Podcasts about samosata

Rabbi Tovia Singer is an Orthodox Rabbi living in Jerusalem. He is the founder and director of Outreach Judaism. William Lane Craig, Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria, Constantine the Great, John Calvin, Michael Servetus, Martin Luther, Philo of Alexandria, Maimonides, Michael Heiser, Tim Mackie (  @bibleproject  ), Lee Strobel, John Nelson Darby, Paul of Samosata, Athanasius of Alexandria, Arius of Alexandria, William Hasker, Beau Branson, Dale Tuggy (  @khanpadawan  ) , Gavin Ortlund (  @TruthUnites  ), Albert Einstein, and more. Rabbi Tovia Singer's Youtube Channel :  @ToviaSinger1 

This is my message to the Jews. It follows up on my video about Christian/Muslim relations. I mention Elon Musk, Philo of Alexandria, Caligula, Suetonius, Claudius, Prescilla, Aquila, Gallio, Sosthenes, Jusitn Martyr, Trypho, Simon Bar Kokhba, Polycarp, Constantine, Athanasius of Alexandria, Caiaphas, Paul of Samosata, Photinus of Galatia, Arius, Constantius II, Gregory of Nyssa, Hank Kruse, Theodosius the Great, Ambrose of Milan, Julian the Apostate, Aphrahat the Persian Sage, Nestorius of Constantinople, Justinian the Great, John Calvin, Michael Servetus, Marian Hillar, Lelio and Fausto Sozzini, Malcolm Collins, John Locke, Andrzej Wiszowaty, Samuel Przypkowski, Isaac Newton, John Milton, Benedict Spinoza, Pierre Bayle, Voltaire, David Hume, Joseph Priestly, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, Hannah Adams, Mordecai Noah, The Apostle Paul, and more.

This video is the first in a series of commentary videos on David Bentley Hart's ( @leavesinthewind7441 ) lecture series at Cambridge entitled "The Light of Tabor : Towards a Monistic Chrisology". I mention Mark Parker, Dr. Andrew Perriman, Rowan Williams, Jordan Daniel Wood, Origen of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Fr John Behr, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Paul of Samosata, Athanasius of Alexandria, Sergei Bulgakov, John Vervaeke, Meister Eckhart, Maximus the Confessor, and more.

I think video I give a presentation titled "Participation in the Perfected Humanity of Christ : A Unitarian Atonement Theory". I discuss the idea of whether or not Jesus needed to be God in order to save us. I mention Dr. Andrew Perriman, William Ellery Channing, Dale Tuggy, Paul of Samosata, David Bentley Hart, Athanasius of Alexandria, Arius of Alexandria, Photinus of Sirmium, and more. Andrew Perriman on Philippians 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNTHSASs47YWilliam Ellery Channing 'Likeness unto God' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLK0ZIvsjgw&t=2143sDBH "Light of Tabor" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3irRxu7E4W4&t=853sMy Commentary of DBH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bh6_p2a6U&t=1795sDBH Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyNBBEXiW2c&t=141s

This video is the first in a series of commentary videos on David Bentley Hart's ( @leavesinthewind7441 ) lecture series at Cambridge entitled "The Light of Tabor : Towards a Monistic Chrisology". I mention Rowan Williams, Nestorius, Arius of Alexandria, the Ascension of Isaiah, Origen of Alexandria, Thomas Aquinas, Gregory Palamas, Karl Barth, Aristotle, Fr John Behr, Herbert McCabe, Paul of Samosata, Robert Jensen, Justin Martyr, Thomas Aquinas, Maximus the Confessor and more. DBH's Lecture 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3irRxu7E4W4My ascension to heaven video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgB3MNK-VLM

In this episode I interview Dr. Gabriel Reynolds. He has a PhD from Yale and is a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. We discuss the religious setting of 6th and 7th century Arabia, how that might have influenced Mohammad, interactions between Christians and Muslims, and where the Quran's specific views on Jesus came from. We mention Ahmad Al-Jallad, Bishop Jacob of Serugh, Beryllus of Bostra, Paul of Samosata, Aphrahat the Persian Sage, David Bertaina, Sidney H. Griffith, Jack Tannous, al-Harith ibn Jabalah, John Philoponus, Nestorius, Ephraim the Syrian, Dr. Khalil Andani (  @KhalilAndani  ), and more.

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

Dr. Chad McIntosh has a PhD in Philosophy from Cornell University. He is the editor of the recent "One God, Three Persons, Four Views" book featuring four different scholars' view on the Trinity. The contributors are Dr. William Hasker, Dr. Dale Tuggy, Dr. William Lane Craig, and Dr. Beau Branson. We talk about the process of editing the book as well as some of his reflections on the book now that it is done. We mention James Anderson, Phillip Carey, Ryan Mullins, Scott Williams, Henry of Ghent, Brian Leftow, Larry Hurtado, Origen of Alexandria, Paul of Samosata, Richard of St Victor, Joshua Sijuwade, and many more.

TORINO – ROMA Francesco Lioce dialoga con Roberto Maggi autore di: GLI ACCORDI SPEZZATI, BastogiLibri, 2024Un intreccio di vite destinato a rincorrersi nel tempo, ciascuna tesa alla ricerca di sé, delle proprie radici e delle testimonianze altrui, sulle tracce di un passato ripercorso a ritroso. Esistenze raccontate separatamente in parallelo (ognuna di esse connotata come “Album”), attraverso continui rimandi e flashbacks, sovente sotto forma di rievocazioni oniriche, durante i quali i vari caratteri si svelano lentamente, mostrando gli elementi e gli incastri che li collegano, i momenti cruciali che li hanno accomunati e poi inesorabilmente allontanati. Una narrazione sospesa, ricca di sfumature poetiche, giocata in modo articolato su più livelli come in una trasposizione cinematografica, che fluisce altalenante tra presente e passato, andando a ricostruire pian piano i retroscena delle esperienze vissute, le ragioni delle scelte fatte dai protagonisti, alla luce dei sentimenti e delle fratture che ne hanno determinato, loro malgrado, il corso. Ognuno di essi con il proprio carico di sofferenza e caducità, una propria voce e una corposa complessità psicologica: fucine emotivo-intellettive dell'universo maschile e femminile da cui emergono riflessioni, dubbi, domande, conclusioni talvolta amare talora ironiche. Il tutto accompagnato e condizionato dalla musica, anche dal punto di vista stilistico (in ogni Album i capitoli appaiono contraddistinti come “Brani”), presenza possente che scandisce il dipanarsi degli avvenimenti e degli stati d'animo degli attori e che costituisce il motore primario dell'intera storia, il nucleo vitale da cui tutto prende vita e a cui tutto ritorna, facendo nuovamente incrociare quelle strade solitarie apparentemente perdute.Roberto Maggi nasce a Roma, dove si laurea in scienze biologiche. Amante della natura, indirizza i suoi interessi professionali e personali verso tematiche legate all'ambiente e all'ecologia. Nel 2014 pubblica la sua prima raccolta di poesie dal titolo Schegge liquide, a cui seguono apparizioni su varie antologie poetiche. Nel 2015 pubblica il racconto breve “Irish blues”, nell'antologia 1000 parole, e avvia, insieme al pianista Theo Allegretti, un progetto che unisce poesia e musica, la performance “Suoni di-versi”, realizzata in diverse manifestazioni pubbliche. Nel 2019 vengono pubblicate la raccolta di racconti Suites di fine anno e la raccolta antologica Il diario della Natura, che lo vede coinvolto nella triplice veste di ecologo, poeta e fotografo. Nel 2021 pubblica la raccolta di poesie Scene da un interno. Dal 2020 si dedica saltuariamente all'attività di articolista, scrivendo recensioni critiche dedicate a libri e autori. Le sue opere sono risultate vincitrici in svariati concorsi letterari e sono state recensite da numerose riviste, trasmissioni radiofoniche e blog letterari. Tra le sue passioni, oltre la letteratura, si annoverano l'arte, il cinema, la fotografia e soprattutto la musica, che segue con invariato entusiasmo.Ospiti: Marina Caracciolo, nata a Milano, risiede a Torino, dove si è laureata con lode in Lettere (Storia della Musica). Ha insegnato nei licei ed è consulente di redazione presso varie Case Editrici. Alla UTET ha collaborato a Musica in scena. Storia dello spettacolo musicale (6 volumi) e al Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti. Nel 2001, presso Genesi Editrice, è uscito il suo saggio Gianni Rescigno: dall'essere all'infinito, I° classificato per la saggistica al Premio internazionale “Mario Pannunzio” (Torino, 2002). Nel 2004, con la LIM, Libreria Musicale Italiana di Lucca, ha pubblicato Brahms e il walzer. Storia e lettura critica, libro poi citato e recensito in Italia, Germania e Stati Uniti. Nel 2005 ha ricevuto il “Premio alla Cultura della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri” (Roma) e il Premio speciale per la critica “Rocca di Montemurlo” (Prato). Con l'Istituto per i Beni Musicali in Piemonte ha collaborato alla realizzazione del grande volume I Mozart in Italia (a cura di Alberto Basso, ed. Accademia di S. Cecilia, Roma, 2006). L'editrice BastogiLibri di Roma ha pubblicato i suoi saggi critici: Oltre i respiri del tempo. L'universo poetico di Ines Betta Montanelli (2016), Verso lontani orizzonti. L'itinerario lirico di Imperia Tognacci (2020; Premio della Critica “Locanda del Doge”, 2021), Il pensiero sognante. La poesia di Ada De Judicibus Lisena (2022). Nel 2017 sono usciti con Genesi Editrice i suoi Otto saggi brevi (Premio ‘Dignità di Stampa', “I Murazzi”, Torino, 2016 e Terzo Premio al Concorso Letterario Internazionale “Gian Antonio Cibotto”, 2022). Nel 2020 è Iª classificata al Premio Internazionale “Il Croco” con il saggio inedito Palinodie di un mito: la figura di Elena da Omero a Euripide a Luciano di Samosata. In campo storico-musicale ha curato la prima edizione italiana di: Albert Dietrich, Erinnerungen an Johannes Brahms in Briefen besonders aus seiner Jugendzeit, Lipsia 1898 (Il giovane Brahms. Lettere e ricordi, LIM, Lucca, 2018; 1° Premio per la Traduzione al Concorso Letterario Internazionale “Cristina Campo”, 1a ediz., 2023). È a sua volta nella Giuria di noti premi letterari. Suoi articoli, recensioni e brevi saggi appaiono su prestigiose riviste letterarie italiane.Sabino Caronia, critico letterario e scrittore, romano, ha pubblicato le raccolte di saggi novecenteschi L'usignolo di Orfeo (Sciascia editore, 1990), Il gelsomino d'Arabia (Bulzoni, 2000) e L'ultimo sorriso di Beatrice (Edilazio, 2020). Ha curato inoltre i volumi Il lume dei due occhi. G.Dessì, biografia e letteratura (Edizioni Periferia, 1987) e Licy e il Gattopardo  (Edizioni Associate, 1995). Ha lavorato presso la cattedra di Letteratura Italiana Contemporanea all'Università di Perugia e ha collaborato con l'Università di Tor Vergata, con cui ha pubblicato tra l'altro Gli specchi di Borges (Universitalia, 2000). Membro dell'Istituto di Studi Romani e del Centro Studi G. G. Belli, autore di numerosi profili di narratori italiani del Novecento per la Letteratura Italiana Contemporanea (Lucarini Editore), collabora ad autorevoli riviste, nonché ad alcuni giornali, tra cui «L'Osservatore Romano» e «Succede oggi». Suoi racconti e poesie sono apparsi in diverse riviste. Ha pubblicato i romanzi L'ultima estate di Moro (Schena Editore 2008), Morte di un cittadino americano. Jim Morrison a Parigi (Edilazio 2009), La cupa dell'acqua chiara (Edizioni Periferia 2009), La consolazione della sera, Schena Editore 2017 (vincitore del Premio Letterario Sandro Sciotti-Città di Marino), In campo lungo, Schena Editore 2019, Con la sua dolce voce, Schena Editore 2020; Tutta la vita davanti, Schena 2022 e infine La manna dal cielo, Schena 2023. Ci sono poi le raccolte poetiche Il secondo dono (Progetto Cultura 2013), La ferita del possibile (Rubbettino 2016), Con altra voce (Nemapress 2019) e In spirito e in corpo  (Escamontage 2019).Marco LodiRegia, editing, grafica, musiche con licenza d'uso Epidemic SoundGIANO PUBLIC HISTORY APSafferente all'Albo della Cittadinanza Attiva e delle Reti Civiche del Comune di Roma.Sostienici con il 5×1000 : CF 97901110581

