Podcasts about pope sylvester ii

Pope Sylvester II was alleged to be a wizard, necromancer and even allegedly built a brass head that could tell the future. Was this true? Probably not - but let's explore how these myths came into being. This is also part of a Patreon exclusive series. Join my Patreon for the remainder of this series! http://www.patreon.com/anthonystongue

Despite his dedication to science and mathematics—or perhaps because of it—Pope Sylvester II has been historically linked with legends of magic and sorcery, though these stories are more myth than fact. His reputation for being involved in magic largely stems from his profound knowledge and his use of what was then cutting-edge technology. This episode brings you the story of the life and legacy of Gerbert of Aurillac also known as Pope Sylvester II.   Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.  Episode sources  Support the Show.EnchantedPodcast.netFacebook/enchantedpodcastInstagram/enchantedpodcastTumblr/enchantedpodcast

Step into a historical enigma with us as we explore the Phantom Time Hypothesis. This episode takes you through a controversial theory that suggests a segment of the Middle Ages may have never occurred. We'll dissect the claims of Heribert Illig, who proposed that a conspiracy led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, created a fictitious timeline. Was Charlemagne merely a figment of rewritten history? Dive into this fringe theory with us and decide for yourself.

What does the study of archeology, the study of the human past, offer to the astronomers of today? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome archaeology expert Hannah Liu, MEd, to connect the past, the present, and the future of astronomy in an episode Allen has described as, “A Fistful of Lius.”   As always, though, we start off with the day's joyfully cool cosmic thing, a recent scientific paper just published by archaeologist Federico Bernardini and astronomer Paolo Molaro which suggests that a 3,000-year-old stone tablet discovered near Trieste, Italy may be the oldest European star chart yet discovered.   Hannah, who is an expert in archaeology, takes us back to the hilltop area where the tablet was found, which had been occupied since the Iron Age, and was more than likely a farming area. She explains how early civilizations used the stars to keep track of planting and threshing seasons, which could support the theory that the tablet has an astronomical purpose.   Then, it's time for our first question. Hannah teaches History at the Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, which is where we got the questions we answer on today's episode. Maeve asks, “Are we the only living things on earth who have a sense of how small we are in the universe?”   The Lius answer includes ancient Greeks, sea turtles who use stars for directions and moths that fly towards light thinking it's the moon, and the beginnings of astronomy and astrology! Hannah explains how constellations and asterisms are cross-cultural, even though they have different names. In particular, The Pleiades is an example of star cluster relevant to cultures around the world.   Coming back to that 3000-year-old star chart, Hannah breaks down the 29 markings on the tablet, and how 28 of them are connectable to constellations that we know like Scorpius, Cassiopeia The Pleiades, and Orion. However, the 29th marking, near Orion's Belt, still remains a mystery, and until we can pin it down, we can't definitively claim it's really a star chart.   Our next question comes from Abby, who asks, “Where do you think human involvement in space exploration is going?” Allen runs down the planned manned missions beyond low Earth orbit, where we haven't gone since our last trip to the moon in 1972, along with the reasons we haven't. We also hear how the stars were very important to ancient explorers like the Greeks and the Phoenicians, as well as the ancient Polynesian Wayfinders, who used the stars as their guides in their ongoing excursions around the world.   After brief sojourns into Star Trek and The Odyssey, we dive into ancient alien visitors, gods, and supernatural forces. Hannah points out the inherent Western biases in theories that “ancient aliens” were responsible for building the Pyramids and other impressive accomplishments that just happened to have been created in non-Western cultures of the past.   Charles explains that in the past, some people who used science and astronomy, like midwives and scientists, were accused of witchcraft and other equally disparaging and unfounded claims. This could create a divide between science and religion, but luckily, not an unbridgeable one – you'll hear about Gerbert of Aurillac, a scientist who became Pope Sylvester II and brought the Abacus back to Europe, and how the Catholic Church itself established the Vatican Observatory which has made numerous discoveries over the years.   Finally, we get into the history and anthropology of museums, a subject about which Hannah will be teaching a course in the upcoming semester. What is the role of a museum? Is it science, education, or something else? Is it a place where we hold our treasures, or, increasingly, one where we recognize we hold other people's treasures, some of which were once plundered and taken from those people against their desires? And yes, we do bring up situations like the Elgin Marbles and the British Museum's refusal to return those artifacts to Greece... especially in light of the new U.S. law regarding repatriation of artifacts.   We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.   Credits for Images Used in this Episode: – 3,000-year-old stone tablet from Italy – Bernardini et al., CC BY-SA 4.0 – Trieste in Italy – F l a n k e r, Yiyi, and Allen Liu, Public Domain – Sirius (bottom) in the night sky – Akira Fujii, Public Domain – A thresher (Thanks Jon.) – SteveStrummer, Public Domain – NASA's SLS Rocket – NASA/Joel Kowsky, Public Domain – SpaceX's Starship rocket under construction – NASA, Public Domain – Austronesian societies range – Obsidian Soul, CC BY 4.0 – Gerbert of Aurillac, Pope Sylvester II – Meister der Reichenauer Schule, Public Domain – Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope in Arizona – Andromeda321, Public Domain – Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum – Ejectgoose, Public Domain – Map of Latin-descended languages in Europe – Servitje, Public Domain #TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast  #starchart #astrology #astronomy #TheOdyssey #Scorpius #Cassiopeia #ThePleiades #Orion #OrionsBelt #GerbertofAurillac #PopeSylvesterII #CatholicChurch #VaticanObservatory #NASA #SLS #SpaceX #Starship #ElginMarbles #BritishMuseum #PolynesianWayfinders #Greeks #Phoenicians

We pick up our unfinished thread from the Melrose Chronicle by exploring the "Dark Legend" of Gerbert d'Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II allegedly through the assistance of the devil. We'll hear one version of this legend as told by William of Malmesbury, and then examine what we know about the historical Gerbert. Today's Texts: William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books. Gerbert d'Aurillac. "Letter 51." The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, translated and edited by Harriet Pratt Lattin, Columbia UP, 1961, pp. 91-92.

