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Winged Heart THE FIRST SACRED HEART? At least part of the impetus behind people who endeavor to document their family’s genealogy is the hope that by knowing who their ancestors were they will understand better who they are. The scholarly version of this search is known as Source Criticism. Historically this methodology has been applied primarily to biblical studies, most often to the New Testament. The assumption of these scholars is that by locating original biblical texts and then tracing their evolution forward it would be possible to determine the authentic essence of Christianity. Like all methodologies, Source Criticism has its problems. These problems can perhaps be highlighted by applying this strategy to the study of human origins. In this case the assumption is that by identifying the first human, we will understand the essence nature of humanness. By comparing the genome of modern humans with contemporary great apes, with whom we share 97.5% of our genes, it is estimated that the human lineage split off from the ape lineage 6 to 8 million years ago. This has led paleoanthropologists to scour deposits from this time period in Africa for the fossils of our earliest human ancestors. These fossils are rare bones, even rarer skulls, and lots of teeth. Given that early human were very apelike, the problem arises of how to determine whether a fossil is an ancient human or ape. To do that requires defining what anatomical characteristics distinguish humans from apes, which leads to some circular reasoning. That said, currently the criterion for what separates humans from apes is bipedalism, the ability to habitually walk upright. Using biomechanical analysis, scientists claim that from the few known fragmentary lower limb and hip fossils of extinct hominoids—the group that includes both humans and apes—it can be determined which evidence bipedalism. The problems here is that the earliest members of linage that split off from the apes of which we are descendants were probably so apelike they weren’t initially bipedal. And it is likely that there were a number of lineages that split off from apes more than one of which evolved the ability to walk upright. All of these lineages except one, ours, have gone extinct. These complications makes it pretty much impossible to identify the first human. The same kinds of problems arise when trying to evaluate this ca. 100 engraving from Roman Antium, modern-day Anzio. The first question that arises is whether this engraving even represents a Sacred Heart. The words SPES IN DEO, inscribed beneath the heart, translate to “hope in god.” “Deo” is singular suggesting the reference is to the monotheistic Christian God. The engraved heart seems to be a symbol of God’s or Jesus’ heart. So it is probable that this is a very early Sacred Heart. The second question—whether this is the first Sacred Heart—is virtually impossible to answer. Dating of materials of this age is unreliable, and locating early Sacred Heart iconology is not a high priority among art historians and archeologists. Even if it were, it is doubtful this is the Sacred Heart from which all subsequent renderings of this symbol sprang. Most likely, the symbol of the Sacred Heart was starting to pop up throughout the increasingly Christianized Roman Empire about this time, of which, like the fossil bones of extinct humans, few have been preserved. The crude quality of this engraving does suggest that from its inception the Sacred Heart was a symbol popularia (of the people), devotion to it recognized by Church hierarchy much later. Similar to biological evolution, the origin and evolution of cultural icons are marked by multiple births, difficult to untangle branchings, and extinctions. Early New Testament texts, extinct human fossils, or an almost two-thousand year old heart symbol can provide clues but not the key to the essence of Christianity, human nature, or the meaning of the Sacred Heart. These are for the living to decide. |
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