The dream of the Rood - Essay Example

here 18 August The Uncompromising Cross − Now and Then The symbolism of the cross has been existent for more than two millennia and is a central concept from which Christianity hinges, and in the pre-10th-Century poem “The Dream of the Rood,” the “rood” – or Crucifix – carries the same immutable significance that Christians hold today, save one incongruency. In the poem, the cross on which Jesus Christ died comes to life and describes the glory that emerged from a seeming tragedy.

Most of the depictions provided in the poem are consistent with modern Christian beliefs, including Christ’s death on the cross to save all mankind who would believe on Him as their Lord and Savior (Krapp 62). Just like the key verse of modern-day Christianity, the poem revolves around the immutable Scripture from the Gospel of John in the New Testament, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” (The NIV Study Bible, John 3.16). “The Dream of the Rood” also mirrors the current Christian belief that Jesus bore the sins for all men and freed them from having to pay the price of death for one’s sins by dying on the cross and thus purchasing man’s eternal life with Him in heaven, “He mounted high gallows, bold before many, when he would loose mankind, (Krapp 62).

Consistent with Evangelical Christian theology, the unknown author of the poem also acknowledges that all mankind is doomed to eternal torment in hell for his sinful nature if he does not believe in Christ, “he holds power of doom – everyone here as he will have earned for himself earlier in this brief life,” (Krapp 63). Christ’s ascension to heaven in the poem also reflects the contemporary Christian belief that Jesus currently resides in heaven and defeated death through His resurrection, “Death he tasted there, yet God rose again by his great might, a help unto men.

He then rose to heaven,” (Krapp 63). All of these core concepts have survived thousands of years to today’s Body of Christ, yet one concept in the poem is inconsistent with current Christian theology. The poet is seen as revering the cross (or crucifix) itself at one point in the poem, “I prayed then to that beam with blithe mind,” (Krapp, 64), and modern-day Christians believe that man is not to worship any graven image or “idol in the form of anything in heaven above or one the earth beneath,” (The NIV Study Bible, Exo. 20.4,).

By praying to the beam (or cross), the poet is worshipping an inanimate object, transposing the divinity of Christ into a dead tree. Evangelical Christians today adamantly teach against revering anything or anyone but the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worshipping anything else is considered blasphemy. Yet, despite this one difference, the poem accurately reflects all of today’s major tenets that form the core of Bible-believing Christian beliefs. Works Cited Krapp, George Philip, ed.

The Vercelli Book. New York: Colombia University Press. 1932. Print. The NIV Study Bible. Ed. Kenneth Barker. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1995. Print.