Talk:Power of the Keys

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NPOV

The connection with Isaiah 22 is disputed, considering Rev. 3. This article is shamelessly biased for Roman Catholicism.

I have addresed the problem by subsectioning the text as Roman Catholic, as I am adding the alchemical angle as a second case.

Actually, the arrogance of the Catholic position led me to throw caution to the winds and quote a number of precursors.

Alchemical keys

The problem here is that the Keys offered by Jesus are allegorical, not physical, and are simply that.

However, an exactly corresponding image exists in Renaissance alchemy, crossed keys, one gold, one silver. An example is to be found in Rubens' Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, painted for the tomb of an expert in the subject, Peter Breugel.

Moreover, Pope Leo XIII, earlier in his career while Papal Nuncio to Brussels, revealed an entirely expert knowledge of the subject, tearing Jan van Helmont's farmhouse apart in the search for traces of the 1618 transmutation he claimed to have succeeded in.

It would therefore be useful to know which was parent and which child in the use of the imagery. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.10.231.246 (talk) 11:54, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

I decided to go for it: given the arrogance of the existing RC text, which I have left untouched, extending the actual authority as a gatekeeper to become a teacher, the precedents are necessary. The alchemical claims to the gold-and-silver predate the Vatican's.