Why Did Jesus Descend Into Hell?

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
nightshadetwine
Posts: 252
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:35 am

Re: Why Did Jesus Descend Into Hell?

Post by nightshadetwine »

It's part of the story of the dying and resurrecting savior which is an allegory for what the initiate goes through. Dionysus, Heracles, the Egyptian sun god etc. all go down into the underworld and return.

Dionysos by Richard Seaford:
The restoration of Dionysos to life was (like the return of Kore from Hades at Eleusis) presumably connected with the immortality obtained by the initiates
Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt by Jan Assmann:
Initiation thus clearly had the sense of a prefiguration of death, one that conveyed to the mystic a divine presence that otherwise, according to the Egyptian view of things, was imparted only to the ritually “transfigured” dead. By voluntarily experiencing this symbolic death, the mystic qualified himself to be brought back to life by Isis on the day of his actual death. When the day of the initiation finally comes, Lucius is first bathed (baptized), and the priest “expresses the forgiveness of the gods.” The bath thus has the sacramental sense of a remission of sins. Lucius is initiated into the mysteries of the netherworld. He carries out the descensus of the sun god, descending into the netherworld and beholding the sun at midnight.
I've made some posts on this subject viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4574 and viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4714
iskander
Posts: 2091
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:38 pm

Re: Why Did Jesus Descend Into Hell?

Post by iskander »

iskander wrote: Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:49 pm
iskander wrote: Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:42 pm Isaiah 14. Jewish Study Bible.

Isaiah 14.1-23: A mock lament concerning Israel's oppressor. The poem in vv 4b-21 the ignominious death of an Assyrian monarch of Isaiah's time, probably Sargon II , who was killed in battle in 705. It was later interpreted as predicting the death of a Babylonian monarch....

12_15 : The king's vain aspirations to be god-like status are mocked. Isaiaih refers ironically to the king as Shinning One, son of Dawn, applying to him the name of a character from ancient Canaanite myth ...The name closely recalls Phaethon son of Eos in Greek mythology ...

16-21: The fate of the king's body. Denied a proper burial, he is condemned to the most miserable fate in the underworld.
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The New American Bible,
Isaiah 14

14:4-21 This taunt song, a satirical funeral lament, is a beautiful example of classical Hebrew poetry. According to the prose introduction and the prosaic conclusion (vv 21-23), it is directed against the king of Babylon, though Babylon is mentioned nowhere in the song itself...

14:12 Morning Star Term addressed to the king of Babylon. The Vulgate translates as "Lucifer," a name applied by the church Fathers to Satan. Son of the Dawn: Heb, ben sahar, may reflect the name of a pagan deity.
...
Isa. 14:21-22
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