Month: June 2019

The Priesthood of Adam and the Shape of the World

I’ve used the subtitle from An Offering of Uncles to give a hint of this post. When I first read Capon’s book I made no connection between the priesthood of Adam and the hiereus/priest. Over the years I’ve lent the book out twice and lost it twice and I’m holding on to this one (thanks to one of the online book sites specializing in out of print books) for dear life. Even after many years and a couple of re-readings, the penny hadn’t dropped. According to Capon’s assumption, Adam’s special role in creation was to be a priest. And though that priesthood has been marred through the Fall, it still remains an inescapable part of what it means to be human. To be a human is to be a priest. Which then begs the question – just what is a priest?

In my previous post I noted that: “The role of the hiereus/priest is adequately described in various encyclopedias both print and online. I was looking for more than a bit of religious anthropology.” However, we cannot escape that bit of religious anthropology if we’re to make sense of Capon’s assertion. According to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge accurate or wildly inaccurate)

“A priest or priestess is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities.”

In other words, the work of the priest is to act as a connector between humanity and divinity, or better, between the common and the holy. This definition faintly echoes N.T. Wright’s understanding of the image of God in humanity at creation:

“This is what is meant by humans being made in God’s image: not that we simply are like God in this or that respect, but that as angled mirrors we are called to sum up the praises of creation, on the one hand, and to rule as wise stewards over the world, on the other. This is the vocation known as the ‘royal priesthood’, kings and priests.”

(“Mind, Spirit, Soul and Body: All for One and One for All Reflections on Paul’s Anthropology in his Complex Contexts” N.T. Wright, Paper give at the Society of Christian Philosophers: Regional Meeting, Fordham University; March 18, 2011)

The parallel between Capon’s theme and Wright’s definition of the imago dei hints that we may be onto something in the context of biblical anthropology. That something, the function of the priesthood of Adam, must wait until the next posting. In the meantime, here follows an update on the book in progress.

Of the Making of Many Books There Is No End

“And much study is a weariness of the flesh.” So speaks the author of Ecclesiastes. And the writing of books means the reading of books and each new development of a chapter prompts another look at a book that wasn’t already on the reading list. I’ve just finished a re-read of Leading Christians to Christ by Fr. Rob Smith. I looked up an old favorite, Systemantics by John Gall only to find he’d published a third, expanded, edition called The Systems Bible. (Yes, I ordered it and it’s on the growing stack. Damn you, Amazon.) Gall’s book isn’t a theological tome. But it is an amusing look at how systems don’t work. One of my favorite maxims is “Systems tend to oppose their own proper function.” If that isn’t a description of the Church I don’t know what is.

More word games: priesthood

This continues my posting from June 15, beginning with a recap of the word games around priesthood. At the end I will throw in a couple of tidbits about the book I’m writing.

The English word priest is misleading. It is derived from the Greek word prebyteros, but it is never used to represent that word in English. We use the word elder, which is fair enough as that is what presbyteros means. Instead, we use the word priest to translate a different Greek word altogether: hiereus. The hiereus is one who has the role of mediator between human beings and gods or God. It is used of the Temple hierarchy and of Jesus as mediator between God and humanity. In other words, regardless of etymology, a hiereus is a priest. Confused yet? But wait! There’s more! In order to continue with my chaotic thinking (and also to muddy the waters further) I’ll be using the terms hiereus/priest and presbyteros/priest to distinguish these two roles.

A long time ago, in a town far, far away, in 1978 to be exact, the world was young, the mountains green, no stain yet on the hills were seen. No, wait. That a Star Wars rip off and a poem from The Hobbit. Let’s begin again. In 1978 I was ordained a presbyteros/priest. I was already a hierus/priest though I didn’t know it at the time. In fact, I thought the two were the same thing. More than a decade after that event I was invited to join some fellow Episcopal clergy in a seminar on the theology of priesthood. It actually went nowhere. One of my classmates, a wonderful priest by the name of Sara Balcombe, observed that instead of a theology of priesthood we were actually examining a sociology of religion. But though the seminar went nowhere, it did start me thinking about priesthood and the difference between the priesthood of the church and the priesthood of Jesus in which all Christians participated. I understood a good bit about the role of the presbyteros/priest. I soon realized that I didn’t really know that much about the role and function of the hiereus/priest.

The role of the hiereus/priest is adequately described in various encyclopedias both print and online. I was looking for more than a bit of religious anthropology. Fortunately, I recalled a book I’d read in college called An Offering of Uncles. The part that made the book relevant was the subtitle: The Priesthood of Adam and the Shape of the World. The author, the late Fr. Robert Capon, was a very funny writer. So much so that sometimes the creative insights were lost in the wit. My last rereading also reminded me that, in terms of cultural reference points, the book is very dated. Something like goldenrod appliances left over from the 1970s. The key phrase that makes the book worthwhile and worth exploring is The Priesthood of Adam.

That’s where I’ll wrap up today. We’re off to volunteer at the Wild Animal Sanctuary and as it is an hour’s drive away, we leave early and get back late. However, I did promise some comment on the book in progress. Its working title is Converting the Church, which I suspect, in the long run, won’t work. It explores the idea of conversion with several examples, the problem of communal life and the fact that being a disciple of Jesus, in the Gospels, was an invitation, never a command.

I’ve been rather busy

Most of my energy has been directed towards completing an outline. The outline is for a book I’ve been planning to write for the last three years. For two of those three I was still Rector of Trinity Parish in Greeley. Now that I’m retired, I thought I could finally get to work, and I have. The book has (so far) 14 chapters plus an introduction and an appendix. Mind you, it’s only an outline. The actual work of writing is very hard work. It will not be some classic work of theology or ecclesiology or ascetical theology though it embraces all three.

Of course, the idea of writing a book in retirement is a bit of a cliché. Even if I finish it, finding a publisher is another matter. Even if it is published, I do not expect a wide readership for it is not written for a wide audience. Nonetheless, the topic is important to me and the experiences of four decades of ministry, particularly the last 15 in Greeley, gives me some substantial basis from which to write.

There are, however, other things on my mind than would be covered in this book. That’s the reason I started blogging as The Apprentice Priest. While being apprentices of Jesus is much of what my possible book is about, priesthood doesn’t really come into it. And yet, priesthood is something that has consumed my praying, my thinking and my living since 1972 when I first went to talk to my bishop about ordination.

At the same time, the priesthood I’m concerned with is not, for the most part, about holy orders. In fact, referring to the Order to which I belong as the “priesthood” is a major stumbling block to comprehending both that Order of ministry and the concept of priesthood in general. In order to sort that out I need to dive into the murky waters of etymology – the study of the origin and development of words.

Our word, priest, comes into English via a very circuitous route from a Greek word, presbyteros. While presbyteros occurs frequently in the Greek New Testament, the word priest is used to translate a different word entirely: heireus. That term is used for the Temple priesthood and also for the priesthood of Jesus Christ in the epistle to the Hebrews. Presbyteros, on the other hand, means elder. Where the word is used in the New Testament it almost always refers to someone who has responsibility for governing the life of the local church. Thus, regardless of the vagaries of language, the Christian priest is actually an elder.

Of course, there is much more to the problem of priesthood than that. The much more will have to wait until my next posting. Until then, I’ll leave you with three pieces of Scripture that give a hint of where I’m going and why.

Exodus 19:4-6 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”