A
AlmostCatholic
Guest
I posted a question in the sacred scripture section regarding the typology of Mary to Rebecca and I realized that my question is more about philosophy than scripture. So I wanted to present the issue here and get some opinions on it.
My question is based on the story found in Genesis 27 about the typology of Jacob, Esau, Rebecca and Issac. The story is of the stealing of the Blessing of Esau by Jacob with the aid of Rebecca. The story seems to be a clear type regarding salvation and the mediation of Mary. Jacob in this case is a type for us being covered by the sacrificed animal and offering a sacrifice to God. The interceding Mother helps and instigates the getting of the blessing. I understand this as a figure of the initial stages of salvation. We are covered by Christ and so made righteous in a legal sense. This seems to be Luther’s idea of salvation. My understanding is not so much that the catholic church says that that is wrong, just incomplete. It is the start of salvation, not the fullness of salvation.
Anyway, the question is, how does this situation that has blatant deception and dishonesty work as a type to make the bigger picture clear? This is a similar question Kierkegaard is raising in Fear and Trembling about Abraham sacrificing Isaac and the same problem Augustine has with catholicism when he is a Manichean. Didn’t Augustine solve the problem by understanding these as types to point to the bigger picture? Kierkegaard says that the absolute relation to God stands outside of the universal-so that what appears to us to be hatred is actually deep love. This is hard but somewhat sensible. Could anyone elaborate on this and help it make sense? If these stories are types of the bigger picture, then shouldn’t they display the same morality, shouldn’t that be consistent?
Thank you for your thoughts.
-Justin
My question is based on the story found in Genesis 27 about the typology of Jacob, Esau, Rebecca and Issac. The story is of the stealing of the Blessing of Esau by Jacob with the aid of Rebecca. The story seems to be a clear type regarding salvation and the mediation of Mary. Jacob in this case is a type for us being covered by the sacrificed animal and offering a sacrifice to God. The interceding Mother helps and instigates the getting of the blessing. I understand this as a figure of the initial stages of salvation. We are covered by Christ and so made righteous in a legal sense. This seems to be Luther’s idea of salvation. My understanding is not so much that the catholic church says that that is wrong, just incomplete. It is the start of salvation, not the fullness of salvation.
Anyway, the question is, how does this situation that has blatant deception and dishonesty work as a type to make the bigger picture clear? This is a similar question Kierkegaard is raising in Fear and Trembling about Abraham sacrificing Isaac and the same problem Augustine has with catholicism when he is a Manichean. Didn’t Augustine solve the problem by understanding these as types to point to the bigger picture? Kierkegaard says that the absolute relation to God stands outside of the universal-so that what appears to us to be hatred is actually deep love. This is hard but somewhat sensible. Could anyone elaborate on this and help it make sense? If these stories are types of the bigger picture, then shouldn’t they display the same morality, shouldn’t that be consistent?
Thank you for your thoughts.
-Justin