Mars, Venus, Neptune and Jupiter are part of the kaleidoscope of what was ostensibly the prevailing understanding of deity in the Roman world. We are foolish to dismiss them as Punch and Judy creatures who entertain us at the seaside. They are more than that. They are personifications of the deep forces at work in human beings. As imaginative beings they gave the citizens of Augustus and Tiberius pictorial representations that could be recognised and talked about. It was very much like giving a familiar object a name. Polytheism gave humans a working vocabulary.
It also promoted fantasy. Martial and erotic imagery and narrative not only provided a means of understanding motivation; it allowed exponents to manufacture a fantasy world. If the gods were pulling the strings and activating men and women, then they could be held responsible. The everyday world could be understood as a play-ground of the gods. Half-belief of this kind undermined any requirement to look further into the matter. It was one means of dealing with Eliot’s disturbing view that men and women cannot bear too much reality. Fatalism is another recipe for displacing any need to dig deeper. So is indulging a cult of celebrity or a habit of denying any attention to elements such as cruelty or revenge in the human scene.
It is true, then, that religion can shape denial. ‘All things bright and beautiful’ is all very well but it does not do justice to the self-satisfaction and selectivity that may temper a Christian world-view. Something more robust, more searching is required for a serious attempt to understand the human dilemma. By the time Paul had got into the heart of his letter to the Romans he was saying that the Christian hope, the hope of glory and a resolution of suffering was no fantasy.
Fantasy, like cheerfulness, is always breaking through. It was the case with Oliver Edwards, if we are to believe Boswell, and it derailed his attempt to be a philosopher. Fantasy is living in a world of make-believe and it is as widespread now as it ever was. We have to follow Paul’s argument as far as Romans 5.5, particularly in a modern translation, if we are to avoid this temptation. Perhaps he had in mind the as yet unwritten imagery concluding the Sermon on the Mount.
ECCLESALL BUDGET
All Saints’ church, Ecclesall, Sheffield has been encouraged by the generous giving of the congregation during lockdown. With a ministry team led by Mark Brown it has budgeted for a phased return to previous income levels. With Julia Newton as treasurer, a planned deficit of £24k and a contingency fund of £40k it faces bills for exterior repairs and lighting with serious intent.
ONLY THREE
As I understand it, there are no more than three churches in England dedicated to Quiricus. One is at Ickenham, a parish in Somerset combined with Christ Church, Nailsea. Jules Harris leads the team, which is at present grappling with a re-ordering scheme and the planning of a retreat at Lee Abbey in 2022. The current magazine has an article on Dante and a quite good poem entitled ‘Spitfire’. Oh, by the way, Quiricus was a child martyr, as legend has it, and his widowed mother Julietta also became a martyr. And Nailsea may come from the Anglo-Saxon Naegli’s Island.
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