Holy Week Begins

All four New Testament Gospels record the following Holy Week events:

- Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey (Palm Sunday)
- Jesus and his apostles have the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday)
- Jesus is betrayed and arrested
- Peter denies knowing Jesus
- Jesus stands trial before Pontius Pilate
- Jesus is crucified (Good Friday)
- Jesus is buried by himself, in a tomb, by Joseph of Arimathea
- Jesus rises from the dead (Easter Sunday)

According to most modern bible scholars, these events were recorded about 35-65 years after Christ died. For the sake of comparison, based on some online research, here are the time frames for the earliest written references regarding other major religious figures:

- Abraham, about 1500 years after his death
- Moses, anywhere from 400-900 years after his death
- Buddha, about 300-400 years after his death
- Muhammad, 100-150 years after his death

Technically, the earliest written references to Christ date to only about 16-27 years after his death (New Testament epistles such as James, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians, and probably the Roman historian Thallus in his Eastern Mediterranean history), but they are not considered biographical in nature, like the Gospels.

Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone a fun and contemplative holy week. Approximately 2.2 billion people, or about 30% of the world's population, will be commemorating these events over the coming week.

All Saints Day

From The Apostles Creed:  I believe in ".. the communion of saints..." Also, it's worth remembering that Christianity's greatest saint is a woman: the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Look for an All Souls Day display tomorrow evening.

Feast of Pentecost

Pentecost, which took place 50 days after the Resurrection, is the day when about 3,000 people were baptized into the Christian faith (Acts 2:41).

Historically speaking, Christianity grew rapidly. By AD 60, the faith had already spread throughout the Middle East, much of the Mediterranean, and possibly as far as the Caucuses. About 300 years after Christ, Christianity would become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine. Today, there are about 2.2 billion Christians on the planet, making Christianity the world's largest religion. Islam is second with about 1.6 billion.

As a side note, the Eastern Orthodox Church says a special prayer for those in Hell during Vespers on Pentecost. This would seem to suggest that at least one major branch of traditional Christianity is open to the possibility that Christ's mercy and redemptive power can even reach into Hell, a concept that is consistent with both ancient and contemporary Christian Universalism.

All Souls Day: apokatastasis style

Today, I pay tribute to All Souls Day in the context of Christian/Trinitarian Universalism. The Greek word, apokatastasis, means restoration to the original (good) condition. In modern English, the terms 'universal salvation' or 'universalism' are more commonly used to describe this particular theology. Basically, it is the belief that all rational beings, namely human beings, will eventually get into heaven because of Christ's all-merciful death and all-powerful resurrection.

While only a small percentage of modern-day Christians hold to this position, it was actually a widely held view during the first 400 years of Christianity, as documented by St. Basil, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome. Big names in early Christianity, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Macrina the Blessed, Titus of Bostra, and Gregory of Nyssa, to name a few, taught this doctrine.

Generally speaking, modern-day adherents of Christian/Trinitarian Universalism believe the following:

- The Bible is divinely inspired
- The Trinity is the one true God
-  Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary
-  Jesus was God in human flesh
-  Jesus performed miracles
-  Jesus died for the sins of all mankind
-  Jesus physically rose from the dead
-  Salvation is a gift from God
-  Jesus is mankind's only Savior
-  Hell is real and terrible, but limited in duration and disciplinary/reformative in nature
-  All mankind, including atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews, will eventually come to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, of their own free will

While this is not an exhaustive list, here are some scholarly resources worth exploring on the topic:

Universalism the prevailing doctrine of the Christian church during its first 500 years

Tracing Universalist thought through church history

The Evangelical Universalist: second edition

The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Christ the Conqueror of Hell

The Congress Catches Fire- Divine Mercy

The Harrowing of Hell: Salvation for the dead in early Christianity

In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and conservative Anglican traditions, All Souls Day is a prayerful remembrance of only the 'faithful departed'. In the context of Christian Universalism, however, All Souls Day would be celebrated as a prayerful remembrance of all departed human souls, due to the belief that Christ died to redeem all of humanity.

That being said, without further adieu, here's the display:

All Saints Day

Wishing all my fellow Western Christian brothers and sisters a blessed All Saints Day, whose official commemoration likely dates back to the 4th century.

"...we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." Hebrews 12:1

Jewish New Year

Today is the first day of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year. While it is popularly known as a strictly Jewish holiday, it may also be the birthday of Jesus Christ. According to a theory put forth by respected scholar Dr. Ernest L. Martin, Christ was likely born on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC. In his book 'The Star that astonished the world', he lays out what I think (as a layman) is a pretty compelling case, one which incorporates a wide swath of biblical, historical, and astronomical data. If he's right, it certainly makes for quite a 'coincidence'.