Monday, June 16, 2025

It is the 16th of June 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- if you heard Friday’s show on Luther’s marriage, you can also go over to the mothership, the.org, and read an article by the talented Amy Mantraverdi- she does some of my favorite stuff over there.

And if you listened to the weekend edition you know it was a kind of “Fathers” day show- fictional clergy, many of whom were “fathers” and while more suggestions flowed in so too did a question I could have anticipated- it comes from Brent in Cedar Rapids, Iowa- home to both Grant Wood (the American Gothic painter) and Elijah Wood (Frodo)- no relation- and it’s where Kurt Warner went to High School- the greatest underdog story in modern sports.  

Brent asked about the history of titles in church, especially “father” because of Matthew 23: “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.”

I don’t think this is to be taken in a wooden literal sense- but it’s in the context of the Pharisees and Jesus saying that true greatness comes in serving, not lording your position over anyone. In 1st Corinthians 4:15, Paul says, “I became your father in Christ Jesus,” and the language of fatherhood and spiritual fatherhood shows up in Paul and John; James calls Abraham “our father,” so “father language” isn’t strictly forbidden. In the early church, it is true, the people were radically egalitarian and used “brother” and “sister”. There were positions- elder and deacon primarily- but those weren’t initially titles. “Elder” comes from the Greek “Presbuteros”- it’s the root word from whence we get “priest” in English, as well as “elder” and “Presbyterian” (ruled by Elders). The Deacon comes from the word “episkopos”- from whence we get the word bishop and “episcopal” (ruled by Bishops).

“Father” was initially reserved for specific leaders, and in Latin, that word is “papa,” which was the head of one of the five early centers, and then eventually solely for the one in Rome- “Il Papa” or “the Pope”. In the Eastern church, the head of the church is the Patriarch, who, wait for it… means “father”. Perhaps you’ve heard of an Abbot- the head of an Abbey- and yes, this is from the Aramaic “abba,” which means: father.

The rub in church history has to do with whether or not the New Testament teaches a specific church “polity” or way of doing things. If so, then yes, we got way out of hand with “archbishops” and “right reverend” and perhaps even “pastor Joe”. If there is not a distinct polity in the New Testament than we might expect a growing church to develop a system- and so Bishop, Archbishop’s etc… we’ve discussed the “cardinal” before- it’s from the latin “cardo” which means “hinge” or “pivot”- they were seen as the most important leader in the church- the one on whom the church “hinged” and they wore a certain shade of red which then became the name of the color.

Here’s a fun little bit of trivia- in Medieval England and Scotland priests were called “sir”- this might seem a little colloquial- but “sir” comes from the French “Siure” meaning “lord” which comes from the latin for “senior” or… “elder”… it all comes back to elder, or presbuteros. And for a bit of fun, today’s lectionary reading addresses different roles in the church.

Thanks for the question, Brent- you can send me your questions at danv@1517.org.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Ephesians 4: 

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 16th of June 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man surprised that neither person in American Gothic is wearing dark eyeliner… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a doctor, but not the useful kind… 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.