"Sandalphon...was tall and richly bearded, belonged to the Jesus cult and had thus donned a black ceremonial robe, setting off a pectoral cross of turquoise-studded silver." (p. 6)
This passage has many connotations for me as a reader. Following our personal connotations takes us away from the author's textual denotations but is valid nonetheless.
An image of an instrument of torture and execution is decorated in turquoise and silver! I dislike the cross or crucifix as a symbol of a blood sacrifice. There are crosses of other shapes. The Christian-shaped cross might be used to symbolize the intersection of time with eternity. The horizontal line is time. The vertical, which is longer, is eternity which always intersects time in the present. Thus, the past is to one side and the future to the other. Everything is there. Sort of.
Three better religious symbols, in my opinion, are:
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The Cross is no longer "...an instrument of torture and execution." For Christians it is a symbol and reminder of how Christ brought redemption and salvation to fallen mankind thru His once and for all atoning sacrifice on the Cross.
Before Constantine and Licinius repealed the anti-Christian laws of the Roman Empire, the Fish was a widely used Christian symbol, but it strikes me as not an emphatic symbol for what Christians believe. Thus, after Constantine abolished crucifixion as a method of execution for criminals, it was right Christians adopted the Cross as a symbol of their faith.
Another early Christian symbol which does appeals to me is the Chi-Rho.
Ad astra! Sean
"not an emphatic symbol for what Christians believe"
I suppose it is rather obscure as a pun on an initialism that only works in Greek.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys#Symbolic_meaning
But don't the words 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior', express a significant part of Christian belief?
Jim,
They do. Also Jesus is associated with fish and fishermen and he came at the start of the Age of Pisces (Fish).
Paul.
Kaor, Jim and Paul!
Jim: Of course you are right in what you said about what early Catholics meant by using the Fish as a symbol of their faith. And, before the Edict of Milan, the Fish probably did not necessarily bring on hostile attention to the Christians.
Nonetheless, I still find symbols like the Cross or the Chi-Rho more satisfactory. And many Catholics also wear medals of the BVM as pendants.
Paul: But all Christians are forbidden to have anything to do with superstitions like astrology, sorcery, divination, pretending to have supernatural knowledge of the future, etc. All of which has been strongly condemned by the Catholic Church.
And the first of the Popes, St. Peter, was a fisherman!
Ad astra! Sean
The fish symbolizes life. People eat fish and life came from the sea.
Kaor, Paul!
The Fish symbolizes the true life that comes only from Christ.
Ad astra! Sean
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