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Bishop Angaelos and Archbishop McDonald with the book (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk) Two weeks ago the Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches released a landmark book focusing on the areas of theological agreement between themselves. The book, which can be downloaded for free, is simply entitled “Joint Statements” and addresses various issues under four main areas: [...]
Kenneth Bailey, an American Presbyterian minister/professor who spend 60 years (1935-1995) in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus, tries to remedy this issue with his book “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels.”
Accordingly Bailey draws from a collection of Syriac, Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic commentaries, Bible translations and other writings to bring a fresh look at the message of Jesus. It is this connection to our Eastern family that makes Bailey’s book so refreshing and welcoming. In other words, this isn’t a novelty book full of ‘new’ theological ideas. Nay, a lot of what he says is similar to what I’ve heard before or has worked out myself with the Lord. The genius of the book is Bailey’s reliance on the Church Fathers of the East who illuminate the culture around the life of Jesus. Continue reading Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey Saint Justin Martyr “We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments, chastisements, and rewards are rendered according to the merit of each man’s actions. Otherwise, if all things happen by fate, then nothing is in our own power. “For if it be predestined that one man [...]
While history may not be in the Bible, this is a very, very important topic as God did not stop working after St. Luke penned the final words of Acts. He is very much active today and He has always been active within history. There is a reason that the majority of the Scripture is written as history – Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jonah, Matthew, Luke, Mark, John, and Acts. They are all history books detailing the work of God among humanity… and if God deemed it important enough to include the history of the Jewish people in His Sacred Text, than I feel it is important to know the history of the Church, birthed with Jesus and infused with the Holy Spirit. The prophet Jeremiah speaks to this in the sixth chapter:
The “ancient paths” => we are not alone on this journey. There have been many followers of Jesus who has walked this path before us. Hebrews 12:1 says that we are “surrounded” by a “great cloud of witnesses” who are cheering us on – encouraging us to finish the race set before us by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” This is a fairly small book packed full of information!!! Martin Down does a great job of looking into the history of theology and how things developed within the Christian Church. Take ordination of pastors for example. This practice started in the fourth and firth century when church leaders began to own land and [...] St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 AD) “Love is an affection of the soul, not a contract: it cannot rise from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained. It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and true love is its own satisfaction. It [...]  Courtesy of Wikipedia I was browsing Amazon.com the other day when I noticed that they had St. Patrick’s autobiography on sale for two bucks. Seeing that, I quickly grabbed my rife, ran outside, shot two deer and mailed them to Brazil. Ok… bad joke (I can hear my wife booing right now…or, worse still, staring at me with those ‘eyes’ telling me that I’m not funny…not funny at all….sigh). Seriously though, when I saw that the Confession of St. Patrick cost $2.00 via the Kindle – I couldn’t wait to buy it! For years I have been a fan of the early Christian church in Ireland and Scotland – yet, the holy grail of books written by the patron saint himself escape me. But no more! I can proudly say that I have read the words of St. Patrick and have found them refreshing for they were full of humanity and Christ centeredness – both noble qualities. Perhaps the best way to review this book is to allow you to read some quotes from the hand of St. Patrick himself:
Jan Hus (c.1369 – July 6, 1415) Today marks the martyrdom of one of the great, but largely forgot about, Christian reformers. Jan Hus (sometimes called John Hus or John Huss) was a Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) priest and professor who lived from c. 1369 to July 6, 1415. Using his position [...]  The seal of the Moravian Church My first introduction to the Moravian Church was through a world missions’ class at LeTourneau University many moons ago. During this class, the story was told about this phenomenal group of believers who sent out more missionaries in 60 years then all of Protestantism combined in the pervious 200 years. This missionary fervor was fueled by a hundred year plus 24-7 pray meeting in the small town of Herrnhut, Germany (Herrn Hut means “The Lord’s Watchful care”). After I graduated and moved to Idaho, I discovered a copy of Edmund Alexander de Schweinitz’s “The History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum; or, The Unity of the Brethren, Founded by the Followers of John Hus.” Published in 1885, this book traces the foundational roots of the Moravian Church from the introduction of Christianity to the people of Moravia and Bohemia in 451 AD through the pre-reformation movement of John Hus to the founding of the Unitas Fratrum church in 1457 and eventually to the development of the Renewed Unitas Fratrum in 1722, which became the Moravian Church that I originally heard about. It is worth noting that this book (abet the 1901 edition) is sitting on my book shelf as a testimony of the impact this particular church has had on me – both in practical living and theologically. The sad thing about de Schweinitz’s book was that it did not cover the missionary movement of the Moravians during the mid to late 1700’s, which was my original focus… Accordingly, I was blown over this Christmas when my wonderful wife gave me an electronic copy of Joseph Hutton’s 1909 four book volume of the “History of the Moravian Church.”
This was the book that I was originally looking for as it dove into the ins and outs of the Moravian Church during their “hay-days” of the 1700’s. Hutton goes to great lengths to share the stories of the people as well as to outline the development of the Church into what it has become (yes, the Moravians are still around and active today in 2011). Continue reading History of the Moravian Church by J.E. Hutton
Focused on the first 300 years of Christianity, the course highlighted the various off-shoots of Christianity that would later be declared heretical by the church councils of fourth and fifth centuries. Having studied this period a bit before, it was interesting to hear a secular humanist perspective on the material (Dr. Ehrman is a professed agnostic). An example of this can be seen in the lecture about the Ebionites. The Ebionites were a group of Jewish Christians who maintained their Jewish beliefs, practices and identities while believing that Jesus was the messiah. The only problem was that while they believed that Jesus was the messiah, they did not believe that He was God incarnate. Instead, Jesus was simply a good man who found favor with God and was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Because of this belief, they rejected the writings of Paul and James as well as the first church council in Jerusalem. You know, the one recorded in Acts 15 where the church fathers declared that Gentiles did not have to obey the Law of Moses in order to follow Jesus… To Dr. Ehrman, the Ebionites represented a view of Christianity that was closer to the view taught by Jesus and the 12 Apostles – seeing how they were Jews who obeyed the practices and customs of the Jewish people. The reason, according to Dr. Ehrman, that their views were later seen as heretical was because of the massive influx of Gentile believers who did not want to be circumcised or follow a dietary law. In other words, the Ebionites were kicked out of orthodox Christianity simply because cultural political reasons, nothing else. |
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