CHAPTER 1

The Early Church

Jewish Antecedents

The spirituality of Judaism in the centuries prior to Christ was largelykataphatic and speculative. It was grounded in synagogal worship, whichconsisted principally of the reading and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures(our Old Testament) and the reciting of the prayers nourished by thoseScriptures, particularly the blessing/thanksgiving (called the Berakah).

These images dominate: d'ath or knowledge (hokmah or wisdom), the Shekinah ofJewish mysticism, and poverty.

1. D'ath is the kind of knowing that is not just about something, but that takespossession of the person known. It is the knowledge which gives birth toconfidence. It is to accept mystery, not deny it. It is to discern the designsof God. The Jewish sage—as in Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, theWisdom of Solomon, etc.—is one who possess d'ath or hokmah. It comes from alifetime of reading the Hebrew Scriptures, praying them, and reflecting uponthem.

2. Shekinah means the dwelling of God with his people perceived, not in idolsbut as one would see the sun's rays coming from behind a dark cloud. It is themanifestation of God. It is the provisional presence of God, not the God presentin the Day of Yahweh or at the consummation of all things. It is the presence ofGod in the Holy of Holies of the Temple or where two or three meet to meditateupon the Torah, or where a righteous judge makes a decision. (The Torah at thistime meant more than the first five books of the Old Testament. It also meantinterpretation and tradition.) As the psalmist writes, "In thy light do we seelight" (36:9). The notion of the Shekinah and d'ath is a theme that will recurin Christian mysticism as mystery and gnosis.

The Shekinah is the presence of the holy in the midst of the profane. But themetaphor is that the Shekinah is like the sun; it is everywhere. Yahweh ispresent in the totality of his creation. He can appear in a burning bush as muchas in the Holy of Holies. The Shekinah is particularly present in thecharismatic person. While protecting the strict monotheism of Judaism, aparallel had to be noted between the Christian notion of the Holy Spirit and the"spirit of the Shekinah."

It is interesting that in the twelfth- and thirteenth-century Kabbalah, a Jewishmystical sect, the Shekinah becomes the feminine principle in the ten emanationsof God, known as the Sefiret. This form of Judaism was directly influenced byNeo-Platonism, which shall be discussed later.

The idea of mystery in Judaism has its roots in the Persian and Greek influencesupon the Jews during the intertestamental period. There is a fringe ofrabbinical Judaism, known as the haaminim, who were concerned for mystery. TheEssenes, a sect within Palestinian Judaism before and after the time of Jesus,were influenced by these Persian and Greek speculations. From the second centuryB.C., there were closed mystical sects within Judaism. There also was an innerdynamic within the Pharisees toward mysticism. It has been argued that withinthe Diaspora there was a symbolic understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures, morelike that of the Christians of the third century than of the Palestinian andBabylonian rabbinic tradition.

3. In the days of the patriarchs wealth was a sign of God's pleasure. This isnot true of later Judaism. When there seems to be no reasonable hope in thisworld, an intentionally religious people may develop an apocalypticism: thebelief that God is breaking into the world to bring everything to a conclusion.It is often associated with the anticipation of Messiah and/or millennialism(i.e., the end of a thousand years). Apocalypticism is characteristic ofoppressed people, the "have nots." Their expectations are not cluttered with thethings of this world. The Jews under the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Seleucids,the Ptolomies, and the Romans—all before the time of Christ—were such anoppressed people. Poverty became an ascetical virtue. The psalmist says, "I knowthat the Lord maintains the cause of the afflicted, and executes justice for theneedy" (140:12). The notion of poverty, sometimes in an exaggerated form, was tooccur in Christianity as well.

One concluding note needs to be made. A Jewish Hellenistic philosopher, Philo(c. 20 B.C.–C. A. D. 50) will influence the Christian ascetical traditionparticularly in two ways: First, he may well have been the father of both paganand Christian mysticism in his theory that the Spirit of God takes the place inhumanity of our spirit, as finds expression in the mind, or nous; Second, in histeaching that the allegorical method of biblical interpretation gives access tothe hidden, true meaning of the Scriptures.

There will be frequent references to Philo as this study unfolds. His methods,as well as his categories, become a bridge, not only between the HebrewScriptures and the Hellenistic culture but also between Greek Christians andtheir Jewish roots. This is a time of apology, translation, and syncretism.There is no "pure strain" of any culture—Jewish, Greek, Persian, Roman—and theintellectual of the age sought to express his experience of God in such a waythat he could identify, clarify, and share it so that it was understandable tothe greatest number of people. Philo was a skillful and imaginative thinker anddid just this preeminently.

Instrumental Images

Poverty

Allegorical method of interpretation

Terminal Images

Shekinah

Wisdom

New Testament

The people of the New Testament are, in the main, Jewish. The spirituality ofthe New Testament, particularly the Synoptics, is Jewish. It is kataphatic.Since it is not the religion of the Jewish intelligentsia, it is more affectivethan speculative.

