Ascension of Jesus
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The Ascension of Jesus (
The Gospels and other New Testament writings imply resurrection and exaltation as a single event.[4][5] The ascension is "more assumed than described," and only Luke and Acts contain direct accounts of it,[6] but with different chronologies.[note 1]
In
Biblical accounts
canonical gospels |
Portals: Christianity Bible |
Although the ascension is an important article of faith in Christianity, only Luke and Acts contain direct accounts of it. In the shorter ending of Mark, in Matthew, and in John, it is only implied or alluded to.[6] The Gospels do not picture resurrection and ascension as clearly separated in time.[8] Other New Testament writings also imply resurrection and exaltation as a single event.[8]
Various epistles (Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:19–20, Colossians 3:1, Philippians 2:9–11, 1 Timothy 3:16, and 1 Peter 3:21–22) refer to an ascension without specifying details, seeming, like Luke–Acts and John, to equate it with the post-resurrection "exaltation" of Jesus to the right hand of God.[12]
The ascension is detailed in both Luke and Acts, a pair of works ascribed to the same author, Luke the Evangelist:[13][7]
- Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives, and instructs them to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit: "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy."
- Acts 1 (Acts 1:1–9): Jesus tells the disciples to remain in Jerusalem and await the coming of the Holy Spirit; he is then taken up from the disciples in their sight, a cloud hides him from view, and two men in white appear to tell them that he will return "in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."[14]
Luke and Acts appear to describe the same event but present quite different chronologies, the gospel placing it on the same day as the resurrection and Acts forty days afterwards;
John's Gospel has three references to ascension in Jesus' own words: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man" (John 3:13); "What if you [the disciples] were to see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?" (John 6:62); and to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father..." (John 20:17).[7] In the first and second Jesus is claiming to be the apocalyptic "one like a Son of Man" of Daniel 7;[20] the last has mystified commentators – why should Mary be prohibited from touching the risen but not yet ascended Christ, while Thomas is later invited to do so?[21]
The longer ending of Mark describes an ascension, but is a later addition to the original version of that gospel.[22]
Views on the Ascension
Background
Ascension stories were fairly common around the time of Jesus and the evangelists,[23] signifying the deification of a noteworthy person (usually a Roman Emperor), and in Judaism as an indication of divine approval.[24] Another function of heavenly ascent was as a mode of divine revelation reflected in Greco-Roman, early Jewish, and early Christian literary sources, in which particular individuals with prophetic or revelatory gifts are said to have experienced a heavenly journey during which they learned cosmic and divine secrets.[24]
Figures familiar to Jews would have included
Non-Jewish readers would have been familiar with the case of the emperor Augustus, whose ascent was witnessed by Senators; Romulus the founder of Rome, who, like Jesus, was taken to heaven in a cloud; the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules); and others.[12]
Theology
In
This understanding is summarized by the theologian Justus Knecht who wrote: "Our Lord went up Body and Soul into heaven in the sight of His apostles, by His own power, to take possession of His glory, and to be our Advocate and Mediator in heaven with the Father. He ascended as Man, as Head of the redeemed, and has prepared a dwelling in heaven for all those who follow in His steps (Sixth article of the Creed)."[31]
Cosmology
The
In modern times, a literal reading of the ascension-stories has become problematic, due to the differences between the pre-scientific cosmology of the times of Jesus, and the scientific worldview that leaves no place for a Heaven above earth.[37][38] Theologian James Dunn describes the Ascension as at best a puzzle and at worst an embarrassment for an age that no longer conceives of a physical Heaven located above the Earth.[37] Similarly, in the words of McGill University's Douglas Farrow, in modern times the ascension is seen less as the climax of the mystery of Christ than as "something of an embarrassment in the age of the telescope and the space probe,"[38] an "idea [that] conjures up an outdated cosmology."[39]
Yet, according to Dunn, a sole focus on this disparity is beside the real importance of Jesus' ascension, namely the resurrection and subsequent exaltation of Jesus.[28] Farrow notes that, already in the third century, the ascension-story was read by Origen in a mystical way, as an "ascension of the mind rather than of the body," representing one of two basic ascension theologies.[40] The real problem is the fact that Jesus is both present and absent,[41] an ambiguity which points to a "something more" to which the Eucharist gives entry.[42][note 2]
Islam
The same doctrine takes on another meaning for Muslims: most Islamic scholars hold that Jesus, the penultimate prophet of Islam, was not crucified or resurrected but his body directly ascended.[45][46][47]
Nonreligious views
Russian skeptic Kirill Eskov in his "Nature"-praised work The Gospel of Afranius argues that it was politically prudent for the local Roman administration to strengthen Jesus's influence by spreading rumors about his miracles via active measures, with this story originating as a well-crafted deliberate lie.
Liturgy: Feast of the Ascension
The Feast of the Ascension is a major
One of the Ascension hymns is Christ fuhr gen Himmel.
