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Glory (religion)
Encyclopedia
Glory is used to denote the manifestation of God
's presence in the Judeo-Christian
religious tradition. God's glory is often associated with visible displays of light, e.g. thunderbolts, fire, brightness.
Divine glory is an important motif
throughout Judeo-Christian theology, where God is regarded as the most glorious being. Since they are created in the Image of God, human beings can share or participate in divine glory as image-bearers. Like a mirror, the human person reflects God's glory, though imperfectly. (Thus Christians are instructed to "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.")
, the word is used to translate several Hebrew
words, including Hod (הוד) and kabod
; and in the New Testament
it is used to translate the Greek word doxa (δόξα). The Hebrew word kabod (K-B-D) originally means "weight" or "heaviness." The same word is then used to express importance, honor, and majesty. Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible
translated this concept with the word doxa, which was then used extensively in the New Testament
as well. Doxa originally means "judgment, opinion", and by extension, "good reputation, honor". Assuming that these various words and uses should refer to a single underlying concept, St. Augustine
renders it as clara notitia cum laude, "brilliant celebrity with praise".
is told that no human being can see the glory of Yahweh
and survive:
The prophet Ezekiel
writes in his vision:
:
In the gospel of John, Jesus addresses a long prayer to God in which he says:
, in his essay The Weight of Glory
, writes "Glory suggests two ideas to me, of which one seems wicked and the other ridiculous. Either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity." He concludes that glory should be understood in the former sense, but states that one should not desire fame before men (human glory), but fame before God (divine glory).
of the Church. The Orthodox Christian term theosis
is roughly equivalent to the Protestant concept of glorification.
It is in this sense that the resurrected bodies of the righteous will be "glorified" at the Second Coming
. As the soul was illuminated through theosis so the restored body will be illuminated by the grace of God when it is "changed" at the Parousia . This glorified body will be like the resurrected body of Jesus ; similar in appearance to the body during life, but of a more refined and spiritualized nature .
There are two events that occur during glorification, these are "the receiving of perfection by the elect before entering into the kingdom of heaven," and "the receiving of the resurrection bodies by the elect"
Glorification is the third stage of Christian development. The first being justification
, then sanctification
, and finally glorification. (Rom. 8:28-30) Glorification is the completion, the consummation, the perfection, the full realization of salvation
.
Glorification as a term is modified by its target, aka, who is being glorified, God or the Christian? The 3rd stage of Christian development is to glorify God through one's life, to decrease so that He may increase so that as others encounter a living breathing Christian who is walking in Glorification, they encounter Christ and perceive His Glory and His presence. This is attainable while living, just as justification and sanctification are attainable while living.
, as it is "the means by which the elect receive perfection before entering into the kingdom of Heaven."
While purgatory deals with the means by which the elect become perfect, glorification deals with the elect becoming perfect.
The majority of Protestant denominations believe in this form of glorification, although some have alternative names.
. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis
's Weight of Glory: "If we were to see them in their glorified forms we would be tempted to bow down and worship them."
Many people believe that this body will be very similar to the one Christ
had after He rose from the dead. That is, a perfect body fit for the needs of eternal life in a new Heaven and new Earth.
, in his Summa Theologica
, cautions that the desire of glory from man is a sin. He lists vainglory
as a capital vice.
The manifestation of glory (upon a saint
for example) is often depicted in iconography
using the religious symbol of a halo. Other common symbols of glory include white robes, crowns
, jewels, gold
, and stars. The Coronation of the Virgin
is one of the most common depictions of Mary
in glory.
There are a number of specialised senses of "glory" in art, which all derive from French usages of "gloire". "Glory" was the medieval English word for a halo
or aureole, and continues to be used sometimes in this sense, mostly for the full-body version. The subject of Christ in Majesty
is also known as "Christ in Glory", and in general any depiction of a sacred person in heaven (e.g. in the clouds, surrounded by angels) can be called a "glory", although this sense is obsolete.