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Lucian's A True History has been called the world's first work of science fiction—but above all, Lucian of Samosata was a satirist. And he had a bone to pick with the famous historians of his time—guys like Herodotus and Ctesias of Knidos. They were Lying Liars who Lied, you see, and Lucian was mad about it. So he set out to write his OWN monument to lies—lest he be the only writer out there “exempted from the liberty of lying.” The only true thing is what he tells us in his intro: “for this one thing I confidently pronounce for a truth: that I lie.” This fabulous story has everything: sexy tree women, an intergalactic war, an interlude inside a whale—and we can't get enough of it. Join us and Liv Albert from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! on this amazing adventure of which every word is a lie, and yet surprisingly relevant to our time. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A re-airing of all three parts of Liv's 2022 reading of Lucian's True History, translated by Francis Hickes. In this 2nd Century CE satirical novel of epic proportions, Lucian if Samosata invents a world where he visits rivers of wine, takes a trip to space, a war inside a whale, and a heroic journey through the Underworld. This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style. For regular episodes look for any that don't have "Liv Reads..." in the title! Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was born in Samosata in Syria (and is sometimes referred to as "Lucian of Samosata") of noble parents. In his youth he received an excellent education. Though a privileged life was open to him, he gave all his goods away to the poor and embraced a life of asceticism, supporting himself writing and tutoring. He produced an edition of the Old Testament, freeing it from various corruptions introduced by heretics. He was made a priest in Antioch, where he served the Church faithfully. During the persecutions of Maximian, he was arrested while visiting Nicomedia to strengthen the faithful there. He was cast into prison for his faith and allowed to perish of hunger and thirst. Saint John Chrysostom wrote of him: "He scorned hunger; let us also scorn luxury and destroy the lordship of the stomach; that we may, when the time comes for us to meet such torture, be prepared beforehand, by the help of a lesser ascesis, to show ourselves worthy of glory in the hour of battle."

This is the finale of our summer special. The second part of Lucian of Samosata's novel “A True Story.” While the first part is filled with space travels and battles on distant planets, this part will deal with other topics. What was Homer's true nationality, why Pythagoras didn't like his victory meal, and if Herodotus were sent to the Greek version of hell for his accounts?Lucian of Samosata, a second-century CE author, penned what some consider the first science fiction novel in history, "A True Story." Lucian vividly describes space travel, intergalactic battles, alien beings, and even alien abductions in this short story. However, rather than attempting to write a sci-fi epic, Lucian's work is a satirical critique of contemporary travel books and historical accounts. In this episode, we'll continue to look at Lucian's imaginative narrative and see how it gives us a unique window into the ancient world.Links: Episode page Histourian - Check out Histourian - a new guided tours app! Website Email Facebook Twitter Instagram TikTok YouTubeSupport the show: Patreon Support through the members portal Become a APN memberMusicThe intro music is Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur, and the outro is named “Folie hatt” by Trallskruv.ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public StoreAffiliates Motion: https://www.archpodnet.com/motion

This is the finale of our summer special. The second part of Lucian of Samosata's novel “A True Story.” While the first part is filled with space travels and battles on distant planets, this part will deal with other topics. What was Homer's true nationality, why Pythagoras didn't like his victory meal, and if Herodotus were sent to the Greek version of hell for his accounts?Lucian of Samosata, a second-century CE author, penned what some consider the first science fiction novel in history, "A True Story." Lucian vividly describes space travel, intergalactic battles, alien beings, and even alien abductions in this short story. However, rather than attempting to write a sci-fi epic, Lucian's work is a satirical critique of contemporary travel books and historical accounts. In this episode, we'll continue to look at Lucian's imaginative narrative and see how it gives us a unique window into the ancient world.Remember to check out our sponsor, Histourian! Histourian Contact:Website: https://diggingupancientaliens.comEmail: fredrik@diggingupancientaliens.comFacebook: facebook.com/Digging-up-Ancient-Aliens-108173641647111/Twitter: twitter.com/DUAncientAliensInstagram: instagram.com/digging_up_ancient_aliens/TikTok: tiktok.com/@digging_up_ancient_alienStore: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/merchBecome a supporter! Sign up for Patreon or membership here: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/support Support the show!We have a members portal and a Patreon; both have the same levels and bonuses. Join Patreon hereMember Portal ArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetTee Public Store MusicThe intro music is Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur, and the outro is named

In this summer special episode, while traveling and soaking up the sun, I found myself contemplating a different kind of travel—space travel. Inspired by the frequent claims made in "Ancient Aliens" that ancient myths and stories are actually describing UFOs and space rockets using the vocabulary of the time, I wanted to explore this concept further. However, I often find these interpretations to be misleading or misrepresentative of the original texts. This sparked an intriguing thought: How would an ancient person genuinely describe space travel?Enter Lucian of Samosata, a second-century CE author who penned what some consider the first science fiction novel in history, "A True Story." In this short story, Lucian vividly describes space travel, intergalactic battles, alien beings, and even alien abductions. But rather than attempting to write a Sci-Fi epic, Lucian's work is actually a satirical critique of contemporary travel books and historical accounts. In this episode, we'll delve into Lucian's imaginative narrative and see how it gives us a unique window into ancient perceptions of space travel.Links: Episode page Histourian - Check out Histourian - a new guided tours app! Digging up Ancient Aliens on the web: Website Email Facebook Twitter Instagram TikTok YouTubeSupport the show: Patreon Support through the members portal Become an APN memberMusicThe intro music is Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur, and the outro is named “Folie hatt” by Trallskruv.ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public StoreAffiliates Motion: https://www.archpodnet.com/motion