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! En el siglo X, en una Europa arrasada por las invasiones de vikingos y magiares, y desestabilizada por el fin del Imperio Carolingio. Con un pontificado debilitado y controlado por las aristocracias romanas y los emperadores alemanes, una figura brilla con luz propia. Nacido en una choza gala, Gerberto de Aurillac alcanzó la cátedra de San Pedro como Silvestre II en los años finales de su vida. Sin embargo, no será recordado por su labor como cabeza de la Iglesia de Roma, sino como maestro. Un hombre que consagró su vida a la enseñanza de las siete artes liberales, innovando en los métodos y devolviendo a Europa conocimientos perdidos. Sus aportes fueron tales, que muchos lo han llamado el papa matemático. Síguenos en: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElScriptorium TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elscriptorium?is_from_webapp=1&;sender_device=pc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scriptoriumpodcast Telegram: https://t.me/ElScriptorium Contacto: scriptoriumpodcast@protonmail.com Bibliografía: - Rodríguez de la Peña, M.A. (2008). Los Reyes Sabios: Cultura y poder en la Antigüedad Tardía y la Alta Edad Media. Actas. - Brasa Díez, M. (2000). "Luces y sombras en el siglo X. Gerberto de Aurillac. Año mil". Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval, 7, pp. 45-60. - Martínez Moro, J. (2000). "El papa del año mil: Gerberto de Aurillac; Silvestre II". En García de Cortázar, J.A. (coord.) Los protagonistas del año mil: [actas XIII Seminario sobre Historia del Monacato, (2-5 de Agosto de 1999), pp. 39-49. - O'Neil, G. (1938). "The Milenary of Pope Sylvester II". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, 27 (107), pp. 425-436. - Kitchin, W, (1922). "A Pope-Philosopher of the Tenth Century: Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac)". The Catholic Historical Review, 8 (1), pp. 42-54. - Hannam, J. (2010). God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science. Icon Books Ltd. - Mitre Fernández, E. (coord.) (2004). Historia del cristianismo. Volumen II: El mundo medieval. Editorial Trotta. - Darlington, O. (1948). "Gerbert, the Teacher". The American Historical Review, 52 (3), pp. 456-476. - Pekonen, O. (2000). "Gerbert of Aurillac: Mathematician and Pope". Mathematical intelligencer, 22 (4). Música: - "Danza Inglesa Siglo XIII" - Artefactum - "Albinoni Adagio for Orchestra" - Madi Composer - "Beethoven Piano Sonato No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, I. Grave" Kanto Studijos - "Danse Macabre by Saint Saens" - Abydos Musique - "Khandoshkin, Ivan. Russian song with variations for violene and viola" - Ivan Dolgunov - "Choralbearbeitung O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" - Piano Dreamer - "Saltarello I Siglo XIV" - Artefactum Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Make sure to join us for this awesome broadcast classic where Bob Enyart interviews Jonathan Cahn on the end times, AND for the first 10 minutes of our Bob Enyart End Times seminar. To get the entire seminar, click here! * About this Interview and on this Page: We a'e eagerly looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that should not make us vulnerable to fake news, even Christian fake news, and confused Bible teaching... - Rejecting The Harbinger's Claim of Divine Signs (far below) - Leading End Times Preachers All Dyin' of Old Age (just below) - List of the Erroneous Calculated Dates - Last Days vs. Last Minutes - The Timing of Christ's Return has Changed And related BEL Resources: - Debunking the Blood Moon Claims with a Creationist Astronomer - Bob Schedules Meet with End Times Preacher 9/24/17 (after predicted rapture) - BEL Y2K Survival Kit Cuts Power to House (so our wives don't think that were nuts) - Two Decades After 9/11 End Times Predictions Still Pending - Bob Enyart's End Times Seminar filmed four days after 9/11 to a live and "still here" audience!* 2016 Update: If Christian brother Jonathan Cahn would have paid closer attention to Bob's comments in this interview, and had taken this written show summary to heart, he could have averted the embarrassment of his failed prophecy of economic collapse for 2015. Further, at rsr.org/blood-moons#rsr-vs-the-apocalypse-gurus we make our argument that while the predictions of the End Times gurus are systematically wrong, here at Bob Enyart Live and RSR our biblically-based general and science predictions have an uncanny way of being confirmed!  This is a Special Edition of Real Science Radio. * LIST OF LEADING END TIMES PREACHERS * Leading End Times Preachers All Dyin' of Old Age:  The modern end-times movement really took off way back in the 1970s and 1980s. Did all the big-name end times teachers think that they would still be preaching in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, and as a group dying of old age? No, of course not. We discuss this in a series on BEL beginning on May 14th, 2018 for the 70th anniversary of the modern State of Israel. See specifically the program, How to turn perfectly good Scripture into bad predictions. We love these guys, and Bob personally (and literally) sat at the feet of Chuck Smith and Chuch Missler for scores of Bible studies. But clearly, their dying of old age indicates that they got something very wrong in their interpretation of the headlines and the Scriptures...   - Tim LaHaye (90, 1926 - 2016, Left Behind Series) - Chuck Smith (86, 1927 - 2013, founder, Calvary Chapel) - Chuck Missler (83, 1934-2018, end times teacher) - Harold Camping (92, 1921-2013, founder, Family Radio) - Hal Lindsey (91, b. 1929, Late Great Planet Earth) - Noah Hutchings (92, 1922-2015, six decades on Southwest Radio Church) - Irvin Baxter (75, 1945-2020, Endtime Ministries) as described by B.E. - John Hagee (81, b. 1940; recent error: Blood Moons) - Jack Van Impe (88, 1931-2020; had celebrated his 60-year anniversary with Rexella; began in ministry in 1948 and as a preacher in 1952). See Enyart discuss all this with WND readers.  * 2020 Update: * List of the Erroneous Calculated Dates: Here's an example of the never-ending, and so far, universally incorrect, calculating of end times dates by a Christian author, and then another example by the leader of the Jehovah's Witnesses...   * Remember When -- The Dates & The Headlines: Countless Christians were told that the following dates were significant because they represented end-times markers. Thousands of news headlines were misinterpreted prophetically to arrive at these erroneous dates. Of course the Lord will return one day, and hopefully, soon. But confused teachers used events and dates like these to confuse others. - 1850 for the ascent of the Anti-Christ (calculated by London's protestant scholar Robert Fleming, V.D.M in 1701 by adding to 608 A.D. the "1260 days" of Revelation, converting each day to a year - 1948 the nation of Israel is reconstituted in the Middle East - 1957 European Common Market (ECM) established with six nations - 1973 The ECM added three more nations, prophecy teachers added this up to Daniel's "ten toes" - 1980 In the decade of the 80s, three more nations joined the ECM, still adding up to Daniel's ten toes - 1993 The European Union (EU) was formed with 12 nations - 1995 Ten Nation European Alliance (WEU) formed, claimed to be Daniel's 10-toed prophecy - 2001 Islamic terrorist attack on America, claimed to represent the end times - 2010 Ten Nation European WEU decides to disband claimed as major fulfillment of prophecy - 2011 Ten Nation WEU officially disbands and absorbed into the EU - 2016 The now 28-nation EU begins to unravel with the UK's Brexit and Italy's no-confidence vote- 2020 With the U.K. officially out, the EU is down to 27 nations.* Counting Backwards From 2020: It's been... 1,520 years since A.D. 500, the year when Irenaeus, et al, predicted that Jesus would return 1,220 years since A.D. 800, the year when Sextus Julius Africanus predicted Armageddon 1,020 years since A.D. 1000, the year when Pope Sylvester II, et al, predicted the beginning of the end 176 years since 1844 when the early 7th Day Adventists believed Christ would have returned 170 years since 1850 when Robert Fleming, writing in 1700 A.D., calculated the anti-Christ's reign 142 years since 1878 when Jehovah's Witnesses said would be the last year for the church on earth 116 years since 1914 when the Jehovah's Witnesses said it would be the end 99 years since 1921 when the JW's said millions now living will never die 84 years since 1936, the year when Herbert W. Armstrong predicted the end (updated to 1943, '72, '75) 72 years since 1948 when Israel became a nation again after World War II 63 years since 1957 when the European Common Market was Daniel's ten-nation alliance 39 years since 1981 when Chuck Smith, et al, taught the seven-year tribulation would begin 35 years since 1985, the year Lester Sumrall wrote about in his book, I Predict 1985 38 years since 1982, the year Pat Robertson predicted would be the end of the world  32 years since 1988 a generate after Israel became a nation with 88 reasons for the Rapture in '88 26 years since 1994, the year that Harold Camping predicted would start the great tribulation 23 years since 1997, the year that Bishop James Ussher predicted would be the end of the world20 years since 2000, when the Y2K bug was predicted to herald the end times, and when and Lester Sumrall predicted would be the end, and when Jerry Falwell predicted would see God's judgment. 19 years since 2001 when America was attacked on 9/11 13 years since 2007, the year Pat Robertson wrote in 1990 would be the end 6 years since 2014 when the blood moons were supposed to indicate the end times.* Last Days vs. Last Minutes: Many years ago my call screener put through to me someone who told him that the diseases in the world were evidence of the Last Days. The guy, Jim from Columbus, Ohio asked me, "Bob, where do you stand on the Ebola virus?" I answered, "I'm against it." Looking at the news events listed above, when they occurred popular prophecy teachers claimed they represented end times prophecies. Well, it's been a long time since. The "end times" is a lot longer than any of them would have predicted. As we say at Denver Bible Church to those misinterpreting last-days prophecies, "From now only, will you only tell us about the Last Minutes?" Afterall, the most famous end-times teachers are all dying of old age and these last-days interpretations have been around for more than half a century. * The Bible shows the Timing of Christ's Return has Changed: You can link directly to this section as kgov.com/second-coming-timing or kgov.com/second-coming-timing-has-changed. For most folks, before reading this list we recommend praying, "Lord, if Your Word clearly teaches something that I will tend to reject because it conflicts with some of my biases, please help me to be humble before You and willing to challenge my preexisting beliefs." - God Views the End Times Calendar as Changeable: "I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time" Isa. 60:22 - Believers Can Change the Time of Christ's Return: Peter wrote that believers too should set about, "hastening the coming of the day of God" 2 Pet. 3:12 - Even the Length of the Tribulation will Change: Jesus said that, "those days will be shortened" Mat. 24:22 - Like God Shortening His Punishment of Israel: the Old Testament precedents for God shortening the coming Tribulation, include, "choose... seven years... Or... three months... Or... three days' plague..." And David said... "His mercies are great..." So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. 2 Sam. 24:12-17, 25 - For God Promised Mercy Regardless of Prophecy If...: "The instant I speak concerning a nation [Israel], to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it." Jer. 18:7-8 (see also a dozen more Category 1 verses like that one, including the next, about Nineveh) - Again, Get This Down, God Promises Mercy Regardless of Prophecy If: "...forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! [But then] they turned from their evil way; and God repented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." Jonah 3:10 - Before You Get Through Israel's Villages: "...I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." Mat. 10:23 (yet this did not happen, because as warned, God changed His plan for Israel; Jer. 18:9-10; Rom. 11) - Some of You Won't Die Until: "there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Mat. 16:28 (this didn't refer to the Transfiguration which occurred about a day later; see too Mark 9 and Luke 9; yet they all did die, because God changed His plan for Israel, and grafted in the Gentiles; Jer. 18:9-10; Rom. 11) - John Might Not Die Before: "Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, 'If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?'" John 21:23 - This Generation Won't Pass Until: "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." Mat. 24:34  (yet that generation did pass away, because God changed His plan for Israel and instead grafted in the Gentiles; Jer. 18:9-10; Rom. 11) - Before Paul, Believers Sold their Homes: "all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need." Acts 4:34-35; 5:1-2 (this behavior, appropriate at the time, changed after Paul's Acts 9 conversion when God grafted in the Gentiles) - Christ's Soon Return Permeated His Teachings: "Sell what you have and give alms" Luke 12:33; "And everyone who has left houses... or lands, for My name's sake..." Mat. 19:29. "...do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on" Luke 12:22. The "ravens... neither sow nor reap" yet "God feeds them" Luke 12:24. "He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff——no bag..." Mark 6:8. "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your moneybelts..." Mat. 10:9. "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and... come, follow Me" Luke 18:22. (yet He did not return soon, as He had warned that He may change His mind). And even that Jesus went about all Galilee preaching "the gospel of the kingdom" Mat. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14-15 and Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel [of the kingdom]" Mark 1:15; Mat. 3:2; 4:17 - With Homes Sold, They Became Poor: Remember that "all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them... and they distributed to each as anyone had need." Acts 4:34-35; 5:1-2 - It Was the Converts of the Twelve Who Fell into Poverty:  1 Cor. 16:1–4; 2 Cor. 8:1-9:15; Gal. 2:10; Rom. 15:25–31; Acts 11:27–30; 24:17 for communism quickly fails; the sale of pesonal property was to be a short-term tactic to survive the Tribulation and enter the Kingdom; the Postponement led to their poverty. - Paul's Converts Kept Their Homes and Provided Relief: (The "apostle to the Gentiles" was able to raise relief from his converts) 1 Cor. 16:1–4; 2 Cor. 8:1-9:15; Gal. 2:10; Rom. 15:25–31; Acts 11:27–30; 24:17 to support the believers in Judea who fell into poverty; they hadn't immediately become poor after selling their property, but after the delay in Christ's previously-expected soon return  - God Warned He may Not Give Israel their Kingdom as Prophesied: "And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will repent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it." Jer. 18:9-10 (see also Jer. 18:7-8; for God, unlike a juvenile judge, does not make empty threats) - One Year Probation Followed Three-Year Earthly Ministry: "'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree [figuratively, Israel] and find none. Cut it down...' But he answered and said, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.'" Luke 13:7-9 - Daniel's Seventieth Week Suspended: The prophet Daniel's 490-year prophecy (Dan. 9:24-27) of 483 years between the command to rebuild Jerusalem (by Artaxerxes Neh. 2:1-8) until the execution of the Messiah, followed by the next seven years that were to be the Great Tribulation (Mat. 24:15; Mark 13:14); but Israel rejected their resurrected Messiah so as God had warned (Jer. 18:9-10) He changed what He had prophesied for them by postponing both the tribulation and the Kingdom it would usher in. - After the Cross Ten Signs of the Tribulation Were Evident: See chapter 9 of kgov.com/the-plot for details; in the year beginning with Christ's death the signs of the Great Tribulation that occurred included the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders, earthquakes, believers beaten by councils, the laying on of hands to imprison, arrests leading to occasion for testimony, martyrdom, expectation of an abbreviated end times and of the soon appearance of signs in the sun, moon, and stars, irresistible wisdom displayed. - Fulfillment of Prophetic Seven Feasts of Israel Suspended: God ceased the apparent fulfillment of the Feasts of Israel on their very calendar days, for Jesus died on the day the Jews killed the Passover lamb; He was in the tomb during Unleavened Bread; raised on Firstfruits; gave the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; and He "tabernacled" among us (John 1:14, with the Greek saying not "dwelt" but "tabernacled"), likely fulfilling that feast; but the remaining two feasts including Trumpets are yet awaiting fulfillment, as God postponed His prophetic plan for Israel.    - Jesus Hardly Spoke About the End Times Until Just Before the Cross: The apocalyptic Olivet Discourse happened when Jesus said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Mat. 26:1-2 - God the Son Didn't Know the Timing: and neither did God the Holy Spirit but only the Father, for it is in His purview to decide when Jesus shall return. Just Google: open theism verses, and see Category 15, which includes the following: The Holy Spirit, third person of the Godhead, did not know something that the Father knew, namely, the planned day and hour of the Second Coming Mark 13:32 and of course that lack of knowledge did not negate His divinity for the quantitative attribute of omniscience is not like the absolute qualitative attributes; likewise, no man, no angel, nor even the Son knew, for "of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" of the persons of the Godhead, with even the Second Person not knowing the timing of the Second Coming which was in the purview of the Father alone Mat. 24:36. - Israel's End Times Signs Not Relevant Today: When the Lord temporarily set aside Israel's Kingdom and their covenant of circumcision and grafted in the Body of Christ with its covenant of grace (this is not replacement theology), God's new sign, so to speak, of the end of the Body of Christ's time on earth is the "fullness of the Gentiles", whatever He means by that, be it a billion believers to populate heaven, or the Gospel preached worldwide, or holiness within the Body, etc.; so that, when "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in" then God will graft Israel back in again, "for God is able to graft them in again", and thereby resume the countdown on their end times calendar; Rom. 11:11-32. - To Read More about the Changed Date of the Second Coming: Click to get a copy of Bob Enyart's life's work, The Plot: An Overview of the Bible is the Key to its Details and review the list of 33 Categories of more than 500 scriptures at opentheism.org/verses. * Tonight on Denver's 7News: Bob Enyart said on 7News to Colorado's ABC audience that Christians who say that the death penalty is immoral are unwittingly accusing God the Father of being unjust, for He required a payment of death to pay for the sin of the world. We thank God for the opportunity to promote the principles of the Gospel on the nightly news! Please also see AmericanRTL.org/death-penalty.    Now Back to the Harbinger: * Enyart & Cahn Agree on the Theme of The Harbinger: Bob Enyart interviews Jonathan Cahn, the NY Times bestselling author of The Harbinger. Bob appreciates Cahn's warning to an America defiant of God but Enyart disagrees with Cahn's claim that 9/11 was a specific sign from God. See just below Bob's notes regarding his reasons for disagreeing with Jonathan Cahn's claims of a specific divine message in the events following the Attack on America.   * Rejecting The Harbinger's Claim of Divine Signs: (This is not meant to be harsh, for we love and appreciate Jonathan Cahn, and though airing a daily radio talk show, we don't want to be like David who became battle hardened; yet, this is meant to be direct.) The last nine minutes of audio on today's program were recorded twelve years ago at an End Times seminar conducted in Winona Lake, Indiana only four days after Sept. 11, 2001. Bob Enyart predicted that sincere Christian authors (who love and honor God and preach the Gospel) would find a Bible passage with a few uncanny similarities to 9/11, and so would claim that therefore Al Qaeda's attack on America was a sign from God. Consider Jonathan Cahn's few parallels (which get repeated often) from Isaiah 9:10 to 9/11 events. In the audio from September 2001, Bob Enyart illustrates how easy this is to claim fulfillment of a prophetic pattern when, compared to the Harbinger, he quoted more, and more significant, 9/11 parallels, not from Isaiah but from Revelation 17 and 18. As one small example, the greater parallel between Scripture and 9/11 is not a sycamore and a fir tree, but Washington DC and NYC debating the patent rights of murdered unborn children so that "the merchants of the earth" can buy and sell the "the bodies and souls of men." So Bob intentionally misinterpreted the Scriptures to show how easily (and even innocently) this is done, and while Cahn's parallels get to select from events over a period of years, Bob's many more prophetic parallels were all fulfilled on the very day of September 11th. Harbinger Expert Critic says: "Bob, I read your analysis this morning and it was dead right on every point." - David James, 3/24/13 The Internet hasn't existed for 2,700 years. Jonathan Cahn's nine harbingers are based on a quote in the Bible of men defiant against God, who, after suffering God's judgment, repeated in utter ignorance, "The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars" (Isaiah 9:10). If the web had been forever, a Google search would probably return countless pages recording, after attacks, utterances throughout Judeo-Christian history of that quote. About 18 minutes into the program, Jonathan Cahn says about Isaiah 9:10 and the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that back then, "you don't have anyone quoting the Scripture of judgment." Perhaps, perhaps not. In the very center of the Internet's page of Pearl Harbor Quotes we read Isaiah 9:10, not in the NIV or NASB, because those versions were translated later, but in the King James Version. Cahn chose to present his message in a book of fiction. Not unlike the folks who think Star Wars is real, for many readers, Cahn's literary device blurs the distinction between truth and fiction. The requisite suspension of disbelief necessary to enjoy the elements of the story, a wary reporter, a surprised liaison, and an unnamed prophet with curious ancient seals, works to bias the reader who emerges from the novella into the real world lacking the desire to expend the mental energy necessary for an objective consideration of The Harbinger's theological claims. The first harbinger (i.e., a seal in the book's metaphor) is the 9/11 attack. Cahn says at about 6:30 into today's program that a first attack is a sign of God's judgment and that God's protection will be further lifted if the nation does not repent. Bob suggests to Cahn that not unlike 9/11, Pearl Harbor suffered 3,000 casualties, about 2,400 of whom were killed. We live here, today, and so we are inclined to discount far-flung attacks over the last 2,700 years and view the world, unsurprisingly, through our own eyes. Bob mentioned to Jonathan that years ago he had interviewed the beloved Hal Lindsey who, through a similar here-and-now-centered interpretation, suggested that the Second Coming would be in 1988. (This was not unlike superstitious European Christians who would panic when pestilence coincided with Halley's Comet, nor unlike those who thought Jesus would return on the Y2K computer bug, nor unlike those who thought that lightning strikes signified judgment from Zeus, until that is lightning rods ruined the divine aim. Superstition, sadly, is as rampant among Christian authors as it was among the Greeks who worshiped the pantheon.) We interpret our own suffering as though it were of biblical proportion, as Cahn said at about 21:40, that in addition to the harbingers (signs), America has suffered "economic collapse". Well, collapse means different things to different people. Within 48 hours of our prerecorded interview, Dow Jones reached an all time high, and at the very minute today's show began, Reuters reported, "Housing starts point to growing economic momentum." Compare that just to even recent decimation by tsunami, typhoon, earthquake, and to the countries bankrupted, the millions slaughtered, and tens of millions ruined by war, and even to the billions in Asia and Africa who've truly suffered debilitating poverty. That's economic collapse, whereas if God brought economic sanctions against America, it wouldn't look like a downturn, and it wouldn't primarily hurt the poor and middle class. Given the freedom to be arbitrary, fans of Nostradamus (who apparently predicted the second coming, to America in the year 2013, of Twinkies and Ding Dongs) and Jean Dixon point to fulfillment of prophecy. Ironically, Isaiah 9:10 itself is not even a prophecy, so any claimed fulfillment is metaphorical at best. However, The Harbinger itself fulfilled an actual prophecy, uttered in the very week of 9/11, at that End Times seminar, which predicted that such books would be written :). And I'm not even a prophet. Over a million Americans were killed in the civil and world wars. Weren't those lives worth a Bible verse? Around 25 minutes into the program, Bob agrees with The Harbinger, in that "for Israel, being a prophet was a matter of life or death" (p. 9). Enyart then explains that today, God has withdrawn His accountability system for prophets. Jonathan did not anticipate Bob's statement that stoning a false prophet to death is no longer commanded, nor permitted, by God, as the New Testament says, that with "the priesthood being changed [by Christ], of necessity there is also a change of the law" (Hebrews 7:12). So today, while Christians tend to forget and forgive (often without even admitting) the false prophecies of their brethren, unbelievers have long memories and stumble over our false prophecies and prophetic interpretations.     The actual parallel between Israel and America, regarding 732 B.C. and 2001, is only thematic, not divinely particular. When a nation ignores God, she becomes increasingly weak and vulnerable to destruction from within and without. Contrary to The Harbinger's emphasis (p. 19), this is true for Israel and America and for Italy, Germany, and Argentina. Christians disagree terribly over interpretation of the plain words in the Bible. Realize how loose our interpretations will then be of events! What is the meaning of a flood? An earthquake? An attack? It is God! Or perhaps it's the devil! Or was it, in fact, Osama bin Laden? Jesus disapproved of such interpretations of current events in Luke 13:1-5, and when Enyart debated D. James Kennedy's Professor of New Testament from Knox Theological Seminary, this very passage, regarding 2,000-year-old headlines of murder and a fallen tower, was central to the matter. The Harbinger makes the important observation that, "during national judgment, both the righteous and the wicked perish" (p. 30). Then Cahn writes, thankfully, that God was not with Al Qaeda, but he claimed this as part of the prophetic pattern, in that, God was not with Israel's enemies who attacked her. But again this is arbitrary, for there were plenty of times when God Himself orchestrated the attacks on Israel in punishment for her national adultery. Yet it is wrong to extrapolate from those extraordinary biblical interventions that, therefore, God is the one who orchestrates a molester's rape of a child, or the Holocaust. Attributing to God the designs of the wicked comes close to blasphemy, except that it is done in ignorance, although often, through negligent ignorance. Jonathan Cahn says, rightly I assert, that God was not with Al Qaeda, yet because of a degree of superstition, he then interprets defiance against Islamic terrorism as defiance against God. Is Israel defiant today against God? Yes. (Sadly, like America they are a nation of socialists who defend abortion and homosexuality.) Does that mean that Israel's defiance of Hamas is inherently condemnable? Of course not. Cahn takes a Time magazine reporter's perfectly valid quote as a double entendre, with the entire thrust of the book implying that the defiance is against God, even though it is typically explicitly stated, as in this case, that it is against Islamic terrorists. "Rebuilding Ground Zero was going to be America's statement of defiance," (p. 63, from July 1, 2008) "to those who attacked us."Four days after the attack on American on 9/11, in our End Times seminar at Winona Lake (home of a famous Bible center, Billy Sunday, and a prayer launch pad for Billy Graham's first crusade), I didn't have to stretch the details, as Jonathan does somewhat, to make far greater and more substantive parallels between 9/11 and the book of Revelation. The world trade center, her sins had reached to heaven, the nations, peoples, tongues, and languages, Babylon the great, is fallen, the kings of the earth see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, watching the smoke of her ruin, the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury, her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning, she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her, alas, that mighty city, for in one hour your judgment has come, their commerce has ceased, no merchandising today of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, silk and scarlet, every kind of object, of wood, bronze, iron, and marble, incense, wine and oil, flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, pork bellies, and bodies and souls of men. For in the previous week, the targets of God's wrath, New York and Washington D.C. were debating the patent rights of the tiniest innocent babies, the embryos destroyed so that their bodies could be harvested and sold, by the Israelis, to businesses around the world, while American financial interests were angered that they may not be collecting the royalties they were demanding. And on the Hudson and in the New York harbor, all who travel by ship, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "What is like this great city?" Both can't be correct, but either or both, the Harbinger and the Revelation 17-18 prophetic "parallels", could be wrong. As the above paragraph demonstrates, the more powerful and biblically extensive prophetic interpretation of 9/11 is not The Harbinger, but The Revelation. And that one is certainly wrong! For one, I intended it to be wrong. And secondly, if Revelation 18 was being fulfilled before our eyes on September 11, 2001 that would mean that we are now twelve years into Revelation chapter 19, and by now, the Second Coming should have occurred. So if the strong prophetic parallel (Revelation) isn't true, the weak one (Harbinger) probably isn't true either. Allow me to be petty. A sycamore tree and a Norwegian fir (the claimed sixth and seventh signs) do not come close to the extraordinary depth of substance and parallel between 9/11 and Revelation 17 and 18. Besides (and these are insignificant, but mentioned because such trivialities in reverse, are used in The Harbinger to make its point. The World Trade Center wasn't made of bricks. (On the contrary, it is noted for being the first supertall building to be made without masonry.) And yes, (p. 72) New York City and America rebuilt. But so did Berlin. And Rome, one could say. Destroyed cities throughout history rebuilt, with notable exceptions like Nineveh. Isaiah speaks of many sycamores, not one as at the WTC. And as Cahn acknowledges, that tree destroyed on 9/11 had the same name, sycamore, but it was a different kind of tree; in fact, a different species, and a different genus. And a different family, and a different order. If it were much different, it wouldn't be a tree, one could say. (But then again, what couldn't one say?) Isaiah says the Sycamores (plural, not singular) would be cut down (not crushed) and replaced with woods of cedar, not with a single pine tree. (2014 Update: And as the replacement of the tree was a sign of the end times, so was the removal of the tree, after it died, said Cahn.) The Harbinger also embraces the invalid contradiction of freedom yet being forced, justifying this by saying, "It takes two oars to make a boat go straight" (p. 86). Yes, but that boat illustration presents not even a theoretical contradiction, let alone an actual one. And the world isn't going straight, unless we mean straight to hell. Some of the claimed fulfillments of the prophetic pattern are really the same thing, repeated references to the attack itself, and tower falling, and the rebuilding, and the quoting, in hubris, it is true, of Isaiah 9:10 to rebuild, as by one significant government official who was… John Edwards? That disgraced non-official failed vice-presidential candidate. The 8th harbinger, coming with some peculiar justification in that spoken words are invisible, has to do with the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which is as it should be because D.C. was also a target (although there was no harbinger from Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for that was not an intended target no doubt). A claim repeated about slavery and the civil war is that every drop of shed blood was due to the judgment of God. So then why could the British and much of the world end slavery without a similar judgment? (That could be answered, but would require prophetic interpretations specific to the unique history of each country.) And a biblical hewn stone did not need to be quarried from a mountain, let alone in upstate New York, though that claim adds flavor to the fiction and yet another confirmation of the prophecy! One would think that bureaucracy could not thwart a divine sign. That stone, though, that Jonathan writes so much about, being quarried and celebrated, ended up not as the cornerstone at ground zero but at a suburban office building. For Mayor Bloomberg, et al., changed the One World Trade Center design and diverted one of the harbingers… to Long Island. A few words about Jonathan Cahn. We don't think that we convinced him, nor even gave him pause. Yet, at the same time, we don't think that he loves God any less than we do, nor do we believe that God approves more of us than He does of Cahn. We're just asking God to help us to do our best to rightly divide, and to urge all believers to rightly divide, the Word of Truth. The Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore publicly apologized here on KGOV.com for misinterpreting something as simple as a court ruling. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the partial-birth abortion "ban", Judge Moore, currently Alabama's chief justice, praised that ruling as a godly pro-life victory. Traveling to Birmingham, Alabama we challenged him to actually read the opinion, and he did, and so admitted that it was the most brutally wicked ruling in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court (and that's saying something). So there's hope for Jonathan too :) The great upside of Cahn's book is its theme, which is the nation's desperate need to turn to God and the horror of losing His blessing, for as Jonathan quoted a Bible commentary, "The defiance of God shuts out immeasurable good" (p. 76). The Harbinger's downside though, is that many of its Christian readers will become even more superstitious. -Pastor Bob Enyart Denver Bible Church (See also Bob's Writings at KGOV.com/writings, and Bob's End Times seminar, and his super fun verse-by-verse study of the Book of Revelation!)  Today's Resources: Bob Enyart's Last Days Bible Studies! Have it your way! You can enjoy Bob's: * Last Days Bible teaching on the end times (downloadable or on MP3 CD) * End Times seminar in Indiana given the week of 9/11 (downloadable or on MP3 CD) * Verse-by-verse studies on 1 Corinthians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians, both of which address rapture passages, or * Bob's Bible Study on The Book of Revelation, or read the End Times chapter in Bob's life's work, * The Plot. With any of these resources, you'll get the benefit of decades of Bible research!* See Our Bible Study Resources: We invite you to check out our theologythursday.com or our monthly subscriptions.