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's presence in the Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
religious tradition. God's glory is often associated with visible displays of light, e.g. thunderbolts, fire, brightness.
Divine glory is an important motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
throughout Judeo-Christian theology, where God is regarded as the most glorious being. Since they are created in the Image of God, human beings can share or participate in divine glory as image-bearers. Like a mirror, the human person reflects God's glory, though imperfectly. (Thus Christians are instructed to "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.")
Etymology
"Glory" is one of the most common words in scripture. In the Old TestamentOld Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, the word is used to translate several Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
words, including Hod (הוד) and kabod
K-B-D
K-B-D is a triliteral Semitic root with the common meaning of to "be heavy", or less literally, "be important".The basic noun formed from the root means "liver", "interior", "soul" in most Semitic languages....
; and in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
it is used to translate the Greek word doxa (δόξα). The Hebrew word kabod (K-B-D) originally means "weight" or "heaviness." The same word is then used to express importance, honor, and majesty. Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
translated this concept with the word doxa, which was then used extensively in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
as well. Doxa originally means "judgment, opinion", and by extension, "good reputation, honor". Assuming that these various words and uses should refer to a single underlying concept, St. Augustine
St. Augustine
-People:* Augustine of Hippo or Augustine of Hippo , father of the Latin church* Augustine of Canterbury , first Archbishop of Canterbury* Augustine Webster, an English Catholic martyr.-Places:*St. Augustine, Florida, United States...
renders it as clara notitia cum laude, "brilliant celebrity with praise".
Old Testament
In the Book of Exodus 33:19, MosesMoses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
is told that no human being can see the glory of Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
and survive:
YahwehYahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
then said to Moses, 'Again I shall do what you have asked, because you enjoy my favour and because I know you by name.'
He then said, 'Please show me your glory.'
Yahweh said, 'I shall make all my goodness pass before you, and before you I shall pronounce the name Yahweh; and I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity. But my face', he said, 'you cannot see, for no human being can see me and survive.' Then Yahweh said, 'Here is a place near me. You will stand on the rock, and when my glory passes by, I shall put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with my hand until I have gone past. Then I shall take my hand away and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen.'
The prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel
Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet...
writes in his vision:
I saw a brilliance like amber, like fire, radiating from what appeared to be the waist upwards; and from what appeared to be the waist downwards, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all round. The radiance of the encircling light was like the radiance of the bow in the clouds on rainy days. The sight was like the glory of Yahweh.
New Testament
In the New Testament, the corresponding word is the Greek doxa, sometimes also translated "brightness". For example at the nativity of ChristChrist
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
:
In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night. An angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, 'Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people.'
In the gospel of John, Jesus addresses a long prayer to God in which he says:
I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world existed.
In Catholicism
Catholic doctrine asserts that the world was created as an act of God's free will for His own glory. Catholic doctrine teaches however, that God does not seek to be glorified for His own sake, but for the sake of mankind that they may know Him.In Anglicanism
The theologian C. S. LewisC. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, in his essay The Weight of Glory
The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses
The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses is a compilation of essays on Christianity by C.S. Lewis.Chapter list and descriptions For the 1980 McMillan Publishing Company's revised and expanded paperback edition.*Introduction by Walter Hooper, Editor...
, writes "Glory suggests two ideas to me, of which one seems wicked and the other ridiculous. Either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity." He concludes that glory should be understood in the former sense, but states that one should not desire fame before men (human glory), but fame before God (divine glory).
In Orthodox Christianity
Glorification (also referred to as canonization) is the term used in the Orthodox Christian Church for the official recognition of a person as a saintSaint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
of the Church. The Orthodox Christian term theosis
Theosis
In Christian theology, divinization, deification, making divine or theosis is the transforming effect of divine grace. This concept of salvation is historical and fundamental for Christian understanding that is prominent in the Eastern Orthodox Church and also in the Catholic Church, and is a...
is roughly equivalent to the Protestant concept of glorification.