In Christian art
The Ascension of Jesus has been a frequent subject in Christian art.[48] By the 6th century, the iconography of the Ascension had been established and by the 9th century, ascension scenes were being depicted on domes of churches.[49][50] The Rabbula Gospels (c. 586) include some of the earliest images of the ascension.[50] Many ascension scenes have two parts, an upper (Heavenly) part and a lower (earthly) part. The ascending Christ may be carrying a resurrection cross-banner or make a sign of benediction with his right hand.[51] The blessing gesture by Christ with his right hand is directed towards the earthly group below him and signifies that he is blessing the entire Church.[9] In the left hand, he may be holding a Gospel or a scroll, signifying teaching and preaching.[9]
The
Olivet and the Chapel of the Ascension
The traditional site of the ascension is
Around the year 390 a wealthy
Gallery
-
Rabbula Gospels
6th century -
Drogo Sacramentary
c. 850 -
Andrei Rublev
1408 -
Pietro Perugino
1496–1500 -
The Ascension, Dosso Dossi, 16th century.
-
Garofalo
1520 -
Armenian Gospel manuscript
1609 -
Rembrandt
1636 -
Macedonian icon, Bitola, Macedonia
19th century
See also
- Ascension Parish
- Assumption of Mary
- Chronology of Jesus
- Church of the Ascension (disambiguation)
- Entering Heaven Alive
- Life of Jesus in the New Testament
- Rapture
- Session of Christ
- Transfiguration of Jesus
References
Notes
- ^ In Luke, the ascension seems to be on the same day as the resurrection. In Acts, Jesus' ascension is situated on the fortieth day counting from the resurrection in the presence of eleven of his apostles,[7] thereby putting a limit on the number of resurrection appearances,[4] and effectively excluding Paul's conversion experience from the bona fide resurrection appearances.[8]
- ^ According to Farrow, this ambiguity of absence and presence poses central christological and theological questions concerning the identity of the church and its relation to past (death and resurrection) and future (second coming) events,[43] and to the present world, in which it is situated, but from which it is also different, through "its mysterious union with one whose life, though lived for the world, involves a genuine break with it."[44]
Citations
- ^ a b Novakovic 2014, p. 135.
- ^ a b Hurtado 2005, p. 508, 591.
- ^ a b c d e Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 114.
- ^ a b Dunn 2009, p. 146.
- ^ a b c Zwiep 2016, p. 145.
- ^ a b Holwerda 1979, p. 310-311.
- ^ a b c Holwerda 1979, p. 310.
- ^ a b c d Dunn 2009, p. 140.
- ^ a b c d Ouspensky & Lossky 1999, p. 197.
- ^ a b c Quast 2011, p. 45.
- ^ a b Stokl-Ben-Ezra 2007, p. 286.
- ^ a b McDonald 2004, p. 21.
- ^ Thompson 2010, p. 319.
- ^ Müller 2016, p. 113-114.
- ^ Seim 2009, p. 24.
- ^ Müller 2016, p. 113.
- ^ Dunn 2009, pp. 140, 146.
- ISBN 978-0-8308-3782-3
- ISBN 978-0-19-026426-0
- ^ Köstenberger 2004, p. 85.
- ^ Quast 1991, p. 134.
- ^ Cresswell 2013, unpaginated.
- ^ McDonald 2004, p. 22.
- ^ a b Aune 2003a, p. 65.
- ^ Munoa 2000, p. 109.
- ^ Zwiep 2016, p. 16.
- ^ Dunn 1985, p. 53.
- ^ a b Dunn 2009, p. 149.
- ^ Novakovic 2014, p. 152.
- ^ Dunn 2009, p. 218.
- ^ Knecht 1910, p. 729.
- ^ a b c Dunn 2009, p. 148.
- ^ Wright 2002, p. 53.
- ^ Najman 2014, p. 93.
- ^ Pennington 2007, p. 41-42.
- ^ Wright 2002, p. 54,56.
- ^ a b Seim 2009, p. 23.
- ^ a b Farrow 2011, p. 16.
- ^ Farrow 2004, p. 9.
- ^ Farrow 2011, p. 17.
- ^ Farrow 2004, p. 3, 8.
- ^ Farrow 2004, p. 3.
- ^ Farrow 2004, p. 8-9.
- ^ Farrow 2004, p. 11.
- S2CID 169663918. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ Lanier, Gregory R. (May 2016). "'It Was Made to Appear Like that to Them:' Islam's Denial of Jesus' Crucifixion". Reformed Faith & Practice: The Journal of Reformed Theological Seminary. 1 (1). Orlando, Florida: Reformed Theological Seminary: 39-55. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ Becchio & Schadé 2006, unpaginated.
- ^ Baggley 2000, p. 137-138.
- ^ a b Jensen 2008, p. 51-53.
- ^ Earls 1987, p. 26-27.
- ^ a b Nes 2005, p. 87.
- ^ Murphy-O'Connor 2008, p. 142.
- ^ "The Christ Church Angelus". archive.constantcontact.com. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
Works cited
- Aune, David (2003a). "Ascent, heavenly". The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-21917-8.
- Baggley, John (2000). Festival Icons for the Christian Year. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-88141-201-7.
