Podcast appearances and mentions of henry chadwick

In this episode, Cory, James, and Gray discuss the recent interview with Joe Rogan and Wesley Huff on the Joe Rogan Experience. This was a unique moment that allowed a scholar of biblical manuscripts to talk about Christianity on the most downloaded podcast in the world. We are interested in apologetics and evangelism, particularly how Dutch theology has deeply affected apologetics over the last half-century.  Sources mentioned in this episode: The Joe Rogan Experience #2252 - Wesley Huff https://open.spotify.com/episode/0alzUZNnXcEL9MJzE9KD9P?si=dacf8411d52b48d8 Apologetics Canada https://apologeticscanada.com/ Augustine, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). Bruce Manning Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4. ed (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). Full Unedited Unaltered Wes Huff vs. Billy Carson Debate, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ngjtT43-4. Wesley Huff Website: https://www.wesleyhuff.com/ Reach us at graceincommonpodcast@gmail.com. If you want to make a donation, please visit ⁠⁠⁠https://donorbox.org/graceincommon⁠⁠⁠ Our theme music is Molly Molly by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue) ⁠⁠⁠CC BY-NC 4.0⁠⁠⁠

There's not a lot new to report this week on the Cubs offseason, so this week I jump into a baseball rabbit hole with Michael Cotton, co-host of the Son Ranto show and host of the Baseball Rabbit Hole podcast. Cotton and I talk old heads vs. stat nerds, starting with Henry Chadwick, who created the box score and the standard stats package that was ubiquitous for more than a century, and then move on to SABR and ultimately today's data driven baseball landscape. Michael Cotton on social media: @Cubesfanatic on Twitter/X @cubesfan on Reddit @cubesfan.bsky.social on BlueSky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music is one of the seven great lights in the medieval model of education. It's part of the Quadrivium, along with Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. The common denominator of all four is numbers. Arithmetic is the study of numbers proper, geometry is numbers in space, astronomy is numbers in space and motion. Music is numbers in *time*, numbers in proportion and intervals. > “[M]usic advances even further towards that ‘summit of perfection' for which the quadrivium is a prerequisite. The theory of music is a penetration of the very heart of Providence's ordering of things. It is not a matter of cheerful entertainment or superficial consolation for sad moods, but a central clue to the interpretation of the hidden harmony of God and nature in which the only discordant element is evil in the heart of man.” (Henry Chadwick)Rhetoric is the pinnacle of the Trivium, Music is the crown of the Quadrivium, and in some ways, Music is the high point of Rhetoric, or at least a glorious expression of truth and goodness in beauty. A song is time *adorned*, and a song sung together is adorned time *shared*. Christmas is a celebration of God adorning humanity by taking on flesh. The eternal God now shares time with us. What better way to honor the Son's birth than singing?! In our series of Advent Activities we started with Waiting. Since then we've successfully waited two additional weeks, closer to Christmas and to the Second Coming. Last week we considered Feasting, and I am bursting after multiple opportunities just this past week. Now we come to Singing. Unlike waiting, I've addressed singing multiple times, whether related to our liturgy or just while teaching through some psalms. Also unlike waiting, which is more a question of How? instead of If? since the time will pass regardless, feasting can be consciously rejected (and is by some). Singing can be good or bad or rejected. Unlike feasting, singing can be outsourced; we can depend on/hire surrogate singers. While there are certainly times to enjoy the skill of a soloist or performing group, we shouldn't choose to only be an audience and never a choir. Whether or not your noise is skillful, even tuneful, it ought to be joyful. And the coming of the Son of God in flesh, once already and again anticipated, should stir the soul up to sing. A Queen once said, "a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." Are we just supposed to hum about that?Though singing is not the command in Colossians 3:16, it is an inevitable and edifying result of obedience. We Bible people will be known to the degree our lives together are lyrical.> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)The word should be "in-dwelling." It's supposed to dwell **richly**, abundantly, in full-measure. We could say, let the Word live like it's completely at home in us. It belongs in us. One thing that stands out is that it is identified as **the word of Christ**. Christ Himself *is* the Logos, the Word, who took on flesh and dwelt among us. So we're to let the Word of the Word dwell in us. This is only the second time this label is given to Scripture (see also Romans 10:17), and it seems that Paul was going out of his way to help the Colossians see the preeminence of Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, not in time, but in rights and privileges (Colossians 1:15). By Christ and through Christ were all things created and so all glory to Christ (Colossians 1:16). Christ is the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, both chronologically and eschatologically (Colossians 1:18). In Christ the fulness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19), in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9). Christ, His person and His power and His life and death and resurrection to life, compels songs! It started on the night of His birth. There is good reason to think that the heavenly choir was doing more singing than chanting in Luke 2.> And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,> Glory to God in the highest, > And on earth peace, > Good will toward men. > (Luke 2:13-14 KJV)"Hark! the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!" Philippians 2:5-11 has been called a "hymn"; it does have a different rhythm than most prose. It sings of the Incarnation, of Christ Jesus who was made in the likeness of men, and was found in the form of man. 1 Timothy 3:16 also has a more lyrical shape, and begins with the Incarnation, "God was manifest in the flesh." The section above in Colossians 1:15-20 is also often called a hymn, and highlights the Incarnation in multiple ways. Back to Colossians 3, when Christ appears our lives, now hidden in Christ, will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). So we are commanded to forgive like Christ forgave us (Colossians 3:13). We are required to be ruled by the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15). And we must let Christ's Word have its place at home in us (Colossians 3:16). What happens when that happens is that we don't stay quiet. We speak and we sing. There is *wisdom* and there is *thanks*. And in our verbal arsenal are songs, songs, and more songs.No joke, I've read the argument that **psalms and hymns and spiritual songs** refer to three classes of psalms. But, there isn't agreement on what psalms are which psalms. Psalms tell us to *sing*, and many Psalms look to the coming of Christ. A couple of Christmas applicable-s are Psalm 96 and 98, both of which start with singing and anticipate the Lord coming to judge. > Oh sing to the LORD a new song; > sing to the LORD, all the earth! > Sing to the LORD, bless his name; > tell of his salvation from day to day. > Declare his glory among the nations, > his marvelous works among all the peoples!> > Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; > let the sea roar, and all that fills it; > let the field exult, and everything in it! > Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy > before the LORD, for he comes, > for he comes to judge the earth. > He will judge the world in righteousness, > and the peoples in his faithfulness. > (Psalm 96:1-3, 11-13)Of course anything written after about AD 90 would have to be application of Colossians 3:16, but so would any English translation of Colossians 3:16, or of any inspired Psalm, or any more modern musical arrangement. Some of the best in our arsenal are Christmas carols. *Carol* is a word for a song of joy and praise, now most often associated with the Incarnation. Great carols exalt Christ. They teach and admonish one another in wisdom. They express our thanks to God. They let us apply Colossians 3:16. They unite us as one body. They let announce *joy to the world*.“He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found” is Genesis 3:15. “Adam's likeness, Lord efface, Stamp Thine image in its place” is Colossians 1:28 in carol form. “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. … Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place.” “Comfort, comfort ye, My people, Speak ye peace thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Bowed beneath their sorrow's load.” “Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?!”There's something that makes singing stir the soul, and when the soul is stirred it wants to sing. *Let men their songs employ.* When I say this message is an apology for Christmas carols, I mean apology not as an admission of error or regret, but apology as defense against criticism. In fact, the ubiquity of pagans singing about Christ's birth is an apologetics class itself. Not every meal is a feast. Not every get-together needs a Cantus bully; we are not on stage in a musical. That said, maybe you could use a little more considerable noise in your house. Get some Cantus under the tree. Use "[Sing Your Part](https://singyourpart.app/)" (or get [the app](https://singyourpart.org/)).# ConclusionWhat better than singing (in minor keys) to express our sadness and longing? What better than singing (in major keys and moving melodies) to express our joy and praise? Choirs help to make community. There's more about that in a book called, _Keeping Together in Time_; choirs are a force against isolation and depression. TEC has power because we have one amazing singing voice. Singing together has *grown* us. > For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth> Hallelujah….> King of kings and Lord of lords > And He shall reign forever and ever> (Handel, Messiah, HWV 56: Part II, no. 44. “Hallelujah Chorus”)Singing is not mere preparation, it is participation. Singing is not filler, it is an expression of faith. Don't hold back. ----------## ChargeSing Your Part is not just the name of an app, it is the charge to every member of the body of Christ. You are a part, you have a part. The church/choir is stronger and better and brighter because of you. You have been called/employed to sing joy to the world, the Savior reigns!## Benediction:> May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