It is in this sense that the resurrected bodies of the righteous will be "glorified" at the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
. As the soul was illuminated through theosis so the restored body will be illuminated by the grace of God when it is "changed" at the Parousia . This glorified body will be like the resurrected body of Jesus ; similar in appearance to the body during life, but of a more refined and spiritualized nature .
In Protestantism
In his dissertation "Concerning the End for which God Created the World", Jonathan Edwards concludes, "[I]t appears that all that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's works is included in that one phrase, `the glory of God'."There are two events that occur during glorification, these are "the receiving of perfection by the elect before entering into the kingdom of heaven," and "the receiving of the resurrection bodies by the elect"
Glorification is the third stage of Christian development. The first being justification
Justification (theology)
Rising out of the Protestant Reformation, Justification is the chief article of faith describing God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice....
, then sanctification
Sanctification
Sanctity is an ancient concept widespread among religions, a property of a thing or person sacred or set apart within the religion, from totem poles through temple vessels to days of the week, to a human believer who achieves this state. Sanctification is the act or process of acquiring sanctity,...
, and finally glorification. (Rom. 8:28-30) Glorification is the completion, the consummation, the perfection, the full realization of salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
.
Glorification as a term is modified by its target, aka, who is being glorified, God or the Christian? The 3rd stage of Christian development is to glorify God through one's life, to decrease so that He may increase so that as others encounter a living breathing Christian who is walking in Glorification, they encounter Christ and perceive His Glory and His presence. This is attainable while living, just as justification and sanctification are attainable while living.
Receiving of Perfection
Glorification is the Protestant alternative to purgatoryPurgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
, as it is "the means by which the elect receive perfection before entering into the kingdom of Heaven."
While purgatory deals with the means by which the elect become perfect, glorification deals with the elect becoming perfect.
The majority of Protestant denominations believe in this form of glorification, although some have alternative names.
Receiving of the Resurrection Bodies
After the final judgement, all the righteous dead shall arise and their bodies will be perfected and will become a glorified body. Only then can they enter HeavenHeaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's Weight of Glory: "If we were to see them in their glorified forms we would be tempted to bow down and worship them."
Many people believe that this body will be very similar to the one Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
had after He rose from the dead. That is, a perfect body fit for the needs of eternal life in a new Heaven and new Earth.
Human Glory
In opposition to the desire for glory from God, stands the desire for glory from man. Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
, in his Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologiæ is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas , and although unfinished, "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature." It is intended as a manual for beginners in theology and a compendium of all of the main...
, cautions that the desire of glory from man is a sin. He lists vainglory
Vanity
In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but...
as a capital vice.
Glory in art
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
for example) is often depicted in iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
using the religious symbol of a halo. Other common symbols of glory include white robes, crowns
Crown of Immortality
The Crown of Immortality is a literary and religious metaphor traditionally represented in art first as a laurel wreath and later as a symbolic circle of stars...
, jewels, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, and stars. The Coronation of the Virgin
Coronation of the Virgin
The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove,...
is one of the most common depictions of Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
in glory.
There are a number of specialised senses of "glory" in art, which all derive from French usages of "gloire". "Glory" was the medieval English word for a halo
Halo (religious iconography)
A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes...
or aureole, and continues to be used sometimes in this sense, mostly for the full-body version. The subject of Christ in Majesty
Christ in Majesty
Christ in Majesty, or Christ in Glory, in Latin Majestas Domini, is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whose membership changes over time and according to...
is also known as "Christ in Glory", and in general any depiction of a sacred person in heaven (e.g. in the clouds, surrounded by angels) can be called a "glory", although this sense is obsolete.
Orthodox Christianity
- The Glorification of Saints in the Orthodox Church by Fr. Joseph Frawley
- The Glorification of Saints by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky
- What Does Glorification Mean? by Fr. Alexey Young
- Eastern Orthodoxy and Theosis
Receiving of Perfection
- http://www.abideinchrist.com/keys/sanctification-perfect.html
- http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/wws/salv17.htm