August 16: Saint Stephen of Hungaryc. 975–1038Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of Hungary and of kingsBaptized by his pagan father, made King by the Pope, his heirs demolished his legacySaint Stephen of Hungary was a warrior king whose silhouette stands proud on a far distant horizon as the sun rises behind him at the dawn of the medieval age. His year of birth can only be guessed, as ancient chronicles give conflicting dates. His father was of that generation of rough pagans who had to confront the new, vibrant force of Catholicism which challenged the old ways of paganism and its local gods who satisfied local needs. The Mediterranean Basin had long been Christian by the tenth century. But daring missionaries had only recently penetrated deep into the wide plains of the Magyars, the Bulgars, and that vast land of the Rus that lay beyond. That Christian dawn in Eastern Europe is when our saint first comes on the scene.He was born Vaik and baptized Stephen when his father, a duke, converted to Christianity. When he was about twenty-two, he succeeded his father as a Magyar leader and warlord. After consolidating his territory and power through various wars, he sent an emissary to the Pope in Rome to petition for the founding of Church structures in his land. Pope Sylvester II concurred with Stephen's plans and took him one step further. Tradition holds that the Pope had a crown fashioned for Stephen and sent it to Hungary, where the papal ambassador crowned Stephen king in 1001.King Stephen took his duties as a Catholic king with utmost seriousness. He founded an enormous Benedictine monastery, numerous dioceses, and mandated one tax-supported parish with a priest for every ten towns. He built a shrine to the Virgin Mary, which became the sacred forum for the coronations, and burials, of the kings of Hungary. He aggressively punished those who practiced the outlawed pagan customs of yesteryear and prohibited marriages between pagans and Christians. Interestingly, he required that all his subjects be married, except for priests and religious.After sadly familiar intrigues over succession, money, and power, Stephen died on August 15, 1038. Most of his children had died as infants, and his one adult son, his presumptive heir, died in a hunting accident in 1031. Thus Stephen's efforts to establish a Christian state were placed in jeopardy. Just as Stephen had feared, once the mighty king died, all of his accomplishments were neglected. Chaos and civil war raged for decades after his burial. The two ostensibly pagan kings who succeeded him were apathetic, or even antagonistic, toward Christianity. The fruits of Stephen's Christian efforts rotted on the tree, and his immediate legacy dissipated.Eventually, order was restored to Hungary, and Stephen's greatness was recognized. He was canonized in 1083. He is now a revered saint-founder of the Hungarian nation. The Huns, the Goths, and the Vandals don't have a nation today. Over time, these pagan tribes were absorbed into the stable cultures they invaded. They melted into the many nations and identities of modern Europe. The Magyars, however, did not disappear, merge with other peoples, or melt away. They have their own nation, language, culture, art, and history. They are the people of Hungary, and they owe their enduring identity to Saint Stephen. He imposed the stability of a first-class religion on a horse-riding clan and so transformed that roaming tribe into a stable nation. Stephen gave his people God. And to God and His Church they were faithful. Hungary matured over the centuries like wine, until it was a refined Christian nation, a defender of Christ and the Church. Neighboring tribes resisted the gospel and dissipated into thin air with the passing of time. Saint Stephen was a model King because he knew that to found a country you have to found a Church along with it.Saint Stephen, you bear the name of the first martyr of the Church and showed similar courage in battling the enemies of God. May your brave and visionary leadership embolden all civil and church leaders to lay the foundations for a success which flourishes long after they have died.

