Monday, February 24, 2025

It is the 24th of February 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday to you- is Spring coming? Baseball is- are you excited? Not me… because the Angels are more hopeless than ever in our team history… good times, great management.

So, as promised on the Weekend Mailbag- a question from Jonathan in Dubuque, Iowa… one of the very few states I have not been to- of course, made famous in both the Music Man and Field of Dreams… Bridges of Madison County? Twister?

Ok- Jonathan asked a great question about a character who comes up in church history from time to time and never fails to provoke the question: “What the what?” What’s a “Sybil”?

A “Sybil” is mentioned in the very famous hymn Dies Irae (the day of wrath) and also in a famous advent hymn- in “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” some sing this interesting line:

“This is he, whom seer and sybil/sang in ages long gone by”

Of course, many moderns have removed the offending passage and sing:

"This is he whom seers in old time/Chanted of with one accord”.

The other place we see the Sybil, and I’m asked about it, is when people look at the Sistine Chapel and ask, “Why are their pagan goddesses up there with all the Bible stories?”.

So- a “Sybil” (initially one, then many) were ancient seers or oracles. Essentially they played the role of prophet for pagans.

So… why do we have them in Christian art and song?

The “reality” of Sybils was largely unquestioned in the ancient world- there were some who- though wild and untamable- could see the future. Most Jewish people and early Christians thought, “There is some truth to these mysterious characters… how do we deal with them?”

Answer- “Baptize them!” That is, get them into the Christian story not as other Gods or powers but make even them subservient to the will of God.

There are Jewish writings outside the Old Testament that place Sybil as tied to Noah- as surviving on the ark! There is considerable interplay between the religions in the Ancient Near East, and they weren’t easily written OFF, so they were written IN (to the story).

What the Dies Irae and the hymn and the Sistine Chapel are all doing is saying, “Even the pagans- the ones “in the know”- know”. In this, the “Sybil” becomes a way of talking about ALL pagan prophets. And so, consider how powerful it would be for someone to say, “It’s not that your prophets and oracles are completely wrong- but they are subservient to someone else.”

And so- in the Dies Irae, we see Sybil AND David pointing to the coming Christ. In the hymn, we have “seers in old time” or “seers and sybil,” that is to say- everything was pointing to the coming of Christ. Even the pagan prophets can’t help but realize the Messiah, which is strong!

But- as we have become, I think in the English-speaking West (at least) less poetically inclined and much, much more literal, we can’t let something like “yeah, who knows, maybe pagan prophets saw Jesus coming, too!” Without the immediate “What, you believe in pagan prophets?!!” Being hurled at the hymn writer.

There was once a very popular Christmas liturgical service that played on the idea of the Sybil and St. Augustine’s thinking about Sybil (he thought they were pagans but God’s pagans and still able to see if dimly) in the “Song of the Sybil” which the Council of Trent, trying to make the Catholics look less “superstitious” got rid of.

Are their things in the spiritual world which, while not being explicitly or normally Christian- can point to Christ? I’m reminded of a recent story about an exorcism in Madagascar where an evil spirit came out and said, “The jig is up… we also know that your God is the true God.”- most of you are thinking, “What?!?!”  But the spirit world is… well, I’m very corporeal and physical- so I can’t answer those questions except to say, ‘weird stuff happens the closer the kingdom gets,’ and I’ll leave it at that for now.

Jonathan- It is always an encouragement- and Iowa is the first of the last states I need to get to someday….send me your questions- just flood that inbox; I love it.

 

The Last word for today comes from a few stanzas of Of the Father’s Love Begotten- perhaps a lesser-known translation:

Of the Father's heart begotten

ere the world from chaos rose,

he is Alpha: from that Fountain,

all that is and hath been flows;

he is Omega, of all things

yet to come the mystic Close,

evermore and evermore.

 

By his word was all created;

he commanded and 'twas done;

earth and sky and boundless ocean,

universe of three in one,

all that sees the moon's soft radiance,

all that breathes beneath the sun,

evermore and evermore.

 

O how blest that wondrous birthday,

when the Maid the curse retrieved,

brought to birth mankind's salvation,

by the Holy Ghost conceived,

and the Babe, the world's Redeemer,

in her loving arms received,

evermore and evermore.

 

 This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of February 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Sybils include the oracles of old, American heroine Sybil Ludington (there’s a story) and Sybil Shepherd from boomer favorite “Moonlighting” he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who remembers Tuesday nights on ABC- Who’s the Boss, the Wonder Years- and then turned off the TV when Moonlighting started… I’m 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.