- Becchio, Bruno; Schadé, Johannes P. (2006). "Ascension". Encyclopedia of World Religions. Foreign Media Group. ISBN 978-1-60136-000-7.
- Cresswell, Peter (2013). The Invention of Jesus: How the Church Rewrote the New Testament. Duncan Baird Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78028-621-1.
- Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). "Ascension". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
- Dunn, James D.G. (1985). The Evidence for Jesus. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-24698-3.
- Dunn, James D.G. (2009). Christianity in the Making Volume 2: Beginning From Jerusalem. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3932-9.
- Earls, Irene (1987). Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-24658-6.
- Farrow, Douglas (2004). Ascension And Ecclesia. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-567-08325-8.
- Farrow, Douglas B. (2011), Ascension Theology, Bloomsbury Publishing
- Holwerda, D.E. (1979). "Ascension". In Bromiley, Geoffrey (ed.). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3781-3.
- Hurtado, Larry (2005), Lord Jesus Christ. Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, Eerdmans
- Jensen, Robin M. (2008). "Art in Early Christianity". In Benedetto, Robert; Duke, James O. (eds.). The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22416-5.
- Knecht, Friedrich Justus (1910). "Chapter ·LXXXIII. The Ascension of Jesus Christ". . B. Herder – via Wikisource.
- Köstenberger, Andreas J. (2004). John. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0-8010-2644-7.
- Lawson, Todd (2009). The Crucifixion and the Quran: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-85168-635-3.
- McDonald, Lee Martin (2004). "Acts". In Combes, Isobel A. H.; Gurtner, Daniel M. (eds.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary. David C Cook. ISBN 978-0-7814-4006-6.
- Müller, Mogens (2016). "Acts as biblical rewriting of the gospels and Paul's letters". In Müller, Mogens; Nielsen, Jesper Tang (eds.). Luke's Literary Creativity. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-66583-6.
- Munoa, Phillip (2000). "Ascension". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2.
- Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome (2008). The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-164766-6.
- Najman, Hindy (2014). Losing the Temple and Recovering the Future: An Analysis of 4 Ezra. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-91584-7.
- Nes, Solrunn (2005). The Mystical Language of Icons. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2916-0.
- Novakovic, Lidija (2014), Raised from the Dead According to Scripture: The Role of the Old Testament in the Early Christian Interpretations of Jesus' Resurrection, A&C Black
- Ouspensky, Léonide; Lossky, Vladimir (1999). The Meaning of Icons. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-913836-77-4.
- Pennington, Jonathan T. (2007). Heaven and earth in the Gospel of Matthew. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-16205-1.
- Quast, Kevin (1991). Reading the Gospel of John. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-3297-3.
- Quast, Kevin (2011). "Ascension Day". In Melton, J. Gordon (ed.). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-205-0.
- Seim, Turid Karlsen (2009). "The Resurrected Body in Luke-Acts: The Significance of Space". In Seim, Turid Karlsen; Økland, Jorunn (eds.). Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-020299-1.
- Stokl-Ben-Ezra, Daniel (2007). "Parody and Polemics on Pentecost". In Gerhards, Albert; Leonhard, Clemens (eds.). Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-474-2241-9.
- Thompson, Richard P. (2010). "Luke-Acts: The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles". In Aune, David E. (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament. Wiley–Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4443-1894-4.
- Wright, J. Edward (2002). The Early History of Heaven. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-802981-6.
- Zwiep, Arie W. (2016). "Ascension scholarship past present and future". In Pao, David W.; Bryan, David K. (eds.). Ascent into Heaven in Luke-Acts: New Explorations of Luke's Narrative Hinge. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-5064-1896-4.
Further reading
- Aune, David (2003b). "Cosmology". The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-21917-8.
- Burkett, Delbert (2002). An introduction to the New Testament and the origins of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00720-7.
- Charlesworth, James H. (2008). The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-1-4267-2475-6.
- Collins, Adela Yarbro (2000). Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-11927-7.
- Davies, J. G. (1958). He Ascended into Heaven, London: Lutterworth Press.
- Dawson, Gerrit (2004). Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ's Continuing Incarnation. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-11987-2.
- Deharbe, Joseph (1912). . A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion. Translated by Rev. John Fander. Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss.
- Farrow, Douglas (2011). Ascension Theology. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-65188-4.
- Hurtado, Larry W. (2005). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3167-5.
- Knight, Douglas A.; Levine, Amy-Jill (2011). The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-209859-7.
- Lee, Sang Meyng (2010). The Cosmic Drama of Salvation. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-150316-0.
- Lincoln, Andrew (2004). Paradise Now and Not Yet. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-60939-5.
- Packer, J. I. (2008). Affirming the Apostles' Creed. Crossway. ISBN 978-1-4335-2201-7.
- Park, Eung Chun (2003). Either Jew or Gentile: Paul's Unfolding Theology of Inclusivity. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22453-0.
- Vermes, Geza (2001). The Changing Faces of Jesus. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0-14-191258-5.
- Wynne, John Joseph (1907). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- Zwiep, Arie W. (1997). The Ascension of the Messiah in Lukan Christology. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10897-4.