In this summer special episode, while traveling and soaking up the sun, I found myself contemplating a different kind of travel—space travel. Inspired by the frequent claims made in "Ancient Aliens" that ancient myths and stories actually describe UFOs and space rockets using the vocabulary of the time, I wanted to explore this concept further. However, I often find these interpretations to be misleading or misrepresentative of the original texts. This sparked an intriguing thought: How would an ancient person genuinely describe space travel?Enter Lucian of Samosata, a second-century CE author who penned what some consider the first science fiction novel in history, "A True Story." In this short story, Lucian vividly describes space travel, intergalactic battles, alien beings, and even alien abductions. However, rather than attempting to write a sci-fi epic, Lucian's work is actually a satirical critique of contemporary travel books and historical accounts. In this episode, we'll delve into Lucian's imaginative narrative and see how it gives us a unique window into ancient perceptions of space travel.Check out our sponsor: Histourian Support the show!We have a members portal and a Patreon; both have the same levels and bonuses. Join Patreon hereMember Portal Contact:Website: https://diggingupancientaliens.comEmail: fredrik@diggingupancientaliens.comFacebook: facebook.com/Digging-up-Ancient-Aliens-108173641647111/Twitter: twitter.com/DUAncientAliensInstagram: instagram.com/digging_up_ancient_aliens/TikTok: tiktok.com/@digging_up_ancient_alienStore: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/merchBecome a supporter! Sign up for Patreon or membership here: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/support MusicThe intro music is Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur, and the outro is named “Folie hatt” by Trallskruv. Visit Trallskruvs website hereArchPodNetAPN Website:

The broad theme of this series, truth and lies, was a favourite subject of Lucian of Samosata, the last of our Greek-language authors. A cosmopolitan and highly cultured Syrian subject of the Roman Empire in the second century CE, Lucian wrote in the classical Greek of fifth-century Athens. His razor-sharp satire was a model for Erasmus, Voltaire and Swift. Emily and Tom share some of their favourite excerpts from ‘A True History' and other works – with trips to the moon, boundary-pushing religious scepticism and wildly improbable but not technically untrue readings of Homer – and discuss why they still read as fresh and funny today.This is an extract from the episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadingsEmily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jones is an editor at the London Review of Books.Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave and Jeff are off to Abonoteichus this week to wrap up Lucian of Samosata's crazy account of Alexander the False Prophet. If you like crazy, you're going to love this episode. It has a bit of everything: Big Sid the Standale Terror, Jeff's dad sporting with fugitive serpents, the origin of mustard, food trucks, snakes in a can, and so much more. And, oh yeah, Classics. As the Second Sophisitic (c. 60-230 A.D.) got into full swing, Lucian emerged as the most successful satirist, detaling the foibles of the rich, the famous, and the divine. In this conclusion to our treatment of his lesser-known story, we find out what happened when Alexander of the flowing locks teamed up with shyster apprentice Cocconas. Will they go a-bilking in Paphlygonia -- with their fake eggs, rumors of Asclepius, and puppet snakes -- or are the "fatheads" more numerous in Chalcedon? Tune in to find out.

This week Jeff and Dave take a break from the Marrou series to talk about 2nd century A.D. satirist Lucian of Samosata. Born in the further reaches of Asia Minor, Lucian made a name for himself as a Greek stylist by making fun of the rich and powerful, including the gods. Many claim him as the inventor of the science fiction genre because of his most famous work, A True Story. This fantastic voyage seems to anticipate Jules Verne and H.G. Wells by almost 2000 years! But the subject of this episode is Lucian's take on the fraudulent shyster Alexander, a good looking chap (with great hair) who worships a snake god leads and many astray. But what exactly is Lucian doing? Is this all a game to entertain the elite, or is he trying to educate the gullible away from belief in the supernatural and paranormal? And, what do Erasmus and Thomas more have to do with it all? Be sure to tune in.

1. “Their founder [Jesus] taught them that they should be like brothers to one another, and therefore they despise their own privacy and view their possessions as common property.” -Lucian of Samosata, early opponent of Christianity 2. “The impious Galileans [Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well.” -Emperor Julian of Rome 3. “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the coming one. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven.” -C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" 4. “The Revelation has 404 verses. In those 404 verses, there are 518 references to earlier scripture. If we are not familiar with the preceding writings, quite obviously we are not going to understand the Revelation. John has his favorite books of scripture: Ezekiel, Daniel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Isaiah, Exodus. But there is probably not a single canonical Old Testament book to which he doesn't make at least some allusion.” -Eugene Peterson, "Reversed Thunder" 5. “Throughout this book, as in much of the Bible, the sea is the dark force of chaos which threatens God's plans and God's people. It is the element from which the first monster emerged. It is contained in Genesis by God, ‘contained', that is, both in the sense that it is there as part of the furniture and in the sense that its boundary is strictly limited. Evil is only allowed to do enough to overreach itself and to bring about its own downfall. But in the new creation there will be no more sea, no more chaos, no place from which monsters might again emerge.” -N.T. Wright, "Revelation For Everyone" 6. “This sung faith served to deepen the capacity of the slaves for endurance and their ability to absorb their suffering, and it taught a people how to ride high in life, how to look squarely in the face those facts that argue most dramatically against all hope, and to use those facts as raw material out of which they fashioned a hope that their environment with all its cruelty could not crush. This enabled them to reject annihilation and affirm a terrible right to live.” -Howard Thurman, "The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death" 7. “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Return of the King"

Dr. Thomas Gaston has a PhD in Theology from The University of Oxford and a Masters in the History of Christianity from the University of Birmingham. He is the author of a new book "Dynamic Monarchianism: The Earliest Christology?" which argues that Dynamic Monarchianism, often called 'Biblical Unitarianism' in today's parlance, has strong historical evidence for being the earliest Christology. We mention Theodotus of Byzantium, Paul of Samosata, ARtemon, Pope Victor I, Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, Beryllus of Bostra, Origen of Alexandria, Irenaeus of Lyon, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Athenagoras, Melito of Sardis, Constantine, Plato, Numenius of Apamea, Plotinus of Alexandria, Eusebius, Photinus of Galatia, Athanasius of Alexandria, Hipploytus, Tertullian, and more. Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Monarchianism-Thomas-Edmund-Gaston/dp/1793256721

Jesús Úbeda profundiza en la historia de Alejandro de Abonutico, autor de oráculos falsos, lo hace a través del relato de Luciano de Samosata.

