Julie’s recent post on “Neuroscience and ToB” made and excellent point: how we live and relate to one another quite literally
affects the way our brains are wired.
The very cells within our bodies respond to the way we live, and the way
we live in shaped by how our brains are wired.
As the Psalmist says, “I
praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well..”(Psalm 139:14)
How we live and what we know and feel are indeed related. We have recently been hearing about Anglicanism at Truro,
and I am reminded that the Anglican way of life is deeply rooted in the ancient
Christianity of the British isles, long before the English Reformation gave
birth to a uniquely Anglican way of Christian life. That way was characterized by an integrated
way of living, where head and heart were held together in the activities of
daily life. Body, mind, and soul were not separated like they are in the modern
world, where fact and value, science and religion, knowledge and living, are
quite separate things: “Don't try to tell me how I should live; I
can do quite well by myself, thank you.”
That body, mind, and soul should be integrated—and knowledge
of God and knowledge of the world from science do not exist in separate spheres--was
driven home for me as I reflect upon the person who is commemorated today in
the calendar of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This is the feast day of the Venerable Bede,
a priest, monk, and scholar who lived in the north of England and died May 25,
735. We do not have to be monks to live
integrated lives. But I think if Bede
had lived today, he would have greatly appreciated the Theology of the Body,
with its comprehensive vision of the world and humanity, where body, soul, spirit, mind are held together, and no one lives alone for himself, but is part of a larger order where others are taken into account with Christ the center of it all.
Here
is a short biography, written by James Kiefer (from this link):
Bede
was a monk at the English monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow,
in Northumbria. From the age of seven, he spent all his life at that
monastery except for a few brief visits to nearby sites. He says
of himself: "I have devoted my energies to a study of the Scriptures,
observing monastic discipline, and singing the daily services in church;
study, teaching, and writing have always been my delight."
He
was the first person to write scholarly works in the English language, although
unfortunately only fragments of his English writings have survived. He
translated the Gospel of John into Old English, completing the work on the
very day of his death. He also wrote extensively in Latin. He
wrote commentaries on the Pentateuch and other portions of Holy Scripture.
His best-known work is his History of The English Church and People, a
classic which has frequently been translated and is available in Penguin
Paperbacks. It gives a history of Britain up to 729, speaking of
the Celtic peoples who were converted to Christianity during the
first three centuries of the Christian era, and the invasion of
the Anglo-Saxon pagans in the fifth and sixth centuries, and their
subsequent conversion by Celtic missionaries from the north and west, and
Roman missionaries from the south and east. His work is our chief source
for the history of the British Isles during this period. Fortunately, Bede was
careful to sort fact from hearsay, and to tell us the sources of his
information. He also wrote hymns and other verse, the first martyrology
with historical notes, letters and homilies, works on grammar, on chronology
and astronomy -- he was aware that the earth is a sphere, and he is the
first historian to date events Anno Domini, and the earliest known
writer to state that the solar year is not exactly 365 and a quarter
days long, so that the Julian calendar (one leap year every four
years) requires some adjusting if the months are not to get out of step
with the seasons.
His
hymns include one for the Ascension, which follows.
A
hymn of glory let us sing;
New songs throughout the world shall ring:
Christ, by a road before untrod,
Now rises to the throne of God.
The holy apostolic band
Upon the Mount of Olives stand;
And with his followers they see
Their Lord's ascending majesty.
To them the angels drawing nigh,
"Why stand and gaze upon the sky?
This is the Savior," thus they say;
"This is his glorious triumph day.
"Again shall ye behold him so
As ye today have seen him go,
In glorious pomp ascending high,
Up to the portals of the sky."
O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
All praise to thee let earth accord,
Who art, while endless ages run,
With Father and with Spirit one.
Prayer
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