I've been trudging through "Religion and Devotion in Europe c. 1215- c. 1515" by Swanson, because it's part of my assigned reading for my popular religion class. Up around pg 35 it gets into the devotion to the saints and how it evolved from a need for intercessors for those trying to attain God's acceptance into the Church triumphant. (church is broken down into three types- triumphant is the last, when you are granted into Heaven.)
I find this interesting because it showed the Church (when I say the church in this context, I'm refering to the Catholic Church, since this book deals almost entirely this it.) needed to evolve to maintain the dogma it had progressed toward so far. I'll try to explain this better.
The church's adoption of saints as intercessors for the laity and followers shows a movement to help bridge the gap between God and humanity. God is omnipotent and all-knowing, etc. However, it is ever difficult for humanity to achieve fully God's path because of the errors of humanity itself, and the ever present ability to commit sin.
This is first dealt with through the sacraments, mainly confession (confession, punishment, absolution) but brings to head another problem. People can receive absolution on earth for their sins, but when moving on after death will still need to serve punishment for such sins in purgatory before they can be judged.
This is where the saints come in. People now have saints, those who have already been accepted into God's grace, whom they can ask to intercede for them, to help them achieve absolution for their sins.
I think historically, this shows a middle ground for the church. They came upon the problem of a God who in essence cannot be reached alone because he is so different from humanity. The pagans over come this by having Gods who maintain aspects of humanity, in other words making them more humanistic. This bridges the gap because them the Gods in a way become more approachable. Another way would be the adoption of ancestrial worship, which in a small extent, saints seem to be. Eastern religions worship their ancestors both to gain protection for the living from the dead, but to also offer respect to loved ones, and offer them a comfortable afterall. Saints seem to differ only slightly because by the commandments one is not supposed to worship idols or any Gods other then God himself. To remedy that, a different is made. There is no praying or worship to the saints, but simply a show a devotion to gain help in the intercession of a loved one, or even to help with the common problems of life itself (the reason why saints were given specific dominions. i.e. St. Sebastian was in charge of helping those with plague.)
I don't know why precisely, but I found this all very fascinating.
Any thoughts?
I find this interesting because it showed the Church (when I say the church in this context, I'm refering to the Catholic Church, since this book deals almost entirely this it.) needed to evolve to maintain the dogma it had progressed toward so far. I'll try to explain this better.
The church's adoption of saints as intercessors for the laity and followers shows a movement to help bridge the gap between God and humanity. God is omnipotent and all-knowing, etc. However, it is ever difficult for humanity to achieve fully God's path because of the errors of humanity itself, and the ever present ability to commit sin.
This is first dealt with through the sacraments, mainly confession (confession, punishment, absolution) but brings to head another problem. People can receive absolution on earth for their sins, but when moving on after death will still need to serve punishment for such sins in purgatory before they can be judged.
This is where the saints come in. People now have saints, those who have already been accepted into God's grace, whom they can ask to intercede for them, to help them achieve absolution for their sins.
I think historically, this shows a middle ground for the church. They came upon the problem of a God who in essence cannot be reached alone because he is so different from humanity. The pagans over come this by having Gods who maintain aspects of humanity, in other words making them more humanistic. This bridges the gap because them the Gods in a way become more approachable. Another way would be the adoption of ancestrial worship, which in a small extent, saints seem to be. Eastern religions worship their ancestors both to gain protection for the living from the dead, but to also offer respect to loved ones, and offer them a comfortable afterall. Saints seem to differ only slightly because by the commandments one is not supposed to worship idols or any Gods other then God himself. To remedy that, a different is made. There is no praying or worship to the saints, but simply a show a devotion to gain help in the intercession of a loved one, or even to help with the common problems of life itself (the reason why saints were given specific dominions. i.e. St. Sebastian was in charge of helping those with plague.)
I don't know why precisely, but I found this all very fascinating.
Any thoughts?
That is an interesting post. I grew up Baptist and practiced Wicca (for a few years) and then Christianity most recently. I am still struggling with believing everything that Christianity is about. Overall I am just trying to be a good person and keeping my karma as clean as possible.
Hope all is well with you.