Cougar and Barrel Roller talk about a journalist, an author, the innovator of scoring and statistics...Henry Chadwick. The book "The Father of Baseball" A biography of Henry Chadwick by Andrew Schiff is the source material for this conversation. They also talk Hall of Fame and scary movies. 

A last-minute put together episode from Andrew on a woman who mothered a highly regarded doctor and theologian of Western Christianity. This was inspired by the date of the recording being the appointed feast day for her. Tune in to hear why Andrew has personally been impacted by these two Christians who lived long ago but whose stories are timeless. Show notes: The movie Andrew referred to is Augustine: Son of Her Tears As Andrew recommended: Henry Chadwick's biography of Augustine of Hippo The quote from the Confessions was from the Maria Boulding translation.

The wool has been pulled over our eyes for about seventy years now (or maybe 500 years), where we think that we have liberated women, but really we have walked into a trap. I'm not talking about women's sports or women having careers traditionally held by men here, I'm talking about the real things that separate men from women. Men have walked into the trap as well. We've all walked into the trap, each into our own separate trap, claiming freedom while the snare tightens around us in our solitary “liberty” cages. Yes, there is a well-known trap, called the “Two Income Trap,” but there is a worse trap, called the gaping maw of the underworld (better known as hell). The trap is that we think we can hammer morality into any shape we like, but we can't. The trap is that we think motherhood and fatherhood are not particularly important, and that men can be women and women can be men, but they can't. Some things are not changeable. When balancing a wheel, the more we try to hammer a wheel into the shape we'd like, the more unbalanced the wheel becomes. The more you hammer, the worse it gets and whole wheel eventually throws the bearing and destroys the machine. We've seen this movie before and Catholics are always the “jerks” that stand athwart certain truth claims made by voices in the culture. But Catholics are only jerks in this case because they must teach what was handed down. It's either abandon the faith and bow to the Golden Statue, or set your face like flint against the world, the flesh, and the devil and continue to preach what Christ and the Apostles taught. What is a sin has been defined since before Jesus taught the Apostles, and then Jesus clarified and refined it. It cannot be changed. When people get angry at the Church, it is solely because the Church repeats what Jesus said and the Apostles taught. This is why the church that Christ founded is the one with authority, which really makes people bristle. But the fact is this: morality cannot be legislated, it cannot be papered over, it cannot be coerced, and it cannot be softened to fit the mood of middle-schoolers, no matter what kind of emotional hostages they try to take. What is sin and what is not sin, is not up for debate. There are Cardinals in the Catholic Church today who do not understand this, and they certainly do not understand Matthew 5:17-19. But the teaching of the Apostles is as timeless as God in heaven. Our own consciences can inform us that the natural law is right if we could only sit in a room quietly and listen to that small voice without reaching and scrolling on the phone. Our smartphones today make us less wise than ancient people, who were more likely to understood their need for a savior far better than we can, because they understood suffering, and they knew what Jesus' redemption meant for their bodies and souls. Americans today don't like this idea of rules set in stone, such as Commandments, which is why we continually try to interpret the Bible on a personal basis, which twists all into destruction. Personal interpretation of the Bible is precisely how the devil re-crafts the bad sale from the beginning of human history to infect the Messianic Age that we are living in now. The devil has lost the war, but he can win some battles along the way and take souls, and he does this by twisting morality and re-naming sins as holy things. Throughout American history, from supporting slavery to selling consumerism to pushing the various evils of the Sexual Revolution, sola scriptura has been used to give sin a divine mandate, and thereby entrench it ever more securely in the culture. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, provides a solid foundation for doctrine and morality and has stood strong in the face of each attack. (from Don Johnson at Catholic Answers. For insight into our current fiasco of Biblical interpretation, read Don's book: Twisted into Destruction.)Without a doubt, men failed women before seventy years ago, but because of that failure that started in the 1960s with the lies of the sexual revolution, men have failed women even worse by allowing the current mania to thrash about so wildly. I realize that sin has been around since the Fall in the Garden, but the sixties gave it a boost, like a five-hour energy drink that lasted nearly a century. What's funny is that having received this unbridled, bursting sense of liberty, depression has hit an all-time high. But how can that be? I say it's funny, but it's not. It's sad, because we are sad. We are reliving these Garden stories, over and over. When Eve took the fruit, men followed, and both ended up sad as they were cast out of the garden, keeping God's image but losing his likeness. (For a good read on the fallout from the sexual revolution, read Adam and Eve After the Pill.)The initial lie from the devil led to a bad relationship. And the lie started with a false sense of food security, leading to curiosity for knowledge, working against trust in the Creator, all of which preceded the sexual fall and made the people believe that they no longer needed God, or each other (much more on this in an upcoming series on food and sex). Since the Fall, we just can't learn. Men refuse to love women properly, and the mess begins all over. The enmity between man and woman repeats, and it only is combatted by humility and submission of husband and wife to each other. The backlash against toxic masculinity is appropriate, because the cartoonish ignorant version of manliness that marketing departments preached to men was an absurdity, and it was the least Biblical idea in history. Trucks, sports, money, and sex do not make a man “manly.” A man driving a truck in a lift-kit doesn't look manly, he is just wearing a giant fig leaf. And a man who kowtows and removes himself from all responsibility to defer to women is pathetic. Healthy masculinity buys a truck if he needs to haul stuff around. Healthy masculinity doesn't buy extra horsepower just to bark his tires at a stoplight, he buys extra horsepower because his job is pulling heavy things. Material things, when presented as necessities to manliness, make him into a buffoon. Do you know what actually makes a man “manly”? This will come as a shock, because it's the same thing that can make a woman “womanly”.Acting like Jesus makes a man. Imitating Christ is how you become a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, or a friend. Likewise, imitating Christ is how you become a better mother, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a cousin, or a friend. Dying to self makes a man manly. Dying to self makes a woman womanly. There is right masculinity, and Jesus exemplified it. He lives it. He did not take a wife, but he shows us how to live whether we are single or married, man or woman, rich or poor, Jew or non-Jew. And although he did not marry, he made it utterly plain that having a wife, one wife, through all the hard times, makes a man masculine. Gathering notches on your truckbed can only make a man into a fool and an enemy of God. But the backlash against the absurd form of macho manliness has swung the pendulum into what girls today are told is liberation, where they are essentially being taught to act like men and want the things that men want. I have not seen any ads teaching girls to desire a family and loving husband, but I have seen many holding up sports glory, money, and sex as the highest goods. The funny thing is that many boys are now realizing that sports glory and money will not bring happiness, and are pulling away from those pursuits. The false idols are showing their sandy bottoms. They are washing away and will continue to erode over the next generation. However, in telling girls they can be men, we declare they have been empowered, but have they? Mocking motherhood and marriage has not been