The story of Pygmalion is... so much. Plus, the time a man "fell in love" with a statue. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content! CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing. Sources: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Stephanie McCarter; Clement of Alexandria, translated by GW Butterworth; The Erotes, attributed to Lucian of Samosata and translated by AM Harmon; for more on the statue. Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 247 – Archeology and the Bible – Part 3 – Archeological Axioms Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: Noah was 600 years old when he went into the boat to escape the flood, and he did everything the LORD had told him to do. His wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law all went inside with him. Genesis, Chapter 7, verses 5 through 7, Contemporary English Version ******** VK: Hello! Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K. Today we’re going to be doing the third episode in a new series that we are calling “Archeology and the Bible.” Some scholars estimate that there are over 4,000 different religions in the world. With that many religions out there it’s reasonable to ask whether we can be sure which of those religions, if any, is true. The good news is that we can reasonably differentiate among the competing truth claims made by the various religions using logic, reason, and evidence. And one source of evidence that demonstrates that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God is archeology. Archeology helps us to show an unbelieving world that that the Bible contains a large body of reliable history. So, to help us continue our discussion today in the studio we have RD Fierro, who is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, one of the big points that we are trying to make in this that archeological finds can be a valuable source of support for the accuracy of the history that the Bible reports. In fact, the Bible’s history has been shown to be accurate even when doubted by secular historians and we talked about that in our last episode of Anchored by Truth, right? RD: Right. But before I get to a reminder of what we discussed last time I would also like to say “hi” to everyone and welcome them to Anchored by Truth. At Anchored by Truth we often say that there are four lines of evidence, at a minimum, that will help people understand that the Bible may be differentiated from all other books that claim to be the word of God. Those four lines of evidence are reliable history, remarkable unity, fulfilled prophecies, and redeemed destinies. And one way we can show that the Bible’s historical reports are accurate is through archeological finds. And there have been some pretty graphic examples of the Bible getting history right even when skeptics for centuries dismissed the Bible’s report. A case in point is the Bible’s report on the existence of the ancient kingdom of Assyria and its famous capital city, Nineveh. Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire literally disappeared beneath the sands of time in the 6th century BC and for over 2,000 years physical evidence of the once-mighty empire was missing. VK: Nineveh disappeared so completely that a Greek writer, Lucian of Samosata ([who lived from] A.D. 120-180), once lamented: "Nineveh has perished. No trace of it remains. No one can say where once it existed" ... This lack of visible evidence caused many scholars and historians as late as the 19th century to doubt that the Assyrian Empire even existed, much less was once the dominant military power on earth. RD: Yes. But then all that changed. The online Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say about the rediscovery of Nineveh. “The first person to survey and map Nineveh was the archaeologist Claudius J. Rich in 1820, a work later completed by Felix Jones and published by him in 1854. … Sir Henry Layard during 1845–51 discovered the palace of Sennacherib and took back to England an unrivalled collection of stone bas-reliefs together with thousands of tablets inscribed in cuneiform from the great library of Ashurbanipal.” VK: But while secular history had lost sight of Nineveh and the Assyrians the one witness to their existence that never wavered was the Bible. The Old Testament books of Kings, Chronicles, Isaiah, Nahum, and Jonah always contained a clear record of the existence of the Assyrians even preserving names of some of its rulers and officials, the name of its capital, and even records of its conquests. Once the clay tablets were recovered from the great library by Henry Layard the Bible’s accounts were vindicated. RD: Right. No serious historian today doubts that the Assyrian Empire at one time dominated the Mideast, was a very successful military power, and posed a grave and mortal threat to kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The Bible always contained a plain record of those facts and today scholars worldwide accept those facts. So, one subject I want to discuss today is why – at one time – there was so much doubt about the Bible’s reports about Assyria and Nineveh despite the fact that the Bible record was true and accurate. VK: Well, I suppose many, maybe most people, would say “before Rich, Layard, and the others who unearthed the ruins of Nineveh from the Iraqi desert there wasn’t any evidence that the Bible’s account was accurate.” RD: I think you’re quite right –. VK: Thank you. RD: - And that’s what I want to talk about. Why do so many people doubt the Bible until one of the Bible’s accounts is confirmed by an extra Biblical source? The Bible is an ancient record – but there are a lot of ancient records from about that same time period. The Greeks in particular had some well-known historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon. The Romans had historians such as Tacitus and Pliny. The Jews had a particularly well-known historian called Josephus. But when secular scholars read those ancient historians they don’t automatically doubt their accounts unless another source or archeological find confirms it. But all too many people automatically doubt the Bible’s records unless there is an extra-Biblical source that comes along and shows the Bible is right. VK: Oh. I see the point you’re making. Even before Rich and Layard discovered the physical remains of Nineveh and the Assyrians there was in fact very good evidence of their existence - because the Bible contained a record of their existence. But today the tendency is to discount the Bible’s record as having evidentiary value unless another source is available to confirm what the Bible says. Your point is that among a lot of scholars today there seems to be an anti-Biblical bias that says, in effect, “Sure it’s in the Bible. But how do we know the Bible is true.” Yet, those same scholars don’t bring that same attitude to other historical records from the Biblical times. The way the academic community, the journalists, and the media treat the Bible is exactly the opposite of the way they treat other ancient sources. The skeptics and critics will regard other records as being accurate on their face but they regard the Bible as being inaccurate unless confirmed. This is either ironic because, in fact, the Bible is what inspired many, if not most, of those early Middle Eastern archeologists to go on their expeditions. They saw Bible as being true so they were willing to stake time and money to look for the ancient cities the Bible said had been there. If they had had the same attitude as many people today have they would never have set on their expeditions. RD: Right. A belief in the Bible’s accuracy inspired much, if not most, of the early archeological exploration in Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, etc. Some of the greatest finds in archeological history, such as the rediscovery of the city of Petra in modern day Jordan, might never have been brought to light if it weren’t for the fact that explorers knew it must be there because the Bible said it was. Petra in Greek means “rock like” or “stony” and it is, quite literally, a city carved out of rock. In the Bible that location is identified with Edom. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, who was the brother of the patriarch Jacob (also known as Israel). Esau was red haired and the city occupied by his descendants was known for the distinctly red color of the stone in that area. So, it is interesting that when it was rediscovered so much of the Bible’s text was vividly confirmed. At any rate, the point is that there is often the tendency to doubt the Bible unless confirmed, whereas the opposite attitude is taken with respect to other ancient documents. The histories compiled by Herodotus, Xenophon, etc. are accepted as being generally reliable until inaccuracies are shown. VK: Well, as you say that wasn’t the case a hundred years ago or maybe even thirty or forty years ago. So, why is it that way now. RD: In my opinion it’s because of the concerted pushback that has been occurring against Christianity and the Bible in recent decades in the west. Christianity’s values and ethics have been under attack in the western societies for a wide variety of reasons. But to effectively dispense with Christianity’s values you must dispense with the source of those values: the Bible. So, there has been a concerted effort in academia, the media, and popular culture to characterize the Bible as being filled with myth and fairy tale. Once that idea is established, whether it is true or not, much of the Bible’s magisterial authority has been eliminated. VK: This is not only sad, it is dangerous. The Bible contains the special revelation that God has given to mankind. We can no more dispense with that revelation safely and without danger than the patient can ignore the mechanic who has just told him that he has an issue with his car or truck which he should attend to. The driver can ignore the mechanic’s advice but not without risking catastrophe. With respect to ignoring the Bible it’s even more dangerous. Mechanics are human. They can be wrong. The Bible was inspired by God and God is never wrong. RD: Well said. What people need to realize is that all people, all of us, approach our lives using a set of axioms. These axioms form a lens through which we see the world. Sometimes these axioms are obvious and reasonable. Most of us tend to see the advice given to us by professionals as being useful and helpful. This means we will accept and follow the advice. But not all people operate by this axiom. VK: Recent events in America and other western nations have unfortunately caused previous trusting people to begin to doubt the advice they previously wouldn’t have questioned. This may be medical advice, advice about nutrition and health, or prescriptions involving social, political, or cultural norms. Hmmm. I see why we need to talk about this. The widespread confusion over the virus and how to deal with it has caused a lot of people to no longer trust medical advice they once would have never questioned. And sadly, tragically, something similar has happened in our culture with respect to the Bible. 20, 30, or 40 years ago you could have settled a discussion by quoting the Bible. Today, if you quote the Bible people are quite likely to say “so what?” RD: Right. We all view life through a set of axioms. Quite often those axioms have put into our lives by our families or cultures and we don’t even question them. The set of axioms that surround us tend to shape what many scholars or theologians will call our worldview. I don’t want to spend too much time on worldview today - because that would be the subject for a whole show or even series. But the collection and aggregation of our foundational axioms form our worldview. For most of us the ideas that form our worldview are unspoken and un-thought-of. Most of them seem almost self-evident. Well, interestingly enough these unseen, unspoken axioms can have a powerful role in areas of study like archeology. VK: What are you thinking about? RD: Let’s take a specific example. Chapters 6 through 9 of the book of Genesis clearly describe a worldwide flood. Despite the attempts of some critics to say that this flood was a localized, limited flood, the Genesis language is pretty clear. The flood endured by Noah and his family was worldwide and essentially reshaped the entire surface of the earth. And based on the time periods that we can derive by studying the genealogies elsewhere in Genesis we can confidently say that this worldwide flood occurred about 4,500 years ago. VK: The Amplified Bible, Genesis, chapter 7, verses 19 and 20 say this: “The waters prevailed so greatly and were so mighty and overwhelming on the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. [In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered.” RD: Yes. That’s pretty clear language. But, of course, despite the clarity of the language today there are a great many people, including scientists, who deny that such a flood ever happened. Deep time, uniformitarianism, and evolutionary thought rule the halls of academia, the discussions at most so-called science institutions, and popular thought. Thus, it has become a widely accepted axiom in archeological thought that the flood never happened. So, let’s think about this. If there was a worldwide flood about 4,500 years ago that reshaped the earth’s surface and deposited huge amounts of sedimentary material all of the earth then no structures that we can find on the earth today would be older than 4,500 years. VK: It’s not impossible that some artifacts or parts of buildings might be found in one of the layers deposited by all the water moving around – but with the kind of flood described in the Bible nothing would have survived intact. RD: Right. So, an archeologist who accepts the Bible’s flood account as being historical will rarely, if ever, be tempted to assign a date to ruins or an artifact older than 2,500 BC. One of the axioms which would form a part of their approach to their craft would include the presence of the flood in ancient history. They wouldn’t have any reason to try to put a date on an artifact earlier than 2,500 BC. But an archeologist who denies the historicity of the Bible’s flood account has no problem dating ruins or artifacts as being much older than 2,500 BC. And there are a number of sites around the world that have been assigned dates older than 2,500 BC. And similar older dates would be assigned to artifacts found in those ruins. Bible denying archeologists have an axiom in their worldview that says people have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and therefore ruins as old as 5,000 or 10,000 BC (or even older) are possible. The difference in the starting axioms between these two groups is going to lead to widely differing possibilities in assigning dates to ancient ruins, artifacts, or civilizations. VK: Let’s remind our listeners of something that we’ve talked about before. Historical science is not the same as operational science. In operational science hypotheses can be tested and results of experiments repeated and affirmed or refuted. One scientist boils water at sea level at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and other scientists around the world can replicate those results. That’s operational science. But that is not true for historical sciences like archeology, cosmology, paleontology, or the certain elements of geology that pertain to age. All any scientist can do is look at evidence available in the present and attempt to provide an explanation for what that evidence says about the past. And there is just about no way to dispositively confirm that explanation. The best scientists can do is provide explanations that can be tested against the evidence and determine whether that explanation is consistent or inconsistent with the evidence. RD: Agreed. Historical science can never reach the same level of certainty as operational science. Moreover – and this is really important – the number of scientists, historians, or archeologists who may accept a particular explanation does not determine the truth of that proposed explanation. VK: Or, said slightly differently, truth is not determined by majority opinion. We’ve talked before on Anchored by Truth that today geologists acknowledge that many of the great river valleys all over the world were created by truly epic floods. David R. Montgomery, a geology professor at the University of Washington, labeled the floods that created these river valleys “Noah-like” in a 2012 article for Discover magazine. But in that same article Montgomery noted that the first geologist to propose that the river valleys of eastern Washington were caused by such floods was J. Harlan Bretz. But when Bretz initially proposed his explanation in the 1920’s he was met with widespread. Yet the recognition that Bretz was correct is so widespread today that, at the age of 97, Bretz was awarded the Geological Society of America’s highest honor. When Bretz first proposed his explanation for the origin of river valleys in eastern Washington he was a minority of one. But today it is widely acknowledged that Bretz was right. RD: Exactly. And that same thing can be true for the axioms that archeologists or other scientists bring into their profession. Just because one, many, or most archeologists believe that there has never been a worldwide flood has no bearing on the truth of whether a flood actually occurred. What is important for listeners to note is that this rejection of the flood of Noah will greatly affect many of the explanations that flood-deniers offer. A specific instance of this that we will cover in greater depth is the ruins at Göbekli Tepe in south eastern Turkey. Secular archeologists date these ruins to about 11,000 – 12,000 years BC. Their assigned dating is largely due to the results of radiocarbon dating. VK: But there are well known problems with the accuracy of radiocarbon dating. Creation Ministries International has several excellent articles on their website that discuss these problems. So, we won’t go into them today, but we will mention one. Radiocarbon dating depends on a comparison between the amount of carbon-14 present in a sample such as a wood fragment with the amount of carbon-14 that is assumed to have been present when the sample was first formed. One basic problem is that we have no idea how much carbon-14 was originally present. The starting value to which the current amount is present is always an assumption. There is no way to know for sure what that starting value was. That’s one reason we say that dates to artifacts or ruins are always “assigned” not discovered. There is never any way to prove that assumptions that went into the assigned date are accurate. And it is quite common for different dating methods to differ widely in the assigned dates. RD: Yes. So, largely based on radiocarbon dating the ruins at Göbekli Tepe have been dated far older than possible when considering the date for the Noahic flood. This points out the importance of the date assigners underlying set of starting axioms. VK: So, how can we know who and what to believe? RD: By doing what we always recommend – consider the evidence and apply logic and reason. In the case of whether the Genesis flood occurred there is an abundance of scientific and historical evidence that it did. And we have covered that evidence in depth a couple of times on Anchored by Truth. And the series that discuss the flood of Noah are available from our website: crystalseabooks.com. In the case of the dating of the ruins of Göbekli Tepe one simple question to ask is whether the ruins are more consistent with a hunter-gatherer society (which is what secular archeologists tell us existed at that time) or a society that possessed some level of mathematical and construction sophistication. In the case of the ruins we now know that they were laid out with a level of mathematical precision that would be inconsistent with a society that had not supposedly even entered a settle agricultural phase. But they are consistent with a community that possessed the kind of technological sophistication described in Genesis chapters 4 through 6. VK: Let’s remember that in chapter 1 of the book of Genesis the Bible tells us that Adam was created with a sophisticated knowledge of many subjects. He possessed language, a knowledge of biology and botany, and the ability to reason and analyze comparative attributes. And, of course, Noah in the pre-flood environment was able to undertake a large naval architecture project. So, his descendants after the flood would have retained much of this knowledge. By contrast an evolutionary viewpoint says that man’s predecessors knew nothing of math and technology and had to discover everything? So, in this case what we know from the ruins is more consistent with a Biblical explanation than the alternative RD: Exactly. This line of reasoning cannot reach the level of absolute certainty but following it, in the case of the ruins at Göbekli Tepe we can make the case that the Biblical explanation for their existence and dating is at least as compelling as the flood-denying alternative. And that is what we wanted to point out in this episode. When people see reports of new and sensational archeological discoveries in the news or on the internet – that purportedly show how the Bible is wrong - they need to stop and think. They need to examine the worldview and axioms of the group making the discovery and they need to research and consider the Biblical alternative. When they do they are going to find out that the Bible holds its own in every situation. VK: Well, This sounds like a great time to pray. Today let’s listen to a prayer that all of us would receive the ability to discern truth from the Holy Spirit who is the only One that can truly illuminate the human mind. God created the human mind and it would be far better for us to receive the least little bit of his infinite wisdom to guide our lives than anything that world can provide. ---- PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Bible Quotes from the Contemporary English Version) Genesis, Chapter 7, verses 5 through 7, Contemporary English Version

