…It was important to get out of the way the discussion of Catholic beliefs and scripture in order to get into the Catholic faith’s relationship with God as a “history”. We’ll get into the “date and place” type history in the next topic, but far more important is looking at our history in terms of Salvation.
When we talk about “history” as it pertains to the Church, we speak about it in two different ways. There is the “anthropological”- sort of a social-studies type history with dates and places and events, etc. We will cover that in the next topic. Far more important is the true history of mankind, which is also our story– The History of Salvation.
With the Catholic faith, it is fundamental to have the focus of your life all on God. You have a choice… you can either enter into the “Ego-Drama”, which is a life centered around your wants and needs, or you can focus on the “Theo-Drama”, which is living totally for God’s plan for you. The Catholic faith is obviously about the Theo-Drama, or as St. Paul says:
For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ;
yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given Himself up for me.
St. Paul (Galatians 2:19-20)
So here we are, and God has invited us into His own story. As you consider this and enter into it, you realize how exciting and expansive this is. Now compare it to the petty, dreary, boring comparison of making up your own story and living out your own “Ego-Drama.”
How we live our lives based on this dichotomy of “for ourselves” or “for God” is basically the story of Salvation. This is our story, and it is your story. It is essential for Catholics to understand that they are part of a grand plan and that God has had this plan for us from the beginning.
If you want a perfect example of this in scripture, consider the Visitation, when Mary, after the Annunciation, visits Elizabeth. They both have been tasked by God with a mission, and both joyfully take up the task and enter fully into the Theo-Drama, living out God’s plan for them.
Let’s break down “Salvation History” into a series of Acts. Many theologians have taken up this exercise, and we will follow here the breakdown by N.T. Wright, who uses essentially a play in 5 Acts:
Act 1: Creation
For Catholics, it is imperative to understand that the act of creation out of Divine Love comes before the Fall. We are created out of nothing and were meant to act in a priestly (acting in between God and creation) and kingly (maintaining order over the creatures below us) manner. Man was created at the end of a procession of creations, and was created to lead “right praise” to the Creator.
Furthermore, our “kingly” role was to go on mission and expand the kingdom of God throughout the world, all the while exhibiting “right praise” to the Creator.
It is extremely important for Catholics to remember and acknowledge in their faith that creation comes before the fall. It is one of the striking differences between Catholicism and many, if not most, forms of Protestantism, that more strongly focuses on the fall and our inherent depravity and sinfulness. Catholics profoundly acknowledge the fall, but always remember that this started with Divine love with the act of creation.
Act 2: The Fall (Original Sin)
The second act of Salvation history comes to us from Genesis, and it deals with the “Fall”. The story of Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden fruit is simply us making ourselves the judge of what is good and evil. This is the introduction to our world of Original Sin.
Instead of us being good “priests” and showing “right praise” to God, we began to worship the world, loving more the pursuit of wealth, power, pleasure, and honor than God. Adam also failed to protect the Garden and Even from the serpent. This is an example of being a bad “king”.
The allegorical story is more relevant than ever, and the acceptance of the fall is perhaps the primary division between the modern secular world and all of Christianity, not just Catholics. We Christians believe we need to be in right praise with God, and that only God is able to set things right. Modern secularists believe their political ideologies, whether from the right or the left will set things good in the world.
Perhaps no other time in history showed the utter lack of understanding of the fall than after the “enlightenment,” bringing in a new era of human ethics. Politics devolved into completely self-contained religions that felt that each alone could solve societies and human issues. This led to the most violent century in the history of mankind, the 20th Century. Every ideology fails as a heresy when it believes it is the ultimate answer to all the problems.
In understanding the Salvation history from a Christian perspective, we should instead feel we are all caught in this state of “addiction to sin.” We are fallen, and only God can save us (which He did). However, we are still in this world and need to continue to be in “right praise”.
Original sin is the only doctrine that’s been empirically validated by 2,000 years of human history.
G.K. Chesterton
Act 3: The Formation of Israel
For too many Catholics (and Protestants), we jump right on by the third act of Salvation history, which deals with the formation of Israel by God, which marks His efforts to reestablish His relationship through us. In short, He is reaching out to us, even after we failed Him in his effort to rescue us. This is otherwise known as the Old Testament.
