homepage
  roll on christmas  
click here to find out more about ship of fools click here to sign up for the ship of fools newsletter click here to support ship of fools
community the mystery worshipper gadgets for god caption competition foolishness features ship stuff
discussion boards live chat cafe avatars frequently-asked questions the ten commandments gallery private boards register for the boards
 
Ship of Fools


Post new thread  Post a reply
My profile login | | Directory | Search | FAQs | Board home
   - Printer-friendly view Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
» Ship of Fools   »   » Oblivion   » Ascended/Descended - Ephesians 4 & the creeds

 - Email this page to a friend or enemy.    
Source: (consider it) Thread: Ascended/Descended - Ephesians 4 & the creeds
Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870

 - Posted      Profile for Sipech   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
The other day I was chatting to an anglo-catholic friend of mine. As you do, we were discussing the merits of various creeds and confessions.

One point that came up was in the Apostles' creed, the phrase "descended into hell". As an annihilationist, it's not a phrase that sits easy with me, so if I'm in a church that recites the creed, I stay silent at that point.

My friend was saying that in his church it was understood to be a reference to Ephesians 4:
quote:
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
quote:
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’
(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
I, along with many other nonconformists I know, interpret the "ascended" as a reference to the ascension and "descended" as a reference to the incarnation.

My friend's argument was that it wasn't about ascension/incarnation but to resurrection/burial. And to some, but not all, who hold to a penal substitutionary view, the idea of Jesus going to hell is a useful support for their argument.

I think it is interesting that the reference to hell wasn't taken up in the Nicene creed but is in the Athanasian.

My own hypothesis is that the apocryphal gospel of Peter may have influenced the matter:
quote:
And, as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross following them: and of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him that was led by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou hast preached to them that sleep. And a response was heard from the cross, Yea.
What are shipmates' take on this?

--------------------
I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012  |  IP: Logged
Alan Cresswell

Mad Scientist 先生
# 31

 - Posted      Profile for Alan Cresswell   Email Alan Cresswell   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
We thrashed this out relatively recently "He descended into Hell" thread in Purgatory, picking up a tangent about this phrase in the Apostles Creed from another thread.

--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.

Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870

 - Posted      Profile for Sipech   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Cheers Alan. Being around Christmas, I was otherwise engaged while that discussion was going on. I'll have a thorough read through later.

I did search for 'ascended' and 'descended' in Kerygmania but never thought to look in Purgatory. There was me thinking I was being bright and original for once. [brick wall]

--------------------
I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012  |  IP: Logged
Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378

 - Posted      Profile for Gramps49   Email Gramps49   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I think many Westerners have a wrong idea of what it means Jesus descended into hell. Our vision of hell is coloured by Dante's Inferno and our Greek mindset of Hades.

However, the better translation of the phrase is

"He went to the dead."

The Old Testament concept of Sheol, the place of the dead, is a place of shadows were dead people dwell. There is no fire and brimstone in this place--just shadows.

It is also a way of affirming that Jesus was truly dead.

The oldest extant version of the Apostle's Creed comes from Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra (ca. A.D. 337), and it does not contain the clause about descending into hell. Scholars call this version "The Old Roman Form"—the earliest creed of the Roman church.

Apparently the clause first appeared in the East with Sirmium's fourth formula in 359—also called the "Dated Creed"— though the Eastern church rejected it as tinged with Arianism. The first mention of the descent in the West occurs in the writings of Rufinus of Aquileia, who included it in his baptismal creed around 400. Over time, the Latin church appropriated it as well, officially integrating it into the Creed in 750.

Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011  |  IP: Logged
Moo

Ship's tough old bird
# 107

 - Posted      Profile for Moo   Email Moo   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
However, the better translation of the phrase is
"He went to the dead."
{snip}
Apparently the clause first appeared in the East with Sirmium's fourth formula in 359—also called the "Dated Creed"— though the Eastern church rejected it as tinged with Arianism. The first mention of the descent in the West occurs in the writings of Rufinus of Aquileia, who included it in his baptismal creed around 400. Over time, the Latin church appropriated it as well, officially integrating it into the Creed in 750.