Episode 246 – Archeology and the Bible – Part 2 – The Resurrection of Nineveh Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: One day the LORD told Jonah, the son of Amittai, to go to the great city of Nineveh and say to the people, “The LORD has seen your terrible sins. You are doomed!” Jonah, Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, Contemporary English Version ******** VK: Hello and welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K. All of us at Anchored by Truth are excited to be with you at the start of a New Year and a new series. As we often talk, the Christian faith in America has been subjected to more challenges in the last couple of decades than it was in the first 225 years of the country’s existence. One comment that we hear frequently in the popular media – that is completely false – is that the Bible is a book filled with “myth and fairy tales.” Nothing could be further from the truth and this is a claim that is easily refuted. And one way it can be refuted is by knowing that the Bible contains a large body of reliable history. And one way to demonstrate that the history the Bible contains is reliable is by pointing to archeological discoveries. So, RD has entitled this series “Archeology and the Bible” and we have RD, who is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books, in the studio today. RD, in our first episode in this series you pointed out that archeological finds can be a valuable source of support for the accuracy of the history that the Bible reports. Despite the fact that popular culture has tried to dismiss the connection the truth is the relationship between the Bible and archeology has been mutually supportive. Many scholars, including ones who weren’t Christian, have used the Bible as a source document when planning or conducting their excavations. The Bible was and is widely regarded as an important source of information about ancient peoples and cultures. The trend to dismiss the Bible’s accuracy in matters of dates and places in the Mideast has become popular among skeptics but it is completely out of sync with how the Bible was viewed among professionals. In fact, the Bible’s history has been shown to be accurate even when doubted and you said that’s something you wanted to illustrate today, right? RD: Absolutely. But before we get into that I would also like to welcome the listeners to our show. Anchored by Truth’s sole purpose is to equip believers to be able to answer the question “how can we be sure the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.” And one way to do that is to use confirmed archeological discoveries to show that the Bible’s historical reports are accurate even when they have been doubted by secular scholars. Today I want to revisit one of the most famous examples of the Bible getting history right even when skeptics for centuries dismissed the Bible’s report. VK: So, since our opening scripture was from the book of Jonah I’m guessing that today you want to talk about the discovery of the city of Nineveh in the 19th century. Nineveh was the capital of Assyrian empire and was one of the most prominent cities in the ancient world. You wouldn’t think that a city as important as Nineveh could get lost in history but it did. An article on the United Church of God’s website says this: “Nineveh, the capital city, fell to the Babylonians in 612 B.C. About 50 years after its peak, [the Assyrian Empire had] collapsed and virtually vanished from history. By the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, no physical evidence of Nineveh could be seen. Lucian of Samosata ([who lived from] A.D. 120-180), a Greek writer, lamented: "Nineveh has perished. No trace of it remains. No one can say where once it existed" ... Such a lack of visible remains led some scholars of the 19th century to express skepticism that Nineveh or any part of the Assyrian Empire even existed, much less dominated a significant part of the world.” RD: Yes. From around 900 BC to 600 BC the Assyrian Empire was the dominant military power in the Mideast. Some scholars believe that during this time period it was the most formidable military power in the world. But as you just quoted, in the waning years of the 7th century BC, Assyria began to weaken and it ultimately fell to the Babylonians under King Nabopolassar. The fall of the Assyrian Empire isn’t all that remarkable because if we learn anything from history it’s that all empires, regardless of their power during their peak years, always weaken and ultimately fall. The Assyrians fell to the Babylonians, the Babylonians to the Persians, the Persians to the Greeks, and the Greeks to the Romans. And even the mighty Roman Empire which lasted even longer than the Assyrians or any of its predecessors ultimately collapsed under the weight of social decay and external pressures. What is somewhat remarkable is that the Assyrians disappeared so completely that secular history completely lost sight of them. VK: But, let’s be clear, in addition to the Bible recording the existence and greatness of the Assyrian Empire the Bible also had prophesied the destruction and disappearance of the Assyrian Empire. The Bible prophesied that God would use the Assyrians to punish His people because of their drift into idolatry. But at the same time God also told the Assyrians they would be punished in turn because of their arrogance. For instance, Isaiah, chapter 10, verses 15 through 19 record God saying to the Assyrians, “But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself? Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory. The LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night. The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague. Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive — so few that a child could count them!” That’s from the New Living Translation. RD: And Isaiah was not the only Old Testament prophet to warn Assyria of their coming destruction. Why don’t you read Nahum, chapter 2, verses 11 through 13? VK: Those verses say, “Where now is that great Nineveh, that den filled with young lions? It was a place where people—like lions and their cubs— walked freely and without fear. The lion tore up meat for his cubs and strangled prey for his mate. He filled his den with prey, his caverns with his plunder. ‘I am your enemy!’ says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. ‘Your chariots will soon go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed in battle. Never again will you plunder conquered nations. The voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.” RD: Listen to the last portion of what you read from Isaiah. God told the Assyrians that their “glorious forest” would be reduced to so few trees that a child could count them. Then in Nahum God said, “the voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.” These are essentially poetic ways of God telling the Assyrians they would be utterly destroyed and they were. But what we want to focus on today is that after those prophesies were fulfilled, and Nineveh was destroyed by the Babylonians, it wasn’t just reduced to a vassal state – as often happened. Nineveh and the Assyrians were so devastated that they disappeared. This huge city that was located in modern day Iraq literally disappeared into the sands. As the Greek writer you quoted said, “Nineveh has perished. No trace of it remains. No one can say where once it existed." Lucian lived in the 2nd century AD – almost 1,900 years ago. At least at that time secular history remembered Nineveh. But by the 19th century AD even that memory had disappeared – or at least it was greatly doubted. The one source, though, that unequivocally preserved the memory of the Assyrians and Nineveh was the Bible. VK: Well, one reason some secular historians may have begun to doubt the existence of an actual Nineveh was because one Bible book in which Nineveh plays a prominent role is the book of Jonah. Jonah may be the most famous of the Minor Prophets because his book contains one of the best known stories in the Bible – a man is saved from drowning by being swallowed by an extremely large sea creature and then tossed up on land. That same man later preaches to a pagan city and in 3 days converts the whole city including the king. That story sound mythical. So, maybe historians reasoned that the whole book of Jonah was mythical including the existence of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire? RD: And that’s certainly possible even though Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire are also mentioned in several other books of the Bible. But one thing the skeptics could take comfort from was that until the mid-19th century there was no physical evidence of Nineveh’s existence. Physically, Nineveh had just vanished. And archeology, as we know it today, was just beginning to emerge in the 19th century. And for the opening decades of the 19th century Nineveh still remained undiscovered. But then all that changed. The online Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say about the discovery of Nineveh. “The first person to survey and map Nineveh was the archaeologist Claudius J. Rich in 1820, a work later completed by Felix Jones and published by him in 1854. Excavations have been undertaken intermittently since that period by many persons. … Sir Henry Layard during 1845–51 discovered the palace of Sennacherib and took back to England an unrivalled collection of stone bas-reliefs together with thousands of tablets inscribed in cuneiform from the great library of Ashurbanipal.” VK: So, at least one of the names you just read should be familiar to any student of the Bible, right? RD: Right. Sennacherib was one of the most famous of the kings of Assyria and is mentioned in several places of the Bible. VK: Such as in the historical books of Kings and Chronicles. RD: Yes. Sennacherib is well known to Bible readers because at one point he invaded the kingdom of Judah with the intent to make it part of the Assyrian Empire. VK: Let’s remind listeners that during the time that David and his son, Solomon, were the kings of Israel the nation was unified. But when Solomon’s son took over the kingdom split in two. After that the northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. The northern kingdom was ruled by a series of idolatrous kings and was eventually conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The Assyrians deported the Israelites and resettled some other people into that territory. Judah remained an independent kingdom although it paid annual tributes to the Assyrians. But around 701 BC the Assyrians invaded Judah. 