Burial in the nave - Blofield

Saint Andrew - Blofield  [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Beauty in the vernacular

The tombs of the rich are often to be admired and marvelled at and then walked past as we consign their memory to oblivion and that is arguably as it should be. The joy of English parish Churches is that there is much that is ordinary and in the vernacular. England doesn’t have much in the cemetery that is showy and brash. That would never do! Instead, England has the sandstone stele monument or the Celtic/Cornish granite headstone that marks the seasons in moss and decay whilst very slowly mouldering into the soil. On the Continent it is very different and monuments seem to have surpassed the life of the individual they commemorate. The monument is grater than the man.

Just as the Sexton in “Dealings with the Dead” written in 1856 is clear that there is an aristocracy of the dead, it also clear that the English have maintained a fine and traditional indifference towards monuments and remained, instead, happy to have either a low monument or no monument at all. The grass and the wildlife seem enough for us as we are layered into the ground to await our fate. There are clearly some grand monuments and the one at Saint Remigius at Hethersett is a great favourite of mine as it stands by the edge of the field as if about to escape into the landscape. There are great monuments in Churches and we all recognise the marble plaques about to crush us in their monumentality if they were ever to fall from their walls. They say much and also nothing about the person they commemorate and in reality the large plaques aren’t very English.

Englishness is about recognising wealth, power and privilege and then doing absolutely nothing about it. Englishness is about understanding social prestige and admiring that prestige before going to supermarket and buying beer for the hot summer we all hope for. It is that we are really quite casual about titles and honours and we are also quite aware that the exteriors doesn’t always match the interior. The grand lady wrapped in furs may be starving from a lack of breakfast and the great lord may have threadbare socks. Not everything is as it seems. The great monument may be built of shoddy materials and the lettering on the stone may be mispelt through ignorance or haste. The English understand these possibilities and naturally sneer at aristocracy whether that aristocracy is in blood, monuments or the grave. It’s all so much flim flam at the end of the day.

The tombs of the rich are admired and marvelled at that much is true although the English do not worship long at any one altar and we do not marvel over much at any one tomb. We do not over monumentalise the folly of human lives and we do not deify the living. It is hard to worship at a tomb when the occupant of the tomb was as mortal as us and had the same foibles and follies. So, let people have their aristocracy in the grave and have their 30 seconds of adulation as we walk past before we walk away and forget them until the next visit and the next sunrise.

Burial in Church

Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Katherine Heath Died 1st January 1709

Katherine Heath Died 1st January 1709

Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Karl Barth and "Wonderment"



Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

For Barth, the ‘study of God’  inherent in the term ‘theologian’ is not enough to define his own specific perception of what it is to be a  ‘theologian’ and I want to say something about Barth and his view of "Wonderment".

Theology is ‘real’ for Barth and framed within the human experience of time and space rather than being a purely dry or dusty academic pursuit. Theological study is not some ‘fantastical’ pursuit or  the study of some heroic fable set in some remote and mythological time. Unlike the story of Gilgamesh or mythical stories from the Middle East, the history of Jesus is real for Barth and what may be described as the ‘Risen Christ’ is to be discovered and pursued in both an historical period but also in humanities  continuing encounter with the mystical reality of God. Barth is not describing a new 'Osiris', a death cult or anything other than the 'Risen Christ'.

The normal tools of the theologian in the study of the reality of God are not enough for Barth who tries to step outside of human experience and  who presents the concept of theological ‘wonder’ as a central feature of how the theologian may conceptualise  God and perhaps then go on to encounter God through Jesus as the second personality of the triune God.  Barth has a very clear conception of the role and nature of theology, defined in opposition to totalitarian oppression, that may be at variance with more usually accepted conceptualisations in a more liberal and ‘humanistic’ tradition . 

Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Barth may be seen to define ‘ wonder’ occurring “when someone encounters a spiritual or natural phenomen that he has never encountered before”.  

