This essay provides an overview of The Stone Roses' usage of The Bible (and their discussion of religion in interviews), and also looks at the thread of Gnosticism running through their work.
A Stone Roses b-side, Moses, is named after the central figure of Exodus.
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14: 13 - 21)
Jesus says that the "the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done." (Matthew 16:27), and that this will occur in a sudden, non-localised fashion "like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other." (Luke 17: 24), and that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13: 32).
Ian: That'd be the Bible. Amazing book... It has been tampered with, you know they made Mary a prostitute and all that rather than a prophet. You know, it's hardest for the ladies in the Bible. They've either gotta be sainted or they're gonna be sinners so, reading in between the lines I like the story of Mary being the prophet. Mary fuelling JC with his powers an' all that.
In the New Testament, Mary Magdalene was a woman from the town of Magdala, near Tiberias. She was there during Jesus' Crucifixion and comforted Him in his final moments. She also discovered the empty tomb and was a witness to His Resurrection. Furthermore, she was there at the beginning of the movement that would become Christianity. However, she has since been portrayed quite differently, namely as a prostitute, who had fallen and was then redeemed. She is mentioned in each of the four gospels, but not once does it mention that she was a prostitute or a sinner. She became confused with two other women from the Bible: Mary, the sister of Martha and the unnamed sinner from Luke's gospel (7: 36 - 50). In the sixth century, Pope Gregory declared that the three women were the same person:
Several theories surround what prompted Gregory to make this declaration: one theory suggests an attempt to reduce the number of Marys — there was a similar merging of characters named John. Another submits that the sinning woman was appended simply to provide missing backstory for a figure of obvious importance, while others attribute it to misogyny. It was not until 1969 that the Catholic Church declared that Mary Magdalene was not the penitent sinner. Her reputation, however, still lingers.
Gnosticism, I feel, is an overlooked aspect of The Stone Roses' work. It is difficult to define Gnosticism or form an objective view of this system of belief or its participants because there are very few exhibits of first hand copies of their writings. These writings were burned by the orthodox Christians from the first century onward due to Gnosticism being considered heretical. Until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945 little was known of Gnosticism and the Gnostics except from the writings of their adversaries. The definition of Gnosticism to be found in Encyclopaedia Britannica Online is as follows:
Among the Gnostic Christians and many other "heretical" groups, the disciple to Jesus' right (below) was considered to be Mary Magdalene, the beloved disciple, not John (the Gospel of Mary is also called the Gospel of the Beloved Disciple). The Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 (also known as the Akhmim Codex), discovered in Cairo in 1896, contains portions of three Gnostic texts, now known as the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of Mary. The publication of these documents was delayed until 1955 due to misfortunes (including two world wars). By this time, the Nag Hammadi texts had also been recovered, and it was discovered that versions of two very important scriptures in Nag Hammadi library were also present in the Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 codex: the Apocryphon of John, and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. Versions of these texts in the codex were used to augment the translations of the Apocryphon of John and the Sophia of Jesus Christ which now appear in the Nag Hammadi collection.
They believed Leonardo formulated the shape of the letter 'M' by conjoining the figures of 'Mary' and Jesus; furthermore, it has been argued that in order to denote the opposite gender (in addition to the effeminate characteristics of John), 'Mary' is wearing the opposite of Christ - Christ wears a red tunic and blue robe, while 'Mary' wears a blue tunic and red robe (the traditional garment used in depictions of Mary, the mother of Jesus as well as Mary Magdalene).
Above we see an 'M' shape formed by conjoining of two bodies. In this painting, the twelve apostles accompanying Christ are divided into four groups of three (there are also three windows - the number three is often a reference to the Holy Trinity in Catholic art. In Part 5 of an 'Addicted To Noise' interview, Squire when asked if there was any significance in the '3' on the front cover of Second Coming, reveals that he does 'feel an affinity with the number'). The upwards pointing finger of Thomas in the same work is a feature of many of Leonardo's paintings. Thomas, looking toward Jesus, raises his forefinger in the air; this has been called the 'John Gesture'. This recurring gesture in Leonardo's work is associated with John the Baptist. Some hold the belief that Leonardo was a Johannite, a believer in the Great Heresy, that is, that Christ and / or his followers killed John and took over the church that he had created. The gesture of Thomas toward Jesus in the Last Supper is seen by some scholars as Leonardo encoding the message to 'remember John the Baptist' within his work. John may have been more than a harbinger to Jesus in the eyes of Leonardo, regarding him to be a greater figure than Jesus Himself. In 'Jack' magazine in 2002, John Squire stated that he felt a certain affinity with John the Baptist.