This week in Church History was the death of Pope Sylvester II, 946 AD to 1003 AD, who began as Gerbert D' Aurilliac and climbed the ranks of the church until he was elected pope, the first native Frenchmen to do so.  Throughout his life he was an educator, astronomer, mathematician and was responsible for inventing the first mechanical clock, returning the abacus to western Europe and introducing the Arabic-Hindu numerals that we use today.  He was an ally to Otto I, political advisor to Otto II and tutor of Otto III all of who served as emperors to the Holy Roman Empire.

Producer/Host: Gina Logue Guest: Dr. Ron Messier Synopsis: The emeritus professor of history describes his first novel, "The Mapmaker and the Pope," in which an eager young Muslim scholar encounters Pope Sylvester II.

Bonus Episode - Our Chat with Trevor EveEpisode description: We had the privilege to talk to the actor who plays the "bad guy" that we Daemons always manage to forgive! This episode covers our chat with the on-screen embodiment of Gerbert D'Aurillac; actor, writer, producer, novelist, Trevor Eve. - Recorded 21 May 2021Full show notes can be viewed here: http://go.DaemonsDiscuss.com/TrevorEve(credits/copyright information located there)In this episode:(00:15) Episode intro(01:29) Gerbert's background; Pope Sylvester II(02:28) The authentic red socks!(04:40) Vampire eating habits(06:16) How did you come up with “your” Gerbert?(07:41) Delivery!(08:20) PUPPIES!(09:48) Conversations with Deb about Gerbert?(11:28) Iconic lines: scripted?(13:30) Filming on location(14:15) Gerbert's Palazzo; the recreation(15:57) Trevor's process of becoming the character Gerbert(17:00) The incriminating tweet…..(17:52) The energy guy joins the conversation, and the puppies snooze away(20:15) Trevor on Social Media (again)(21:14) Trevor and automobiles(22:45) The creative family(24:27) Trevor's question for us . . .(26:53) Where were the Venice vampires in the 16th century?(29:50) What is Gerbert's end goal?(32:03) Further hints on series 3…..?(33:27) Trevor the multi-talented author, producer, actor . . .(36:22) Talking COVID(41:27) Time for Cabernet and dinner!(42:52) Promo break(45:47) Closing thoughtsEpisode related links:MES CHAUSSETTES ROUGES (where those red socks come from!) - https://meschaussettesrouges.com/enLomita For Ever - https://www.amazon.com/Lomita-Ever-Trevor-Eve/dp/1789650410Trevor's preferred charitable organizations - https://www.skydogranch.org/donate & https://secure.nokidhungry.org/site/Trevor on Social Media: Twitter/https://twitter.com/TrevorEve & Instagram/https://www.instagram.com/trevoreveofficial/Trevor's IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0263368/More:*Email us: DaemonsDiscuss@gmail.com*Send us a voice message: http://Speakpipe.com/DaemonsDiscuss, or call us (US number/carrier rates apply): 1 (360) 519-7836*Find us on Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaemonsDiscuss Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaemonsDiscuss Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daemonsdiscuss/*Chapter reviews live here: http://go.DaemonsDiscuss.com/chapters*TV reviews live here: http://go.DaemonsDiscuss.com/TVreview*Podcast home page: http://DaemonsDiscuss.com*Main page: http://www.DaemonsDomain.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Essentials: The End Times May 30, 2021 If you google “end times news,” your search will come back with an astonishing and overwhelming 1 billion 850 million results. It seems that people everywhere, of every faith or no faith at all, are, at some level, intrigued with the unknown and interested in what “the end” will look like. Countless people have dedicated their careers, if not their lives, to predicting the return of Jesus and the ensuing chaos and calamity that will result in the end of life on earth as we know it. Author and journalist Dina Niyeri writes, “For believers, “the end” has always been imminent. In the Christian world, every century seems to bring a new wave of calculations. On January 1, in the year 1000, Pope Sylvester II predicted a millennial apocalypse. Two centuries later, Pope Innocent III predicted that the end would arrive 666 years after the birth of Islam. The Black Death brought rapture fever, as did every comet. Cotton Mather, the influential American preacher, had three guesses between 1697 and 1736. As for this century, a 2010 Pew Research Center study found that nearly half of American Christians – not just evangelicals – believe Christ will return in their lifetime.” What is this fascination with the end times all about? What is it that drives our desire to know what's coming? And what do we as followers of Jesus really believe about the end times? We're wrapping up our sermon series Essentials: Live Like You Believe this weekend. And we'll be taking a look at what God's Word has to teach us about the end times. There is much that we can know for sure; truths that give us firm ground to stand on, even as we navigate increasingly challenging and uncertain times. 