However, Barth indicates that the pursuit of theology  and  theological ‘wonderment’  leaves an indelible imprint on the theologian  and this is for Barth is expressed in terms that sound similar to descriptions of an ordination in that unspecified ‘indelible’ changes occur. The person who studies theology and experiences theological “wonderment” is said to be “afflicted” by theology. It is clear that, for Barth, there is an intensity involved in the study of theology and one suspects that in the ideas of Barth there is a personal cost involved in the pursuit of theology. Barth is arguably stating  that there is a cost  to the individual in encountering the Risen Christ that cannot be found in other study and research? Intense and committed; as the ideas of Barth undoubtedly are, how do we analyse Barth’s arguments and evaluate them? Certainly, Barth is correct in seeing that the Old Testament as pointing to Jesus as the fulfilment  of God’s plan, however, is Barth’s ‘other worldliness’ always helpful in an understanding of the nature of God and Revelation?  Does Barth diminish too much the role of humanity in his wish to describe the centrality of God? Hpw does death and seperation become defined for Barth?

Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Barth  introduces biblical stories about ‘wonders’ as evidence of the smaller lights that lead to the larger light. We may perceive the image of a finger that consistently and irrevocably points towards Jesus in a specific historical epoch. The signs and symbols of Biblical events are merely that; signs and symbols, all of which point like a finger to the divinity of Jesus and the cosmic significance of Jesus. Barth goes into depth about the manner in which Jesus fulfils scriptural accounts about the Messiah. Using the metaphor of “lights”;  Barth expands the concept of ‘clues’ that are there laid out and to be found by the theologian, all of which point to God.

The concept of theological “wonderment” is one which implies a single minded focus on the study of God to the exclusion of all other areas and in some ways Barth advocates a single minded focus on God which is commendable but which may also restrict thought and development. 

An evaluation of Barth and “Wonderment”  should consider the thought of Barth himself who in “wonderment” emphasises the eternal and unapproachable ‘otherness’ of God and how God (as the eternal creator) mystically points to Himself through Jesus rather than through the experience of humanity.  In his work; Barth points to the centrality of the Word of God rather than the actions of humanity. At Cana; human beings are the extras, or perhaps the little lights, that point to the centrality of Jesus and the greater light  made evident there. 

Hemblington - All Saints [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Struggles within pre-war German theology  influnced Barth and we must generally question  the effects of German National Socialism on German religious observance and the challenges presented to Christianity of all persuasions and ‘confessions’ by Nazism. Similarly, translation from the German langauage  may have to inadvertent emphasis on certain aspects when compared and contrasted to a more ‘Anglo-Saxon’ approach to theology. 

Barth appears to contain a particular intensity that springs from the German experience and which may not be applicable to other experiences of Christianity. Barth may not have relevance to others ‘theologies’ and in any attempt to place tradition at the centre of faith he may also restrict thought and change. Tradition is hardly likely to be sympathetic to ‘liberation theology’, ‘feminist theology’, ‘black theology’ or even ‘Queer theology’.

In essence, Barth’s works fit into a German speaking post war epoch when german theologians tried to exorcise the ghosts of their own past. Some of the ideas presented by Barth are part of this intellectual and historical process. Equally, Barth’s views are perhaps focussed on an overly traditional ‘other worldliness’ that reduces the need to consider the human response to God and the natural world.

1 Kings 2:10-12

Richard Burleigh
Rector of Chale
Died 1734

© Godric Godricson

 

Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.  So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

Robert Heath Died 27th November 1763

Saint Andrew - Little Snoring



Saint Andrew - Little Snoring [Link]
© Godric Godricson

 The lovable rascals in the Diocese of Norwich have allowed large scale vandalism to take place in this wonderful building. The Authorities have somehow hollowed out the centre of this ancient and magnificent structure and left a cement colour to prevail along with a sort of unkempt dustiness to manifest itself. This is a magnificent building that shines forth from its location only to disappoint the searcher after truth when they enter and find a somewhat despoiled interior.

