Second of the Papers: 20 Things

Hello again!
This is extra credit for Christian Heritage. We were supposed to find 20 things during our travels that have something to do with Church history and write a paragraph on each. Again, if you like editing, feel free to direct my attention to a mistake. I may add pictures if I have time or I get bored of writing my Oxford Christians paper.

1) Each Anglican Church we entered had a lectern in the shape of an eagle. An eagle is a sign of truth, plus the bible was supposed to be opened on wings of eagles. The eagle was a Celtic sign before the Roman Catholic Church. The use of it in English churches shows that they used native pagan superstition and belief in order to convert the natives.

2) At St. Doulagh’s, a Celtic cross marked the boundary of the church. This was common practice, since it was there before there was any formal structure or building. This shows how in the beginning, a holy place could just be around holy water rather than a building. The place of worship was there before the church. This shows how they felt tied with the land and the holy water as a place of worship for centuries, not just focusing on a building where everyone comes to for commerce.
3) The leper’s window in St. Doulagh’s shows how from an early time, the church was a place that reached out to all people, even lepers. It marks a precedence for many other leper’s windows and eventually leper missions. The church from the very beginning worked to help the sick.

4) The Gothic architecture in Christ Church Cathedral is supposed to draw the viewer’s eye to God. It shows the change in the church how it began to focus more on the mysticism in the service and the distance each person had from the priest and God.
5) The rude screen in Christ Church Cathedral was to guard the Eucharist from the people. This again marked separation from the people to sacraments. The reformation took most of these down, but it still stands in Christ Church Cathedral.
6) The stained glass windows in Christ Church were built in order to tell the story of the gospel to the illiterate. This shows how the church sought to teach the people of the church what they believed. Also, it shows how many illiterate people were in the church and why many never could read scripture. They could not understand Latin mass, so their only education may have been their visual stimuli.

7) At St. Martin’s, the oldest part was built for Queen Bertha, the Christian wife of King Ethelbert. This inspired Pope Gregory to send Augustine of Canterbury to England. Without Queen Bertha, Christianity in England would have been extremely different, and not nearly as Roman.
8) On some of the newer stained glass in Canterbury Cathedral, there is a red keyhole shaped like a swastika. It represents the freedom from death camps after the Holocaust. Such small imagery shows how the church continues to make great statements through stained glass.

9) Wreaths of red paper poppies are laid on the monuments of WW1 and WW2 veterans in Westminster Abbey. I love how they still respect this tradition to pay respect to the veterans. The poppy is chosen because they bloom in one of the bloodiest battlefields in World War I, Flander’s Field. It also shows how intimately tied the Anglican church is with the war and the politics of Britain. Beautiful red paper poppies frame the grave of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey. The Church of England is much more intertwined with England, and thus, they pay more respect to their soldiers.
10) Behind the main part of St. Paul’s Cathedral is an entire area dedicated “To the American dead of the Second World War from the people of Britain.” I felt my heart just drop it was so moving. Yet again, the Anglican Church seems to be very in tune with the affects of both world wars because they practically wiped out an entire generation of men from England.
11) In the cathedral at Christ Church, Oxford, there is a skull with wings up in the right hand corner of the center of the cathedral. Earlier peoples would have been able to understand the symbolism very easily. This showed how symbolism of pictorial images was more poignant than words to a community of believers that could not read. The church catered to their needs, and they would not need to be able to read the Latin inscription underneath. Today it continues to be a symbol of good luck as motorcycle riders bear it on their backs to wish happy journeys.
12) St. Doulagh’s has a murder hole in its stairwell. This shows how early Celtic churches had to defend themselves. Vikings had no problem with sacking churches. It showed how the church had to defend itself just like every other institution in those times.
13) There is a special bench for the royalty to sit on in Christ Church Cathedral. The church very early on knew what they had to do in order to appease the royalty. There was no equality in seating like we typically think we might have today. However, Baptist churches seemed to have assigned seating, so there is not much we can judge. But it does show that those who had the money and status could get a better spot in the Cathedral and in fact had their own insignia on their bench.

14) Strongbow’s tomb, or at least his effigy lies in the nave of Christ Church Cathedral. It was said that agreements made by his effigy would be binding contracts. Much of the business of Dublin was conducted in the knave during the week. This shows how the church was not just the religious center but also the economic center of medieval cities.
15) At St. Augustine’s abbey, there were a few stone towers that seemed completely out of place. They are perhaps Anglo-Saxon remnants of a temple to their God. This shows how often times the church was built on previous worship sites in order to stamp out other religions. Perhaps they may consider the site holy or something.
16) In St. Martin’s, a spring constantly runs out from the bottom of the foundation. This is where Queen Bertha originally worshipped. Her chapel was built here because the springs were already considered sacred as a place of worship for a fertility goddess. Interestingly enough, this spring runs all the way to the site of St. Augustine’s Abbey. It shows how early Christianity was intrinsically mixed with other ancient religions in the area. Both considered the sites holy and continued the tradition of worshipping there.

17) In one of the stained glass windows for St. Frideswide in the cathedral in Christ Church, Oxford, there is a Thomas Crapper toilet in the background along with a china cabinet, both entirely out of their time. This shows how the stained glass makers either had a sense of humor, or the invention of the Crapper toilet was something to be advertised even in the church. The church wasn’t entirely serious. They had a bit of humor.
18) John and Charles Wesley are buried in the cathedral in Christ Church, Oxford. This reveals that the church still was very proud to bury very famous alumni even if they broke off from the Church of England. They are not entirely stubborn, even if the Church of England refused to send out any Methodist pastors to Methodist congregations in colonies.

19) There is an Impressionistic statue of Mary Magdalen and Jesus in Magdalen College, Oxford. Dr. Hanks found this interesting because Magdalen College has not been a Christian university for years and years. This shows a vestige of their earlier Christian affiliation shining through, despite agnosticism pervading the intellectual community in Britain.
20) In room 30 of the Ashmolean museum is a huge collection of icons and other items from the Byzantine church. An icon of Mary and Jesus is a very flat, unrealistic image with golden halos. These images were not supposed to draw attention to themselves but rather to move the viewer and remind them of the story of the birth of Jesus. They weren’t necessarily worshipping the image, but worshipping what the image led them directly to: God.