The
Warrior’s
Quest is the Abrahamic spiritual discipline.
When Abraham is called, he goes forth and covenants with
God. He reveals to his people this main image of their Big Story,
namely, that they are Chosen.
The Big Story,
as it unfolds, becomes one of the deeds and actions of Moses, Aaron and Joshua.
Moses lays down god's law in the Ten Commandments. Aaron
establishes the patriarchal,
hierarchical priesthood. Laws, rituals, obligations, ceremonies,
prayers, etc., abound in
profusion.
One traditional
Jewish morning prayer boldly
asserts that they are sons of the Lone Male God, that is, “Thank God
I was not born a woman.”
Joshua
becomes the first military general, and
he sets the stage for how those
who follow the Warrior’s
Quest are to act in faithful obedience to
their god. At the direction of his god Yahweh he obliterates a
town called Ai. He “utterly
destroys all the inhabitants of Ai.” (Joshua 8:26)
This sets the biblical
violence template for
using massacre and genocide as
acts that make present his
Father god's will and favor.
The Christian interpretation re-imagines
this "Old" testament core of the Warrior’s
Quest. Instead of Moses, Aaron and Joshua, there is Jesus. He is “Christus
Victor,” Christ the Victor and Christ the King.
Each follower of Christ is now to become a “soldier of
Christ, a “milites
Christi.” They sing, "A mighty fortress is
our God" as they march, "Onward, Christian soldiers."
Jesus’ body becomes
the warrior body supreme. Only his
dying and death saves humanity from
the
Father’s
wrath and the consequences of Original Sin. Only his
body is the birthing body.
In the Christian sacramental tradition, Jesus’ body
is even considered to be here now, a “real
presence,” whose body
is physical, fleshly food for
the soul.
Continue—Abrahamics
