Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] How the Heavenly Lights and the Resurrection of the Phoenix Reveal God's Will by Bart D. Ehrman Read by John Paul Middlesworth.
[00:00:10] I've indicated that the book of First Clement is rather long and seems a bit rambling in places to many of its readers, when its only real goal is to tell some usurpers in the Church of Corinth to give the reins of power back to the duly appointed church leaders.
[00:00:24] I read it differently.
[00:00:26] I think that it makes rather marvelous connections between things that one would normally think of as unrelated, in an extended effort to show the wayward upstarts in Corinth that they have taken over the church illicitly.
[00:00:38] Who would have thought that the sun, moon and stars, the seasons, the boundaries of the sea and the winds reveal that God wants the original leaders given their authority back?
[00:00:48] Or that the myth of the Phoenix, first discussed in the Western tradition six centuries earlier by Herodotus, would have any relevance?
[00:00:56] This author thinks so.
[00:00:58] Here are two passages that make the point. First, chapter 20 expostulates on the regularity of nature as established by God in order to show that all things are to work together in harmony by design, including church administration.
[00:01:14] Anyone who violates the harmony by staging a coup is opposed to God.
[00:01:20] These are my translations from the Loeb Classical Library edition of the Apostolic Fathers. Harvard University Press, 2003.
[00:01:28] Chapter 20 the Heavens which move about under his management are peacefully subject to him.
[00:01:35] Night and day complete the race course laid out by him without impeding one another in the least sun and moon and the chorus of stars roll along the tracks that have been appointed to them in harmony, never crossing their lines in accordance with the arrangement he has made by his will and in the proper seasons the fertile earth brings forth its rich abundance of nourishment for humans, beasts, and all living things that dwell on it. Without dissenting or altering any of the decrees he has set forth, both the inscrutable regions of the abysses and the indescribable realms of the depths are constrained by the same commands.
[00:02:14] The basin of the boundless Sea, established by his workmanship to hold the waters collected to, does not cross its restraining barriers, but acts just as he ordered.
[00:02:25] For he said, you shall come this far, and your waves shall crash down within you. The ocean, boundless to humans, and the worlds beyond it, are governed by the same decrees of the Master. The seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter succeed one another in peace.
[00:02:44] The forces of the winds compete their service in their own proper season without faltering and the eternal fountains created for enjoyment and health, provide their life giving breasts to humans without ceasing. The most insignificant living creatures associate with one another in harmony and peace.
[00:03:04] The great Creator and Master of all appointed all these things to be in peace and harmony, bringing great benefits to all things, but most especially to us who flee to his compassion through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:03:18] To him be the glory and majesty forever and ever. Amen.
[00:03:23] Chapter 21 loved ones, you should take care that his many acts of kindness do not lead to judgment against all of us, for this will happen if we fail to conduct ourselves worthily of him and do the things that are good and pleasing before him in harmony.
[00:03:39] The second snippet of the text comes from chapters 2425, probably my favorite section of the book.
[00:03:46] The perfect regularity of the world is shown not only by the seasons, but in a remarkable way by the regular intervals of the rise resurrection of the Phoenix, which adumbrates the future resurrection of the dead, all going according to God's harmonious plan for his world and the people in it.
[00:04:04] Chapter 24 we should consider Loved ones How the Master continuously shows us the future resurrection that is about to occur, of which he made the Lord Jesus Christ the first fruit fruit by raising him from the dead. We should look loved ones at the resurrection that happens time after time. Day and night reveal to us a resurrection. The night sleeps and the day arises, the day departs and the night arrives.
[00:04:30] We should consider the crops. How and in what way does the sowing occur? The sower goes out and casts each of the seeds onto the soil. Because they are dry and barren, they decay when they fall onto the soil, and but then the magnificent forethought of the Master rises them up out of their decay, and from the one seed grow more, and so bring forth the crop.
[00:04:53] Chapter 25 Let us consider the incredible sign that occurs in the eastern climes, that is, in the regions near Arabia. For there is a bird called the phoenix. This unique creature lives 500 years, and when at last it approaches its dissolution through death, it makes a tomb for itself out of frankincense, myrrh, and other spices.
[00:05:15] Then, when the time has been fulfilled, it enters into the tomb and dies.
[00:05:19] But when its flesh rots, a worm is born, and nourished by the secretions of the dead creature, it sprouts wings. Then, when it becomes strong, it takes the tomb containing the bones of its predecessor and bears these from Arabia to Egypt to the city called Heliopolis.
[00:05:37] In the daytime, while all are watching, it flies onto the altar of the sun and deposits these things, and so hastens back.
[00:05:46] Then the priests examine the records of the times and discover that it has come after 500 years have elapsed.
[00:05:55] Do we then think it is so great and marvelous that the Creator of all things will raise everyone who has served him in a holy way with the confidence of good faith, when he shows us the magnificence of his promise, even through a bird?
[00:06:10] God works not only in mysterious but also in wondrous ways. And anyone who disrupts his natural and harmonious order, for example, in staging a coup, is working against him.
[00:06:22] The lesson oddly give the power back to the duly appointed.
