St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

'Flying cow' may bite the dust?

Residents of Eccleshill were surprised to see more light shining through the concrete tower recently, following strong winds over the weekend. One of the fibre-glass painted panels, next to the one affectionately known to some as the "flying cow", had flown the nest.

"I first noticed while mowing the vicarage lawn," explains the vicar, the Rev'd John Hartley. "I looked up and there it wasn't! A quick inspection revealed no signs of theft or forced entry, so we deduced the wind had blown it down into the body of the tower."

The panels are part of the 1975 concrete tower, and depict St Luke (the bull) and St Peter (the crossed keys). The tower replaces the original 1848 spire which had to be taken down in 1961 because movement in the foundations had made it unsafe, and the fibre- glass panels were made locally. The "keys of the kingdom of heaven" represent St Peter (as the church was originally built by William Scoresby, Arctic explorer and Vicar of St Peter's Bradford), and the bull represents St Luke.

"Depending on the nature of the damage, we may simply refix the panels," says Mr Hartley. "But if there's something major afoot, or if the missing panel is too badly damaged, we may have to consider taking the other panels down. So there is just a chance the flying cow may have to bite the dust."

Why a bull for St Luke?

Early Christians loved to read the Old Testament for symbolism, and the symbols for the four gospels come from a vision (in Ezekiel 1) of four winged creatures, each with four faces, who herald the "figure like a man". Clearly this figure means Jesus - so the winged creatures must mean the four ways we can see Jesus now - the four gospels. Luke gets the third of these, the bull (or ox), because his is the third gospel.

But maybe there's more to it than that? The bull was a universal beast of burden, and Jesus bore the sins of the whole world - Luke is particularly keen to set out the universal message that Jesus has come for everyone. And that's what our church is about - setting out the Christian gospel for everyone in the parish. (You can find more discussion of the symbolism of the bull on our web site.)

John Hartley

The above article refers to "more discussion" on the web site - so here's the further discussion which took place:

Why did the flying bull come to be used as a symbol for St Luke?

Here's a stab at an answer.

Early Christians knew that their faith was the faith which fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, and they looked at the Old Testament scriptures with this in mind. So they naturally interpreted passages of scripture allegorically - as representations of what was going to happen. One such passage is in the opening words of the book of the prophet Ezekiel:

I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire were what looked like four living creatures. Each of them had four faces and four wings ...
Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces ...
Then there came a voice from above the expanse over the heads of the living creatures as they stood with lowered wings. Over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man ...
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Ezekiel 1:4-5,10-11, 25-26,28.

The reasoning goes like this. The man-like figure who appeared to Ezekiel was obviously Jesus Christ, and the creatures were the heralds of his appearance. There were four of them, just as there were four gospels which tell of Jesus to the world today. Each of the creatures told the whole truth (each had all four faces), but each of the faces emphasises a different aspect of the truth. So it was natural to match up the creatures with the four gospel books.

The details of which gospel gets which creature are slightly more difficult. One way of doing it is just to match up the faces with the gospels in order ... and that's what they did. Traditionally this has been explained by saying that the gospels have different characteristics, and these match the characteristics of the four creatures:

The winged man is used to represent Matthew, because his Gospel deals with the human genealogy of Christ, and throughout the Gospel, Matthew emphasizes the human nature of Christ.
The winged lion represents Mark because the writer opens his Gospel by describing John the Baptist as the voice of “the one crying in the wilderness.” The lion, as king of beast, reveals the royal character of Christ, which Mark stresses by calling Him the Lion of Judah.
The winged ox or calf, the animal of sacrifice, is used to represent Luke, whose Gospel emphasizes the sacrifical aspects of Christ’s life and death.
The symbol for John is the eagle. His Gospel “soars on eagles’ wings” in expressing the divine nature of Christ.

Well, that's the traditional explanation, of why St Luke gets the bull, or ox.

Different Christians would probably have different views on whether the above characterizations of the gospels are accurate or merely rationalizations, or at worst fictional. But we're grateful to Steve Allen for the following:

"Richard Burridge's excellent little book 'Four Gospels, One Jesus?' explains why the four figures were allocated to the different Gospels. In the case of Luke being symbolised by the ox, Burridge points out that the ox was the universal beast of burden and Jesus is the universal burden-bearer. Luke, like no other Gospel emphasises the universal nature of Christ's work - so for instance whereas the opening section of Matthew's Gospel sets Jesus within Israel's history and Mark takes little interest in the early part of Jesus' life, Luke is very definitely addressing the Graeco-Roman world (through Theophilus). Luke as we know contains more actual historical references than the other Synoptics; it is possible also to see this emphasis on the universal in those parts of Luke's narrative that are unique to him - e.g. Simeon's song, 'For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles....'. e.g. his genealogy goes beyond Abraham to Adam; e.g. to illustrate the Great Commandment, Luke alone tells the story of the good Samaritan; e.g. Luke alone tells us of the Samaritan leper who comes back to thank Jesus for healing and so on. Burridge explains this much more fully, both from a historical point of view (Irenaus, Jerome etc) and a textual one."

So far as we are aware, that's the full story. There are internet sites which talk about the Mithras mystery religion, or about Zechariah's occupation as a sacrificing priest ... but we remain to be convinced. But if you disagree strongly, write in and tell us!