2 Chronicles, chapter 32, verse 1 says that the Assyrian king “laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.” RD: Right. The Assyrian king who laid siege to the cities of Judah was Sennacherib which the Bible tells us. But until the middle of the 19th century secular historians weren’t even sure that Sennacherib was a historical figure. But as the entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica told us once Sir Henry Layard discovered the great library of Assurbanipal all that changed. That library contained thousands of clay cuneiform tablets, including tablets that described Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah. And those tablets provided clear confirmation of the accuracy of the Bible’s text. VK: That same article from the United Church of God’s website says this. “Assyrian records of these events quote the King … of Assyria boasting of his devastating invasion of Judah: ‘Forty-six of [Hezekiah's] strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages...I besieged and conquered...As for Hezekiah, the awful splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him’ … [the Assyrian records] noted that [the king] had made Hezekiah ‘a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.’” RD: Right. The article goes on to say, “The biblical record agrees with Sennacherib's account of the Assyrian invasion and notes the desperation of the kingdom of Judah as the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, their last surviving stronghold. However, the Bible continues the story where the Assyrian records are silent. With Jerusalem facing imminent destruction, the people of Judah, led by King Hezekiah, prayed fervently to God (Isaiah 37:15-20) and were miraculously delivered against overwhelming odds.” In both the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles the Bible tells us that Hezekiah and the people’s prayers brought deliverance. VK: 2 Kings, chapter 19, verses 32 through 37 say this. “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’ That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So [the] king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god … his sons … killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.” [EH-SAHR-HEH-DOHN] RD: And the records that were brought back from the great library confirmed this account. Sennacherib carefully recorded a list of the cities he captured and destroyed, but one city is conspicuously absent—Jerusalem. Sennacherib talks about besieging Hezekiah in the city—not of taking it or Hezekiah, Judah's king. So, after almost 1,900 years of silence that prompted the secular world to doubt the authenticity of the Bible the Bible’s record was again proven to be true. The cuneiform tablets unearthed from Assurbanipal’s great library confirmed the Bible’s record of Sennacherib’s interactions with Judah exactly as described. VK: So, this reinforces one of the big points that we made in our first episode on “Archeology and the Bible.” One very important role archeology plays with respect to the Bible is to help affirm the reliability of the Bible’s historical reports. That’s what happened when archeologists began excavating at the site of the ancient city of Nineveh. At first they just found the ruins of the city. But when Henry Layard found the library the tablets in the library confirmed many of the details contained in the Bible’s historical records. These included the names of kings from both countries, the fact that Assyria invaded Judah and conquered many Judean cities, and that the Assyrians never conquered Jerusalem. The Assyrian records also confirmed that the invading king was murdered by two of his own sons and that a 3rd son inherited the empire. RD: Yes. Even though secular history lost sight of Nineveh for almost 2 millennia the Bible never did. But, let’s get back to the book of Jonah. We started out noting that one of the books of the Bible in which Nineveh features prominently is Jonah but some of the other elements of Jonah are so unusual that it made the book seem more fiction. But let’s show that even one of the historical details contained in book of Jonah was shown to be accurate. In Jonah, chapter 3, verse 3, Jonah gives us a detail about the city that seems unlikely. VK: Jonah, chapter 3, verse 3 says, in part, “This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.” That’s from the New Living Translation. The New International Version says, “Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.” What you’re saying is that that seems like a very large city if it takes 3 days for a person to walk across it. There aren’t that many modern cities that you couldn’t walk across in a day or two. So, a city that takes 3 days to cross seems improbable. RD: But, as improbable as it may seem, archeology has shown that even this detail from the book of Jonah is correct. Genesis, chapter 10, verses 11 and 12 tell us about the founding of Nineveh. It says, “From that land Nimrod went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, 12and [Nimrod built] Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; all these [combined to form] the great city [Nineveh].” That’s from the Amplified Bible. A Wikipedia article on the city of Nineveh notes that “The ruins of Kuyunjiq, Nimrud, Karamlesh, and Khorsabad for the four corners of an irregular quadrilateral. . The ruins of the ‘great city’ Nineveh, … [is] included within the parallelogram [formed] by lines drawn from the one to the other, [the Biblical reference in Jonah is] generally regarded as consisting of these four sites.” Furthermore, excavations have revealed that, as was common in ancient times, there were defensive fortifications in the area that lay well outside the walls of the Nineveh proper. These defensive fortifications were probably like outposts that could be used both to slow the advance of an oncoming army as well as give early warning to the main city. In walking from the outposts on one side of the region to the other archeologists found that it did indeed take a few days to cross from one outer ring of fortifications to the one on the opposite side. VK: Also, even in our day it’s common to refer to a large area by the name of a city that dominates it. If you look at a map we know that the New York City includes Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and so forth. But no one would bat an eye is someone from Florida just told their friends they were travelling to New York even though they might wind up in the Bronx. So, when the Hebrew writer said that Nineveh was a very great city that it took three days to cross the writer was just using the same kind of descriptive language we use today. RD: Agreed. In fact, the use of that kind of informal descriptive language adds to the authenticity of the book of Jonah. If someone had been contriving a pious fraud about a man being miraculously delivered by a fish from drowning before converting the capital city of his enemies it’s unlikely they would have been cavalier about describing the people who were to be converted. But someone recording a true, though remarkable, tale of conversion, whether the writer was Jonah or someone else, will write using the conversational conventions of their day. VK: What we’ve been talking about in this episode of Anchored by Truth is summed up well in the article from the United Church of God. The article says, “the only historical source in those days that verified the existence of the empire was the Bible. The Old Testament histories and prophecies spoke about Assyria. Jesus proclaimed the existence of Nineveh as a historical fact (Matthew 12:41). Yet some scholars disputed the testimony of Jesus and the prophets—that is, until ‘one spectacular decade in the middle of the nineteenth century...[when] Austen Henry Layard and Paul Emile Botta rediscovered in northern Iraq the ancient remains of three Assyrian cities [including Nineveh] and evidence of the military panoply that had crushed all resistance from the Tigris to the Nile. The Assyrian empire...in all its awesome power had been resurrected through archaeology.’” RD: So, the book of Jonah and the other books that mention Assyria and Nineveh provide a clear and easily understandable example of archeology producing evidence that demonstrated the truth of the Bible’s history – even when evidence had disappeared for a long time. Secular historians had concluded that the absence of evidence was evidence of absence. But it wasn’t. VK: The point you’re making is that is important to not discount the reliability of the Bible just because secular culture or so-called experts would like to do so. RD: Exactly. The Bible is the Word of God and as such it is trustworthy. But God has not asked us to suspend the use of ordinary human tools such as archeology, science, and logic in our pursuit of understanding the Bible. It is not unreasonable to for an honest skeptic to ask the question, “what evidence is there that the Bible is the Word of God?” That’s not an unreasonable question. What is unreasonable is for us to provide example after example of scientific fact or archeological discoveries supporting the Bible only for the skeptic to contend that the evidence doesn’t exist. There comes a point where a request for evidence dissolves into a simple unwillingness to accept what the evidence is saying. VK: So, when we encounter a book like Jonah it’s not unreasonable to approach certain parts of it – a man being swallowed and kept alive by a giant fish or whale – with an initial skepticism. Men being swallowed by giant fish isn’t an everyday occurrence for us. But the fact that it is unusual does not mean it’s impossible. And when we begin looking at elements within the book of Jonah that we can test directly we find out that a fair test tells us that the writer of Jonah was writing history not myth. RD: Right. In our first episode in this series we pointed out that another amazing story contained in the Bible, that of David and Goliath – that might on first blush look legendary – in fact is historically accurate in the details it reports. The book of Jonah reinforces the points we made in our first episode in this series. Archeology can play two very important roles in our study of the Bible and that’s why we’re doing this series. Archeology can help skeptics see that the Bible is not, in fact, a book of “myth and fairy tale.” It is a book firmly set in place and time and its reports of those places and times are trustworthy. Archeology can also help us expand our understanding of the places and times of the Bible and of the people, societies, and cultures that the Bible describes. This helps us understand the Bible’s messages more clearly. VK: Well, This sounds like a great time to pray. Today let’s listen to a prayer for our friends and neighbors who have not yet come to know Christ as their savior. Just as God converted the people of Nineveh through Jonah’s preaching, we can pray that the Lord will convert the lost of our day through our own preaching. Only God can change the human heart but He most often does it by using human instruments, like us, as part of His great work of redemption. ---- PRAYER FOR THE SPIRITUALLY LOST VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Bible Quotes from the Contemporary English Version) Jonah, Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, Contemporary English Version A Staggering Archaelogical Discovery: The Mighty Assyrian Empire Emerges From the Dust | United Church of God (ucg.org) Nineveh | History, Map, & Significance | Britannica Topical Bible: Ashurbanipal (biblehub.com) Nineveh - Wikipedia

