Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASCETICISM

Initially referring to physical exercise, training, or practice, asceticism (from Gk. áskēsis) assumed religious significance in the Hellenistic period, indicating activities of the mind, soul, and will. As a religious term, ascetic purity was often viewed as a condition for approaching the gods, for fulfilling a divine commission, or for surviving a historical crisis. Although the Hebrew religion embraced the world, it also denied it at important moments. Fasting for discrete periods was practiced at the Feast of Purim (Esth. 9:31), on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29-31; 23:26-32), and during periods of penance (1 Sam. 7:6) or mourning (2 Sam. 1:12; 3:35; Dan. 9:3; 10:3). Participation in the sacrificial cult (Lev. 10:9) and the assumption of the Nazarite vow (Num. 6:2) both required at least temporary abstinence from wine and sex. Rechabites vowed to have no part in the planting or cultivation of vineyards or the production and consumption of wine (Jer. 35:7). Sexual intercourse was also forbidden in preparation for divine revelation (Exod. 19:15), for fighting a holy war (2 Sam. 11:13), and for priestly service at the altar.

These ascetic acts of self-denial served a multitude of functions. Sexual abstinence practiced in the priestly Qumran community was thought to place one in the company of angels, and offered a means for reentering a lost primordial world. Abstention from sexual commitments, Paul believed, prepared one to remain faithful in the eschatological crisis (1 Cor. 7:32-35). Luke suggests that sexual asceticism ritualized a realized eschatology that bestowed angelic status on believers (Luke 20:34-36), a viewpoint shared by Corinthian enthusiasts (1 Cor. 7). This piety enabled one to transcend the physical limits so uncompromisingly set for all humanity by focusing on the eschaton. This asceticism, however, unlike that of the Cynic philosophers, had strong traditional ties to the normative Jewish and early Christian culture. Where the Cynics saw asceticism as an attempt to break free of the shackles of the normative culture, Jewish and Christian asceticism offered a means of intensifying devotion, of engaging in acts of self-denial to offer oneself unreservedly to God’s tasks, and of participating in the sacred story of Israel.

Calvin J. Roetzel

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASCETICISM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)