That was the version that is presently suggested for a NT reading at
funerals in the Episcopal Church (USA); I'd have to agree that it has some
odd resonances. KJV for the relevant text is not altogether free from
difficulties either:
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon [sic]
with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall
not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being
burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that
mortalilty might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the
Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not
by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that,
whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 2 Cor. 5:1-9
On Thu, 17 May 2007 19:34:38 +0100
Penny McCarthy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 'At home or away'? How prescient of St. Paul to understand that our
>earthly
> struggle would come to be seen as some kind of soccer match. Let's hope
> Charlton are among the Elect. Penny.
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of James C. Nohrnberg
> Sent: 17 May 2007 17:23
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Spenser and the body II
>
> Compare from the quoted passage, "And as we have borne the image of the
> earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly," with the Garden of
> Adonis at FQ III.vi.36f, "he [Genius] with fleshly weedes would them
>attire
> ... Such as him list ... he clothes with sinfull mire ... After that they
> againe returned beene, ... as they had neuer seene / Fleshly corruption,"
> with FQ I.x.39:
>
> The third [Beadsman]had of their wardrobe custodie,
> In which were not rich tyres, nor garments gay,
> The plumes of pride, and wings of vanities.
> But clothes meet to keepe keene could away,
> And naked nature seemely to aray;
> With which bare wretched wights he dayly clad,
> The images of God in earthly clay;
> And if that no spare cloths to giue he had,
> His owne coate he would cut, and it distribute glad.
>
> That this 3rd Act of Corporal Mercy is a figure for the clothing of the
> soul, and for the garments of skins, or patristically-allegorically
> post-lapsarian flesh, in which God clothed the fallen protoplasts in Gen.
> 3:21, is proposed in AnFQ somewhere or other.
>
> And to the passage quoted from 1 Cor. 15 we might add some of 2 Cor. 4,
>esp.
>
> on the nakedness/clothed trope:
>
> So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our
> inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary
> affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all
> measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be
>seen;
>
> for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
>
>For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
> building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
>For
> in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling-
>if
> indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we
> are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to
>be
>
> unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
>swallowed
>
> up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has
>given
>
> us the Spirit as a guarantee.
>
> So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home
>in
>
> the body we are away from the Lord- for we walk by faith, not by sight.
>Yes,
>
> we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at
>home
>
> with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to
> please him.
>
> --2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
>
>
>
> On Thu, 17 May 2007 11:56:40 -0400
> "James C. Nohrnberg" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> The body is a clog, and yet we are rarely out of the body: it is that
>>thing in which we seem "to live and move and have our being," contra our
>>being in Paul's Lord in Acts 17:28 -- the God who nonetheless "giveth to
>>all life, and breath, and all things" (vs. 25). Therefore the text I'd be
>>resurrecting, whether in relation to Spenser or Milton or contra Plato, is
>>probably this:
>>
>> All flesh is not the same flesh ... So also is the resurrection of the
>>dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown
>>in
>> dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness: it is raised
>>in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There
>
>>is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written,
>>The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
>>quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that
>
>>which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is
>>of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the
>>earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such
>>are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the
>>earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say,
>>brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither
>>doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
>>shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the
>>twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
>>the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
>>corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
>>immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
>>this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
>>the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. -- 1 Cor.
>>39, 42-54
>>
>> -- Jim N.
>>
>> On Thu, 17 May 2007 10:33:03 -0400
>> David Wilson-Okamura <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Our reading today comes from Wisdom 9:15:
>>>
>>> "The corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle
>>>weighs down the mind that muses on many things."
>>>
>>> May God add his blessing to this, his semi-canonical word.
>>>
>>> A few weeks ago I spent a couple of hours resurrecting old files from an
>>>obsolete word processor format. Somehow, I think scholarship would have
>>>survived the loss of my college essays on Conrad, but you never can tell!
>>>(While working, I had Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" playing in the
>>>background on infinite repeat. Some people think that's a song about
> Warren
>>>Beatty, but really she wrote it about me.) Among the papers that I
>>>condemned to remembrance was one on Milton's poem "On Time," in which I
>>>compared the young Milton's desire to leave the body behind (because it
>>>weighs down the spirit) with the monism of Paradise Lost (in which even
>>>angels eat and go to the bathroom). The last line of the essay was a
>>>quotation from one of Milton's early biographers, to the effect that
> Milton
>>>was "a spare man."
>>>
>>> I am not as spare as the college freshman who wrote that essay, but I was
>
>>>thinking about its substance last week at Kalamazoo, when I missed our
>>>first Spenser session because of a King Kong headache. Instead of hearing
>>>what, by all accounts, was an excellent paper on Spenser's Latinity, I lay
>
>>>in my dorm bed cursing my earthly tabernacle. As a religious person, I
>>>don't like to think of my body as "me." The real me is spirit, and when
> the
>>>body dies the spirit will rise up and go on living. But when the body is
> in
>>>pain, the spirit can't go on with its normal business. At least mine
> can't.
>>>To someone who believes in spirit, this is distressing, because it makes
>>>one question whether the spirit is really separable.
>>>
>>> Of course, as a Christian I am also obliged to believe that the body is
>>>good: was created good on the sixth day, and was further ennobled c. 4 BC
>>>by the Incarnation. I know all that, and in an equable mood I can believe
>>>it. But pain brings other verses -- counter-truths -- to recollection:
> "The
>>>spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Mt. 26:41, Mk. 14:38). "Who will
>
>>>deliver me from this body of death" (Rom. 7:24)?
>>>
>>> Where do we think Spenser fits into all of this? In FQ, he seems to
> enjoin
>>>temperance and purity, but not asceticism. Sometimes, though, he hints
> that
>>>the body is a source of sin. In the Garden of Adonis, he speaks of our
>>>"sinfull mire" (3.6.32). In "Daphnaida" (which, we were told last
> Thursday,
>>>is not really such a terrible poem as we think it is), death is said to
>>>have "assoyld" the soul of Douglas Howard "from sinfull fleshlinesse"
>>>(259). "Flesh" is said to be "sinfull" again in HHL 97.
>>>
>>> Is this contradiction, or just complexity? Cf. that other Irish poet, who
>
>>>in one poem celebrates Love that "has pitched its mansion / In the place
> of
>>>excrement," and in another poem feels sorry for the old soul "fastened to
> a
>>>dying animal."
>>>
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Dr. David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org [log in to unmask]
>>> English Department Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
>>> East Carolina University Sparsa et neglecta coegi. -- Claude Fauchet
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> James Nohrnberg
>> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
>> Univ. of Virginia
>> P.O Box 400121
>> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
>
> [log in to unmask]
> James Nohrnberg
> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
> Univ. of Virginia
> P.O Box 400121
> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
[log in to unmask]
James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
|