From: Donald ...
To: WILLIAM ....
Sent: Mon, 2 May, 2011 21:09:57
Subject: Re: Dialectic recognize and not ...
Dialectic of Recognition and non-Recognition. Benedict xvi
Dear, William,
Thank you - we have interesting Easter events. How can I keep a Log up to date?
My Lenten Book, Jesus of Nazareth Part II, did not receive the proper monastic regularity.
Some gems surface with the aid of Index and clue on Doubting Thomas.
Some phrase of Ben xvi fastens in my brain and I puzzle away.
Maybe, I can pass it on to you and see if you can tease it out more clearly to me.
See the COPY below . . . . ..
Emboldened challenging words, dialectic, narratives, Theophanies.
I trust all goes well in Easter Tide.
Donald
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JESUS OF NAZARETH
JESUS' RESURRECTION PROM THE DEAD
JESUS' RESURRECTION PROM THE DEAD
The appearances of Jesus in the Gospels
pp.265-272
The appearances that we read of in the Gospels are manifestlydifferent. On the one hand, the Lord appears as a man like other men: he walks alongside the Emmaus disciples; he invites Thomas to touch his wounds, and in Luke's account he even asks for a pieceof fish to eat, in order to prove his real bodily presence. And yet these s do not present him simply as a man who has come back from death in the same condition as before.
One thing that strikes us straightaway is that the disciples do not recognize him at first. This is true not only of the two in the Emmaus story, but also of Mary Magdalene and then again at the Lake of Gennesaret: "Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus" (In 2I:4). Only afterthe Lord has instructed them to set out once again does the beloved disciple recognize him: "That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!'" (21:7). It is, as it were, an inward recognition, which nevertheless remains shrouded in mystery. For after the catch of fish, when Jesus invites them to eat, there is still a strangequality about him. "None of the disciples dared ask him, 'Who are you?' They knew it was the Lord" (2I:I2). They knew from within, notfrom observing the Lord's outward appearance.
This dialectic of recognition and non-recognitioncorresponds to the manner of the apparitions. Jesus comes through closed doors; he suddenly stands in their midst. And in the same way he suddenly withdraws again, as at the end of the Emmaus encounter. His presence is entirely physical, yet he is not bound byphysical laws, by the laws of space and time. In this remarkabledialectic of identity and otherness, of real physicality and freedom from the constraints of the body, we see the specialmysterious nature of the risen Lord's new existence. Both elements apply here: he is the same embodied man, and he is the new man,having entered upon a different manner of existence.
The dialectic, which pertains to the nature of the Risen One,is presented quite clumsily in the narratives, and it is this that manifests their veracity. . . . . .(later)
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----- Forwarded Message ----From: WILLIAM ....
To: Donald ....
Sent: Tue, 3 May, 2011 21:54:49
Subject: Re: Dialectic recognize and not ...
Dear Father Donald,
This is a very challenging piece of writing, on a challenging subject, and I confess that it bewildered me when I read it for the first time today - I too had too much by way of duty in the course of Lent to complete the reading of the book, ....
These are my light foot prints as I step gingerly across this vast high plateau:
These are my light foot prints as I step gingerly across this vast high plateau:
1) Terminology - clearest meaning of the key word [dialectic] using synonyms - intuition; sweet reason; reasonableness, rationality; dialectics, logic; logical process, logical sequence, inference, generalization;distinction...
2) Benedict XVI concentrates on the distinction between Jesus as seen in His appearances (physical) and asrecognized in them (spiritual), stressing the mystery ofidentity (physical) and otherness (spiritual), determining that the distinction resides uniquely in the nature of the Risen One, the way in which He is now revealed in His two natures at one and the same time.
3) Whilst using the word "apparitions", Benedict XVIdistinguishes between the OT "theophanies", where the angelic persons remained, in essence, spirits, and Our Lord's appearances, for Jesus is "truly man", living "anew in the dimension of the living God".
4) Benedict XVI stresses that the encounters with the risen Lord are not just "interior events" or "mystical experiences", but "real encounters with the living one who is embodied in a new way and remains embodied". Benedict XVI adds that "mystical experience is a temporary removal of the soul's spatial and cognitive limitations, not an encounter with a person coming toward me from without". In Jesus' appearances "a new dimension of life emerges, a new dimension of human existence".
Other important teaching in this chapter adds to the above:"matter itself is remolded into a new type of reality"... "spirit and blood have a place within God"... "only now the place exists in which man's immortal soul can find its 'space' and 'bodiliness' in which immortality takes on its meaning as communion with God and reconciled mankind"..."an ontological leap occurred, one that touches being as such, opening up a dimension that affects us all, creating for all of us a new space of life, a new space of being in union with God".
5) Benedict XVI writes of the "third element" of the manifestations of the risen Lord - "appearing, speaking,sharing meals" (whilst considering that Luke's Gospel passage, or narrative of Jesus' requesting and eating the fish is over dramatized), proposing that the word used by Luke to describe the meal is "of great significance", for in translation the word means "eating salt with them", making reference to the historical meaning of salt, by which a lasting covenant was established. Not merely an enactment representing, or recalling, the Feeding of the crowds or the Last Supper, Benedict XVI teaches that this is "a sign of new and everlasting life" and "points to the risen Lord's new banquet.. a covenant-event... expressing an inner bond between [the Last Supper] and the risen Lord's new table fellowship [the eternal banquet]". As salt was used at every sacrifice, Benedict XVI teaches that different meanings come togther here: "covenant renewal, the gift of life, and purification of one's own being for self-offering to God".
Thank you for drawing me into this complex chapter, for I have now come to a degree of understanding of the teaching of the mystery.
I am quite in awe of the mind of Benedict XVI, the depth of his understanding of the mysteries of faith and the intensity he brings into his interpretations !
.... in Our Lord,
William
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Dear, William,
Many thanks.
The wheels are turning from your impetus
and we are both "in awe of the mind of Benedict XVI, the depth of his understanding of the mysteries of faith and the intensity he brings into his interpretations !"
and we are both "in awe of the mind of Benedict XVI, the depth of his understanding of the mysteries of faith and the intensity he brings into his interpretations !"
For the moment, these Emails are Posted while the 'dialectic' reveals and 'the third element' begs for the creative grasp of Benedict XVI.
Thank for the synonyms of 'dialectic' of the pillars. Maybe this suggests the bridge of the 'third element'.
The computer facility of the digital reading and re-reading, under-lining, high-lighting, helps the way to Benedict's high paths.
God does not ration his gift of the Spirit. Jn 3:36
Donald
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