In the Synoptics three images are introduced: metanoia, the desert, and purityof heart. Christian spirituality, building upon its Jewish roots—includinggnosis or wisdom, the Shekinah, and poverty—will develop these synoptic images.

Metanoia is translated as "repentance." "John the baptizer appeared in thewilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance (metanoia) for the forgiveness ofsins" (Mark 1:4). Metanoia means literally to change one's mind. It is relatedto gnosis and will later be appropriated in a new way as the church builds onPhilo's Hellenistic notion of the Spirit of God in the mind of humanity. Evenhere it does not mean just being sorry for your sins. It is to welcome thejudgment of God and his transforming power into whatever we are—andfundamentally we are what we think!

The desert or wilderness, in both John the Baptist and Jesus as in the OldTestament, is a place of encounter. It is there that we wrestle with the demonsand the angels, because that is where they are found—more so than in the city.This image has to do with poverty, not only poverty of material wealth butpoverty as nakedness of spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).

Another image of poverty, which is related to the Shekinah, is purity of heart."Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). SörenKierkegaard defined purity of heart as the ability to will one thing. Thisrelates it to gnosis and metanoia, but also to a willingness to see in the lightof God. Purity of heart and its promise of seeing God provide an archetypicalimage for Christian spirituality in all ages.

Paul is less affective than the Synoptics. The Middle Platonic notion thathumankind is tripartite—composed of body, soul, and spirit—appears to be acommonplace assumption for him. It is presumptuous to compress Paul'sspirituality into one or two images, but one or two such images can besuggestive of the complexity of his thought. Such a consideration can begin withthe verse: "But we have the mind {nous} of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16). To this we canadd verses such as "And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed bythe renewing of your mind {nous}" (Rom. 12:2); and "Be renewed in the spirit ofyour mind {nous}" (Eph. 4:23). Perhaps the best known statement by St. Paul ofthis kind is: "Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus"(Phil. 2:5). The difference from the other verses lies in the use of the verbphroneite literally: "Think this {thing} in yourselves, which {thing} is inChrist Jesus."

In the Synoptics, thinking as Christ thinks is the same thing as repenting. Thecall to transformation by the renewal of our minds is what metanoia means. LikePhilo, Paul holds that the union with God comes about as the Spirit of God—whichsometimes appears to be confused with Christ—possesses the person. As one wouldexpect in the first century, this is explained in terms of the mind. With thisbefore us we can understand how Paul deals with the problem of humanity'sfundamental sinfulness, as in Rom. 7:21–8:5. In this passage Paul tells us thatthe law of sin wars against the law of the mind, but that when we have the mindof Christ we can overcome the lower self, where the law of sin rules. For thosewho say there is no mysticism, save possibly some eschatological expectation, inPaul this passage from Romans appears to be a clear refutation.

Let us not try to avoid as well the fact that there is a call to asceticalpractice in Paul, which has inspired the church down through the centuries."Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). This is nota Pelagian admonition, but neither is it a testimony to the total depravity ofman. For Paul the Christian is like an athlete—another image we need toremember—who constantly trains that he might win the prize: the appropriation ofGod's gift of himself revealed in Christ.

For Paul the image of the Cross is what opens the mind to the Spirit. "For theword of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are beingsaved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). The Cross is the imaginative shockthat blows the filters of humanity's awareness and opens us to the grace—i.e.,the power and presence of God—that bestows upon us the mind of Christ.

What is it we have when we have the mind of Christ: "the mystery {to musteoion}hidden for ages and generations and now made manifest to his saints" (Col.1:26). This mystery is the great secret of God's plan for humanity, revealed inJesus Christ. It is interesting that Paul has ambivalent feelings about gnosis,knowledge, but occasionally it creeps in as a positive virtue. For example, inColossians 2:3 he tells us that the love (agape) of God will unite us in theknowledge (epignosis and gnosis) of the mystery.

For the fourth gospel is kataphatic, but perhaps a bit more affective than Paul,yet not as much as the Synoptics. The predominant image here is light versusdarkness. The glory (doxa), which is the Shekinah, the veiled evidence of God'spresence, is the light. Light is life. "In him was life, and the life was thelight of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has notovercome it.... We have beheld his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father"(John 1:4–5, 14).

As in Paul, the Cross is an important image, but not so much an imaginativeshock as it is an image of glory. The Evangelist plays on the Greek word airein,by which he obviously implies both lifting up on the Cross and lifting up toexalt. There is not so much scandal here as in Paul.

Furthermore, the goal of the spiritual life is not gnosis but agape (love). Itis not an affective, emotional love, however. It is the love exemplified in theCross, the washing of feet, and the caring for the unlovable. One thing we willdiscover is the way in which knowledge and love vary in importance as themanifestation of the presence of God in the person open to his grace. In thethird, fourth, and fifth centuries knowledge will prevail, in the elevenththrough the fourteenth love will take over.

