeyac outside Mexico City.  Interestingly enough, this hill was the previous home of a shrine to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin.  There is now two basilicas there, and it is the most visited Catholic shrine in the world, gathering about six million pilgrims yearly.  As the legend goes, Juan Diego was instructed by the apparition to gather roses in winter.  When he had done so, it was discovered that the cloth in which he had carried the roses now bore an imprint of Guadalupe.  I'm attaching a picture of this cloth below, as it apparently contains rich symbolism.  For instance, the turquoise color of the Virgin's robe is a symbol of royalty and the belt around her waist a symbol of pregnancy, which contributes to the idea that she is a representation of the Virgin Mary.  Also in the picture, Guadalupe, surrounded by sun rays, is standing on the moon while wearing a cloak of stars.  This adds to her mystical appeal, and legend has it that the stars on the robe represent the constellations that were present on the exact day of her first appearance to Juan Diego.  Interesting stuff!
Oh, and as a side note, Juan Diego was declared the first Mexican saint in 2002.

C.S. Lewis

A couple posts ago, I wrote about religion in The Lord of the Rings.  Since I'm sort of interested in religion in literature as well as religious authors, I figured I'd use this post to write about one of the most prominent Christian authors: C.S. Lewis.  Beloved for his fantasy novels (specifically, The Chronicles of Narnia series), Clive Staples Lewis was a lecturer at Oxford for almost thirty years until he became a literature professor in Cambridge in 1955.  Surprisingly, since he is well known for imbuing his works with Christian themes, he was raised in religion but became an agnostic during his teens.  Interestingly enough, it was J.R.R Tolkien, most famous as the author of The Lord of the Rings, who was partly responsible for Lewis's return to Christianity.  The two were great friends, and both were members of a literary society called the Inklings.  Like Tolkien, Lewis was able to put Christian and religious themes and ideas into his writings and therefore was able to convey what he saw as the meaning of religion.  One of the most notable instances of Christianity appears in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Aslan, a clear Jesus figure, sacrifices himself on the stone table and manages to rise again from the dead.  Lewis's other writings include The Screwtape Letters, Miracles, The Abolition of Man, and Mere Christianity, among others.  I will actually be doing my book review this semester on Mere Christianity, and I'm really quite looking forward to reading it, as The Chronicles of Narnia were some of my favorite books growing up!  Lewis was also one of those people that was able to turn his own experiences and pain into writing that could have a profound effect on his readers, an example being A Grief Observed, which was written after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman.  Personally, I think C.S. Lewis also has some fantastic quotes, some of which I would like to relay right now.  There really are lots, but, speaking now as someone who has grown up with religion, these two are my favorites:  "There are far far better things ahead than any we leave behind" and, "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that we were made for another world."  For Christians, and this is just my opinion, there really is no better writer than C.S. Lewis.

Eliot's Bible

About five minutes ago, I was doing homework for my other religious studies class which, incidentally, is a blog as well.  The assignment was to select something from Puritan history/tradition and do some research on it.  I chose to look up Eliot's Bible, since I had never heard of it before and it turned out to actually be really interesting.  Eliot's Bible was the first Bible printed in the U.S., printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1661.  Surprisingly enough, however, it was not written in English, but in Algonquin.  The translation was done by a Puritan pastor by the name of John Eliot.  Unable to preach in England due to his Puritan beliefs, Eliot migrated to the New World in search of religious freedom and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony alongside John Winthrop, the famous governor of said colony.  Upon arrival, Eliot decided to learn the Algonquin language in order to be able to preach to and evangelize the local Native American tribe, a skill that would eventually allow him to translate the Bible.  At the time, Algonquin was considered to be one of the most difficult languages to learn, and as a result, this task would take approximately ten years to complete.  This translation of the Bible is a great example and symbol of the colonists' effots to convert the local peoples, and it dovetails with the Protestant belief that everyone should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.  For more information about the Eliot Bible, the following websites are pretty interesting:
http://www.solagroup.org/articles/historyofthebible/hotb_0005.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eliot_(missionary)  (I know this is Wikipedia, but it seems to have pretty good/interesting information!)