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The Clear Evidence The Scientist Pope – Nancy Marie Brown I was introduced to The Scientist Pope through an act of grace. Writing a book about an adventurous Viking woman, I made an imaginary pilgrimage to Rome just after the year 1000. Wondering which pope Gudrid the Far-Traveler may have met, I discovered Gerbert of Aurillac, who served as Pope Sylvester II from 999 to 1003. I was astonished. Nothing in my years of reading about the Middle Ages had led me to suspect that the pope in the year 1000 was the leading mathematician and astronomer of his day. Nor was his science just a sidelight. According to a chronicler who knew him, he rose from humble beginnings to the highest office in the Christian Church “on account of his scientific knowledge.” I felt as if I had stumbled into a parallel universe, an alternate history of the Middle Ages. So I began writing another book, to share the story of The Scientist Pope. A professor at a cathedral school in France for most of his career, Gerbert of Aurillac was the first Christian known to teach math using Arabic numerals. He devised an abacus, or counting board, that mimics the algorithms we use today for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. It has been called the first computer. Gerbert made sighting tubes to observe the stars and constructed globes on which their positions were recorded relative to lines of celestial longitude and latitude. He (or perhaps his best student) wrote a handbook on the astrolabe, an instrument for telling time and making measurements by the sun or stars. You could even use it to calculate the circumference of the earth, which Gerbert knew very well was not flat like a disc but round like an apple. All of this science Gerbert learned as a youth living on the border of Islamic Spain—then an extraordinarily tolerant culture in which learning was prized. In the caliph's library in Cordoba were 40,000 books; Gerbert's French monastery owned fewer than 400. Many of the caliph's books came from Baghdad, known for its House of Wisdom, where for 200 years works of mathematics, astronomy, physics, and medicine had been translated from Greek and Persian and Hindu and further developed by Islamic scholars. In the world Gerbert knew, Arabic was the language of science. Much of what Gerbert taught at his cathedral school in France, for example, was derived from the works of Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a Persian scientist in Baghdad's House of Wisdom. In the early 800s, al-Khwarizmi wrote a book on what we call Arabic numerals: He named it “On Indian Calculation,” well aware that the symbols 1 to 9, and the place-value system that makes arithmetic easy, originally came from India. Modern algebra comes from a second book by al-Khwarizmi: You can thank him for quadratic equations. Al-Khwarizmi's own name gives us the word algorithm, without which no computer scientist could function. His third book is a set of star tables, in which he uses trigonometry, spherical astronomy, and other advanced math to calculate the changing positions in the heavens of the planets, sun, and moon. Finally, al-Khwarizmi wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, which was the most important scientific instrument until Galileo invented the telescope in the 17th century. Continue Reading: Video: How Muslim Scientists Shaped the Modern World 1,000 Years Ago - Nancy Marie Brown (English, Arabic)

Full Text of ReadingsMonday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 419All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is St. Stephen of HungaryOn Aug. 16, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of King Saint Stephen of Hungary, the monarch who led his country to embrace the Christian faith during the 11th century.Before the future saint's birth in 975, his mother, the duchess Sarolt, is said to have received a vision in which the original Saint Stephen the Church's first martyr appeared telling her she would bear a son who would evangelize their land.Together with her husband, the Hungarian duke Geza, Sarolt is believed to have been converted and baptized by the bishop Saint Adalbert of Prague. The same saint baptized their son Vaik in 985, giving him the name of Stephen.Geza had desired to convert the Hungarians to the Catholic faith, a passion shared by Stephen once he reached adulthood and succeeded him in power. After conclusively defeating an alliance of rival pagan nobility, he used their acquired wealth to build a monastery, and invited clergy to convert the people.Stephen established laws favoring Christianity over paganism, and sent an emissary to Rome with a request for the Pope to proclaim him as king. Pope Sylvester II accepted the request, sending him a crown and a gold processional cross, while also giving Stephen certain religious privileges.He showed great diligence as king, while devoting the rest of his time to his religious duties including charity toward the poor and sick, as well as the worship of God and to his household. Gisela, Stephen's wife, was the sister of the ruler later canonized as the Holy Roman Emperor Saint Henry II.Greatly devoted to the Virgin Mary, Stephen had several churches built in her honor both in Hungary and outside the kingdom. Her intercession is credited with preventing a war between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire under Conrad II, and stopping an assassination plot against Stephen himself.The Hungarian king also established a monastery in Jerusalem, and set up institutions to aid pilgrims in other major cities. Stephen counted saints among his friends and correspondents, and fulfilled the Pope's charge to use his royal authority for the good of the Church.Suffering came to the king, however, when only one of his children survived to adulthood. Stephen's only living son Emeric received a strong Catholic upbringing, and was expected to succeed his father. But Emeric died before Stephen, after a hunting accident in 1031.Emeric was later canonized as a saint in his own right, and Stephen eventually came to rejoice that his son had been permitted to enter God's presence before him. The king's final years, however, were marked by illness as well as a succession dispute among his relatives.In 1038, on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Stephen delivered his final words to leaders of the Church and state, telling them to protect and spread the Catholic faith.To the Virgin Mary, the king directed one of his final prayers: To thee, O Queen of heaven, and to thy guardianship, I commend the holy Church, all the bishops and the clergy, the whole kingdom, its rulers and inhabitants; but before all, I commend my soul to thy care.St. Stephen of Hungary died on Aug. 15, 1038. He was buried alongside his son St. Emeric, and the two were canonized together in 1083. Saint of the Day Copyright CNA, Catholic News Agency

This episode is brought to you by Conspiracy Theories, a Parcast Original. For more episodes like this one, subscribe to Conspiracy Theories on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the year 1000 CE, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II met to discuss their plans on how to emulate the Second Coming of Christ. Their meeting may have resulted in a 297 year jump that immediately placed them in the new millennium...meaning we may not be living in the year 2020, but instead, 1723.

In the year 1000 CE, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II met to discuss their plans on how to emulate the Second Coming of Christ. Their meeting may have resulted in a 297 year jump that immediately placed them in the new millennium...meaning we may not be living in the year 2020, but instead, 1723.

In the year 1000 CE, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II met to discuss their plans on how to emulate the Second Coming of Christ. Their meeting may have resulted in a 297 year jump that immediately placed them in the new millennium...meaning we may not be living in the year 2020, but instead, 1723.

In the year 1000 CE, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II met to discuss their plans on how to emulate the Second Coming of Christ. Their meeting may have resulted in a 297 year jump that immediately placed them in the new millennium...meaning we may not be living in the year 2020, but instead, 1723.

In the year 1000 CE, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II met to discuss their plans on how to emulate the Second Coming of Christ. Their meeting may have resulted in a 297 year jump that immediately placed them in the new millennium...meaning we may not be living in the year 2020, but instead, 1723.

This episode covers Herbert Illig's alternative chronology, the Phantom Time Hypothesis. Illig alleges that the years 614 AD to 911 AD were inserted into history by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II so their reigns would occur in the year 1000. So party like it's 1722 because it turns out that's what year it is. Check out our website Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Support the podcast for as little as $1 a month on Patreon Music by Sergio Medina of Royal Coda. Send him some Bitcoin at the wallet below: 3LRQnkffDDQkocP11MPYP6ZUJV6nvYJXoe

Robert explains the mysteries behind purported deals with the devil in the first part of a five part series. In this episode we focus on religious figures Pope Sylvester II that apparently sold his soul to the devil in order to become Pope and with his power was able to add 297 years to the calendar. Saemundr Frodi, was an Icelandic priest that was able to trick the devil in order to save his soul. Herman the Recluse created the Codex Gigas in order to save himself from being walled alive. The Codex Gigas is a mysterious book that was created in a single day and has a large image of the devil himself within. Urbain Grandier was a French Catholic priest that was burned at the stake for witchcraft, during his trial a document was produced that showed, in blood, a signed pact with the devil. 

On this day we remember Pope Sylvester II, the ordination of the "anti-Pope" in 1328, and the death of poet John Dryden. Our reading is "Veni Creator Spiritus" by Dryden. We’re proud to be part of 1517 Podcasts, a network of shows dedicated to delivering Christ-centered content. Our podcasts cover a multitude of content, from Christian doctrine, apologetics, cultural engagement, and powerful preaching. Support the work of 1517 today.

Happy Thursday! Today we talk about Joe Ball, a dude who had killer wings, bodacious babes, and gators. As well as the pope who got the succ from the demon. If you dig what we're doing, please leave us a five star rating on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe. Want to be our friend? (hopefully) Be sure to follow us on instagram and twitter @kills_chills and talk to us!   If you’re feeling particularly daring and want to suggest a topic or want to tell us that you think we’re rad, shoot us an email at killsnchills@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kills-and-chills-podcast/support

