{"id":1077,"date":"2009-08-30T16:32:36","date_gmt":"2009-08-30T20:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2009-08-30T16:34:47","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T20:34:47","slug":"worshiping-history-westminster-abbey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/2009\/08\/worshiping-history-westminster-abbey\/","title":{"rendered":"Worshiping History: Westminster Abbey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Westminster

Westminster Abbey<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday, I stood on Charles Darwin\u2019s grave. And no, it was not in a cemetery or science sanctuary, it was in a church. Over 3,000 people are buried at Westminster Abbey<\/a>. While it is mainly dominated by various royal figures, there are several burials and memorials for literary figures, scientists, and even an unknown soldier. But by far the most shocking person buried there is Charles Darwin<\/a>. Despite the fact that in many ways his work refutes the teachings of the church, he is still\u00a0 honored there as an important historical figure. This illustrates the importance of English history to the English, to the point where they would rather honor a historical figure who they disgraced with than have his part of history lost.<\/p>\n

As an English major, there was also another part of the church I particularly liked: poet\u2019s corner. There I saw stones for many writers including D. H. Lawrence<\/a>, Lewis Carroll<\/a>, and Dylan Thomas<\/a>. However, I was disappointed to realize that not everyone who had a stone on the ground was really buried there. I later learned that these stones served mainly as memorials to recognize these artists\u2019 efforts. One the bright side, I did stand on Charles Dickens<\/a>, who is actually buried in the church next to Rudyard Kipling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All these sanctuaries, memorials, and graves, some with carving or detailed sculptures of the deceased present set me thinking about death rituals. The more we looked at these secularized burial spots , the more they began to resemble the Egyptian burial traditions. My knowledge of their practices is limited, but to my understand the Egyptians bury their dead in elaborate tombs with gold and riches to prepare them for the afterlife. And I looked at the extravagant sculpture of Queen Elizabeth lying about her body I began to wonder what the purpose of this whole thing was. Who was really being honored here? Queen Elizabeth? The artist? The patron or surviving family members? Or even the church itself?<\/p>\n

And amongst these thoughts, as I walked the tours, the announcement came on for a moment of prayer, it was 11:00. And out of these thoughts of vain royalty, religious celebrations, or tourist attractions, I was reminded that we were in a place of worship, a house of God. And these people were lying here to be with God and to be remembered. These ornate carving and statues were not meant to honor the person, to prepare them for the afterlife, or even to make Westminster Abbey the tourist attraction that it is today; they were made to honor England\u2019s history. Everyday people visit Westminster Abbey and they worship this country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

To view a slideshow of photos from my time at Westminster Abbey, The National Gallery, and the South Bank please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I stood on Charles Darwin\u2019s grave. And no, it was not in a cemetery or science sanctuary, it was in a church. Over 3,000 people are buried at Westminster Abbey. While it is mainly dominated by various royal figures, there are several burials and memorials for literary figures, scientists, and even an unknown soldier. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,747],"tags":[778,803,934,1018],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-churches-and-cathedrals","category-megan","tag-churches","tag-history","tag-westminster-abbey","tag-worship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}