empowering, and since women cannot actually be men, but can imitate them, they have shunned their nature for man's nature. And once again, due to this disorder, God will allow us to be taught by disorder, by our own choice. When the formless void that God created and filled is not filled in the way he designed, disorder erupts. But we have done more than mock motherhood and the family unit. We have spent the past forty years mocking fatherhood, with sitcoms fathers, particularly Homer Simpson, leading the charge. Now the latest fad is to replace fatherhood with the government, the State, and we'll learn that social workers make for an even worse husband than Homer Simpson in the long run. The Soviet Union discovered this and the fallout from that was worse than ten Chernobyl incidents. At least radiation poisoning only affects the body, not both the body and the soul. The United States has a long stretch of disunity ahead, and we have chosen it. C.S. Lewis once said that hell is always locked from the inside, and people who choose to live in hell, in sin, merely refuse to turn the lock, because they think sin will make them happy. This is especially true in a marriage that is viewed as a temporary contract rather than covenantal joining of two people into one flesh. If marriage is not a fully binding and joining of the flesh, then why bother? This is the same argument that we have for the Eucharist. If it's just a symbol and not the Body and Blood of Christ, then who cares? If marriage is just a symbol of the State, of a legal contract, then who wants it? We want the sacred, and that's what Sacraments are, and sacraments are the path to God, to uniting our will and lives and marriages to God. In marriage, a man submits to his wife and his wife submits to him. This is the least anti-woman idea in human history. If the Woman at the Well doesn't tell the story of an awakening by turning away from sexual sin, then I don't know what does. New life comes when the Woman at the Well rejects her personal sin and understands God's forgiveness. She realizes that men have used her as an object, and perhaps she has used men in the same way. Leaving the well, drunk on the living water, she knows that sex is a bad substitute for God in the temple of her heart. She is suddenly unshackled from her own past and the identity lies she has been led to believe. She is healed after meeting God. Coming to know God's will for her, her brokenness is suddenly made sense of. All is clear. She was blind but now can see. The vice that she pursued, her weakness, is the very thing that purifies her in the end into holiness. We are a world of individuals, sad and depressed like the Woman at the Well just gasping for thirst, to taste this living water and return to a life of virtue. The Apostles had a group of women in the center of Church formation. Mary, the Mother of God, and Mary Magdalene could not have more important roles in the founding of Christendom, and they still hold those roles. Martha, Joanna, Photini…there are hundreds upon hundreds of women saints that are venerated, with buildings and churches and feast days named after them. There is no Church without women, because without Mary, the Mother of God, we have no incarnation, and without Mary Magdalene and the other women, no one is at the tomb on Easter morning when they first discover that Jesus is risen. To this day, it is more likely women that hear the voice of the living God. They are the ones that often lead men to this glorious mystery. Go to any parish and take a look around. Who is leading the Rosary before Mass? Who is managing the office and records? Who is organizing faith formation? Who is prepping the altar for Mass? Who is leading the choir? Women are everywhere in the Church. They are valued far beyond what the secular world tells you, because the secular powers doesn't want you to know this, and they certainly do not want you setting foot inside a Parish, lest you might become a Catholic. That is why the drumbeat of oppression and “Dark Ages” talk never ceases. There is an old saying among lawyers: “If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither is on your side, pound the table.” That is the game being played whenever you hear that the “Church hates women.” It is neither a fact nor a doctrine. It is a fabrication. Here's an excerpt from an article called “Does the Catholic Church Really Hate Women?”Apparently the justice of Christian morality offered a refreshing perspective to women in the ancient world accustomed to husbands who cheated and left at will. The number of women who converted to Christianity in the early centuries after Christ indicates that women were attracted to this new way of life. Indeed, they were among the most zealous converts and defenders of the faith:Christianity seems to have been especially successful among women. It was often through the wives that it penetrated the upper classes of society in the first instance. Christians believed in the equality of men and women before God and found in the New Testament commands that husbands should treat their wives with such consideration and love as Christ manifested for his Church. Christian teaching about the sanctity of marriage offered a powerful safeguard to married women (Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, Penguin, 58–59).In light of this history, does anyone seriously believe that the Assyrian or Greek or Roman or Mesoamerican world respected women more than followers of Christ did? Can people argue that position with a straight face? Does anyone really think that the long era before Christ, and further back, before Abraham, was a “better” time for women? Aside from Christianity, did any other religion take over the world in this way, where women and marriage sounded the battle cry into the culture? The answer is a simple but loud, “No.” This is exactly why marriage is the hill to die on for Catholics, and I'm referring to Sacramental marriage, not courthouse contractual marriage, as deemed to be marriage by the U.S. Government. Government marriage is as meaningful as an Apple end user license agreement. It does nothing spiritual, it's only legal. Unjust laws do not change God.And frankly, why would anyone care what a government thinks of marriage? Every government in history falls into the abyss of after a few hundred years. Is that really the arbiter of truth? Jeffersonian Democracy will not outlast God, so whatever is decreed from Congress is utterly useless for eternal life, which is what the concerns of the body and soul need to be aimed toward. What is the point of religion? It's eternal life. It's rebirth here and being raised to heaven hereafter. It's not getting a legal document. It's not winning power from a Supreme Court that will be a rusted out ruin, a weathered artifact, or a tourist stop in a hundred or a thousand years. The only marriage that matters is that which is eternal in the eyes of God, in which two people become one flesh. All others are just certificates of participation and “pieces of paper,” as modern people like to call it. Marriage defined by government is meaningless, because government is not God. Men today will say, “Why do I need a piece of paper to prove my love?” The answer is: “You don't.” The piece of paper isn't a Sacrament. The Sacrament is the Sacrament. For this reason, whenever someone says, “I don't need a piece of paper to prove I love you,” they are right, because a government piece of paper not only proves nothing, it does nothing. It should be called Garriage, for “Government marriage.” Or Narriage, for “Not Marriage.” Sacramental Marriage changes two people into one. Two bodies become one, and two souls are bonded, which are only parted at death, as Jesus said there is no marriage in heaven. “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Mark 12:25).You can hold this belief that the Church hates women only if you choose to completely ignore the actual facts of pre-Christian society and the incredible spread and long-lasting nature of Christ's message and his Church. Christian marriage has outlasted empires, fads, intellectual movements, cosmic models of the universe, and it will outlast all versions of “government marriage” we currently pretend are real. After all of the current fads of open marriage and same sex marriage and polygamy fail, as they always have failed, the value of Sacramental Marriage will still be with us. It is not by accident that the Commandments are what they are. They were not invented at all, they were arrived at. They were not set forth to control people, they are what sets you free. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.whydidpetersink.com