BAKED AND AWAKE Episode 64 December 11th 2018 The Mud Flood Event and Grand Tartaria / Great Tartary Dark Myths Bumper PBL Spotlight Promo- Song Appeal Library of Alexandria sound bite Greeting, Welcome, Disclaimer- we smoke weed. Identify Dark Myths, DGN, the PBL The Baked and Awake Newsbrief and where to find it Email talktous@bakedandawake.com, Follow me on IG at @baked_and_awake, and visit www.bakedandawake.com where you can support the show via Paypal. All donations go directly back into podcast production and hosting overhead, both continuous recurring costs.   SOTW: Chemdawg from Weed Plus Tacoma The Mud Flood Event- What was it, and why are we talking about it? Well, believe it or not- so many reasons!  The story we are going to begin to embark upon today is one that ties in to, indeed deeply connects with so many other interesting, seemingly outlandish conspiracies that it beggars the imagination.  Stories we have discussed at some length in the past, including such gems as Mel’s Hole, with its Hollow Earth and D.U.M.B.S. connotations, The Maury Island Incident and indeed the entire UFO/Aliens mystery. Beyond topics of our own, we have enduring myths of an ancient, lost, global civilization that may have built many of the megalithic structures we credit today to the Egyptians, The Romans, the ancient Greeks, and more.. We are going to be willingly exposing ourselves to concepts that verge on the heretical here.  Speaking of heretical, our recent episodes on the Nag Hammadi Library, is another possible thread in this same Mud Flood Event / Global Reset Deception- with my reflections on Hidden Histories that challenge the mainstream narrative of the mental picture we are programmed with by modern society and our Public Educations- one of a largely Benevolent, Enlightened, West that, though imperfect in its implementation, nevertheless embodies all the good attributes required to cement it’s hegemony in the near and distant future, because Democracy! In the case of the Nag Hammadi Codices we found in those pages, a much different Jesus than he who is depicted in our King James Bibles- one who had to be hidden away deep in some caves, for thousands of years- if they were ever intended to be found, and shared again..  History, as they say- is written by the victors. Today in 2018, young Schoolchildren are being taught that we fought a just war against Iraq in righteous retaliation for their support of “Radical Islamic Terrorists with WMD’s, or Weapons of Mass Destruction being manufactured in the offending Dictator Saddam Hussein’s Country. 9/11 with its sobering to consider 2975 or so victims, is- to beat that particular Dead Horse a little more- is also widely repeated and reported to be “The worst act of terrorism in history”, in no way acknowledging that the US Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945 were devastation the likes of which truly had never been seen before, and were responsible for a Death Toll of up to 240,000 people, many of whom died after the explosions from the effects of acute radiation poisoning. These numbers in no way account for the health impacts on survivors, and additional exposure to toxic radioactive fallout. Debate this bombing as an “Act of War” all you want- we will have to agree to disagree on that. What’s the point of this little rant?  Just illustrating the fact that, really, outside of weirdos like yours truly and your respective “Conspiracy Theorist Uncles”, God Bless em’- nobody in our polite society is questioning that inaccurate, disingenuous, and downright reductionist version of events, or really anything else. This lack of criticism, this complete unwillingness to examine or to question a pre packaged, shiny, hollywood enshrined fabrication (How many movies glorifying American actions in the Middle East have come out just since 9/11? Black Hawk Down, Seal Team 6, The Hurt Locker, American Sniper, Babel, etc, etc, etc - is in my opinion a major problem for people today. Those movied I just rattled off by the way, were just a few that flew into my head as I sit here typing. I don’t even watch those kind of movies for the most part- though I can’t claim to be innocent of having seen any of them, because it would be almost impossible not to have. What I just described there, is a type of Societal Programming that just seeps into the consumer without them ever realizing how deeply it’s taken hold.  You don’t even have to worry about educating your kids on who the “Enemy” is, because they already know. From a very young age our children today are being taught that terrorists come from the Middle East, they wear a certain style of clothing, they are dark skinned and they are to be feared, for their religion is one of Blood and Holy Wars against all that “The Free World” stands for. Okay, enough ranting, Steve! Tell us about this Mud Flood and what it has to do with Jihadis and the Middle East! FINE, I WILL! Please note that we are just starting to look into this fascinating topic. One place where a lot of the better done research and dot connecting is happening is on the New Earth Youtube Channel, and that Channel and its primary host, Sylvie Ivanova are to be given real credit and recognition for her work and extensive curation of illustrations, documents, maps, and theories concerning this topic and many others related to Megalithic sites around the world, but with a particular focus on Europe and Russia. I can’t recommend checking out the New Earth Channel on Youtube enough.     Evidence of a mud flood event can be found all over the world.  This is most apparent when one begins to look at architecture, and buildings in virtually any larger populated city, where one begins to find building after building of a certain age, that appears to have part or all of its original ground floor story embedded below ground.  Telltale signs of a “Mud Flood Affected” building is windows and partial windows visible at ground level. Sometimes these are bricked over. Other times the windows remain, and are casually described as “Daylight windows” for bringing light into a basement (that itself is only half buried below ground, often on two adjoining sides of the building but not the other two, somewhat reinforcing an impression of a flow of material past a building or area. When excavated at all during renovations, or in preparation for demolition, Mud Flood buildings reveal entire hidden entrances, many of them grander in design, than that seen above for decades.  These are the original street level doors and windows of the buildings. The deposits of material said to have been deposited in many areas exceed three meters or more. That’s 12 or more feet of mud, soil, sand, what have you. Many cities around the world with notable numbers of apparently mud flood affected buildings and towns also have giant historic fires or other natural disasters in their history, with attendant stories about entire swathes of populated areas being wiped out, utterly destroyed, or buried as a result, with the modern city being constructed literally upon the previous city’s ruins. These cities- Seattle, Boston, Oklahoma City, Syracuse, Washington DC, Moscow, Paris, Cairo, and many more- all have well known catacombs, abandoned subways, tunnels, underground cities- indeed whole lost worlds beneath our feet that we know about.  Some small remnants of them can even be toured, under close supervision and on an extremely restricted basis. Proponents of the Mud Flood Event and a deception surrounding the event place it around 150-200 years ago. It is not ruled out, I think that there have been a series of such events throughout history. Historical occurrences that have been linked to a possible Mud Flood include the Tunguska Airburst Meteor Event, and the Volcanic Eruptions at Santorini and Pompeii. I’m not sure if Krakatoa got mixed up in this or not, but it’s possible. It is not clear to me, or as far as I can tell so far, to anyone whether these events are, if real- natural disasters of a random but cataclysmic scale, something nearly as apocalyptic, but cyclical in nature (maybe such events as the reversal of the magnetic poles, solar storms? Total Steve speculation here) St Petersburg Russia (Modern day Moscow), Ancient Greece, Rome, and Italy, The Great Pyramids of Egypt, and more- are all said to have been re-discovered, and physically unearthed- by the people of the times immediately after the posited Mud flood event.  These survivors, it is theorized, determined to take advantage of and indeed credit for- the remaining structures, infrastructure, and riches left behind by what is presumed to have been this Global (Tartar?) Civilization, wiped out either BY the Mud Flood, or events that preceded or followed it, still unknown to us. Were they extincted? Did they leave Earth, or perhaps only the surface of the earth?   The Mud Flood Deception Theory also posits that the former civilization enjoyed a very modern lifestyle, with electricity (of the free Tesla Tower kind), flying machines, and other seemingly high tech conveniences in their lives. These are hinted at in the art and literature of the period.  Much of what is attributed to fancy and fantasy, or early attempts at Science Fiction, may in fact hint at the lost greatness of our former selves, those that lived before the Mud Flood Is the Mud Flood the Biblical Flood that cleansed the earth of all of wicked humanity excpet for God’s chosen family, Noah and Co? ….maaaaaybe (But you have to believe in a young earth for that, which interestingly is a BIG PART of what the supposed deception is about! Calendars are involved. This is “The Missing 1000 Years Myth”, perhaps better known as the Phantom Time Hypothesis, all dressed up by another name here in its Mud Flood Finery- and I love it. From that wiki article, just for fun: “The phantom time hypothesis is a historical conspiracy theory asserted by Heribert Illig. First published in 1991, it hypothesizes a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, to fabricate the Anno Domini dating system retrospectively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history[1] to legitimize Otto's claim to the Holy Roman Empire. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence.[2] According to this scenario, the entire Carolingian period, including the figure of Charlemagne, is a fabrication, with a "phantom time" of 297 years (AD 614–911) added to the Early Middle Ages. The proposal has been universally rejected by mainstream historians.” When researching topics like the Mud Flood, one begins to come across a number of other, equally fascinating side topics, again and again.  These include such episode length introduction worthy things as “Star Forts”, “The Cultural Layer” “Ancient Mound Building Cultures”, Giants, “Great Tartaria”, “Atlantis”, “Hyperborea”, and more.    This theory has entire epochs of civilizations shuffled in time, with the Egyptian Pharoahs living almost contemporary with medieval times, placing them as really ruling as recently as the 1500’s. The Dark Ages?  More or less claptrap, according to the Mud Flooders- a cover story, inaccurately describing hundreds if not thousands of years of miserable mere existence of a human race that had barely crawled out of the caves they had been cowering in during the paleolithic.  These brutes would not create worthwhile art, literature, or life improving advances in technology (we are talking Bronze Age and earlier here) for literal eons. Only in the past two thousand years or so, give or take an anno domini- have all the greatest civilizations of all time been born, risen to power, empire, and one after another, in a stately procession, have in their time declined, been defeated, or otherwise wiped from the planet, only to be seen as ghosts in their far removed modern descendants today. To name some of the most well known, but by no means all, and painting with a very broad brush- The Sumerians, The Macedonians, The Egyptians. The Turks, The Ottomans, The Chinese Emperors, The Ancient Greeks and The Holy Roman Empire, that last of which which some think today lives on in the form of United Nations itself(Tangent to Crazytown, shut up Steve). ALL of these civilizations are thought by the Mud Flood theorists to be built upon the bones of a great, lost, globe (or flat motionless earth- I know, chill, you’re gonna run into some flat earthers here for sure) spanning civilization. The Lost civilization, that some believe to be Great Tartary or Grand Tartaria, long described as a large but sparsely inhabited region that never truly laid claim to nationhood let alone aspirations of “Empire”- that Tartaria and evidence of its incredible, massive importance can be seen everywhere in archaeology and history in the forms of, to name a few that I’ve seen repeated again and again.  There’s more though- like I said I’m still learning about all this: The swastika symbol, The two headed eagle symbol and variations of it, Megalithic Buildings in general, Government buildings, on every continent, that share what we would call Classic Roman Architecture- that of the Megalithic Sized Pillars, Arches, and Domed Rooftops style. Pyramids and Obelisks sometimes make this list. One of the biggest researchers into this that I’ve ran across- I don’t know if Big is the right word but this dude has been doing some clicking and some typing for sure- is a person named Korben Dallas, who is, remarkably- from Seattle (I’m in Seattle if you are new here- so yeah that makes this interesting in that who knows maybe we could even talk to this person sometime) The post that I found of his that seems to launch his whole investigation publicly is this: “Mud flood, dirt rain, and the story of the buried buildings” Let’s have a peek at the post and you can view the whole thing by checking out the link in the show notes above. (Side note: the title of this thread reminded me that this whole thing seemed to me to be potentially, just maybe related in an obscure way to the North American drought/disaster that was the Dust Bowl years in the Great Plains in the 1800’s, brought on by poor crop and field rotation practices, wasn’t it said to have been?) There are, to give you an idea of the number of people interested in this- entire subreddits populated by tens of thousands of members dedicated to this topic. R/Cultural Layer (6.2k Subs) has an absolutely epic resource thread that in itself will take me the next month or more of continuous looking into to begin to plumb the depths of.  Here’s that link as well, and we’ll als have a peek together at the list of articles etc that the OP shares in that Subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/CulturalLayer/comments/943n8e/best_of_culturallayer_and_resource_guide_amended/ Again, today, we are just scratching the surface of things.  I’ve got, among other things, the 171 page The Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms, Amended by Sir Isaac Newton. Spoiler Alert- Old Sir Isaac didn’t agree at all with the dates for history that he was living with, and he went in on it in some detail in that work. There is also an absolutely fascinating, and I’m not being facetious here- report from 1903, 35 pages long, entitled “The great dust-fall of february 1903, and its origin” that actually describes a three year pattern of recurring dust falls culminating in the 1903 event that by that time garnered more attention to itself for having occurred twice before, although the latter event was said to have been the smallest, though still clearly noteworthy and non trivial in its impact on the affected region in Europe.  Estimates reported in the story are that not less than 10 million tons of dust or silt fell across several countries in western Europe. (You ask me that sounds like it might have seemed like a mini dark age itself). These documents and others, along with maps by the hundreds and older images of cities by the thousands, will have me clicking away web and youtube searching for this entire area of Alternative History for months, indeed years to come. I hope you’ll decide to join me as we do.     Footnote, interesting piece from 2017 in Seattle: https://q13fox.com/2017/04/04/demolition-of-mercer-arena-reveals-hidden-piece-of-seattle-history/ LINKS: Our Website: www.bakedandawake.com   Email: talktous@bakedandawake.com   Rss: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/rss   Libsyn Podcast Page: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/   Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bakedandawakepodcast   Twitter:  https://twitter.com/stevecominski (@baked_and_awake)   Insta: https://www.instagram.com/baked_and_awake/   Teepublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/bakedandawake   Episode ambient Music generously provided by Antti Luode, as posted to reddit:   https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/6y699a/i_have_released_my_1363_songs_free_under_creative/   @baked_and_awake @daddyissuezshow @damagedgoodstheshow @claymiles #bakedandawakeshow #smokeindicadoshitanyway #podcastbuildersleague #damagedgoodsnetwork #daddyissuez #Shade #LilyBongwater #sexy #listen #subscribe #laugh #nofilter #noboundaries #nosafewords #trypod #PodernFamily #DGN #comedy #entertainment #explicit #damagedgoodstheshow #BetaTesting #mattungermah #claytimeinthebasement #thc #GoldenGod #sithlord #fireballjesus #startedfromthebottom #newDaddyissuez.libsyn.comDamagedgoods.libsyn.comClaytimeinthebasement.libsyn.com https://ntspodcast.podbean.com/ Www.Damagedgoodsinc.com  

