Sárospataki Füzetek 17. (2013)
2013 / 1-2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Sawyer, Frank: Krisztus, egyház és világ T. S. Eliot Kórusok "A sziklá"-ból, 1934 c. versében
Sawyer Frank Spring always new forms of life... Out of the slimy mud of words... There spring the perfect order of speech, and the beauty of incantation. Lord, shall we not bring these gifts to Your service? For man is joined spirit and body, And therefore must serve as spirit and body. Visible and invisible, two worlds meet in Man; Visible and invisible must meet in His Temple; You must not deny the body. [75-6] Eliot posits that all our life should return praise to our Creator, represented here by the creative arts and crafts (but he also mentions “all our powers/For life, for dignity, grace and order,/And intellectual pleasures of the senses”). The logic of‘spirit and body’ is that we must serve God in all dimensions. When he says, “You must not deny the body”, he means that our material life is also spiritual, to be offered to God. But the other meaning of course, is that we should not deny the Body of Christ (those who gather to worship in the temple). Also: temple can be the church building; but also the Body of Christ, sacrificed for us. The main point is that the sacral dimension of life must be recognized. There has been considerable debate about interpreting ‘body’ {soma) and ‘flesh’ (sarx) in the New Testament and throughout the history of philosophy and theology. Eliot deals with this throughout his works. Like Augustine and so many others, Eliot came to realize that the negative use of ‘flesh’ in the Bible refers sometimes to our finiteness, but also often to the ethical category of rebellion against the will of God. ‘Body’ is positive and should not be confused with the special use of the word ‘flesh’ (which is both individual and collective) as humanity rejecting God. III. 10. Tenth chorus — One church built When we reach the end of the play the final theme is that of divine Light, but first there is the warning that besides the light, there is also darkness, besides good, also evil: The great snake lies ever awake, at the bottom of the pit of the world, curled In folds of himself until he awakens in hunger and moving his head to right and to left prepares for his hour to devour. But the Mystery of Iniquity is a pit too deep for mortal eyes to plumb. Come Ye out from among those who prize the serpent’s golden eyes, 76 Sárospataki Füzetek 2013/1-2