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Coleman M. Ford to talk about his new book A Bond between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine from Lexham Press. Today, we discuss the life and work of St. Augustine as well as his understanding of friendship.Meet Dr. FordDr. Ford serves as assistant professor of humanities at Texas Baptist College. His research interests include the spirituality and pastoral theology of Augustine of Hippo, the transcendentals (truth, goodness, beauty) in the patristic tradition, virtue and ethics in the patristic tradition, Christianity in late antiquity, and the history of Christian spirituality and formation.Resources:A Bond between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine by Coleman M. FordConfessions by St. Augustine and Henry Chadwick (translator)Augustine of Hippo: Selected Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality) by Mary T. Clark (translator)Friendship and the Moral Life by Paul WadellMade for Friendship: The Relationship That Halves Our Sorrows and Doubles Our Joys by Drew HunterAugustine: A Very Short Introduction by Henry ChadwickThe Digital Public Square is a production of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and is produced and hosted by Jason Thacker. Production assistance is provided by Kadin Christian. Technical production provided by Owens Productions. It is edited and mixed by Mark Owens.

Readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Steadfast & Immovable | 18th Sunday of OT Fr. Brian Larkin Today's readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073122.cfm Almsgiving—Store up grain, which is wealth in the ancient world Charity—Book about almsgiving (can be found in the church library) Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23 “I want the house to be clean when they tear it down.”—Goonies “Why clean your house if it's just going to get torn down?”—Fr. Brian Larkin “Why have I labored so hard? I'm just going to die. Jesus, thank you, that you have answered that riddle, and you brought it to fulfillment.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “Today's readings can give the impression that as Christians, we are men and women who abandon this world. This is a mischaracterization of Christianity, but some of us as Christians do this.” “Throughout Christianity, one of the main accusations of us is that we abandon this world for the next.”—Fr. Brian Larkin Year 248 Origen argues with Celsus: Book: Contra Celsus 1.24 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/20237615.Origen_Contra_Celsus_1_24_transl_Henry_Chadwick_1953_ Nietzsche's Book: Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Zarathustra was a pagan prophet) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51893.Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra “I adjure you, my brothers, remain true to the earth. And believe not those who speak to you of super earthly hopes.”—Nietzsche “Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy. But God died. And therewith, all those blasphemers. To blaspheme the earth is now the deadliest sin.”—Nietzsche “Today, Brothers and Sisters, Jesus refutes Celsus, Nietzsche, Marx, and he brings the hope of Qoheleth and of all of us to fulfillment, and it's all about the Resurrection.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “One of the things that you and I get wrong as Christians, and when we get this wrong, Brothers and Sisters, the world has a legitimate critique is about escapism. 'You're gonna die someday, so forget about this world and set your eyes on heaven,' but that's a misread—the paradigm is not escapism—it's that God invades, breaks into, redeems, and transforms this world.”—Fr. Brian Larkin Vanity/futility in Greek: mataiotēs Romans 8: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8 Genesis 3: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/3 When the curse that fell on Adam was shared with the earth. “Creation was made subject to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “Here's what we believe in: We believe in the resurrection, and the life of the world to come.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “Christians and Jews believe in resurrection, and no one else.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “Your soul will not just go to heaven. Resurrection means your soul will be reunited with your body in glory, and the whole point of that is that God doesn't give up on this world.”—Fr. Brian Larkin Gnosticism: A heresy “Here's where Nietszche gets it wrong. Christianity is not God calling us to abandon this world; it is Jesus Christ conquering this world and redeeming it from the inside out. That's Christianity. This will change your life.”—Fr. Brian Larkin N.T. Wright— Surprised by Hope—Completely changed FB's life. His teaching on the Resurrection is dead on. 1 Corinthians 15: The longest Treatment of the Resurrection in all the New Testament https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/15 “Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.”—St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 “In this world, you are going to die, and that should bring you sobriety and wisdom.”—Fr. Brian Larkin “The work you do in the Lord will not be in vain.”—Fr. Brian Larkin

WLTL's Jake Gripp spoke with Henry Chadwick about his music and his latest release.

Class is in session! This week, the guys go into great depth on Augustine and his response to war and calamity in Rome, hopefully showing how it is relevant to our lives today. As a bonus, if you listen to the end, you get to hear them both mess up. It's a real treat. Their recommendation: Augustine's Confessions, translated by Henry Chadwick, https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-Augustine/dp/0199537828/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1COFA301IUYYP&keywords=augustine+confessions&qid=1646959139&sprefix=augustine%2520confessions%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-3  

Rev. James Rickenbaker joins Rev. Andrew for the first time today on Doth Protest. This is the first of a multi-part series of episodes we will have between James, Andrew, and Charles (who will join on the next part) going through our favorite theologians. By the end of the series, each will have gone through five. Not only are they near and dear to our hearts, but we recommend them to you as we believe their life stories, insights, and contributions served God and his church in ways that can still inform and guide us today. On this episode, James and Andrew each talk about Martin Luther. James then talks about Bishop Bo Giertz (pictured in the episode artwork), and Andrew talks about St. Augustine of Hippo. Shownotes: Luther *Luther's early Psalms commentary that James refers to is from volumes 10 & 11 of Luther's Works (Fortress Press; Concordia) *Correction: Ernst Bizer's position on Luther's 'Reformation turning point' was after the theses *The biographies of Luther that James recommended are James Kittelson's Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and his Career and Roland Bainton's Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. *The primary writings that James recommended from Luther are The Bondage of the Will translated by J.R. Packer & O.R. Johnston Available here: https://www.christianbook.com/the-bondage-of-the-will/martin-luther/9780801048937/pd/048937 and the compendium Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings edited by Timothy F. Lull & William R. Russell *The "bonus book" that James recommended for Episcopalians on the Reformation was Reformation Essays of Robert Barnes- available at https://www.amazon.com/Reformation-Essays-Dr-Robert-Barnes/dp/1556356838 *Andrew recommended A Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confession by Gunther Gassman and Scott Hendrix, Martin Luther's Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation by Oswald Bayer, and Luther in Mid-Career by Heinrich Bornkamm (there is a link to read this Bornkamm book in the episode details for the Doth Protest episode "The Fall Theological Reading List") Giertz *The books by Bo Giertz James and Andrew referred to are: *The Hammer of God Available at: https://www.christianbook.com/the-hammer-of-god/bo-giertz/9780806651309/pd/65130X *Christ's Church: Her Biblical Roots, Her Dramatic History, Her Saving Presence, Her Glorious Future (the quote was from p. 105) Available at: https://www.christianbook.com/christs-biblical-dramatic-history-presence-glorious/bo-giertz/9781621890997/pd/109708EB?event=EBRN%7CM *James recommended going to www.1517.org to check out some of recent English translations of Giertz' work by Bror Erickson. Augustine *The books about Augustine that Andrew referenced were: *RW Dyson's Augustine of Hippo: The Christian Transformation of Political Philosophy Available at: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/st-augustine-of-hippo-9781847140975/ *Henry Chadwick's Augustine of Hippo: A Life Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-Hippo-Life-Henry-Chadwick/dp/0199588066 *The translations of Augustine's The Confessions that James referred to are the Henry Chadwick translation and the Maria Boulding translation. The latter is available here: https://www.newcitypress.com/the-confessions-study-edition.html

