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In a 1959 article \u201cChristian Envy of the Temple,\u201d H. Nibley points out that the early Christians derived their liturgical theology from the temple: <\/p>\n
\u201cThey boast that the Church possesses all the physical properties of the Temple-the oil, the myrrh, the altar, the incense, hymns, priestly robes, etc., everything, in fact, but the Temple itself, for \u2018in the place of the tangible Temple we behold the spiritual.\u2019 Strange, that the solid walls should vanish and all the rest remain! Even the unleavened bread was retained in the West as an acknowledged heritage of the Temple, in spite of the much more appropriate spiritual symbolism of the leavened bread preferred by the Eastern churches, \u2018 . . . for we do not reject all the practices of the Old Law,\u2019 says Rupert in explaining this, \u2018We still offer incense daily, anoint the holy oil, have bells in the place of ancient trumpets, and many suchlike things.\u2019 So we find \u201cveils of the Temple\u201d in Christian churches, inner shrines called tabernacles, awesome Holies of Holies entered only by prince and patriarch for the Year-rite, buildings and altars orientated like synagogues-which imitated the Temple in that respect, dedication rites faithfully reproducing those of Solomon\u2019s Temple, and a body of hymns \u2018so obviously sung in the Temple that there is no need for any words to prove this.\u2019 In ritual texts priests are regularly referred to as Levites, and the Bishop, though his office and title derive from the Synagogue and not the Temple, is equated with Aaron the high priest. Rabanus Maurus leaves us in no doubt of what his people were thinking when they hailed their fine church with templum Domini, templum Domini, templum Domini est! <\/em> \u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a 1959 article \u201cChristian Envy of the Temple,\u201d H. Nibley points out that the early Christians derived their liturgical theology from the temple: \u201cThey boast that the Church possesses all the physical properties of the Temple-the oil, the myrrh, the altar, the incense, hymns, priestly robes, etc., everything, in fact, but the Temple itself, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology-liturgical"],"yoast_head":"\n