Thursday, September 5, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 5th of September 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It's another random day and another random mailbag, once again, for reasons I’ve already shared. I got this question just recently, but it dovetailed nicely with some reading I’ve been doing on Mariology AND teaching a class on the Lord’s Prayer and thinking through prayer both historically and devotionally.

Good ol’ Matt from Charlestown, MD—that is one historic town—home to the Red Lyon Inn, circa 1750! Lake Forest was founded in 1991.

Matt asks succinctly, “As a Protestant, I was wondering about the rosary. What's its history, and was it too Catholic for the reformers?”

A friend with whom I am co-teaching this class said just last week something to the effect of, “And isn’t the rosary just like a fidget spinner for prayer?” It got me thinking—and then, from Charlestown, MD, writes.

So, the rosary develops in good old Medieval mystery. Prayer ropes, beads, and stones pre-date Christian prayer and can be found in both Judaism and Islam. The idea does, in fact, seem to help focus the mind using something tactile and, if helpful, something to count as well. We count our sit-ups; I’m sure we can count our prayers so long as we don’t see them as “earning more spiritual fitness.”

The specific bead prayers that help one pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Gloria, and the Hail Mary seem to have started around the 12th century and peaked in the 16th century.

This, I think, answers our question about the Rosary in particular. The development of Marian doctrine has at least these two components: as the image of Christ became more judge than savior, His mother came to represent our best shot at mercy. And, with the popularity of Marian devotion, the Catholic Church highlighted it and the praying of the Rosary in the 16th century during the Reformation as specifically Catholic things to do. Most Protestants agreed, and the beads themselves became tokens of catholic identity.

Theologically, one Catholic response to the rejection of the Rosary (that means a crown of roses) is that the prayers are from scripture! However, the Protestant rebuts the “hail Mary” that was spoken by an angel at a particular time, not as a model for us (that’s why we have the Lord’s Prayer). Protestants also rejected the prayers- to Mary or otherwise that seemed to be meritorious in any way (think of the priest telling the penitent- “say five hail Mary’s, 10 Our father’s….” Etc…

But stripped of Marian theology or of any sense that special prayers merit special favor, could a Protestant use prayer beads? As you might guess, the Anglicans and Lutherans have thrown their hats in the ring since the end of last century—the Anglican prayer bead set is divided into 33 instead of the standard 150 for the Rosary (although they come in smaller numbers). The prayers focus on the life and ministry of Jesus in four groups of seven and the Lord’s Prayer.

The Lutherans, at least the Swedes, developed “the Wreath of Christ” (Frälsarkransen), an 18-bead loop that calls attention to the cycle of life—both the individual and the life of Christ.  

And lest my lower church friends squint their eyes and look askance at their higher church friends, I know of many who have dedicated “quiet times” often with personal Bibles and notebooks… we all keep a sense of the sacred in our way!

Having been steeped for a little while in the history of prayer (I’m sure a show will come of that soon), there is no shortage of texts explaining “how to” and devices and items and mantras to help keep us focused- it seems to be a universal issue. As has been my recent theme of diverse Christian experiences, the Rosary fits right in; where it can go bad is where the others do as well- not because beads are used, but if the focus is off Christ, the primary Protestant position would be to reject it. Matt, you’d think a question like “When did the Rosary” start would have a better answer- but the answer is between the 12th and 16th centuries as the practice developed until being fixed in 1569 by Pope Pius V.

A regular show tomorrow and then the weekend- well, you know how calendars work.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and Romans 2:

 2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of September 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man selling his own fidget spinner prayer beads- coffee beans on a long strand of hair from his beard… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who kept writing Matt’s name as Tim and then had to stop and re-record every time… a bunch of shows in a row, before I leave for Germany, is going to make me batty at some point.  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.