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts For centuries heresy hunters have labeled those who deny the pre-existence of Jesus "adoptionists." This ancient category was based on the idea some Christian groups denied the virgin birth, thinking instead that Jesus became the son of God at his baptism when God adopted him. Modern scholars such as Bart Ehrman and Michael Bird employ this term to describe several early unitarian Christian groups. My guest today is Dr. Jeremiah Coogan, a scholar of the New Testament and early Christianity. He's written a really helpful journal article analyzing the early so-called adoptionist groups. His conclusion? None of them actually qualifies as adoptionists. https://youtu.be/zPL25MPwvbM —— Links —— Read Jeremiah Coogan's article here Visit Professor Coogan's faculty page More episodes on adoptionism See also my class on early church history Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Interview Questions —— - Today I'm interviewing Dr. Jeremiah Coogan. He is the Assistant Professor of NT at the Jesuit School of Theology. He has a PhD from Notre Dame in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity. Welcome to Restitutio, I'm so glad to talk with you today.- Today we're talking about your article "Rethinking Adoptionism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category," published in the Scottish Journal of Theology early this year. In this article you argue that the label of adoptionism is a problematic anachronism. To make sure everyone is up to speed on this issue, could you briefly describe what adoptionism is?- Describe the problem with modern scholars retrojecting Nicene controversies into earlier Christian history.- You argue that though there may have existed adoptionists somewhere in the ante-Nicene period, we have no evidence for them. What about Cerinthus?- Let's talk about the Ebionites? Weren't they adoptionists?- Do you think there's a connection between the Christian community of James in Jerusalem and the Ebionites?- What about Theodotus? He and his followers are often cited as adoptionists, but they affirmed the virginal conception of Christ, right? - Let's move on to Paul of Samosata. I see you cited Paul Sample. I got a hold of his dissertation from Northwestern a little while ago and was impressed to see he had collected and translated so many sources about Paul. What do you make of Paul of Samosata's christology?- So your conclusion after analyzing the evidence is that none of these authors were adoptionists? Why then, do you think scholars for so long have clung to this category? Do you think it was a delegitimizing tactic? Oh, they're not real Christians since they deny what Matthew and Luke say about the virgin birth…- What I look for in a source is virgin birth. If I find that, I know that the group can't hold adoptionism. - Let's talk about early high christology. You steered clear of it in your article, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts?- Have you had any feedback on your paper? - What are you working on now? - How can people find out more about you?- Thanks for talking with me today.

