DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME NOT BODY.
anti-cult
Little Boxes, Big Promises
Kathleen Flake
Associate Professor of American Religious History
Vanderbilt University
What makes a Christian is a popular question these days. As one who is
usually counted out, I try to avoid participating in the calculation.
That is more a moral than an academic sentiment, however. It asks for
courtesy in granting others equal opportunity for self definition and
not merely religiously.
But, we academics are category folk: we box things in to examine them
more closely. We may not keep our boxes once our examination is
through, but it is hard to think without them. Even the much lauded
“thinking outside the box” requires the existence of a box, no? So,
for the sake of answering the question, I would say that – for me –
the Christian box contains those who believe that humankind is saved
through the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ. As for what “saved”
means, that happens outside my box. There, in an unboxable
conversation, the issues are legion and, not least, concern whether
salvation includes a literal, physical resurrection for Jesus and,
through him, for the world. Christians over the centuries have
disagreed about this and, based on the extant texts of the New
Testament, equally rational interpretations reach opposite
conclusions.
As they are wont to do, the Latter-day Saints avoid the theological
debate with new scripture. The Book of Mormon contains a purported
account of Jesus’ post resurrection appearance in the western
hemisphere. That Jesus has a physical body is unambiguously
established early in the narrative, when he says to a gathered
multitude: “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your
hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails
in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of
Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the
sins of the world.” Not just the doubters, much less a single doubter,
but they all “thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the
prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did
do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see
with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a
surety.” III Nephi 11:14-17 So, for believing readers of this account,
the New Testament proclamation “he is risen” is understood in plain
terms: Christ overcame physical, as well as spiritual death, to
reclaim a glorified, but no less flesh-and-bone body.
For those who have an interest in denominational differences, permit
me one more observation. For Latter-day Saints, Christ’s offer of
physical redemption is so important that it is incorporated into their
observance of the Lord’s Supper. This, too, has its roots in the Book
of Mormon’s introduction of the sacrament to the people of the western
hemisphere. With respect to the blessing of the bread, Jesus instructs
them “this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown
unto you.” (III Nephi 18:7) While this account retains the model of
the Christian sacrament as a meal ("and they were filled"), the meal
is no longer a single event occurring immediately prior to Christ's
passion. Moreover, the tradition is further altered by this second
meal's definition of the object of the bread memorial, namely,
Christ’s resurrected body or "my body, which I have shown unto you.”
Thus, this portion of the ordinance is oriented to an immediate
experience of him, not unlike the occasion in Jerusalem, but away from
notions of death and sacrifice. In this fashion, the ordinance
emphasizes the realization of the promise of presence: “ye shall have
my Spirit to be with you.” (III Nephi 18:7) And, it echoes the
original meal’s promise: “I will not leave you comfortless.” (John
14:18) Consequently, the Latter-day Saints’ weekly observance of the
Lord’s Supper directs the participant’s attention away from Christ’s
death to his resurrection and associates it with an offer of intimate
presence in the here and now.
As students of Christianity will recognize, what I have described here
is both a profound commitment to and monumental adaptation of that
most foundational of Christian observances. Does it’s insistence on
the literalness and import of Christ’s physical resurrection make
Mormonism more or less Christian? I would say “neither.” To those who
would argue for either of the other two options and claim sole
proprietorship over what it means to be Christian, I would say there
is no box big enough to contain the expansiveness of Christ’s offer of
salvation to the world, however defined. Happy Easter, indeed.