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: Black Panther vs. The Klan! Plus, Shazam! Athena Voltaire and the Sorcerer Pope #1, Swamp Thing Winter Special #1, and Sonitus #1. Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at http://patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure the Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Production is underway on SHAZAM! https://batman-news.com/2018/02/05/shazam-plot-synopsis-official/ REVIEWS STEPHEN ATHENA VOLTAIRE AND THE SORCERER POPE #1 Writer: Steve Bryant Artist: Ismael Canales Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment Cover Price: $3.99 SOLICITATION: Kicking off the ongoing adventures of comics' favorite pulp heroine! Athena races against the Nazis to find an artifact once possessed by Pope Sylvester II, but the allies helping her have their own agendas. Loyalties will be tested. With absolute power up for grabs, who can you trust? [rating:4/5] MATTHEW SWAMP THING WINTER SPECIAL #1 Writer: Tom King Artist: Jason Fabok Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price:$7.99 Swamp Thing is out of his element as he shepherds a lost boy through a blinding blizzard and other hazards of a strange, frozen tundra. In this touching and harrowing tale of survival, the pair must navigate countless threats throughout a bewildering terrain—with a bloodthirsty snow monster hot on their heels. But how long can they rely on each other? Separated from the Green and stripped of his powers in this dead world, Swamp Thing struggles to fight for their lives and deliver the boy to safety. Disoriented and decaying, Swamp Thing's fading understanding of his surroundings forces the duo to confront their desperation and uncover the true identity of the snow monster that hunts them. [rating: 3/5] RODRIGO Sonitus #1 Writer: Cody Sousa, Dan Sheppard Artist: Cecilia Lo Valvo, Dee Cunniffe Publisher: Alterna Cover Price: $1.50 Mysterious voices lure a man back to his hometown to visit an abandoned house that he used to frequent as a child. But as he journeys through his old hangout, he encounters a supernatural presence that forces him to face his past and his darkest fears. [rating: 2/5] MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK http://majorspoilers.com/2018/02/13/major-spoilers-poll-week-favorite-cover-madness-editions-week-two/ DISCUSSION ESSENTIAL BLACK PANTHER VOLUME 1 Writer: Don McGregor, Jack Kirby Artist: Rich Bukler Embark on an expedition into the heart of Marvel's dark continent! Join T'Challa, King of Wakanda - AKA the Black Panther - as he fights to uphold peace and justice in both his own African kingdom and the urban jungle of New York City. Experience the thrills as one of the Marvel Universe's noblest knights-errant takes on everything from hate mongering heels to futuristic frog time machines, as brought to you by the inimitable imaginations of some of comicdom's most sensational scribes. CLOSE Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends! Closing music comes from Ookla the Mok.