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Person of Interest: Why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible by J. Warner Wallace.Meet Our Guests Nigel Biggar: Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, & Public Life, University of Oxford. Andrew Hastie: Australian Federal Member for Canning and Assistant Minister for Defence. Former Officer, Australian Defence Force. Links “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people," is a quote from Howard Zinn's 2011 book On War. We quote statistics from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The Effect of War on Economic Growth, report from Cato Institute. Listen to Winston Churchill's full speech, We Will Never Surrender, from 1940. Read Nigel Biggar's book, In Defence of War.  Find out more about Augustine's City of God.  You can read more of the letters between Augustine and his Christian military officers,Marcellinus and Boniface, here. Australian war casualty statistics are from the Australian War Memorial. Read Romans 13 for yourself. Mike Bird was one of our 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He wrote The Story of God commentary for the Book of Romans for Zondervan and is a lecturer at Ridley College. Henry Chadwick is the great Augustine biographer. He wrote the Oxford Very Short Introduction to Augustine which you can find here. Read the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporting on the alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. You can find the full Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry report (commonly known as the Brereton Report), here. More on Thomas Aquinas and Just War. If you're using Apple Podcasts, go to undeceptions.com for the full show notes, which cut off after 4000 characters here. We did a big, two-part episode on the Crusades in Season 4 - called 'God's War I and II'. Learn more about General William Tecumseh Sherman, the Union General who said, "War is hell".  Jarrod McKenna was another of our lovely 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He is an advocate for non-violence direct action. Christianity Today profiled a series of 'Christian soldiers' back in 2015 for a series called Ponder Christian Soldiers.  We featured a clip from The West Wing, Season 1 Episode 3: A Proportional Response. Find out more about Carl von Clauswitz and his 1832 tome, On War. Here's the Australian Defence Force Philosophical Doctrine we quote from towards the end of the episode. Here's the plot of Shakespeare's Henry V. Watch The Hollow Crown: Henry V. 

On this episode, Santa Cruz singer/songwriter/producer Henry Chadwick chats about the release of his brand new LP “We All Start Again.” We talk pandemic productivity, the noise of 2019, The Beatles, his all-time favorite albums and why the LP is NOT a lost art. Plus we dive deep into his new music. AND of course, brand new Bay area tunes from artists like GEOGRAPHER, THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN, BOBCAT ROB, HOWLIN RAIN, MITCH ROCKET, THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES, NINA DURANGO, SETH LAEL and J SIAM.

Henry Chadwick is a Santa Cruz-based musician, songwriter, and producer. His new album, "We All Start Again" came out Oct. 29, 2021. Find his music on Spotify and Apple Music and follow him on IG @Henry_chadwic_music --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nicksvancast/support

Henry Chadwick is a Santa Cruz-based musician, songwriter, and producer. His new album, "We All Start Again" came out Oct. 29, 2021. Find his music on Spotify and Apple Music and follow him on IG @Henry_chadwic_music --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nicksvancast/support

Official scoring in baseball is very different than it is for all the other professional sports. Part of it is due its own history.  It was not all that long ago that baseball reporters  doubled as official scorers.  The box score 'invented' by Henry Chadwick in 1859 is still in use today!  But official scoring has been the bastion for males almost universally except for just a small amount of females. Starting with E. (Eliza) Green (could not use her name in 1882), and including Susan Fornoff in the 1990's. Now the Colorado Rockies and MLB this season have elevated Jillian Geib to be their official scorer and it's about time!  Gordon and I had a great conversation with Jillian talking about her experiences in MLB, official scoring today and how it's changed after the pandemic season. Thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.

An Episode Of All Our Teams

There are plenty of great names for baseball superstars—meal tickets or cash cows—but the more interesting names are for the worst players, the muffins, as Jesse Goldberg-Strassler explains in this week’s Tales from The Baseball Thesaurus.If you are a player, you don’t want to be known by these names: a KP (can’t play), an NP (non-prospect) or a JAG (just a guy), among an abundance of derisive monikers. Yet these players get signed, and once they are they are riders of the lonesome pine, a benchwarmer, a bench polisher. A great term, however, is a muffin, a term created way back in 1868 by the legendary Henry Chadwick: a player who is both practically and theoretically unacquainted with the game. Under the early management of the game, however, the muffins would actually play: after the regular competition, there would be a muffin game, to the delight of all. And the impact of the muffins continued to this day: when an error is made on an easy play, the fielder is said to have muffed the play.Goldberg-Strassler shares his insights on the colorful patois of America’s Pastime in this weekly podcast. You can find The Baseball Thesaurus at augustpublications.com.

On this episode, Oakland post-punk indie band Fake Fruit joins MJ as Guest Artists to chat about their self-titled debut LP and dive deep into the music. AND Santa Cruz's Henry Chadwick calls in to talk about his upcoming album and introduces the LP's first pre-release single, "Tomorrow is Today." PLUS tons of fresh music from the Bay and beyond!

