#154 – Eastern Orthodoxy, symbolism and mysticism

For some, the Bible takes on a deeper meaning when you read it less literally … exchanging certainty and rigidity for the fluidity of symbology, metaphor, and mysticism.

If there’s one characteristic that sets Christian Fundamentalists apart from other forms of Christianity, it’s an over zealous commitment to a literal reading of the Bible.  Exaggeration, embellishment, hyperbole, and wordplay are all part of daily conversation, but Fundies seem to think these have no place when it comes to the writing, reading and interpretation of scripture.  Just think Young Earth Creationism and the Chicago statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

Today we talk to someone from the other end of the Christian spectrum, one who grew up in a Roman Catholic environment, spent the first 20 years of his life as a Baptist, but was eventually drawn into the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  In fact, he has carved a career out of symbolism.  Jonathan Pageau is a world-recognized sculptor from Montreal Quebec, who has devoted his talent to Eastern Orthodox iconography; he often speaks on that art form and on that Christian perspective.  In our conversation with him, we talked about:

• mysticism is missing from much of evangelical practice, even though it was practised by the earliest Christian fathers and leaders …. “read the gospel of John for goodness sake!”
• there is a long history of mysticism in early Christianity
• reason vs symbolism, and their roles in the spiritual experience
• deep familiarity with Roman Catholicism, Protestantism (Baptist), Evangelical youth culture
• in his 20s, Jonathan went to college, which led to reading books and exploring questions that eventually drew him to the world of Eastern Orthodox faith and its art (first painting, then later iconography)
• iconography is a powerful language … tries to capture patterns, resonances all around us (in daily life … in science … in the Bible)
• iconography is a visual language …. universal …. developed very early in Christianity
• Jonathan exchanged the certainty and rigidness of Evangelical religion for a more fluid, symbolic form in Eastern Orthodoxy
• Jesus always taught in parables, rather than literal didactic sermonizing … very symbolic and metaphorical
• teleological language is every where in scientific discussion
• also see this in the secular world: Star Wars, Marvel Universe, Burning Man are drenched in symbolism and imagery; devotees of things like these are [unconsciously] exploring religious themes … maybe even Christian themes …. they are being liturgical
• Tolkien, allegory, eucatastrophe, and “True Myth”
• Christ and the self-sacrificial motif, which is also employed in all kinds of stories, movies, songs
• we asked if, having left a literal, rigid, Evangelical world for a symbolic Eastern Orthodox perspective, does Jonathan now find the Bible becomes more real when you take it more metaphorically
• in the world of science and math, Logical Positivists thought they could reduce reality to numbers and equations, and take meaning out of reality…. but they couldn’t!   They found language and symbology to be more effective
• Western society has tried several times to remove religion from our world/reality, and the result has not been good, sometimes even disastrous (French Revolution; Communism).  Today, the Enlightenment has played itself out, and left us empty.  Now we see religion coming crashing down on us in the form of Woke Culture … bending truth, twisting meaning and reality …. some things you can’t say because they’re “sacrilegious.”

As always, tell us what you think (comment below, or in our private Facebook Discussion group) …

Find more information about Jonathan Pageau at his website and at his YouTube channel.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like our previous conversation with Dr. Louis Markos about literature, mythology, and Jesus as “the True Myth,” or the one with Dr. Seth Hart about how scientists can’t avoid injecting purpose and meaning in their descriptions of science, including evolutionary biology.

Episode image by permission.

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