Tag archive for ‘history’
Cycles of history
In fact, I find illusory “cycles” far less rewarding than the notion of “attractor states” … or pitfalls that seem relentlessly to pull in cultures, because of repetitive traits in human nature.
Pet peeve: Hallowe’en is not Samhain
There’s a segment of modern evangelicalism that hates and fears Hallowe’en, calling it a continuation of satanic/pagan/Druid worship. Modern Wiccans don’t help by celebrating their Samhain on this date. But does that Celtic origin story hold up? A look at the calendar might shed some light on the question.
What happened at Whitby?
For the first Anglo-Saxon Christians, Easter was the central point of the year, the moment when by baptism they entered the new life in Christ about which they had heard from the missionaries sent from Rome and from Ireland. it was not to them an arbitrary date but the pivot of the whole of the cosmos, the central moment when reality was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ… That the missionaries who preached the Gospel to them should differ about the date on which this Paschal mystery should be celebrated was both confusing and scandalous; where external practice was not something separate from internal faith, the implications of such division were not trivial. More…
Healing of the Paralytic, Dura Europos (c.235)
This wall painting, depicting the Healing of the Paralytic, is the earliest known representation of Jesus, dating from about 235 AD. The painting was found in 1921 on the left-hand wall of the baptismal chamber of the house-church at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates River in modern Syria.
When Tradition Fractures
St. Augustine Lives on in the Great Theological Conflicts of Today.
When it comes to St. Augustine, the great fifth-century bishop of Hippo, Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox all have a similar reaction: none of us quite know what to do with him. Or at least that was my impression, based on the conference I attended at Fordham University last June.
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
The Didachē is a short catechism, probably written in Syria during the second half of the 1st century. The Didachē is concerned with practical discipline and does not deliberately teach doctrine, but from the writer’s assumptions we learn a great deal about the development of the early Church in his generation.
A Letter From the Suffering Church in Gaul — c. 175 AD
Other writers of history record the victories of war and trophies won from enemies, the skill of generals, and the manly bravery of soldiers, defiled with blood and with innumerable slaughters. But our narrative of the government of God will record the most peaceful wars waged in behalf of the peace of the soul,
The Spirituality of the Celtic Church
If the rich history of the Celtic churches is a fairly recent discovery, their spirituality may be an even more surprising resource for a life-affirming, holistic, and faithful way of life for Christians in this “postmodern” world and, more importantly, the world of the future…
Pietism as an ecclesiological heresy
Pietism made its appearance as a distinct historical movement within Protestantism, at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, around 1690-1730. 1 Its aim was to stress “practical piety,” as distinct from the polemical dogmatic theology to which the Reformation had initially given a certain priority. Under different forms and in various “movements,” it has not ceased to influence Protestantism, and indeed also the spiritual life of other churches, to this day…
The Fundamental Difference Between East and West
European and American histories treat the alienation between Eastern and Western Christian Churches as though it were inevitable, because of an alleged separation of the Roman Empire itself into “East” and “West.” But evidence suggests that these attempts to explain the separation between East and West are conditioned by the centuries-old propaganda of the Frankish Papacy.
Dura Europos
Dura Europos in Syria was founded by Alexander’s lieutenant, Seleucus Nicator. The town was captured and destroyed by the Sassanids in 256 AD. The site did not attract significant attention until 1921, when mural paintings were discovered, notably synagogue frescoes dating from 235 AD…
Justin Martyr describes Christian worship (c.150 AD)
I will relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them…
John’s disciple Ignatius writes to Christians in Asia Minor (107 AD)
The significance of these seven letters lies in their being intimate, familiar, and popular. They do not, in the first instance, reveal a set of ideas though they are not lacking in thoughtfulness. Rather they reveal a man. So much of early Christian literature is impersonal that it is refreshing to stumble upon letters reminiscent [...]
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