We can tell from the following comments by Ian in a Channel 4 interview that he believes the 'revelations' of Dan Brown's novel, 'The Da Vinci Code':
"Women have had a rough deal in history, haven't they ? I'd say Mary. Not Jesus' mother but his girlfriend. I believe she must've given him a lot of power. The bible made her a ho, so she must've had some power. With those people, women can either be a saint - which is unachievable - or they're hookers. Jesus was basically just an angry guy and it was Mary that soothed him. I can relate to that because women tame us and they give us our power. You have a barney with your girl you feel shit. If your girl gives you a kiss you feel great. So I'll say Jesus' Mary was the greatest woman who ever lived, though I never met her." (Ian Brown speaking to Channel 4 in 2005)
The Da Vinci Code claims that Mary Magdalene was wife of Jesus Christ and pregnant with his child at the time of his crucifixion. The Church, it claims, has suppressed the truth about Mary Magdalene and the Jesus bloodline for 2000 years, principally because they fear the power of the sacred feminine. That she was a prostitute, the book claims, was slander invented by the Church to obscure their true relationship. In the Top Of The Pops interview above, Ian Brown demonstrates that he does not believe in the 'standard' bible ("It has been tampered with..."), instead having a preference for those books of questionable merit. On this page, he speaks about Mary Magdalene in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This fascination with Mary Magdalene is one shared by Gnostics. The so-called Gospel of Mary [Magdalene], which may date from as early as A.D. 125 (or about 40 years after John's Gospel), describes her as having received a private vision from Jesus, which she passes on to the male disciples. This role is a usurpation of the go-between status the standard Gospels normally accord to Peter, and Mary depicts him as being unhappy at this, asking, "Did [Jesus] really speak with a woman without our knowledge ?" The disciple Levi comes to her defense, saying, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered ... If the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her ? Surely, the Savior loves her very well. That is why he loved her more than us." The combination of Catholic rethinking and Gnostic revelations have reanimated wilder Magdalene speculations, such as that of a Jesus-Magdalene marriage. In the Channel 4 interview quote above, Ian Brown is one such figure to subscribe to such speculations ("I'd say Mary. Not Jesus' mother but his girlfriend.", he replies when asked who he thought was the greatest woman who ever lived.) The Gnostic Gospel of Philip describes Magdalene as "the one who was called [Jesus'] companion," claiming that he "used to kiss her on her [mouth]." Most scholars discount a Jesus-Magdalene match because it finds little echo in the canonical Gospels once the false Magdalenes are removed.
Apocalyptic writing is characterised by dreams or visions, and the introduction of Angels as the bearers of the revelation is a standing feature. At least two angel-classes are mentioned in biblical scripture: the Cherubim and the seraphim. God may give instructions through the medium of these heavenly messengers, who act as the seer's guide. God may also personally give a revelation, as is shown in the Book of Revelation through the person of Jesus Christ. Fantastic imagery is used, of strange living creatures such as the ‘beast’ in which the properties of men, animals, birds, reptiles, or purely imaginary beings are combined in a way that is startling and often grotesque. Christianity had a Millennial expectation for glorification of the righteous from the time it emerged from Judaism and spread out into the world in the first century. During his imprisonment by the Romans on the Island of Patmos, John described the visions he experienced, writing the Book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 20 contains several references to a thousand year reign of Christ upon this earth. Modern Christian movements in the 18th and 19th centuries were characterized by a rise of Millennialism. Christian Apocalyptic eschatology was a continuation of the same two themes referred to throughout all of scripture as "this age" and "the age to come". Evangelicals have been in the forefront in rediscovering and popularising the biblical prophecy of a major confrontation between good and evil at the end of this age, a coming Millennium to follow, and a final confrontation whereby the wicked are judged, the righteous are rewarded and Eternity begins.
Ian Brown's The Fisherman references Satan's relationship to the number 666:
Bibliography:
http://www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/g/gnosticism.html
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Paul McAuley
http://www.thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
Email: Paul@thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
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