Dear Pat,
IIRC ghosts belong to the here and now (are they time-travellers ?) but that
the resurrection of the body will occur on the Last Day, just in time for
the Last Judgement.
Wasn't there at one time a lot of opposition to cremation by the Roman
Catholic church on the grounds that cremation meant there were no bodily
remains to be raised ? (Novel or play by Graham Greene on this theme ??)
And wasn't this part of the motivation for the burning of heretics ? That
they would thereby be denied bodily resurrection ?
I think a great point was made at the rehabilitation of Joan of Arc that the
fire had NOT consumed her heart so there was something left of her to act as
a focus for bodily resurrection.
Also I seem to remember similar anxieties accompanying the work of
anatomists.
And amputees anxious about 'getting back' the missing limb in time for the
resurrection.
Also isn't there a poem by the Marquis of Montrose written just before he
was hung, drawn and quartered (1650) in which he expresses the belief that
although his body will be dismembered and distributed over the country, yet
he trusts God to reunite the parts - and justify him - at the Last
Judgement.
This does suggest two different 'popular' beliefs in the resurrection.
1. that the body needed to be intact or at any rate with all its parts, and
2. that as long as a vital part remained the rest could be added to it.
Could these represent difference between catholic and protestant attitudes ?
I am sorry this is a bit vague. I feel I have added confusion not
clarification ...
Brenda M. Cook
"*I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth; and though **worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God." Job 19 25-6 modified in Handel's "Messiah" - soprano aria
beginning of Pt III.
* AV begins the verse with "For.."
** AV inserts "...after my skin ..."
I don't think the omissions by Handel's librettist have any theological
significance ...
The verses are among the "sentences" at the beginning of the funeral service
in the Book of Common Prayer.
BMC
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 4:38 PM
Subject: Resurrection of the body
> Thanks for any advisement, suggestions, or clarifications.
>
> pat sloane
>
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