Remembering Good Friday, Multimedia Style, and Examining the Pagan Claims Around Easter
It feels weird to start off with “Happy Good Friday,” considering what it commemorates, but when you take into account the results that were achieved that day, it’s definitely a cause for happiness. And so…
Happy Good Friday!
I don’t have much new to say about it this year, but I wanted to resurrect (see what I d— never mind) a couple of posts from last year for those who may have missed them:
Three Rebellions, Two Babies, and One Ultimate Solution
Here's a piece I wrote for my blog a couple of years ago -- an attempt to articulate my understanding of the whole Gospel and why Jesus needed to do what he did, and why we needed him to do it.
Is Easter Pagan?
Claims about Easter’s pagan origins and why Christians shouldn’t celebrate it proliferate social media this time of year like, well, like bunnies. But are these claims true?
There are basically two sources for this claim. One, as I mentioned in a recent article, is Alexander Hislop’s erroneous claim that Easter derives its name from the goddess Ishtar and is a celebration of Semiramis and Tammuz — the so-called (by him and him alone) rising and dying god. You can go read that article to see how he basically pulled that claim out of his back pocket.
Another, somewhat more credible, claim is that the name derives from an Old Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess named Eostre (or Ostara) — this claim can also only be traced to one source, the 7th/8th century monk Bede. His writings are the sole source mentioning any existence of this particular goddess, who is never referenced even once in any ancient pagan writings from that region. This theory was promoted in the 19th century by that collector and writer of fairy tales, Jacob Grimm, and by the end of the century it had proliferated through the Victorian Church. Pretty much every scholarly article exploring the origins of eggs, bunnies, and their connection to this elusive fertility goddess builds off of Jacob Grimm’s speculations which are based on Bede’s initial claim. But there is no actual evidence.1
I’ve read and heard other claims that Easter simply derives from the German word for East, referencing the direction of both the sunrise and the risen Son, and that bunnies and eggs were a post-Reformation German custom that were simply meant to teach children about the renewal of life.2
Nevertheless, these customs, as well as the name Easter, are distinctly Germanic in origin, and it’s notable that in the Orthodox and non-English-speaking world, Resurrection Day goes by the name of Pascha, which is the Aramaic word for Passover.
All of that said, I think it’s safe to say that, as with Christmas, there are basically two separate holidays that take place — a secular version that’s centered around bunnies, eggs and candy and which may or may not be (and is probably not) pagan in origin, and a sacred version that celebrates Jesus’ triumph over death and darkness. I don’t know why anyone calling themselves a Christian wouldn’t celebrate the latter. As for participation in the former, I think that’s a matter of personal conscience and conviction and not something for which any of us can or should condemn anyone.3
If you want to go more in-depth on this, give this podcast a listen:
A brief housekeeping announcement
I’ve turned paid subscriptions back on. This is mainly to provide an option for anyone who feels led to help support my efforts to use my writing skills for ministry. It’s also a compromise regarding the commenting situation. I didn’t like the idea of turning off comments completely, but I don’t want to have to moderate them, and this seems like a good way to prevent the random drive-bys from trolls and people who just want to pop in long enough to be contentious and then pop out again. I feel better about the comments being there for people to hold me accountable and gently correct me if I really mess something up, but I also feel I should only be accountable to people who are actually invested in this ministry, not random Internet strangers or people who think they’re the reincarnation of Elijah.
So for only $3 a month or $36 a year, you’ll get full access to the comments and the community features, which I really hope y’all will use, not just to converse with me, but to talk amongst yourselves. I’d love for this to be a way to connect like-minded believers who feel like they’re out in the weeds all by themselves.
For the special discount pricing, use this link to sign up or upgrade.
And if we have an established relationship and you truly can’t afford even that much (trust me, I’ve been there), get in touch and I’ll comp you a paid subscription.
And Now for Some Fun…
I know, I know… Carman is a little on the cheesy side. But we all loved him back in the ‘80s, and I still love him, God rest his soul. I can’t let this Resurrection weekend go by without listening to his two biggest and most relevant hits, and so here I share them with you.
This one has been in my head on a loop all week:
And this one still gives me chills and makes me tear up and pump my fist in the air at the end.
Happy Holy weekend, folks.
I hope it’s blessed.
I’ve heard and read these things over the years and I’m not looking them up right now. But a lot of it probably came from that Cultish podcast I embedded up there.