The centrality of the image of love in the forth gospel is perhaps surprising,since the Evangelist begins with a discussion of logos, clearly evoking thoughtsof the Stoic principle of the unifying reason (i.e., Logos), which pervades thecosmos. Logos (reason) and sophia (wisdom) are both related to gnosis. In theStoic anthropology every person has a seed of reason, Logos spermatikos, whichimage both describes humanity as possessing a potentiality for union with thedivine—i.e., humanity as spirit—and suggesting the purpose of an asceticaldiscipline: the cultivation of that seed. The Evangelist does not follow thisline of argument, but subsequent spiritual masters shall.

Instrumental Images Terminal Images

Metanoia Mind of Christ
Christian athlete Light
Cross Love (agape)
Purity of heart Logos

The Apostolic Fathers

The writings of the post-New Testament authors tend to be naïve until thesophisticated discourse of Irenaeus of Lyon. They have a kataphatic yetmoderately speculative bent.

The gift of gnosis is a dominating image, although the second century struggledwith the heretical Gnostics. Therefore it is necessary to define carefully whatis meant by knowledge. We have to keep in mind that this period lives in thedisappointment of the apocalyptic expectations of both the Jews, as in theinsurrection against Rome of A.D. 70 and A.D. 135, and the Christians, whoexpected the Parousia and got the church. Gnosticism as an heretical doctrinewas an ahistorical dualism, based upon a metaphysic in which the world wasdivided among spirit, soul, and matter, exemplified in three distinct kinds ofpeople. The eventual evolution of Christian gnosticism is an historical dualism,in which the victory of God—creator, redeemer, and sanctifier—over the powers ofevil is resolved in the possibility of the knowledge of God for all humankind.

The Epistle of Barnabas, the author tells us, is written that our knowledge maybe perfected. Such knowledge is, however, a gift of God. If someone has it, theunforgivable sin is to turn away into darkness. Knowledge and light aresynonymous. "The way of light is this: if someone is willing to journey on theway to the appointed place, let him make haste with his works. Therefore theknowledge {gnosis} that has been given to us {is} to walk about in this sort ofway" (Barnabas 19:1). Then follows a series of commandments, which includes ademand that one be simple in heart and full of the Spirit.

Simplicity of heart, aplotes, is the same thing as purity of heart, which is agreat concern of the Apostolic Fathers. This biblical image should be keptclearly in mind, and we need to recall its relation to poverty. The opposite ofpurity of heart is double-mindedness (dipsychia). Double-mindedness particularlyhorrifies the Shepherd of Hermas. "Consider this double-mindedness: for it iswicked and foolish, and uproots many from faith; yes, even those who are veryfaithful and strong." Double-mindedness is to serve both God and mammon. In aworld where martyrdom was a distinct possibility, one can understand howimportant it was only to live to be given the gift of the knowledge of God.

Encratism comes out of a pursuit of poverty carried to a logical absurdity, akind of "quietism with a vengeance." Excessive zeal for purity of heart leads toencratism. The word is Greek, meaning self-controlled or disciplined. Polycarp,in his letter to the Philippians, for example, says that deacons are to be"temperate {enkrateis} in all things" (Phil. 5:1). But temperance is "in the eyeof the beholder." Tatian, claimed by some to be the "father" of encratism, agnostic heresy, despised all Greek culture, rejected matrimony as a form ofadultery, and condemned both the use of meat in any form and the drinking ofwine. One of the practices of the encratites was self-castration, celebratedcorporately on occasion by running through the city streets holding one'stesticles aloft. A Puritanism untempered by reason and suspicious of positivefeelings is always in danger of encratism.

Of course, the most extreme expression of encratism was martyrdom. The wordliterally means to witness, and came to identify witness by death. IGNATIUS OFANTIOCH (Feast day: October 17) wrote to the Romans, living in the city to whichhe was being brought to suffer death, "Suffer me to be eaten by the beasts,through whom I can attain to God" (Rom. 4:1). This is as clear an expression ofascetical practice as one can find! A whole theology of martyrdom developedaround this experience. While it has roots in Judaism (cf. 2 Maccabees 6:7–7:41),martyrdom was related to baptism and the Eucharist, and the church wasvery ambivalent about those who openly sought martyrdom.

The imitation of Christ relates most directly to the wish to be assimilated toChrist. IRENAEUS (Feast day: June 28) countered the gnostic heresies by arguingfor an understanding of Christ grounded in Paul's speculations of Christ as the"second Adam" (1. Cor. 15:45) and the Logos Christology of the fourth gospel.This is called recapitulation. What we lost by the sin of the first Adam we haveregained and then some by our identification with the Christ, centering in hisPassion. The true gnosis is the Logos of Christ, which illumines the free willof humanity, enabling it to conquer sin and death and become like God.