Dear Resurrection, Christians' lives in the Roman Empire changed dramatically in the early part of the fourth century. After an intense period of empire-wide persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian, Christianity began to be not just tolerated but embraced by the imperial government under Constantine. That did not mean, however, that the church's troubles were over. Now that the pressure of persecution was lifted from the outside, there were problems growing inside the church. In particular, some church leaders were seeming to suggest that Christ and God the Father are not equally God. In response, the first ecumenical (whole-church) council, meeting in the city of Nicaea in the year 325, articulated an important biblical teaching about Jesus: that God the Father and God the Son are not just similar in their essence (homoiousios), but the same in essence (homoousios). This council clarified that Jesus was never created—He is just as eternal and just as divine as God the Father is. The council of Nicaea is relatively well-known. Less-well-known is that for a whole generation after 325, the teaching of Nicaea remained under very strong attack. For the next fifty years it was often the heretical Arian party who had the most power in the church and the empire. The orthodox, biblical understanding of who Jesus is remained very much under threat, and church leaders who embraced the teaching of Nicaea often did so at great personal cost. One young man present at the council of Nicaea was named Athanasius. Not long afterwards, Athanasius became the leader of the prominent church of Alexandria (in Egypt). Athanasius was fiercely committed to the full divinity of the Son of God, and he advocated for that teaching tenaciously even when other emperors rose to power who strongly favored the heretical, Arian point of view. This was not just a matter of words for Athanasius. Holding to the truth when the powers that be had thrown their official weight behind the opposite position was a hazardous choice for anyone, and for Athanasius it proved to be very costly. In the forty-five years between the beginning of his leadership in Alexandria and his death in 373, he was deposed and banished from his home city five different times, living in exile for about 20 years during that period. Often during his career it seemed the whole world was arrayed against him and against the truth about who Jesus really is, and it's for that reason that ever since he has been known by the phrase “Athanasius Contra Mundum”—“against the world.” Grace-Based Action Point Today the church faces many challenges both from outside and from within. But very few of us—so far—have had to give up much personal security or even convenience as a result of our commitment to the truth. Athanasius's life should remind us that it's not just when the dragon of persecution comes that our faith is tested. It's when the subtle serpent of deception slithers in during periods of relative peace. The world is against you because the world is against Christ. That means Christ is calling you to take a stand with Athanasius contra mundum, against the world. Only then can you faithfully bear witness to the good news of Christ that is for the world. Yours in Christ, Pastor Simmons P.S. For a short biography, read this section from Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, volume 3. For more, read Henry Chadwick's The Early Church starting here (p. 136 in the print version). To read something by Athanasius himself read On the Incarnation (online here).

Just in case you haven’t heard enough about the election, we compare some presidential home run records and remember some other number 46’s. We’ve talked about the Abner Doubleday myth  before, but this week we dive even a little deeper, debunking the Henry Chadwick narrative and introduce Doc Adams who may have been even more influential in the history of baseball. We also look at the games of rounders, townball and even old cat as precursors to today’s game. Plus, Wax Pack Heroes takes on 1990 Fleer.    Twitter feeds mentioned in this show:@baseballminutia@MLBRandomStats Twitter - @twostrikenoiseInstagram - @twostrikenoiseWax Pack Heroes on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvh7epD-mqT9qCIV7CNqhogHear more of Two Strike Noise on the HotMic app. Use Invite code TWOSTRIKENOISE to download it for FREE at http://hotmic.io We pull ALOT of commons in Wax Pack Heroes. If you've got those Tom Foley or Ernest Riles cards just sitting around you can donate those commons to charity and maybe spark a child's interest in baseball and collecting. Find out more here: http://commons4kids.org/ #podernfamily #podnation #baseball #mlb #history #podcast #baseballcards

The Bedford & Sullivan podcast chugs along, and today, we welcome back Andrew Schiff, author of the Henry Chadwick bio, "The Father of Baseball," who recently helped us break down the baseball legend's life. Andrew will detail his Brooklyn roots, growing up in Sheepshead Bay. So, join us at 2pm ET for the latest edition of the Bedford & Sullivan podcast!

We keep chugging with the research as we get a little exposition and context to the Brooklyn we explore in the 20th century. Brooklyn Trolley Blogger Mike Lecolant takes on his first Bedford & Sullivan hosting duties with author Andrew Schiff, writer of "The Father of Baseball: A Biography of Henry Chadwick." Mr. Chadwick, who is credited with inventing what we now know as the box score of each game, contributed numerous ideas to the development of what became the modern, organized game of base ball, evolved from many bat and ball games over history but finely tuned during the industrial revolution of the 19th century. We'll touch on Chadwick's early life, moving to Brooklyn at age 12 from Exeter, England, as well as how he became as woven into this sport as the seams on the ball. So, please, join us LIVE at 3:30pm ET for the latest edition of the Bedford & Sullivan podcast!

This week on The Children's Hour, kids take on Covid-19. We talk with Dr. Anthony Fleg from UNM Family Practice and the Native Health Initiative, and he offers his tips for reducing our stress and anxiety. Plus kids from our listening audience and crew share how they're coping with being out of school, and practicing social distancing. We also hear from a school social worker Ruth Graunke about strategies to stay calm in crisis, and we visit with Alice Lu McCoy, from the New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council about making an extra effort to connect with kids and adults who are living in residential facilities. Visit Ruth Graunke's webpage with tips and strategies for helping kids cope with the repercussions of Covid-19. Learn more about the NMDDPC #SmilesAcrossMiles program. This site has tons of great information on talking with kids about Covid-19. 03:51Wash Your HandsBill HarleyWash Your Hands - Single 2009 Bill Harley 02:34Glad You're HereJustin RobertsWild Life 2020 Justin Roberts 02:47EveryoneElizabeth MitchellBlue Clouds 2012 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 03:09Nobody Likes Viruses and GermsMarsha Goodman-WoodGravity Vacation 2012 Marsha Goodman-Wood 02:46With a Little Help From My FriendsGeorge Chadwick, Henry Chadwick, Tasia McIntyre-Bader & Kaila McIntyre-BaderAll You Need Is Love: Beatles Songs For KidsThis Compilation 1999 Music For Little People 02:58Lavate Las ManosEVT KidsLavate Las Manos - Single 2020 668948 Records DK 03:21Don't Let Us Get SickJoe West and the Santa Fe RevueBlood Red Velvet 2013 Joe West

Father Lawrence Frizzell interviews the Rev. William Rusch about the collected essays by Professor Henry Chadwick that he has edited. Rev. William Rusch, adjunct professor of Lutheran studies at Yale Divinity School, is an internationally known specialist in ecumenism.

Santa Cruz songwriter/producer Henry Chadwick talks about his full-length debut release, "Marlin Fisher" (avail only on colored vinyl).

本集邀請到樞紐棒球粉絲團創辦人、PTT 大聯盟板板主卓書賢（Sean）來聊聊今年他的 Fantasy「夢幻棒球經理人」聯盟設計(02:08)、選秀策略(09:03)和私房推薦的低調黑馬(19:37)，也聊到 PTT 大聯盟板上的討論風氣、文化(26:16)以及對於鄉民球迷的期待(37:17)。Sean 分享了成立「樞紐棒球」的初衷和寫作方向(45:05)，並聊到最近的兩篇文章「關鍵打者是否存在」(47:08)和「Eric Hosmer 的擊球視覺化分析」(53:14)。「人物我來講」單元介紹棒球計分表發明者 Henry Chadwick(58:08)，數據單元則探討最新的彈力球研究報告(01:05:25)。

We're back after a week off! Happy to be here, everyone. We have a double episode for you all today! The first interview is with a singer/songwriter from Santa Cruz, CA named Henry Chadwick. He released an EP this year called Guest At Home. We spoke at length about the making of the EP, living in the Bay Area, and more! The second interview is with Farewell, My Love, a modern post-hardcore band from Phoenix, AZ. The band is preparing to embark on a tour with The Funeral Portrait, which kicks off on October 27 in Phoneix AZ. We talk about their most recent release, Above All, their upcoming tour, and their progression as a band over the years! For more on Henry Chadwick, visit www.facebook.com/henrychadwickmusic. For more on Farewell, My Love, visit www.facebook.com/farewellmyloveofficial. SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ON iTUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/for-record-podcast-shameless/id1028876625?mt=2 This has been another Shameless Promotion.

