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{"id":17846,"date":"2016-01-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2669"},"modified":"2016-01-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T00:00:00","slug":"a-new-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/01\/a-new-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

He cites Cicero in support: \u201cWhen the vault of the sky returns to the position it had at the time of creation, it will be with Aries at the point of preeminence, the head of the cosmos. And such a return to beginnings was expected. For people commonly measure the year by the circuit of the sun, that is, of a single star alone; and when all the stars return to the place from which they at first set forth, and, at long intervals, restore the original configuration of the whole heaven, then that can truly be called a revolving year.\u201d This revolving year, Malina says, \u201crefers to the so-called Great Year,\u201d which Greeks believed to be equivalent to 36,000 solar years. At the beginning of a new great year, \u201cevents in the entire cosmos as well as on earth repeat themselves down to the minutest detail\u201d (68-69).<\/p>\n

On these premises, the cosmic Lamb can bring \u201ca new order with a new sky and a new land [a] new beginning [that] does away with everything that preceded it.\u201d Sins forgiven, the past wiped away: If that\u2019s what you want done, you need Aries (69). This, Malina says, is what would be in the minds of astronomically astute hearers and readers of Revelation, the prophets to whom John sent his book.<\/p>\n

In Revelation, Aries\/the Lamb accomplishes this renewal in a wedding feast. That too has its astronomical connection, the \u201cwedding of the gods.\u201d As Malina explains it, the wedding of the Lamb and the celestial city is about to take place an d\u201dportends the transformation of creation into a new sky and a new land. How and why? The fact is that the very mention of the wedding of the Lamb with its celestial bride would clue the astute astral reader to the advent of the new sky and the new land. Non-constellational weddings are quite common in the sky, since stars, like planets, have their conjunctions. \u2018Conjunction\u2019 . . . is the technical name of the overlapping or union of celestial bodies; it is equally a term for marital union, a \u2018wedding. . . . a celestial conjunction of the cosmic Lamb and the celestial city would be labeled a wedding.\u201d Since the city descends from heaven, the renewed sky comes to earth. The fact that this renewal is about to take place \u201cis signaled by the presence of the Lamb at the proper celestial location: the conjunction of the Lamb and the opening in the vault in the sky leading to the other side\u201d (74).<\/p>\n

John\u2019s visions are consistent with the astronomical lore of his world. Thus does the gospel fulfill the hopes and aspirations of Gentile astrologer as well as Jewish scribe.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"