Every now and then

my training in Christianity does crop up, even though I myself am not Christian. I did a lot of studying of the Christian scriptures, and so when I mentioned Jesus' descent into hell to gather the righteous dead during a conversation recently, I was asked for the scriptural basis. This is one of the best descriptions I've found, including a good description of the orginal vs. modern meaning of 'hell' and how some misinterpret it and pretty much muck with the canon in their ignorance. IQB: Jesus' Descent Into Hell

So, since this seemed an appropriate time (happy Easter to those of you who are Christian), I thought I'd post this for safekeeping for those times I have to try to remember the info (since I have a memory like a sieve). But for once I did remember it correctly, although I wasn't sure of the timeframe of the descent. According to tradition, it was during that time after the crucifixion but before the resurrection, which frankly was what made sense (well, and I don't mean to make this sound offensive, but in as much as the story itself makes sense; there are a lot of people who see it as pure phantasy or at least a tale built from a long tradition in paganism of descent and return from the land of the dead, with Jesus as one more 'wonder worker' in a climate of many.) It makes more sense for it to happen then rather than after the 40 days before the final ascension.

The sad thing? Many Christians will be celebrating their Lord's rise from the dead and really have no concept of this tradition being associated with it, because in my experience, the vast majority of people who identify themselves as Christian don't bother to actually read the Bible or learn the theological theories behind it. I once had a Jewish professor (married to an Episcopalian and an expert in Islamic culture) who tried to teach a survey of Judaism in the Middle Ages by making connexions between Judaism and Christianity (the majority religion of my classmates) only to find that he couldn't because they didn't know much about their own religion. Still, it's not my place to tell them how to practise their religion, even if it is a faith based on the accounts of a sacred text. :)

But, if you are interested in where things come from, pull out your Bible (hey, even I have have Bibles--the Tanakh (Jewish), King James, Apocrypha, NIV, and Vulgate--and it is the #1 seller/translated book of all time, so surely you can get your hands on one) and look up the referenced passages. It's probably better than hunting eggs (which, after all, derives entirely from pagan practice to celebrate the renewal of growth with spring and fertility) although in retrospect the egg hunt is more fun. :)

By the way, if you want to see how Islam views this descent, you can check out the Eschatological Descent of Jesus. The idea of Jesus not being crucified I ascending to heaven without dying would be pretty heretical from a Christian viewpoint, akin to the heresy of Docetism, since orthodoxy emphasises the sacrifice that Jesus made in order to save humanity. But Muslims cannot be heretics, by definition, because they are not expressing unorthodox belief from within the faith, but rather are a separate religion.

Don't you love religious history? :) This particular aspect gets into Christology, or the study of the nature of Christ.

Oh, and if you want to see a little more about Christian heresies, try: Early Christian Heresies and Christian Heresy, the Cathar Heresy (a later heresy put down in the Middle Ages).

Hope I didn't hurt anybody's brain. I'm not a religious scholar but I am pretty well studied. Feel free to comment if you have a correction.