Henry Chadwick is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. His New self-produced EP, Guest At Home, showcases Henry's skills, as he wrote, engineered and played most of the instruments on it. Henry draws influences as much from music of the past (The Beatles, The kinks, T-Rex, Nirvana, David Bowie etc.,) as from as from current artists who keep pushing forward stylistically and sonically. Henry makes catchy, thoughtful and usually energetic music with a unique perspective, edge and charm. Henry Chadwick was raised in a studio environment, his father (Daren Chadwick) being an engineer who worked out of Cherokee studios in Hollywood through the 1980's and continued to record in his home studio in the Santa Cruz Mountains moving to raise a family. Henry has been playing in bands and learning how to record music since he was a youngster. He plays drums in roots-rock band, The Coffis Brothers and fronts the band My Stupid Brother. Henry's live band consists of Aidan Collins on the Bass, Kyle Poppen on the guitar, Jesse Wilkinson on drums, and Henry himself on guitar and vocals.

THE GREAT COMMISSION - FEAR NO MORE Lesson 1 Church Growth While our church family takes three weeks for all classes to focus on sharing Jesus without fear, we seize this time to focus on the causes for early church growth as a means of introducing our church-wide evangelism emphasis. The early church did not grow by chance. Nor did it grow by silence of the believers. The church grew, as the church does today, by the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing the good news of our salvation to the hearts and minds of the unbeliever. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, who gave his life as a ransom for sinners. Before Jesus died, he spoke to his Apostles the words of John 14-16, in which he prophesied and promised the Holy Spirit would come. Jesus was specific that the Spirit would bear witness to him. "The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me" (Jn 15:26). That is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit, to "convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (Jn 16:8). The Spirit brings "glory" to Jesus "by taking what is mine [Jesus] and making it known to you" (Jn 16:14). The growth of the church, then, is the story of the Holy Spirit working among humanity. We are remiss, however, if we leave out a key to the work of the Holy Spirit. The key is found in the very same passages. In John 15, after Jesus said the Spirit "will testify about me," Jesus immediately adds, "and you also must testify" (Jn 15:27). In other words, evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit; witnessing is the work of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit does this work through followers of Christ. This truth is seen throughout our New Testament. Jesus gave the parting instructions to his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19). Paul would put it this way: in the church, we are all parts of the "body" of Christ (1 Cor. 12). In this body, we all have a manifestation or gift of the Holy Spirit. That gift, though, is for the church, the "common good" (12:7). As the body of Christ, we do the works of Christ. We are his hands, his feet, and his mouth. Not all have the same gift, and not all have the same role in God's evangelism. But all have a gifting for the common good. All have this from God. A natural part of living a truthful life is recognition of God as our source and meaning. Therefore, it is only right and natural that we should openly speak of who gives us meaning and purpose, and of whom we rely on for our today and tomorrow. This was the experience of the early church. Some were actual missionaries, sent out to take the good news to foreign people. These were, however, not the majority of the Christians. Far more were called to live lives that proclaimed the good news in every day ways to every day people. The thrust of the early Christians' evangelism was a natural outflow of a changed life dependent upon God. The church was not out to grab converts! The church was following the instructions of the Messiah, telling the good news as God gave the chance and opportunity. This was not an in-your-face accept it or roast-in-hell lifestyle. To the contrary, it was one of love and compassion. The proclamation of the good news was a natural outflow of obedience to Christ as a witness. It was sowing of seed. The church's role was not to get the conversions. That was and is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts hearts and minds; the church merely delivers the message. Jesus recognized, and the early church understood, that each follower of Christ is a witness to some degree or another. In a real sense, it is merely a question of what kind of witness the believer will be. Will the believer be a light that shines from a hill at night? Or, will the witness be one of shame and silence about the Lord? The early church grew from a handful of low status, little influence, uneducated, Jewish fishermen in a back-water country of the Roman Empire into a huge economic and social institution that went from end to end of the Roman Empire by 200 A.D. How did the church do this? How did God do this? What was it that made Christianity not just flourish, but grow with an unbelievable speed? That is our focus this week. EARLY CHURCH GROWTH   Was it Paul? Maybe Peter? Was it a group of people, say the 12 apostles? Who had the "gift of evangelism?" Who were the ones that brought such growth? It certainly was NOT the attraction of the church in society's eyes--for this was not a time where it was socially acceptable to be a Christian. As we have already studied, those who put their faith in Jesus were frequently targeted not just for persecution, but also even for death. In fact, as we saw in our "Martyr" lesson, the word martyr itself is an English version of the Greek word meaning "witness." Yet in spite of this persecution, at the hand of the state as well as individuals, more and more came to faith. People overcame their fears of speaking about the most important thing in their lives -- Jesus. It certainly was NOT a big publicity campaign! Publicity was dangerous! It could cause persecution and death. It certainly was NOT big, beautiful church buildings. The earliest church met in homes. Gradually, many of these homes were expanded into the earliest church buildings, but those buildings were extremely limited and inconspicuous for the first 300 years of the church. It was actually the simple words and deeds of ordinary Christians used by God in extraordinary ways that brought about the amazing growth of the church. As Christians spoke, more and more came to faith, and as those words were accompanied with actions, the results were astonishing. How did the early Christians overcome fear issues and share their faith at a time of great persecution? We have a window into their thoughts and actions through writings of the early church fathers as well as secular writings that commented on the early believers. Let us consider how the early Christians stood out in their passion, prayer, partnership, power, and preparation. PASSION   The early Christians had an absolute conviction that Jesus Christ conquered death, both in his own body and for those who believed in him. Without this confidence, early Christianity would make no sense for anyone. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" and "we are to be pitied more than all men" (1 Cor. 15:17, 19). Paul is quick to add, "but Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). And this conviction, of which Paul and hundreds of others were eyewitnesses, moved Paul to live "in victory" (1 Cor. 15:57). With deep conviction and passion, Paul could urge others to "stand firm" and "let nothing move you" because our God has conquered death and removed its sting, setting men free from sin's grip. Paul and others would "always give [themselves] fully to the work of the Lord, because" that "labor is not in vain." Paul had passion, and the early church had nothing less! Countless Christians would give their very lives for their convictions. We spent several weeks looking at some of the martyrs of the early church. The effect of the martyrdoms was huge on evangelism. In the early third century, Tertullian would write that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Tertullian put into words the effect of the passion and conviction of Christians among the world. As the lost saw that people would willingly and peaceably give up their lives for a simple belief and trust in Jesus, they were drawn to Him also. And, this is no surprise. Many of the lost live in fear of death. Many live in guilt and distress over life. Many go through the motions of life without purpose or direction. When they see someone who has passion in his life, a passion that brings peace in life and death, it is