The small flowers at the entrance are welcoming and the building is open which is always a good start to a visit although that is just about where it ends. The spirit of God and traditional devotion has gone. Would it be too much to have a faint and vague smell of incense in the building to evoke that certain something? The faintest whiff of incense inspires a devotional sense and atmosphere and does something to help dispel the gradual slide towards dereliction.

The graveyard is plainly sad and has been cleared away for the ease of the rotary mower and once again the Anglican Authorities have 'got away with it'. An often Protestant Church that makes claims to be a National Church is not 'National' in any real way. The Established Church is becoming a broken  chain that has little contact with the public. They will soon start to resemble some of the 'Continuing' Anglican denomination around the world.

Saint Andrew - Little Snoring [Link]
© Godric Godricson

Saint Mary - Haddiscoe

Saint Mary - Haddiscoe [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Saint Mary - Haddiscoe [Link]

© Godric Godricson

John Buckenham Died 13th February 1669

Saint Mary - Haddiscoe [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Burial in the aisle

Burial in the aisle

St Gregory - Heckingham [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Mary Crow Died 28th April 1666

Mary Crow Died 28th April 1666

St Gregory - Heckingham [Link]

© Godric Godricson

John Denny Died 11th February 1680

Saint Margaret - Toft Monks, Norfolk [Link]

© Godric Godricson

The will of Isabel, Countess of Warwick. 1439

Dealings with the Dead
Vol 2

Project Gutenburg

"My body is to be buried, in the Abbey of Tewksbury; and I desire, that my great Templys with the Baleys be sold to the utmost, and delivered to the monks of that house, so that they grutched not my burial there. Also I will that my statue be made, all naked, with my hair cast backwards, according to the design and model, which Thomas Porchalion has, for that purpose, with Mary Magdalen laying her hand across, and St. John the Evangelist on the right side, and St. Anthony on the left."

Jane Buckenham Died 8th May 1677

Saint Mary - Haddiscoe [Link]

© Godric Godricson

“This man lived in the tombs” Mark 5:3

Preaching a Christian message

close to the tomb

© Godric Godricson

“This man lived in the tombs” is the start of this passage in the Gospel according to Mark. This passage talks about insanity, exclusion from society and ‘madness’. Whilst I want to move away from ideas of demon possession which itself is a strange thing for contemporary Christianity to teach, I want to look at the idea of people living amongst the dead now and in the past.

It is never a point of honour to live amongst the dead and humanity tends to have various injunctions on living amongst the dead. For Mark’s Gospel, there is an affinity between madness and this living with the dead. We can always become a little allegorical about the ideas of ‘death’ means. Is Mark’s idea of death physical death or is it about waiting for new life. This isn’t the discussion I want to have. My  thought’s on this are the  ways in which the living have come into contact with the dead and share the same physical space. For Mark, the demoniac is living amongst the bones of the dead and is eating and sleeping there as a regular event. Living in the tombs is normally abhorrent to humanity and something to be avoided.



Houses and the dead compete

for space in North Walsham

© Godric Godricson

The living and the dead in Europe have come into close contact for many tears and the older towns (such as North Walsham in Norfolk) have many examples of this proximity as the population of Europe grew and the population become ever more demanding of space and as they they required burial according to tradition. Europe’s tendency to have insanitary and filthy burial traditions are seen in the research of Edwin Chadwick in the 1840’s whereby he explored and analysed the tendency to re-use the same burial  place over many generations. There was no end to the people who wished to be buried in the Church of their ancestors turning such places into an ancestral shrine. No end of people turned the aisle of Churches into a funerary park as at Saint Augustine The Less in Bristol. The rich  displayed their wealth and connections in death as in life. Death became paraded in front  of the living on a daily basis and we now have no way of understanding the effect this had on popular imagination and sensibilities. The ossuary at St Leonard’s Church in Hythe contains huge quantities of human remains and around 2000 skulls. Its likely that this wasn’t unusual in Europe although many of the remains around Britain will have been cleared away and buried in the reforms of the 19^th Century. The collection of bones is touching on the dead as part of community ancestor worship and this doesn’t seem to be part of the Gospels.