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: Black Panther vs. The Klan! Plus, Shazam! Athena Voltaire and the Sorcerer Pope #1, Swamp Thing Winter Special #1, and Sonitus #1. Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at http://patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure the Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Production is underway on SHAZAM! https://batman-news.com/2018/02/05/shazam-plot-synopsis-official/ REVIEWS STEPHEN ATHENA VOLTAIRE AND THE SORCERER POPE #1 Writer: Steve Bryant Artist: Ismael Canales Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment Cover Price: $3.99 SOLICITATION: Kicking off the ongoing adventures of comics’ favorite pulp heroine! Athena races against the Nazis to find an artifact once possessed by Pope Sylvester II, but the allies helping her have their own agendas. Loyalties will be tested. With absolute power up for grabs, who can you trust? [rating:4/5] MATTHEW SWAMP THING WINTER SPECIAL #1 Writer: Tom King Artist: Jason Fabok Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price:$7.99 Swamp Thing is out of his element as he shepherds a lost boy through a blinding blizzard and other hazards of a strange, frozen tundra. In this touching and harrowing tale of survival, the pair must navigate countless threats throughout a bewildering terrain—with a bloodthirsty snow monster hot on their heels. But how long can they rely on each other? Separated from the Green and stripped of his powers in this dead world, Swamp Thing struggles to fight for their lives and deliver the boy to safety. Disoriented and decaying, Swamp Thing’s fading understanding of his surroundings forces the duo to confront their desperation and uncover the true identity of the snow monster that hunts them. [rating: 3/5] RODRIGO Sonitus #1 Writer: Cody Sousa, Dan Sheppard Artist: Cecilia Lo Valvo, Dee Cunniffe Publisher: Alterna Cover Price: $1.50 Mysterious voices lure a man back to his hometown to visit an abandoned house that he used to frequent as a child. But as he journeys through his old hangout, he encounters a supernatural presence that forces him to face his past and his darkest fears. [rating: 2/5] MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK http://majorspoilers.com/2018/02/13/major-spoilers-poll-week-favorite-cover-madness-editions-week-two/ DISCUSSION ESSENTIAL BLACK PANTHER VOLUME 1 Writer: Don McGregor, Jack Kirby Artist: Rich Bukler Embark on an expedition into the heart of Marvel's dark continent! Join T'Challa, King of Wakanda - AKA the Black Panther - as he fights to uphold peace and justice in both his own African kingdom and the urban jungle of New York City. Experience the thrills as one of the Marvel Universe's noblest knights-errant takes on everything from hate mongering heels to futuristic frog time machines, as brought to you by the inimitable imaginations of some of comicdom's most sensational scribes. CLOSE Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends! Closing music comes from Ookla the Mok.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke's third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt's Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne's piety. Our conversation about Truitt's comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO's medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke's third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt's Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne's piety. Our conversation about Truitt's comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO's medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The title of this episode is ScholasticismOne of the most important questions faced by philosophers and theologians throughout the centuries has been the interplay between Faith and Reason. Are they enemies or allies? Is the Christian faith reasonable, or a blind leap into an irrational darkness? A major advance in answering this came with the emergence of a group of medieval theologians known as the Scholastics. Chief among them were Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th C and Thomas Aquinas in the 13th.In his novel Pillars of the Earth, author Ken Follett spins an intriguing tale of the construction of a cathedral in England. While the cathedral and town are fictional, Follett does a masterful job of capturing the mindset and vision of medieval architecture.I've had the privilege of visiting the cathedral in Cologne, Germany a few times and am fascinated by what is found there. While some modern American evangelicals who decry tradition may be put off by all the elaborate decoration and religious symbolism of Europe's Gothic cathedrals, most find them fascinating studies in art, architecture and with a little research, interesting expressions of theological thought. You see, the Gothic cathedral wasn't just a building; it was an attempt to embody the period's thoughts about God and man.  As Bruce Shelly says, “The medieval masters of Gothic style tried to portray in stone and glass man's central religious quest. They wanted to depict a tension. On one hand was man aspiring to reach the heights of heaven; on the other hand was God condescending to address the least of men.”The pillars, arches, and steeples point up like fingers to heaven. But down comes the light through stained glass windows illuminating the Earth, and more specifically, those who've gathered inside to seek God. It is the architect's version of human reason and divine revelation.The schools these cathedrals housed gave rise to the universities of the late Middle Ages. Their task was to understand and explain Creation in light of God's revealed Word and Ways. As the Crusades were an attempt to extend the authority of God over the Middle East, the universities hoped to extend an understanding of God and His creation over the realm of the mind.But how did the world of ideas bow to the rule of God? How was reason to be made a servant of faith? This era in Christian thought is called “Scholasticism” because distinctive methods of scholarship arose and a unique theology emerged. The aim of the Scholastics was twofold: to reconcile Christian doctrine with human reason and to arrange the teachings of the Church in an orderly system.But, it's important we mark at the outset that a free search for truth wasn't on the horizon for the Scholastics. The doctrines of the Christian faith were already fixed. The purpose of the Scholastics was to show the reasonableness of those doctrines and explain them.The early universities were intimately linked to the Church. They were usually housed in the Cathedrals. A medieval scholar was most often a priest or monk. This began centuries before when Benedict of Nursia insisted monks study as a means of their spiritual development. In the 8th C, Charlemagne, while dreaming of a Christian empire, widened the opportunities for study through a decree that every monastery have a school to teach those able to learn. The Emperor himself set an example with a palace school for his children and court.While the cathedral schools were set up primarily to train clergy, it wasn't long before laymen were invited to attend as well.The curriculum was limited to grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—the 7 liberal arts, so-called because in ancient Rome their study had been reserved for liberi = freemen.  The few texts available were writings of a handful of scholars of the early Middle Ages. Students learned from Cassiodorus, Boethius, Augustine, Pope Gregory the Great, and a handful of Church Fathers the medieval student dared not question.We can track the birth of the great medieval universities to the influence of several outstanding teachers. It was their skill in teaching and enthusiasm for learning that attracted students.Among the first of this new breed of scholar was Gerbert, master of the cathedral school at Rheims [reems] in the latter half of the 10th C. Though he came from peasant stock, Gerbert became Pope Sylvester II. His genius was recognized early on so he was sent to study mathematics in Spain. While there, he was exposed to what at the time was the tolerant culture of the ruling Muslims. This was the first of a several significant contributions Muslims made to the Christian intellectual awakening of the Middle Ages.Gerbert returned to Rheims greatly impressed by the inquisitive, questing spirit of Muslim scholars. When he began to teach, he announced that quotations of the so-called authorities were no longer going to be accepted as the final say. From then on, he required his students to study the classics in their original language. He began collecting manuscripts wherever he could and built a substantial library. This was no mean feat when we remember a manuscript could take a year to copy, and cost a fortune.The most notable figure from this early period of Scholasticism was Peter Abelard. The senior son of a minor noble of NW France, Peter turned over his inheritance rights to his younger brothers so he could roam France and learn from the great masters. But he did more than listen. He challenged those he caught in factual or philosophical error.  It wasn't long before he settled in as a lecturer in Paris, where he attracted a host of students.He also began to write. In a tract titled Yes and No, he posed over a hundred questions from Christian teaching, then answered them using conflicting quotations from Scripture, the Church Fathers, and even pagan classics. His point was that there were still many fronts for discussion and inquiry that needed to be resolved.  Abelard said, “The first key to wisdom is assiduous and frequent questioning.… For by doubting we come to inquiry, and by inquiry we arrive at the truth.” This idea of using doubt to fuel the quest for knowledge was commonplace to the ancient Greeks but dangerous ground to medieval Europeans. Abelard had a few fans but many more detractors who were alarmed by his bold questioning of what were considered unimpeachable authorities. Having stirred one too many pots and poked one too many bee-hives, he decided to lay low for a while in a monastery.A year later he left to live in an open area SE of Paris. Supporters built him a shelter, tilled his land, and begged him to teach once more. So, resuming his pursuit of reason, Abelard again fell out with the religious conservatives. It was at this point that Abelard ran afoul of Bernard of Clairvaux, the famous preacher of the 2nd Crusade and the most influential churchman in Christendom. Of Abelard, Bernard remarked, “The faith of the righteous believes, it does not dispute.” Bernard managed to have Abelard branded a heretic and excommunicated. Abelard retired to the abbey of Cluny, where its abbot, Peter the Venerable, persuaded Bernard to reconcile with Abelard. The excommunication was lifted. Abelard spent his last 2 years at the monastery at Cluny where he was regarded as a great scholar and wise counselor.I'll leave out of this Abelard's marriage to Heloise, one of the most remarkable love-stories of history.No one could stop the growth of the seeds Abelard planted. Schools popped up all over Europe. Less than 100 years after his death universities flourished at Paris, Orleans, and Montpellier in France; across the English Channel at Oxford and Cambridge; and at Bologna and Padua in Italy, all of them aflame with the ideas Abelard ignited.Students and their teachers formed guilds. Just as craftsmen had done since the Roman Empire, scholars banded together for protection and promotion of their interests. They called themselves universitas, the medieval name for any corporate group.Most students in Italy were grown men who pursued advanced study in law and medicine. Their guilds exercised tremendous power. Students paid teachers, determined the courses to be given, and fined any lecturer who skipped a chapter in expounding his subject. Certainly a turn around from today's schools.In English and French universities where students were younger, scholars' guilds had the upper hand. They forbade swearing and gambling, fined students for breaking curfews, and set table manners.Medieval universities, were not the ivied walls and grassy lawns we think of today. At first, lectures were given in shanties and sheds alongside roads at Oxford and Cambridge. They met in side rooms of the cathedral in Paris, open piazzas in Italy.  Once the prestige and income of a teacher rose, he might rent a room for his students where they'd sit on straw-covered floors. Because they lacked any fixed property, they were able to move when they ran afoul of local authorities.Along with lectures, teachers used what were called disputations. Two or more masters debated a text using Abelard's question-and-answer approach. This was how Scholasticism developed. It arose from the pain-staking process of arriving at logical conclusions through questioning, examining, and arranging details into a system of logic. Scholastic disputations often caused heated clashes and bitter feelings. Wars of logic ran for years between different scholars, with supporters of each cheering their hero with loud whistling and stomping of feet. The point was, students were learning to think. The unquestioned acceptance of traditional authorities was no longer assured. Now, conclusions had to square with Christian doctrine.Scholasticism was less a philosophy or theology as it was a method of learning. The emphasis was on harmonizing faith and reason. The Scholastics used the ancient Greek practice of relentless questioning of traditional authority.  Truth would no longer be accepted just because those in authority said so. Truth was to be rigorously analyzed and brought over into the realm of reason. After all, didn't the Bible say we are to love God with all our mind?The Scholastics were known for their careful drawing of distinctions. In classrooms and books, topics were vigorously debated, with one of the sides of the debate not even really being believed but still proposed as a way to check the value of the side being affirmed.Scholastics wanted to harmonize Christian theology with the philosophy of the classical era, especially that of Aristotle and the Neo-platonists.Some scholastics of note are Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Bonaventure. Two of the greatest were Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas's masterwork, the Summa Theologica, is considered to be the greatest work of the Scholastics.Anselm was born into one of the many noble houses of Europe in the early 11th C. Because there was little prospect for him to achieve prominence in the political realm, he became a Benedictine monk. His studies quickly marked him as a man of keen intelligence and deep philosophical reflection. He was made Archbishop of Canterbury for the last 17 years of his life.Anselm is often called the founder of Scholasticism, and was a major influence in European theology. He's most famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and the Satisfaction theory for the Atonement; that Jesus' death satisfied the righteous requirements of God's justice.Anselm spent most of his time devising reasonable arguments for theological propositions he already accepted as true by faith. His goal wasn't to justify faith by reason. He wanted to better understand what he believed. He saw reason as the servant of faith, rather than the other way around.  Faith came first and guided reason. He wrote, “I believe in order to understand.” He thought that spiritual things had to be a matter of experience before they could be comprehended by the intellect. He said, “He who does not believe has not felt, and he who has not felt, does not understand.” He contended that Christ must come to the intellect through the avenue of faith and not to faith through the intellect. He declared himself against blind belief, and called it a sin of neglect when the one who has faith doesn't strive for knowledge.[1]Anselm gave reasonable proofs for God's existence and compelling reasons for God as a self-existent, immaterial, all-powerful, compassionate, just, and merciful deity. In his book Why the God-Man? Anselm demonstrated the relationship between the incarnation and the atonement. His argument that Christ's atonement satisfied God had a powerful impact on both Luther and Calvin centuries later. He wrote on the nature of the Trinity, original sin, free will, the harmony of foreknowledge and foreordination, and why Satan fell.[2]Anselm's two sources of knowledge were the Bible and the teaching of the Church which, he maintained, were in total agreement with each other and with all true philosophy. He had the deepest admiration for Augustine, and his agreement with him earned Anselm the titles “The 2nd Augustine” and, “Tongue of Augustine.”[3]  Besides being a man of genuine piety and devotion to God, Church Historian Philip Schaff says Anselm was probably the most original thinker since Augustine.I want to share the interesting story of Anselm's conflicts with two of England's kings. The best way to do so is to tell the story as Schaff does in Vol 5 of his Church History series.William II, called William Rufus, or the Red for the color of his hair, 3rd son of William the Conqueror, ruled from 1087 to 1100. Probably the only good he did during his entire reign was to appoint Anselm as Archbishop of Canterbury. William inherited all the vices and none of the virtues of his father. He despised the clergy. It was said that, “he feared God but little, and man not at all.” He wasn't a skeptic so much as he was profane and blasphemous. He believed in God à and hated Him. He wasn't married but indulged in gross immorality. People said he rose a worse man every morning, and lay down a worse man every evening.He plundered the Church and oppressed the clergy. He robbed the churches and monasteries of their income by leaving them vacant or selling them to the highest bidder. Within four years he changed thirty cemeteries into royal parks to satisfy his passion for hunting, which in the end cost him his life.When the Archbishop of Canterbury died, William kept the seat vacant for four years. Under the influence of a severe sickness, he finally yielded to the pressure to elect Anselm who was then in England, and well-known as a profound theologian of pious character. A greater contrast of men can scarcely be imagined. Anselm did not want to be archbishop. He wanted to return to the life of a quiet monk in his abbey back in northern Italy. But he sensed the call of God, even though if he accepted he'd face a never-ending battle with the English king.He was appointed to his seat to great celebration on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, 1093 and immediately set out to revive the discipline that had fallen away during the previous years.This was the time of the Great Papal Schism and King William supported the French Pope Clement III while Anselm owed allegiance to Urban II. The king insisted on Anselm's receiving the archbishop's pallium, his vestment, from Clement, then demanded that HE be the one to confer Anselm's authority on him. Of course Anselm refused and took the pallium from Urban's agent who'd brought the vestment to England in a special case.When the archbishop refused to meet William's ever increasing financial requirements, the king took him to court. Anselm refused to appear; a civil court had no jurisdiction in church affairs. It was the old question of whether a church official, in his capacity as a clergyman owed allegiance to the pope or crown.Anselm managed to secure the king's permission in 1097 to go to Rome. But William sent troops after him and overtook him at Dover. They searched Anselm's baggage and seized the offerings he was taking to Rome. Anselm's trip ended up as an exile.Anselm was warmly received by the pope, who threatened William with excommunication and pronounced a curse on any layman who thought, as William had, that he could invest a bishop with spiritual authority. The papal curse went further, to anyone who accepted such a false investiture.In early Aug of 1100, while hunting in the New Forest, the Red King was killed by an arrow.  No one knows whether it was shot by a hunter or assassin. There was little mourning for a king nearly everyone had been hoping would drop dead. They would not have been surprised if a bolt of lightning had slain him.[4]But this isn't the end of Anselm's monarch problems. When William II died, his younger brother, Henry I took the throne. Henry was generally a good king who did much to root out the worst of the corruption of court. He reconciled the clergy by recalling Anselm from exile, but renewed the investiture controversy. He appointed bishops and abbots, and demanded Anselm consecrate them. Anselm refused, time and again. So, he was sent into a 2nd exile. The queen had an extraordinary devotion to Anselm and tried to mediate between him and her husband. She urged Anselm to return even if it meant he compromise a bit and grant Henry a measure of power to have a hand in appointing clergy. She reminded Anselm that the Apostle Paul circumcised Timothy as a compromise measure.Following Urban's lead, Pope Pascal II excommunicated the bishops who accepted Henry's appointments. But Henry wanted to reconcile with Anselm. They met in Normandy and agreed to make a joint appeal to the pope. Pascal confirmed the king's previous investitures on the condition of his surrendering the right to future appointments. This decision was ratified in August, 1106. The king promised to restore to Anselm Canterbury's income during his absence, to leave off from claiming the income of vacant bishoprics and abbeys, and to refund all fines of the clergy. And while he followed through on his promise not to appoint new clergy, he did send along to vacant seats the names of candidates he'd like to see fill them.Anselm returned to England in triumph, and was received by the queen at the head of the monks and the clergy. At a council held at Westminster in 1107, the king formally relinquished the privilege of investiture. During the last years of his life, Anselm enjoyed the friendship and respect of the king, and during Henry's absence on the Continent in 1108, he was entrusted with the regency and the care of the royal family.He died in 1109. His impact on the Archbishopric was so great, the seat wasn't filled for five years.Next time, we'll take a look at the real heavy-weight among the Scholastics – Thomas Aquinas. [1] Schaff, P., and Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.[2] ibid[3] ibid[4] ibid