noticed! PRAYER This was not a hidden passion. The early church persecution in Asia Minor in the second century caused Christians to come out in mass and march before a provincial governor's home to protest the injustice and show the depth of their faith. With actions like these, we see a passion that clearly overcame any fears about speaking out! The point of these actions and passion was not to get more "converts." Although the church was ecstatic when even one would come to faith, the church saw this as the Holy Spirit's work. The role of the Christian was to be real and faithful; speaking and living as God gave the opportunity, and trusting God with the consequences. The early church was composed of people of prayer. No doubt this had a profound effect on their walk. No doubt it aided their overcoming of any fear issues associated with living or sharing their faith. The Didache, which we covered several months ago, was an early church training manual for new Christians. In it, we saw that the early Christians would pause at least three times a day to recite the Lord's Prayer. This prayer was not some magical formula that merely needed vocalizing. Rather, it was said as a true petition before a listening God. While we say it in King James formal English, the original prayer was very ordinary every day-speak. We say, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in heaven as it is on earth. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our debts (trespasses); as we forgive our debtors (those who trespass against us). And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen." For them, they would reflect and pray three times a day. "Our heavenly Father. You are holy in your person and your actions. We pray that your church will grow on earth and that it will finally be united with you in heaven. Please make sure we have the things we need today, including not just food, but forgiveness for our sins. Knowing your forgiveness, we also forgive those who have wronged us. Father, please protect us spiritually. We live for you. You are all powerful. You alone are worthy of our praise. Amen." PARTNERSHIP Now, saying that prayer with conviction and thought three times a day will help conquer any fear or obstacle that Satan might use to inhibit our growth! As mentioned above, the early church did not see conversion of the masses as their responsibility. They saw it as the work of God, and the role of man was to partner with God in that work. This was done in part with words, but even more so with deeds. The actions of the early Christians were profoundly different from actions of the lost. That difference was because of partnership with God. Around 180 A.D., one of Christianity's most vocal critics was a pagan writer named Celsus. Celsus was quick to point out the uniqueness of the Christian fellowship. There was a social bonding among the Christians that differed greatly from normal life. "Social bonding" is almost too weak a description for the actions of the early church that drew attention. Christians had charity for each other in measures not seen in the world. Tertullian reported on the pagan comment, "See how these Christians love one another." Jesus foretold this love as the way in which Christians would be recognized. Jesus told his followers, "A new command I give you: Love one another...By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn 13:34-35). And, Jesus was right! Church historian Henry Chadwick writes, "The practical application of charity [love] was probably the single most potent cause of Christian success." 1 Chadwick then points out multiple areas where the Christians' love was stunning in its actions. Christians took care of the poor. In a time and in a society where there was no governmental assistance or social security for those in need, the church stepped up and provided the care. The poor, the widows, and the orphans all had help from followers of Christ. In fact, the primary responsibility for the early church treasury was to provide for the poor. Chadwick cites that by the year 251, the records indicate that the church at Rome had grown so much it supported its "bishop, 46 presbyters, 7 deacons, subdeacons, 42 acolytes, and 52 exorcists, readers and doorkeepers" along with "1500 widows and needy persons, all of whom were `fed by the grace and kindness of the Lord'" (Id. at 58, 59). This is even more stunning when we remember that the church was an illegal institution subject to the death penalty. POWER   The church did not grow, and people did not overcome fear, merely from these good deeds. The early Christians had power! Great power! Now, this was not a power in the social or governmental structures of the world, nor are we talking about great personal, physical strength. This was not even great miracle working power. This was the greatest power of all - the power of the gospel. For the early church had in the gospel, an answer to those hurting. There was a real solace in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, a balm for human pain. For those without purpose, there was divine direction in the gospel. For those without security or peace, there was a peace that passed understanding. There was a confidence of eternity with God. For those plumbing the depths of human philosophy for happiness or contentment, there was a solid answer. More than merely feeling happy, a deep joy was present. Christianity had the power of giving the outcast a home. Women, who were trampled by society, had equal standing before God in his kingdom. Slaves likewise were treated as equals, for indeed they were! In Christ, there was neither male nor female, neither slave nor free. All were of the same Spirit and set for the same destiny. This power was tremendous in its effects. Consider how it is today...true answers of peace, meaning, joy, forgiveness, holiness, and eternal security...who wouldn't readily embrace that? That is the power of the gospel message, and there is no greater power on earth today. PREPARATION   In his first epistle, Peter wrote that the Christians were to "always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15). That involves preparation! The church got that preparation meeting together regularly, studying together, and living lives consistent with their teaching. We have seen over the last 14 lessons the study and the fellowship that saw the church grow rapidly. In fact, most of the writings we have studied and used thus far in this class are themselves "preparation" writings. These were documents and letters to help people understand not only the faith we share but also the practical ramifications of that faith. The early church prepared and fought for the truth of their faith everywhere heresy and unbelief raised its head. Early Christians even wrote the Emperor himself in pleas for understanding and in defense of their faith. We saw this in our class on the early apologists. POINTS FOR HOME   So, where does this leave us as we start a three-week emphasis on sharing our faith? We can easily see, I hope, how these same five factors apply to us. With the overriding recognition that God is the evangelist, the Holy Spirit the converter, we can boldly (yet with "gentleness" and "reverence") never fear to speak about who we are and why we are the way we are. Passion. We should have the passion of the early church. We worship a true redeemer. We have answers to life's problems, and we have eternal destiny. We have purpose. We have secure love. That is worth being passionate about! Prayer. We need to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17). With a constant dialogue with God, we should be ever watchful for God's opportunities for us to speak or show the love of God to those around us. Partnership. We are God's hands and feet. We must show the love that he has given us. That is the key that Jesus selected as the means by which people will know we are His. Jesus is present on earth, but we are his body, so what people see in us, is the vision of Jesus they will have. Power. When we see those hurting, guilty, listless, anxious and worried, lonely, we must remember we hold the gospel message with power to meet their needs! And the gospel meets those needs like nothing else! That is the beauty of God's work and we can bring that to those in need! associated with harsh judgmentalism, with "holier than thou" attitudes, and with political parties rather than the faith of loving creatures basking in the life given by a loving God. Actions must accompany our words to overcome this stereotyping! Preparation. Not a bad word - preparation is fun! It is study, it is fellowship, and it is more! It is growing before God ourselves. It is learning the power we set out above firsthand! As we walk in these areas, we will see God use us as never before! Come back next week as Scott helps us "prepare!" References Chadwick, The Early Church, (Dorset Press, 1967).