One marble slab away from the dead

© Godric Godricson

For the Priest, we may only guess at the effect of having the dead under your feet whilst you engage in an active ministry. The feet of the living standing above the bones of the rich and infamous must have an emotional effect. I understand that 21^st century feelings of appropriateness have changed from that of the 19^th century although I do sometimes reflect on how it must have felt. What effect did it have on the priest to know that the departed were just one thickness of marble away from his feet? How does this proximity affect the preaching of the Gospel and what is the effect on the congregation to know that the rich and famous are always in the sanctuary area of the Church?

The proximity of the living and the dead largely came to an end in the mid 19^th Century with the Municipal Burials Act in 1857. This ensured a more hygienic way of disposing of the dead. There was an end to new tombs in Churches and if there were still the occasional burial then the body had to be embalmed and contained in a lead coffin. Hygiene became more of an emphasis as the population became aware of disease as opposed to miasma theory and fear of emanations and exhalations. Death had become something to be separated from the living rather than to co-exist with the living. In Europe, humanity had begun to separate itself from the dead although this was probably a process that was not immediate even with legislative changes.



Thomas Matthews Died 30th April 1883
All Saints, Newton by Castle Acre
© Godric Godricson

 Whilst the living and the dead parted company some years ago in Europe, there wasn’t the same segregation in developing countries. Egypt with a history of poverty has a significant history of co-existence with the dead and the Philippines similarly has a growing community living in over crowded poverty. Whilst Europe has been allowed to part company from the dead we find the developing world being compelled to coexist in a detestable manner based on poverty and population migrations to the City. Europe and North America has turned cemeteries into parks for recreation and for cultural pursuits. 


Modern use of cemeteries around the world means that we find people living in tombs in the modern age with no sign of this disappearing.  Regrettably, humanity still lives in tombs and scrounges an existence amongst the dead.

Burial in Church

Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters 

Author: Ambrose (c.337-397)

Editor: Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)

"St. Ambrose having discovered the bodies of SS. Cosmas and Damian, a.d. 389, placed them under the right side of the altar in his basilica, and desired that he should be himself buried near them to the left, which was done a.d. 397. In the year 835 the Archbishop of Milan, Angilbert II., caused a large porphyry sarcophagus to be made in which he laid the body of St. Ambrose between the other two under the altar. In 1864 some excavations and repairs revealed in situ a magnificent sarcophagus nearly four and a half feet in length, three in width, and nearly two in height, without the covering, placed lengthwise. Further excavations brought to view two other tombs, one to the right and one to the left, lined with marble and placed east and west, not as the sarcophagus, north and south. In the one to the left were a few pieces of money, one of Flavius Victor, one of Theodosius, with some fragments of cloth of gold and other things. These were evidently the original resting-places of St. Ambrose and of SS. Cosmas and Damian, and the sarcophagus that was constructed under Lothair, a.d. 835, by Angilbert".

Unknown symbol - Heacham

© Godric Godricson

William Henry Fortescue, 1st Earl of Clermont

© Godric Godricson

"William Henry Fortescue, 1st Earl of Clermont KP (5 August 1722 – 30 September 1806) was an Irish peer and politician.He served as High Sheriff of Louth in 1746. He became Earl of Clermont in 1777 and was appointed a Knight Founder of the Order of St Patrick on 30 March 1795.^[1 He represented Louth in the Irish House of Commons from 1745 to 1761 and subsequently Monaghan Borough until 1771. Between 1768 and 1769, he sat also as Member of Parliament for Dundalk"   Wikipedia.

John William Parmeter

John William Parmeter
Died 25th July 1799

St Mary - Burgh-next-Aylsham
© Godric Godricson