Early Christianity and the Comparative Religion of Ash
Early Christianity and the Comparative Religion of Ash
Author(s): Ştefan BorbélySubject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai
Keywords: Ash; Ash Wednesday; Gospels; Jewish festivals; early Christian symbols; Phoenix.
Summary/Abstract: The paper investigates the anthropological roots of the symbolism of ash in the four Christian gospels, and in the early custom of the Ash Wednesday anointing ritual, as related to the archaic symbols of fire, palm tree, and the Egyptian myth of resurrection focused on the cosmological role of the Phoenix. By analyzing the ritualistic content of the old Jewish Festival of the Tents (Sukkot), whose traces appear in the Christian gospels in a few passages related to Christ’s imminent death, the paper also suggests that, in a specific anthropological context, Jesus might have been the sacrificial victim of an early harvest feast, which explains his vivid association to the ashes in the ritual of the Ash Wednesday and in the early Christian re-writings of the legends concerning the Phoenix.
Journal: Caietele Echinox
- Issue Year: 2007
- Issue No: 12
- Page Range: 110-118
- Page Count: 9
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF