Deification, Theosis, Divinization, Christify, Etc.

[wenglund]

Here is a bit more from Barker's presentation:

One of the Jewish mystical texts written in the time of Jesus, but preserved only by Christians, describes the experience of the high priest as he was anointed. Enoch, whose name means ‘the consecrated one’, entered the holy of holies to be anointed23. He said he had entered heaven, because in the temple, the holy of holies represented heaven. Enoch stood before the LORD, and then St Michael the archangel came to take away his earthly clothes, which represented his mortal body. He clothed Enoch with garments made from the Glory of God. These were the high priest’s vestments, which Exodus says were made ‘as the beauty and the glory.’24 They showed that the high priest brought the Glory of God into the world, and the garments represented Enoch’s resurrected body.

Then St Michael anointed him with the oil, which Enoch described as ‘greater than the greatest light... like sweet dew, and its fragrance is myrrh.’ This was the oil described in Psalm 110 - the dew that made the king a son of God - and in Psalm 133: the precious oil on the head and the beard of Aaron that was like dew. When Enoch had been vested and anointed, he realized he had become like one of the angels, and he described their singing. Then one of the great angels instructed him is all the wisdom of the creation.(1 Enoch 22) The anointed one was given special knowledge and became wise. The oil restored him to the state that Adam had lost; he was resurrected, no longer condemned to return to the dust. (ibid.--bolding mine)

Fascinating!!

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[wenglund]

Here is more from Barker:

Philo, the Egyptian Jewish scholar who lived at the same time as Jesus, knew that the oil transformed the high priest so that he was no longer a mortal, but a son of God. His mind was illuminated with brilliant light, and he was worthy to wear the robes of the high priest.(Philo, On Flight and Finding, 109-110)

The high priest was anointed on his forehead with the shape of a cross (Babylonian Talmud Horayoth 12), the ancient symbol for the Name of the LORD....The high priest was also anointed on his eyelids (Babylonian Talmud Horayoth 12), to show that his eyes had been opened, that he had received Wisdom’s gift of sight.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[wenglund]

Bill Hamblin, in an article on The Hidden Temple in John 17, devoted a section (#6) to Celestial Ascent and Unification (Deification), as found in John 17:20-24. He says:

This passage describes three interrelated themes: glorification, ascent, and unification.

First, I have already discussed the importance of the idea of the Glory of God and its

relation to the temple. Here, however, the focus shifts from the mutual glorification of the Father and the Son, to the Son sharing his glory with the disciples, as Jesus says: the “glory that you have given me I have given to them” (17:22). The idea here is not that the disciples merely see or recognize Jesus’ glory. Rather, they are given the glory by the Son precisely as the Son is given the glory by the Father. Why is this glory given? “That they may be one even as we are one” (17:22). That is, being given the glory of Jesus is a necessary prerequisite for unification, the third theme I’ll discuss in a moment....

Here Jesus is praying that the disciples may “be where I am,” that is ascend to heaven.

This is generally understood by modern Christians to refer to the post-mortal ascent of the soul to God, as is implied in in John 13:16, where Jesus tells Peter “where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward,” which means, presumably, after death.

However, in the context of the first century, visionary ascent by mortals to the heavenly temple was a widespread belief and practice among both Jews and Christians.(For a general introduction see M. Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian

Apocalypses, (Oxford, 1993) and C. Rowland and C. Morray-Jones, The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New Testament, (Brill, 2009). P. Gooder, Only the Third Heaven? 2 Corinthians 12.1-10 and Heavenly Ascent, (2006), surveys the scholarly literature and debates.)....

Third, the unification language in this passage is powerful and direct. Jesus prays:

• that [the disciples] may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they

also may be in us (17:21)

• they may be one even as we are one (17:22), and

• that they may become perfectly one (17:23)

Christians have been exploring the meaning of this glorification and unification language for two thousand years, and many different interpretations have been offered from different perspectives and periods. I suspect it can only be fully understood by one who has actually attained that state. But what is clear is that according to John 17, the disciples can somehow receive the glory of God and become one with the Father and the Son.

Many early Christians believed that this and related language in the New Testament

describes what they called theōsis, or deification. (In an appendix to this paper I have listed two dozen books on Christian theōsis published in the last decade alone.)

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[wenglund]

If interested, here is the bibliography Bill provides for recent books by Christians on deification:

Bartos, E. and K. Ware, Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology, (2007).

Burns, Charlene, Divine Becoming: Rethinking Jesus and Incarnation, (2002).

Casey, Michael, Fully Human-Fully Divine: An Interactive Christology, (2004).

Choufrine, Arkadi, Gnosis, Theophany, Theōsis: Studies in Clement of Alexandria’s Appropriation of his Background. (New York: Lang, 2002).

Christiansen Michael J. and Jeffery A. Wittung (Eds.), Partakers of the Divine Nature: The History and Development of Deification in the Christian Traditions (Fairleigh ****inson University Press, 2007).

Collins, Paul, Partaking in Divine Nature: Deification and Communion, (2010).

Cooper, Adam, The Body in St. Maximus the Confessor: Wholly Flesh, Wholly Deified, (2005).

Finlan, Stephen and V. Kharlamov (eds.), Theōsis: Deification in Christian Theology. (Eugene OR: Pickwick Publications, 2006).

Geroge of Mount Athos, Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life, (2006) .

Gorman, M. Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology, (Eerdmanns, 2009).

Gross, Jules. The Divinization of the Christian According to the Greek Fathers, trans. Paul A. Onica. (Anaheim, Calif.: A & C Press, 2002/1938).

Hudson, Nancy J. Becoming God: The Doctrine of Theosis in Nicholas of Cusa, (Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming 2007).

Karkkainen, V. One with God: Salvation As Deification and Justification, (2005).

Keating, D. Deification and Grace, (Sapientia Press, 2007).

Keating, D. The Appropriation of Divine Life in Cyril of Alexandria, (2006).

Kharlamov, V. The Beauty of the Unity and the Harmony of the Whole: The Concept of Theosis in the Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, (2009).

Kharlamov, V. (ed.) Theosis II: Deification in Christian Theology, Volume Two, (2011).

Maloney, Geroge, The Undreamed has Happened: God Lives Within Us, (2003).

Norman, Keith, Deification: The Content of Athanasian Soteriology (FARMS Occasional Papers, Vol. 1, 2000).

Russell, Norman. Fellow Workers with God: Orthodox Thinking on Theosis, (St. Vladimir’s, 2009).

Russell, N. The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2004).

Staniloae, Dumitru, The Experience of God: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. 2, The World, Creation and Deification, (2005).

Thomas, S. Deification in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: A Biblical Perspective (2008).

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Edited November 2, 2011 by wenglund

[volgadon]

One of the entries in the Classics of Western Spirituality is for Maximus the Confessor, one of the key formulators of theosis in Eastern Christianity.

[volgadon]

"Bar Yohai" is the title of one of the songs used in the Sabbath services of almost all Jewish communities.

It details how Bar Yohai (one of the main figures in the Kabbalah) associated with the sefirah (emanation of the Godhead) Malchut ascends from sefirah to sefirah, increasing in his light and knowledge, until he attains almost to the highest level of Godhead. At the beginning of the song he is described as a high priest, using the language of Ps. 45:8. Blessed are you, for you've been anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows. By the end of the song the people who are initiated into and study his esoteric doctrines are his priests, girded with his urim and thumim!

Yehuda Liebes has collected evidence showing that those who sang the song (and studied Kabbalah) with the right intentions became identified with Bar Yohai and the events outlined in the song...

"Bar Yohai" is filled with temple imagery. Of course, all of it is spiritualised, including the anointing oil.

Edited November 3, 2011 by volgadon

[wenglund]

"Bar Yohai" is the title of one of the songs used in the Sabbath services of almost all Jewish communities.

It details how Bar Yohai (one of the main figures in the Kabbalah) associated with the sefirah (emanation of the Godhead) Malchut ascends from sefirah to sefirah, increasing in his light and knowledge, until he attains almost to the highest level of Godhead. At the beginning of the song he is described as a high priest, using the language of Ps. 45:8. Blessed are you, for you've been anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows. By the end of the song the people who are initiated into and study his esoteric doctrines are his priests, girded with his urim and thumim!

Yehuda Liebes has collected evidence showing that those who sang the song (and studied Kabbalah) with the right intentions became identified with Bar Yohai and the events outlined in the song..."Bar Yohai" is filled with temple imagery. Of course, all of it is spiritualised, including the anointing oil.

As always, intriguing stuff.

In Kabbalah, is it just the high priests who can ascend from sefirah to sefirah, or is that something also available generally to believers?

And, what is the means for ascending?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[volgadon]

As always, intriguing stuff.

In Kabbalah, is it just the high priests who can ascend from sefirah to sefirah, or is that something also available generally to believers?

Usually, available to anyone who is righteous and studies the esoteric knowledge. In classic Hasidic thought it is somewhat restricted to the Tzaddikim. Noone else is considered as capable of completely cleaving to God and nullifying their independent self as they are.

And, what is the means for ascending?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Several ways. One of them is described in the Enoch the Shoemaker tradition which I posted on the previous page. To a great extent it is reflected in this song.

Another is knowing the right combination of holy names.