Worship in Ancient Israel
I have been reading this fascinating book called Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide by Walter Brueggermann. Of course, this book was written for an intended audience of Protestant seminarians and clergy, but I'm finding it very helpful as a Pagan as well.
We, as humans, tend to be very Us/Them when it comes to religion. We very often define the our religion by what it is NOT. "We aren't like the Christians... we blah, blah, blah. The Christians do it too. In fact, the Christians did it FIRST. There are all kinds of things in the New Testament to instruct Christians on how to be different than Pagans. There are also all kinds of things to instruct them on how not to be Jews. But, before the Christians, the Jews were telling each others how not to be Canaanites (i.e. Pagans).
However, NOTHING that we do springs out of nowhere. EVERYTHING that we do either is related to something else, whether that be actual pre-Christian pagan practice, or as a response to something disliked about Christian practice (or any other religoin).
Bruggermann starts out by describing what he means by worship. On page 2 he says "Worship then, consists of the faithful management of, practice of, and engagement with these signs through which God makes God's self available in defining and deciding ways to this community." This could have just as easily be written about the Pagan community, just substitute "Goddess" for "God". The signs that we use are the cycles of the Moon and of the Seasons and of the Stars, not to mention our own and shared dreams and visions and even Tarot readings and other divination.
I was thinking about things we do and where they come from. For example, Calling the Corners. I'm pretty sure that no Pagan ever did that before the Golden Dawn... at least not in the same way that we do. I know they did work with them in Greece, India, Babylonia and Egypt (with alternate systems in both Native American tradition and Chinese philosophy), but I'm fairly sure that S. L. MacGregor Mathers took stuff he learned from the Freemasons and combined it with Renaissance grimmoirs and came up with a workable system that Gardner then stole from Crowley. Be that as it may, it works really well for us, because every time we call corners, we "rebuild the temple", re-stating the fact that we are a deposed and exiled people, having to rebuild our temple wherever we happen to be, but it also frames us as a SURVIVING people, because, every time we do it, we say "See? You can destroy our temples and shrines, but you cannot destroy Her, or Her place in our hearts."
It is a powerful image, but we didn't (not entirely) invent it. Freemasons also have a "rebuilding the temple" ritual (in their case, Solomon's Temple), and Jews also share an identity of being a people who have survived the destruction of their temple (twice).
But, none of this makes our rituals any less powerful. To me, however, understanding where they come from make them, if anything, MORE powerful than ever.
Bruggermann is looking at the ancient Israel worship as being partly inherited from the Canaanites, and partially in response to (or, in opposition to) them. This is very true, also, of Paganism. One thing that is interesting is that one very important part of our religion is the Charge of the Goddess. Written by Doreen Valiente, it heavily borrows from Aradia: The Gospel of the Witches. by Charles Leland. There is a line in it where the Goddess says "nor do I demand sacrifice..." This is probably in answer to the Christian sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The modern Pagan minds thinks "What kind of a 'loving God' is that, that He would sacrifice his own son like that?" But pre-Christian pagans sacrificed all of the time... sometimes even humans. Personally, I am glad we gave that up. I wouldn't want to kill a sheep every time I went to Circle. This is, clearly, a modern adaptation.
One of the things that I am working on this semester is that I am going to try to bring out as much ancient worship practices as I can (and, specifically, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus), and see if I can bring them forward into modern ritual practice. It should be fun (at least I am looking forward to it.)
We, as humans, tend to be very Us/Them when it comes to religion. We very often define the our religion by what it is NOT. "We aren't like the Christians... we blah, blah, blah. The Christians do it too. In fact, the Christians did it FIRST. There are all kinds of things in the New Testament to instruct Christians on how to be different than Pagans. There are also all kinds of things to instruct them on how not to be Jews. But, before the Christians, the Jews were telling each others how not to be Canaanites (i.e. Pagans).
However, NOTHING that we do springs out of nowhere. EVERYTHING that we do either is related to something else, whether that be actual pre-Christian pagan practice, or as a response to something disliked about Christian practice (or any other religoin).
Bruggermann starts out by describing what he means by worship. On page 2 he says "Worship then, consists of the faithful management of, practice of, and engagement with these signs through which God makes God's self available in defining and deciding ways to this community." This could have just as easily be written about the Pagan community, just substitute "Goddess" for "God". The signs that we use are the cycles of the Moon and of the Seasons and of the Stars, not to mention our own and shared dreams and visions and even Tarot readings and other divination.
I was thinking about things we do and where they come from. For example, Calling the Corners. I'm pretty sure that no Pagan ever did that before the Golden Dawn... at least not in the same way that we do. I know they did work with them in Greece, India, Babylonia and Egypt (with alternate systems in both Native American tradition and Chinese philosophy), but I'm fairly sure that S. L. MacGregor Mathers took stuff he learned from the Freemasons and combined it with Renaissance grimmoirs and came up with a workable system that Gardner then stole from Crowley. Be that as it may, it works really well for us, because every time we call corners, we "rebuild the temple", re-stating the fact that we are a deposed and exiled people, having to rebuild our temple wherever we happen to be, but it also frames us as a SURVIVING people, because, every time we do it, we say "See? You can destroy our temples and shrines, but you cannot destroy Her, or Her place in our hearts."
It is a powerful image, but we didn't (not entirely) invent it. Freemasons also have a "rebuilding the temple" ritual (in their case, Solomon's Temple), and Jews also share an identity of being a people who have survived the destruction of their temple (twice).
But, none of this makes our rituals any less powerful. To me, however, understanding where they come from make them, if anything, MORE powerful than ever.
Bruggermann is looking at the ancient Israel worship as being partly inherited from the Canaanites, and partially in response to (or, in opposition to) them. This is very true, also, of Paganism. One thing that is interesting is that one very important part of our religion is the Charge of the Goddess. Written by Doreen Valiente, it heavily borrows from Aradia: The Gospel of the Witches. by Charles Leland. There is a line in it where the Goddess says "nor do I demand sacrifice..." This is probably in answer to the Christian sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The modern Pagan minds thinks "What kind of a 'loving God' is that, that He would sacrifice his own son like that?" But pre-Christian pagans sacrificed all of the time... sometimes even humans. Personally, I am glad we gave that up. I wouldn't want to kill a sheep every time I went to Circle. This is, clearly, a modern adaptation.
One of the things that I am working on this semester is that I am going to try to bring out as much ancient worship practices as I can (and, specifically, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus), and see if I can bring them forward into modern ritual practice. It should be fun (at least I am looking forward to it.)