What is the original language of the phrase and what are the words?

Moo

--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.

Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

 - Posted      Profile for daisymay     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In our church today , we had Exodus 2, not Ephesians, about someone else being born, after we celebrated the "mothers".

--------------------
London
Flickr fotos

Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
leo
Shipmate
# 1458

 - Posted      Profile for leo   Author's homepage   Email leo   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
We had the Exodus one followed by 2 Corinthians.

--------------------
My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com

Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Alan Cresswell

Mad Scientist 先生
# 31

 - Posted      Profile for Alan Cresswell   Email Alan Cresswell   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I'm not sure of the relevance of the "what readings we had" blogging.

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
However, the better translation of the phrase is
"He went to the dead."

What is the original language of the phrase and what are the words?

Moo

Going from memory of the Purgatory thread there was general agreement about where Jesus didn't descend to:
  • He didn't descend to the lake of fire prepared for the devil
  • He didn't descend to a realm ruled by Satan and his demons (indeed, a general consensus that a place where Satan rules absolutely has no Biblical support ... in all "places" God rules, in some places Satan has managed to deceive his way into some limited control usurping the authority given to humanity to care for creation).
Much less consensus on where he descended to.

--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.

Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
PaulBC
Shipmate
# 13712

 - Posted      Profile for PaulBC         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In the Anglican Church of Canada's Book of Alternative services, "descended into hell" is now rendered "he decende to the desd". seems to make more sense .

--------------------
"He has told you O mortal,what is good;and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice and to love kindness ,and to walk humbly with your God."Micah 6:8

Posts: 873 | From: Victoria B.C. Canada | Registered: May 2008  |  IP: Logged
BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636

 - Posted      Profile for BroJames   Email BroJames   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
However, the better translation of the phrase is
"He went to the dead."
{snip}
Apparently the clause first appeared in the East with Sirmium's fourth formula in 359—also called the "Dated Creed"— though the Eastern church rejected it as tinged with Arianism. The first mention of the descent in the West occurs in the writings of Rufinus of Aquileia, who included it in his baptismal creed around 400. Over time, the Latin church appropriated it as well, officially integrating it into the Creed in 750.

What is the original language of the phrase and what are the words?

Moo

FWIW Wikipedia offers both Greek and Latin
quote:
The Greek wording in the Apostles' Creed is κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα, ("katelthonta eis ta katôtata"), and in Latin descendit ad inferos. The Greek τὰ κατώτατα (ta katôtata,"the lowest") and the Latin inferos ("those below") may also be translated as "underworld", "netherworld", or "abode of the dead."
AFAICT this phrase is in fact not present in the 'Dated Creed'
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005  |  IP: Logged
Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378

 - Posted      Profile for Gramps49   Email Gramps49   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Sorry, I was gone most of the day so did not see this until tonight.

Here is an FAQ from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal:

The main problem in translating the Latin “descendit ad inferna” (literally “he went down to the lower regions”) was what the traditional rendering “into hell” would imply to a modern congregation. It represents “Sheol” and has little or nothing to do with “Gehenna,” a place of eternal punishments and separation from God, which is what “hell” is generally understood to mean. The line has been subjected to various interpretations: emphasizing the reality of Jesus’ death; entering into the depth of the human condition; an abandonment by God; beginning the resurrection sequence, with our Lord proclaiming victory to the souls of the departed; doing battle with Satan. The English Language Liturgical Consultation believed that “to the dead” was the least misleading version and that it allowed the same breadth of interpretation as the original. Evangelical Lutheran Worship felt it important to retain the widely used text as a footnote.

Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011  |  IP: Logged


 
Post new thread  Post a reply Close thread   Feature thread   Move thread   Delete thread Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
 - Printer-friendly view
Go to:

Contact us | Ship of Fools | Privacy statement

© Ship of Fools 2016

Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.5.0

 
follow ship of fools on twitter
buy your ship of fools postcards
sip of fools mugs from your favourite nautical website
 
 
  ship of fools