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. July 2005, Page 1.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (July 2005) Flying cow, Foundations, Prayer Audit, Day Centre, Song. Other articles on our locality.	'Flying cow' may bite the dust? Residents of Eccleshill were surprised to see more light shining through the concrete tower recently, following strong winds over the weekend. One of the fibre-glass painted panels, next to the one affectionately known to some as the "flying cow", had flown the nest. "I first noticed while mowing the vicarage lawn," explains the vicar, the Rev'd John Hartley. "I looked up and there it wasn't! A quick inspection revealed no signs of theft or forced entry, so we deduced the wind had blown it down into the body of the tower." The panels are part of the 1975 concrete tower, and depict St Luke (the bull) and St Peter (the crossed keys). The tower replaces the original 1848 spire which had to be taken down in 1961 because movement in the foundations had made it unsafe, and the fibre- glass panels were made locally. The "keys of the kingdom of heaven" represent St Peter (as the church was originally built by William Scoresby, Arctic explorer and Vicar of St Peter's Bradford), and the bull represents St Luke. "Depending on the nature of the damage, we may simply refix the panels," says Mr Hartley. "But if there's something major afoot, or if the missing panel is too badly damaged, we may have to consider taking the other panels down. So there is just a chance the flying cow may have to bite the dust." Why a bull for St Luke? Early Christians loved to read the Old Testament for symbolism, and the symbols for the four gospels come from a vision (in Ezekiel 1) of four winged creatures, each with four faces, who herald the "figure like a man". Clearly this figure means Jesus - so the winged creatures must mean the four ways we can see Jesus now - the four gospels. Luke gets the third of these, the bull (or ox), because his is the third gospel. But maybe there's more to it than that? The bull was a universal beast of burden, and Jesus bore the sins of the whole world - Luke is particularly keen to set out the universal message that Jesus has come for everyone. And that's what our church is about - setting out the Christian gospel for everyone in the parish. (You can find more discussion of the symbolism of the bull on our web site.) John Hartley The above article refers to "more discussion" on the web site - so here's the further discussion which took place: Why did the flying bull come to be used as a symbol for St Luke? Here's a stab at an answer. Early Christians knew that their faith was the faith which fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, and they looked at the Old Testament scriptures with this in mind. So they naturally interpreted passages of scripture allegorically - as representations of what was going to happen. One such passage is in the opening words of the book of the prophet Ezekiel: I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire were what looked like four living creatures. Each of them had four faces and four wings ... Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces ... Then there came a voice from above the expanse over the heads of the living creatures as they stood with lowered wings. Over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man ... This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. Ezekiel 1:4-5,10-11, 25-26,28. The reasoning goes like this. The man-like figure who appeared to Ezekiel was obviously Jesus Christ, and the creatures were the heralds of his appearance. There were four of them, just as there were four gospels which tell of Jesus to the world today. Each of the creatures told the whole truth (each had all four faces), but each of the faces emphasises a different aspect of the truth. So it was natural to match up the creatures with the four gospel books. The details of which gospel gets which creature are slightly more difficult. One way of doing it is just to match up the faces with the gospels in order ... and that's what they did. Traditionally this has been explained by saying that the gospels have different characteristics, and these match the characteristics of the four creatures: The winged man is used to represent Matthew, because his Gospel deals with the human genealogy of Christ, and throughout the Gospel, Matthew emphasizes the human nature of Christ. The winged lion represents Mark because the writer opens his Gospel by describing John the Baptist as the voice of “the one crying in the wilderness.” The lion, as king of beast, reveals the royal character of Christ, which Mark stresses by calling Him the Lion of Judah. The winged ox or calf, the animal of sacrifice, is used to represent Luke, whose Gospel emphasizes the sacrifical aspects of Christ’s life and death. The symbol for John is the eagle. His Gospel “soars on eagles’ wings” in expressing the divine nature of Christ. Well, that's the traditional explanation, of why St Luke gets the bull, or ox. Different Christians would probably have different views on whether the above characterizations of the gospels are accurate or merely rationalizations, or at worst fictional. But we're grateful to Steve Allen for the following: "Richard Burridge's excellent little book 'Four Gospels, One Jesus?' explains why the four figures were allocated to the different Gospels. In the case of Luke being symbolised by the ox, Burridge points out that the ox was the universal beast of burden and Jesus is the universal burden-bearer. Luke, like no other Gospel emphasises the universal nature of Christ's work - so for instance whereas the opening section of Matthew's Gospel sets Jesus within Israel's history and Mark takes little interest in the early part of Jesus' life, Luke is very definitely addressing the Graeco-Roman world (through Theophilus). Luke as we know contains more actual historical references than the other Synoptics; it is possible also to see this emphasis on the universal in those parts of Luke's narrative that are unique to him - e.g. Simeon's song, 'For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles....'. e.g. his genealogy goes beyond Abraham to Adam; e.g. to illustrate the Great Commandment, Luke alone tells the story of the good Samaritan; e.g. Luke alone tells us of the Samaritan leper who comes back to thank Jesus for healing and so on. Burridge explains this much more fully, both from a historical point of view (Irenaus, Jerome etc) and a textual one." So far as we are aware, that's the full story. There are internet sites which talk about the Mithras mystery religion, or about Zechariah's occupation as a sacrificing priest ... but we remain to be convinced. But if you disagree strongly, write in and tell us! John Hartley
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