Crucifixion According to St Mark
Date: 1947
Medium: oil
Dimensions: 800 x 1095 mm
Collection: Christchurch Art Gallery
I wanted to write something about the 'historical person with the name starting with J' and Easter but everyone tends to freak out and sends me links about German pagan harvest festivals (..sigh..yes I know, I did third form social studies too).
It seems the American Christian Right has hijacked the J word and made it all intolerant and nasty and Sarah Palinish and somehow linked the J word to tax reform and guns and lots of yucky other things that have very little to do with the stuff that 'actual historical person starting with J' talked about. The church is a very imperfect thing because it's made of munted imperfect people..like me.
So let's call him Joshua (cos that's actually his name and hopefully won't trigger your gag reflex).
The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew: יהושע "Yehoshua," meaning "Yahweh is salvation", from the Hebrew root ישע
"Jesus" is the rendition in English of the Greek transliteration of "Yehoshua". In the Septuagint, all instances of "Yehoshua" are rendered as "Ἰησοῦς" (Iēsoūs/Jesus), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew.[4][5]
Joshua is a pretty important dude regardless of your faith, and to try and chop him out of Easter is a bit intolerant and Sarah Palinish in its own way. The trial and crucifixion of Joshua is one of the most significant events in world history. It has inspired some of the most beautiful art, music and architecture in the world. Yes, bad things have happened too, and as someone who hasn't always been a fan of Joshua, I hear you-yes I do. But the more I've got to know Josh, the more I really like him- he's just a little bit misunderstood and seriously misquoted. Come to your own conclusions.
Happy Easter from me and Joshua :)
1 comment:
Marvellous. Happy Easter.
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