I had posted this week a couple of comments to Nick Knisely’s blog where he and some others are “struggling” with the doctrines of “the fall” and “the incarnation” as they might apply to the future discovery of non-terrestrial intelligent life. I have twice advanced the opinion that “the fall” is overemphasized in Western Spirituality thanks to Augustine and Anselm of Canterbury. I have also suggested that the “incarnation” is a doctrine that is not necessarily tied tightly to “the fall” nor ideas of human “sinfulness.”
I was re-reading this week from a book by Philip Jenkins entitled The Lost History of Christianity. This is a commentary-loaded history of the Christian East in the areas of Syria, Iran, Iraq, India, Tibet, China, etc. These so-called “Nestorian” Christians had a vibrant culture and, in their day, far outnumbered the Christians of Europe and the Mediterranean.
One text that we owe to the earliest days of Syrian Christianity is the so-called “Odes of Solomon.” Clearly not Solomonic, but Christian in origin, they should not be confused with the similarly named Psalms of Solomon that are a pharasaic Judaic creation. The Odes have been criticized by some for “gnostic” content (they mention “knowledge” here and there), but classical elements of developed gnostic thought are plainly missing (e.g. the “evil” nature of the physical world/creation for example). In the translantion by James Charlesworth, they are incredibly beautiful poems/hymns and demonstrate a theology rather more akin to the Johanine tradition than anything else in our current corpus. These odes were “discovered” in the late 19th/early 20th century and have since been found in multiple manuscript traditions. Scholars have dated them to about the 2d century (some minority opinions say late 1st century) of the common era making them about contemporary with the Didache. Had these texts been widely circulated in the Christian West, I think that they would have stood an excellent chance of inclusion in the New Testament canon of scripture.
Since our canon is long-since “closed,” that is “water under the bridge,” but they are nevertheless beautiful pieces of Christian poetry. They reveal a gentle and kindly God who, like a divine mother, offers “his breasts” for milk for his children. They describe a view of the incarnation that is both ancient and fresh, singularly lacking in the dark colorations given that doctrine by Augustine and Anselm and their adherents in the west.
There is a free online version of the Charlesworth translation that is available at the link: The Odes of Solomon
I’ll also “paste in” a copy of the segment that I quoted in Dean Knisely’s blog, Entangled States
From Ode 7
"For there is a helper for me, the Lord. He has generously shown himself to me in his simplicity, because his kindness has diminished his dreadfulness.
He became like me, that I might receive Him. In form he was considered like me, that I might put him on.
And I trembled not when I saw him, because he was gracious to me.
Like my nature he became, that I might understand him. And like my form, that I might not turn away from him.
The Father of Knowledge is the Word of knowledge.
He who created wisdom is wiser than his works.
And he who created me when yet I was not knew what I would do when I came into being.
On account of this, he was gracious to me in his abundant grace, and allowed me to ask from him and to benefit from his sacrifice.
For he it is who is incorrupt, the perfection of the worlds and their Father.
He has allowed Him to appear to them that are his own; in order that they may recognize him that made them, and not suppose that they came of themselves.
For towards knowledge he has set his way, he has widened it and lengthened it and brought it to complete perfection.
And has set over it the traces of his light, and it proceeded from the beginning until the end.
For by him, he was served, and he was pleased by the Son.
And because of his salvation, he will possess everything. And the Most High will be known by his holy ones:
To announce the coming of the Lord, that they may go forth to meet him and may sing to him, with joy and with the harp of many tones...
Let the singers sing the grace of the Lord Most High, and let them bring their songs.
And let their heart be like the day, and their gentle voices like the majestic beauty of the Lord.
And let there not be anyone who breathes that is without knowledge or voice.
For he gave a mouth to his creation: to open the voice of the mouth towards him, and to praise him."
I found this, frankly, to be stunningly beautiful. What's more surprising is that all of the Odes are like this. How did we "miss" this text in the West, and why are they not more popular?
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