Temple
theology traces the roots of Christian theology back into the first
Temple, destroyed by the cultural revolution in the time of King
Josiah at the end of the seventh century BCE. Refugees from the
purges settled in Egypt and Arabia. From widely scattered surviving
fragments, it is possible to reconstruct the world view of the first
Christians, and to restore to their original setting such key
concepts as the Messiah, divine Sonship, covenant, atonement,
resurrection, incarnation, the Second Coming and the Kingdom of God. |
METHODS USED
Temple Theology draws on all available resources:
-
Hebrew and Greek Scriptures
- New Testament
- Jewish and Christian Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Other Ancient Near Eastern texts
- Gnostic texts
- Rabbinic and later Jewish writings and traditions
- Early Christian writings and liturgies
- Memories that survive in art and architecture
A complex and
sophisticated theology is beginning to re-emerge from the symbols
and stories of a pre-philosophical culture |
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IMPLICATIONS
Temple theology reviews and
rethinks.
It suggests:
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That the current Old Testament is neither the text nor the ‘canon’
that was known and used by the first Christians.
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That the non-canonical writings were preserved by Christians and
excluded by Jews because they marked important differences between
them.
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That Sola Scriptura has hindered rather than helped the
understanding of Christianity.
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That Christianity was heir to the Temple tradition and so was by no
means a ‘new’ religion in the first century.
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ELEMENTS
Temple theology is based on the ideas that:
- The
Temple/Tabernacle was a microcosm of
the creation
- Day One was the Holy of Holies, the Unity beyond
time and matter, the world of the angels and the Kingdom of God.
- The eternal covenant held visible and invisible
creation in one system.
- The fallen angels taught mortals how to abuse
knowledge and thus break the bonds of the covenant.
- The liturgies maintained the creation
- Atonement was the ritual self offering of the
Lord to renew the
eternal covenant and thus heal the creation. This was the covenant
renewed at the Last Supper
- Priests were angels and angels were priests
- The
Lord, the God of
Israel, was the Son of God Most High, the Second God
- Jesus was recognised as the
Lord in this sense.
- The royal High Priest was the
Lord with his people
- Incarnation was symbolised by the vestments
- The Queen of Heaven, also known as Wisdom, had
been part of the original Temple cult as Virgin Mother of the
Messiah.
- Humans could become angels. This was known as
resurrection or theosis.
- The Temple was remembered as Eden.
- Adam was the original high priest, and
leaving Eden was losing the Temple.
- The New Testament reverses the story of Eden
and brings Christians back to the original Temple.
- Pythagoras knew this system of thought and it
appears in Plato’s Timaeus.
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APPLICATIONS
Temple theology provides ways of
understanding, explaining and linking.
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A framework for a characteristically Christian
creation theology, emphasising the bonds of creation broken by human
sin and advocating the stewardship of knowledge.
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A way to understand how the Old Testament texts
were formed and transmitted.
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A way to recover the original Christian
understanding of the Old Testament.
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A way to recover the original Christian
understanding of atonement, incarnation, resurrection.
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A way to recover the Temple roots of the
Eucharist.
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A way to identify the roots of belief in the
Trinity.
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A setting for Apocalyptic writings.
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An understanding of the role of angels.
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A setting for the Wisdom tradition.
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An explanation for Mary inheriting the symbolism
of the Wisdom tradition.
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An explanation for the ‘Platonic’ elements in
early Christian writings.
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An explanation for the Temple elements in Islam
and for references to Christians and the Scriptures in the Koran.
And
much more... |