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The Historical Jesus and an Unearthly Beauty

The Historical Jesus and an Unearthly Beauty

Last updated on: November 30, 2017 at 8:34 am by Dan Peterson

The Historical Jesus and an Unearthly Beauty 2017-11-30T08:34:09-07:00 Dan Peterson

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A view of Interlaken, Switzerland, on a winter’s night (Wikimedia CC)

I think that most Latter-day Saints or other Christians who have toured in Israel, or who are planning to do so soon, or who hope to do so eventually, will enjoy this article in the current (December 2017) issue of National Geographic:

“What Archaeology is Telling Us about the Real Jesus: Believers call him the Son of God. Skeptics dismiss him as legend. Now, researchers digging in the Holy Land are sifting fact from fiction”

Sepphoris (see my “Sepphoris — ‘The ornament of the Galilee'”), the Church of the Nativity, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (see my “Archaeological evidence that it really IS the site of Christ’s burial and resurrection?”), the Garden of Gethsemane, the newly discovered synagogue at Magdala (see my “Did Jesus teach in this ancient synagogue?” and “Processing fish and calling apostles on the Sea of Galilee”), the synagogue of Capernaum and the very possible house of Peter that sits near to it (see my “Capernaum bears witness of Christ” and “The archaeology of Peter’s hometown”), even the ossuary of Caiphas and the ankle bone of the crucified man that are both housed in the Israel Museum — these are all things that I regularly visit with my tour groups. Sometimes, too, we’ve visited the so-called “Jesus Boat” at Kibbutz Nof Ginosar. (If it were totally up to me, we always would.)

Coincidentally, I posted something just this morning that mentions the Palestinian bagpipers who are pictured in the National Geographic article:

“Christmas in Bethlehem”

And, also coincidentally, just yesterday I shared three links on the question of

“Did Jesus Even EXIST?”

I indicated my own point of view on the topic, which, it turns out, is pretty much exactly the same viewpoint as that of the scholars cited in the National Geographic article. I approve, of course, of what they say — which reminds me of one of the definitions given in Ambrose Bierce’s famous 1911 Devil’s Dictionary: “Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another’s resemblance to ourselves.”

***

I alert you to the “call for papers” just issued by the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology. The Society will be holding its 2018 annual meeting on the campus of Utah State University, 15-17 March 2018. If you would like to submit a paper proposal to be considered for a presentation to that conference, the deadline is 15 January 2018.

You can find the call for papers here.

***

I share with you the first installment from the Christmas initiative “Light the World”:

Day One: “”Freely ye have received, freely give.”

I hope you’ll watch the video. I hope you’ll share it. I hope you’ll act on what’s being taught. I’m going to try.

***

Finally, a favorite piece of music for the season:

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,
aus einer Wurzel zart,
wie uns die Alten sungen,
von Jesse kam die Art.
Und hat ein Blümlein bracht
mitten im kalten Winter,
wohl zu der halben Nacht.

Das Röslein, das ich meine,
davon Isaias sagt,
hat uns gebracht alleine
Marie, die reine Magd.
Aus Gottes ew’gem Rat
hat sie ein Kind geboren
wohl zu der halben Nacht.

Das Blümelein, so kleine,
das duftet uns so süß,
mit seinem hellen Scheine
vertreibt’s die Finsternis.
Wahr Mensch und wahrer Gott
hilft uns aus allem Leide,
rettet von Sünd und Tod.

A literal and quite unpoetic translation (partially my own):

A rose has sprung up,
from a tender root,
As the ancients sang to us.
Its line came from Jesse
And it has brought forth a small flower
In the middle of the cold winter,
In the middle of the night.

The little rose that I mean,
Of which Isaiah told,
Mary alone, the pure maid,
Has brought to us.
By God’s eternal counsel
She has borne a child
In the middle of the night.

The tiny flower, so small,
That smells so sweet to us,
With its bright gleam
Dispels the darkness
–True man and true God–
Helps us from all suffering,
Saves us from sin and death.

“Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen”

I remember very clearly when and where this marvelous carol, which was given its classical form by the German composer Michael Praetorius in 1609 but which originated sometime before that, first hit me. (I had probably heard the carol before, but, if I had, it hadn’t registered even slightly.) I was attending a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland, shortly before Christmas 1973. Curiously, I don’t recall who sang it. It may have been a branch or district choir.

I was enraptured. Riveted. I had seldom heard anything so beautiful. And it still affects me that way.

Posted from Park City, Utah

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