Let’s state this in very clear terms – yes, Salvation was culminated, concluded with Jesus Christ, but, it was prepared for in a long history with God’s relationship to His people Israel.
This begins with a story of paramount importance – Abram (and after being renamed Abraham) hears the call beyond him… now, keep that in mind… “beyond him.” He had gotten it right. He is not like Adam and Eve that made the choice that they can be the judge, nor was he some self-contained modern ideology that thinks it has all the answers. Abraham obeyed in right praise to God. Abraham, quite simply, listened to the higher power and obeyed and was faithful.
What follows Abraham is the story of God’s building of a relationship with His holy people Israel. The Old Testament details a people on the move, that through many trials slowly evolve in their praise of God, and exist in a Covenant with God. The story of Israel, in the Old Testament, is a sort of preparation for them to lead the world in “right praise”. This final fulfillment of the Messiah underscores the entire Old Testament from Genesis up until the arrival of Jesus. It leads to the next act of Salvation, God sending His only Son to bring this mission to the world.
One final note on this act – the throwing out of the Old Testament and the story of Israel is not only a bad habit, but it is also actually a heresy called Marcionism. Without an understanding of this long history of God and His Holy people, you can only have a partial understanding of Jesus Christ.
Act 4: Jesus Christ
Everything in the Gospels related to telling the story of Jesus Christ relates directly to what He was in relation to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. This is not just a wise teacher coming onto the scene like in many “wisdom traditions”.
Here is where understanding the Old Testament and this story of Israel and their relationship with God comes to fruition. What was that covenant? It was two sides – First, God, and Second, His People Israel. Now, what is Jesus? Jesus is the coming together of those two sides. Jesus, who is completely God and completely human, is the taking of the Old Testament with the two sides and joining them into one being – Jesus. With that understanding of what He is, you can see how everything before led up to this act.
Jesus “becomes sin” and goes “down” all the way to the depths of sin and our dysfunction, and saves us from the power of sin. God becomes man, and in taking on all of our sins on the cross, changes the whole dynamic of sin and our nature. The incarnation was coming all along, and God entered into time and space, and this is the pivot point in Salvation History. But it is not the final act.
Act 5: The Church
If you go back and read the end of John’s Gospel, which has the most densely described accounts of the last time of Christ on earth, it doesn’t contain some sort of nice Hollywood wrap-up and that’s all she wrote. All throughout John and the other three synoptic Gospels are mentions of Jesus telling His Apostles about how they need to go on mission to spread the good news throughout the world. The Acts of the Apostles and then the Epistles set the stage for the final act of Salvation, which we are in now… The Church.
Jesus entered into the mystical body of the Church and now the original intention of God in creation, for man to go on mission and act priestly and kingly in the name of God, is being fulfilled by the Church. Jesus is the new Adam, and He married His church, and the mission is to bring the world into right praise with God, the father.
Salvation History and Catholics
Salvation History is not a side note or an area of special study of humanities. It is THE story of the world. This is it, the whole story of everyone who lives and whoever lived. As a member of the Catholic Church, a part of the mystical body of Christ that you entered into through Baptism and Confirmation, renewed through the Sacraments, you are meant to be on this mission to bring “right praise” to the world.
Next up… a bit of a condensed version of our long 2,000 year history in a traditional historical telling.
Next Topic >> History of the Catholic Church (Brief)
Synopsis
Salvation history is the story of the world’s relationship with God. Broken down into five acts, we can see how God created us, and how we have failed Him. However, he always is on rescue missions, and through our long history of trying to be in right praise, He ultimately entered into our sin to save us.
Suggested Reading
“Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter” by Hans Urs Von Balthasar
“The New Testament and the People of God” by N.T. Wright
Top Image
Van van Weyden’s masterwork, The Descent from the Cross, captures the Virgin Mary’s anguish at her Son’s suffering and death. Although Our Lady is being held by Saint John and a few of the holy ladies who witnessed the crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and a third man are holding up Jesus’ body.