liefde, leven, dood & seks met 'g d'



In
any case,
much evidence points
to mid-third-century Caesarea
Maritime as one
possible site for
such inter-
change.

The Pseudo-
Clementine literature,
which took shape in its variuous forms
between the mid-third and mid-fourth centuries,
locates Petros in Caesarea as the leader of the Christian community
and champin of an anti-Pauline
Christianity very sympathetic
to Jewish practices.

Roughly
contemporaneously with
the "Rabbi Akiva" of our Palestinian Mekhilta,
we find Origen's also Palestinian "Exhortation to Martyrdom" 1.2,
already referring to the commandment
to "love G d with all one's soul"
as an experience
of ecstatic
union.

Some
have marked
the shift in the meaning
of passio from only enduring suffering to its "positive valuation
to refer to the 'passionate' experience of sexual intercourse"
and find such a shift being exploited
by Tertullian.

But it does not yet issue
in the eroticization of the martyr's
death as it would later.

A generation before Origin,
we find Tertullian referring to "loving G d
with all its strength (by which in the endurance of martyrdom it maintains the fight),
with all its life (which it lays down for G d),
it makes man
a martyr."

This is
quite a different matter,
particularly in the context of his discourse,
where the dominant metaphors are the strength and triumph
of the "pugilist" and his pleasure at winning
in spite of his wounds
and pain.

Even
for the
mid-third-century Cyprian,
as emphasized, "patience, endurance,"
is the experience and v
irtue of a martyr.

But
see Cyprian's
encouragement to confessors:
'SUCH IS THE FAITH WE TOO MUST PRESERVE AND CONTEMPLATE
NIGHT AND DAY, WITH OUR WHOLE HEARTS PREPARED FOR "G D", SCORNING THINGS AT THE MOMENT AND WITH OUR THOUGHTS DIRECTED ENTIRELY ON THE FUTURE ~
THE DELIGHTS OF THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM,
the embrace and kiss
of the Lord,
the sight
of "g d"
...'

Thus
they tend to meld
third-century and fourth-century moments in their analysis,
not marking the chronological distance between Prudentius's late-fourth-century
Eulalia and earlier martyrological types,
precisely the distance that our text,
following others,
emphasizes.

Eulalia,
the virgin bride of "G d",
and Blandina, the defiant rebel,
are treated in almost
the same breath in
this text.

In any case,
the use of this verse
in third-century Christian exhortations to martyrdom
is also evidence for joint Jewish-Christian religious life:
thus we can be grateful for those pointing out
the parallels from Tertullian and
Origen.

The memory
of the death of Akiva
at the hands of the Romans
in that place still would have been fresh a century later,
and because a mystical-erotic religiosity based on reading of the Song of Songs developed,
probably first among Caesarean Rabbis and then in the works of Origen,
the subsequent application of this
in the narratization of that
execurion as martyrology
is a very plausible
reconstruction.

Wat
mij betreft
wijzen dat soort
van beschrijvingen, inclusief alle
overeenkomsten en verschillen, op onze
onvermijdelijke 'heiliging' van ons doen & laten
aangaande bevruchting, zwangerschap, geboorte, levens-
lessen [& be-eindiging], opvoeding, aandacht, liefde, geduld,
inzicht & begrip om de wisselvalligheden van het menselijk bestaan
[of "G d's Wil" zoals sommigen dat verwoorden] enigszins te kunnen 'begrijpen',
'aanvaarden' & 'herscheppen': 'to make love' is niet 'alleen maar'
een samenvloeien van twee toevallige 'zoogdierlijke' lichamen
& 'menselijke' geesten [van dezen & 'genen'], maar ook
tegelijkertijd een 'opgaan in g d', uitgaande van 't
"scheppen van g d naar ons beeld
& onze gelijkenis";
wat we gedurende al die
ontelbare eeuwen telkens weer 'opnieuw' blijven ontdekken
is 't belang van al ons doen & laten, 't waardevolle in elk moment
van iedere dag en nacht
als "heiliging van
g d's naam"
...
engel

Inclusief
de bereidheid
om 'te sterven
voor dat levensbesef' & de
weigering om zelf
'anderen te
doden'
...
blozen

Op
het "Pad
des Levens" [met
of zonder gebruik van
'g d' & aanverwante begrippen] blijven
die waarden van essentieel belang:
onze verwoording mag dan verschillen, maar
we hebben het wel over
dezelfde inhoud ~ 't is
alleen de kunst om
elkaar te verstaan als
we gebruik maken
van 'andere
talen'
...
engel
10 jan 2010 - bewerkt op 10 jan 2010 - meld ongepast verhaal
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