Nathan is the Assistant Pastor at the Oregon, IL Church of God: https://www.oregoncog.com/home.html We talk about Ignatius of Antioch and which of his writings are authentic and what what means for his theology. We also mention Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Sean Finnegan, Irenaeus of Lyon, Eusebius of Caesarea, Paul of Samosata, James White, John Calvin, JB Lightfoot, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, Origen of Alexandria, Nathan's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nathan-achieve-a-masters-degree

This video describes the variety of development of Christology in early Christianity and tries to determine which theology has the best claim on being the original teaching of the apostles. This video summarizes lots of information from my church fathers series. I mention Clement of Rome, Shepherd of Hermas, Artemon, Theodotus of Byzantium, Paul of Samosata, Photinus of Galatia, Justin Martyr, the Epistle of Barnabas, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Irenaeus of Lyon, Theophilus of Antioch, Novatian, Ignatius of Antioch, Alexander of Alexandria, Arius of Alexandria, Constantine, Origen of Alexandria, Fr. John Behr, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo, Valentinus, Martin Luther, and more.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Recently Tom Huszti interviewed me for his YouTube channel, the Unitarian Anabaptist. We talked about the importance of geography, archeology, and Greco-Roman history for interpreting the bible, especially the New Testament. Next we delved into early church history, starting with the earliest forms of Jewish Christianity in the first and second centuries. We talked about the Jerusalem church, the Nazarenes, and the Ebionites. Next we considered the persecution many Christians faced at the hands of the Romans for their unwillingness to give their ultimate allegiance to Caesar. The conversation was wide ranging, but what came through over and over is the importance of studying the bible and history in order to restore authentic Christianity and live it out today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KefOimH6ZU —— Links —— For the trip to Greece and Turkey with Jerry Wierwille, see the itinerary here and the map here. Follow Huszti's YouTube Channel, the Unitarian Anabaptist Check out episode 478 Unitarian Anabaptist (Tom Huszti)  Get the free class on Early Church History here. Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Transcript —— This transcript was auto-generated and only approximates the contents of this episode. Sean Finnegan:Hey there, I'm Sean Finnegan. And you are listening to restart studio podcast that seeks to recover authentic Christianity and live it out today. Tom Huszti: Sean Finnegan, welcome to Unitarian Anabaptist. Sean Finnegan: Thanks for having me. Tom Huszti: So this has been a long time in the waiting. I was interviewed by you about 8 months ago and now you're being interviewed by the Unitarian Anabaptist. What a privilege there is. A lot that you have to say today in the limited time that we're going to do this, you just came back from a trip of Italy and Greece. You finished a 500 year history of the early church. There's just so much interrelated and what I would like to do, as we discussed earlier is to relate these things back to the 1st century faith of our early Christian brethren. So to begin, could you give us a summary of the important highlights that you saw on your trip related to church history? Sean Finnegan: Yeah, we ended up going to a number of touristy spots in Greece like Santorini and Mykonos, but we also hit Athens and we came into the port of Piraeus and then got to the city of Athens and and the first thing that I will note. And anyone who's been to the Mediterranean in August will. We'll know what I'm about to say is. That it's hot. It's a very.SpeakerHot part of the. Sean Finnegan: World. So is the Middle East, so it's it's. It's interesting that, you know, like times I've been to Israel, times have been to Greece or Turkey. It is a very different climate than what I'm used to here in New York or you in Ohio there. Tom Huszti: Sure. Yes, yes, absolutely. Uh. Sean Finnegan: And you know that that. Brings to mind the importance of water. Hmm. And something that really stuck out to me in Israel I. Would have never. Gotten that from reading books, but going to Israel you go to these ancient sites and. These cisterns dug into the ground these huge caverns to store water because it doesn't rain that much water is is still a big deal in the 1st century in Rome in.SpeakerYes. Yeah. Sean Finnegan: Other cities Pompeii also got to visit Pompeii. Tom Huszti: A lot. Sean Finnegan: And they brought. The water in through aqueducts and this is. All part of. Their system of city structure, but the question. Who pays for the aqueducts? Who pays for the bath houses? You know, I got to see some bath houses in Pompeii where you had the the frigidarium, the tepidarium and the calidore. Yum, you know, and this is the really cold water, the tepid water and the hot water. And this is just what people did. These are these are public facilities. This actually ended up having a great deal of prestige. As wealthy people step forward and this happened in the 1st century, but also in the the 2nd century, was really the heyday of this period, where wealthy people would come forward and they would donate money to build these public works and they would build other great structures like theaters. And whatnot. And these would then be the ones who controlled the cities and won political office. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: And so it's a very different kind of world, you know, just like I don't think about water, I don't think. About wealthy people building bath houses or pools, right? It's just we, you know, we pay taxes and then, you know, we argue about the police. It's just a very different world. And that was really driven home to me on the trip, you know, in Athens, you're on the Acropolis and you're seeing the Parthenon and some of the other structures that still remain. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes. Sean Finnegan: It's just like this is an utterly different world, and it's just so helpful to remember that Tom because. We don't do that when we read the Bible, what we do is we just. We have what we. Understand the world to be, and then we encounter the scripture. We read the text and then we think to ourselves. How can I incorporate this new information? I'm reading about the book of acts or one of the church epistles. For example, how do I incorporate that into what? I know about the world. This is an automatic process and the problem is if you don't force yourself to stop and say wait, they lived in a different world where they had different. Different language, different politics, different weather, different everything. Then you can easily misunderstand so much of the New Testament I. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: Think that's a? Lot of what we as pastors do is we're trying to help people understand the scriptures. So the trip was really enlightening in that sense. Also, I'll make another quick point about it is that we did manage to go to the very edge of Mount Vesuvius. Now Mount Vesuvius blew in 79 AD 79, and that's what killed all the people in Pompeii and Herculaneum. And so they say it's still an active volcano. But you can take a.SpeakerOK. Sean Finnegan: Bus all the way up to the top and then you hike until. Tom Huszti: What's the way? Sean Finnegan: You get to the very crater. You can look down into the crater and it's just incredible. It's just dirt and some like grass and stuff. There's no like lava. Or anything cool but. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: It's just a weird experience to like, stand on the edge of an active volcano and think, wow. This thing blew. And you could kind of see why ancient people were like, ohh, the gods are angry, right? Because. Like who would it? Tom Huszti: Uh-huh. Well, yeah. Sean Finnegan: There's no one in living memory of seeing this thing blow the last time, and it's just such a otherworldly power, sure. Tom Huszti: How far is Pompeii from Rome? Sean Finnegan: I think about two hours. If I had to guess something like that, so we approached. Tom Huszti: Ohh that far OK. Sean Finnegan: Pompeii, from Naples, Naples, is on the. Coast came at it from the West to get to Pompeii in the east, and then you get to Vesuvius and. At the top. Of the Zeus, you can see everything you can see just miles and miles in different cities and. It's really incredible. Tom Huszti: My, my. So how far did the lava have to travel to make it to Pompeii from? Sean Finnegan: Well, wasn't it? They didn't get buried in lava, actually. Yeah, you, you. You would, I guess you would expect that, but it was, it was a I think it was a toxic gas. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: That swept through it well. Initially it was uh. Was launching projectiles and ash and rock straight up, and then that fell because of the wind onto the city and so that, you know, imagine like a hail storm, but with stones and bigger ones and smaller ones. But then a gas came from the mountain and. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: I believe that's what happened and it killed the people, but then it continued to rain. Ash, I think they said like 20 feet of ash, something crazy. Tom Huszti: Oh wow. OK.Speaker 5And it just. Sean Finnegan: Settled on the city and people just didn't have a reason to go there for anything or I'm. I'm not really sure why, but it just laid there. Century after century, and I'm not sure exactly when. Maybe in the 1700s eighteen, 100 something something around there, they're just like, hey, I think we found. A city over here, you know? Archaeology. Just finally gets started. And what happened, Tom, is they would come against these air pockets. So they're digging through. And they hit like a pocket of air and they're. Like this is so weird. What is this? And someone got the bright idea of. Of squeezing into it some plaster, yeah. Tom Huszti: plaster plaster. OK OK. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, if you have you seen these images? Tom Huszti: Yeah, I have. Yeah. That's what I was wondering. OK. Sean Finnegan: Yeah. Yeah. And so then they let it dry and harden, and then they chip around it and then they see the exact shape of a human being. Sometimes even with fine detail. Of like facial expressions and stuff. That's kind of become their customers when they hit an air cavity. They just do that and there there are lots of these casts of human beings in various positions. And what's crazy about them is it's. Just like a. Plaster, but inside the plaster are that person. 'S actual bones. Tom Huszti: Yeah. I was gonna ask. OK. I was gonna ask, you know, something that you mentioned to me back. Louisville, KY, was the length of time that bones. Yeah. And we were talking about resurrection and literal resurrection. And you mentioned that bones last a long time. That's something I really was impressed by something that Rabbi Tovia singer was speaking out against being cremated because. Because the bones are supposed to be the material that used for in part anyhow to reconstitute us as human beings in the resurrection. So that view is very Jewish in origin, as you well know. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, I tend to agree with Rabbi Tovia singer on that. I'm not a fan of cremation. I'm not going to say it's going to defeat God's ability to resurrect somebody, feel like that's a pretty extreme position to take. But I have learned a lot and I know you've been to Israel and you've stood on the Mount of olives and you see. Well, the the tombs there that are, I don't know why they're buried above ground, but they're all these stone rectangles and or stone boxes, really rectangular shaped boxes and inside are the bones. And it's like, well, what's the deal with this? Why are they so worried about bones or not worried but concerned about bones and focused and. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes. Sean Finnegan: About caring for the bones and you know they have these ossuaries where you know they they found Caiaphas ossuary. Tom Huszti: I know I saw it when I was in Israel. Sean Finnegan: Incredible ornate. Tom Huszti: In the Israel, yeah. In the Israel hit Natural History Museum of all places, back in 2004, I was shocked. Sean Finnegan: Isn't it beautiful? Tom Huszti: Well, well, it's a beautiful ossuary, but what was most shocking was the was the plaque beside it. The plaque, the plaque beside it, said this was the high priest in the days of Jesus that was responsible for his crucifixion. And I thought to see that advertised in the Israel. Sean Finnegan: Oh, what did it say? Tom Huszti: Natural History Museum was just shocking because it's a recognition that this thing happened and this is the man responsible to it. I was, yeah, that was the last thing I saw in the museum on my way out because we were we had a very short time frame and it was at the entrance of the. Museum so we saw it as we exited. Very cool. Fascinating, yes. Sean Finnegan: Very cool. And you see that stuff? You just say to yourself. These are real. These are true stories. This is history, you know. You see. The the litho what is that Lithos Stratos? You know that that street that is beneath Jerusalem, that was discovered where this is where Jesus was beaten or. He was. It's the layer that goes back to the 1st century. It's kind of underneath the city of Jerusalem. You see these things you say to yourself like I like. I've stood there, Tom. Like, I know for sure. Now. Vesuvius is a real volcano. I looked into the. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes. Crater. Yes, yes. Yeah, right, right.SpeakerIt's like not that. Sean Finnegan: I ever really doubted it, but like when you do it and you stand there and you see and you, you know, you see the cast and the horror on the faces of the. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: People in Pompeii, you're like. OK, this is not a story, this is history. Tom Huszti: Yeah, no. Sean Finnegan: And it's very powerful. But back to your point about resurrection and bones. What really started me on this, this is going to be a really random source, is a Freakonomics podcast episode. They're talking about cremating animals. The guy was saying, when it comes to cremating animals, they it was, they were trying to do an investigation. The big question they had was. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: Do they actually give you the ashes for your animal? This is like a pet crematorium. Or are they just like scooping random ashes? And you know what? What's really going on here? Right. And they were talking it. So they got into the subject of cremation and bones. And they're like, well, you know, what really happens to the crematorium is they burn, you know, the human or the animal or whatever. And then the bones are there. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: Their bones are not burnable, they just, they're just there. Tom Huszti: Right, right, right. Sean Finnegan: So what they do is they grind them. Tom Huszti: That's what Tovia said, too. Sean Finnegan: And after they grind them down, that's the ashes that you get. They're actually ground bones. Tom Huszti: Ohh, is that right? Sean Finnegan: That they return to you. At least, that's what this podcast episode was saying. It was talking about animals, but like, it also talked about humans, whatever. And it and it made me think to myself, like, wait a second. I always just assumed the bones desiccated. I assumed that they disintegrated over. Tom Huszti: OK. Ohh you did. OK. Sean Finnegan: Time and then it it it kind of informed my thinking about, you know, the James Ossuary and the Caiaphas archery and some of these other ossuary findings, like some of the more sensationalized ones said we think we found Jesus and all this, which has been pretty much not accepted by scholarship but anyhow.Speaker 5The idea of. Sean Finnegan: Bones lasting for centuries and centuries was just like common sense to ancient people because they didn't have this separation. Like we have from our dead. Like we don't, we don't. Know but like they would go. Sean Finnegan:A year later. Sean Finnegan: Back to the tomb and they would pick up the bones and put them in a. Little bone box. Space is limited and you want to fit as many ancestors, descendants, relatives in the same cave or tomb as possible. But you're not looking to, like, mix all the bones together. So yeah, it just kind of made sense to get a box the width of the skull and the length of a femur, and to use that to, you know, organize people and just scratch on the side, the person's name. And so I think this all goes back to whether we're talking about the amount of olives. Tom Huszti: Yeah, yeah. Tom Huszti: Oh, OK. Sean Finnegan: To this day in Jerusalem, or we're talking about the austrias in the 1st century this or or Tovia Singer's preferences. This all goes back to the same thing which is this. Really strong belief in resurrection and so burying your dead in a way that preserves the bones or cares for the bones is is in a sense, I think a an act of faith that the Jewish people have always had. Again, I'm not saying that cremation is a sin or that it's going to damn somebody to, you know, eternal judgment or, you know, that's not where I'm going here, but I think. Tom Huszti: Yes. No. Sean Finnegan: We should ask the question, is this really this is really fit as Christians like I know it's less expensive. OK, but like is it? Is that always the right course of action? Just cause something's less expensive. So I I think burial. Traditional burial it can be an act of faith because you're saying I'm going to Mark Toome. I'm going to rise. Out of this to. Him so. Tom Huszti: Let's get back to your your trip details. I'm trying to picture this, the framework of well picture this setting that the acts of the apostles was written in. Is Athens set on a hill? Sean Finnegan: Well, the Acropolis certainly is. Tom Huszti: The acropolises OK. Sean Finnegan: Yeah. So, yeah, there there are definitely hills there. The propolis is a very high point in the center of Athens and it is kind of steep. I don't know what you call like a plateau that just. Rises out of nowhere. In the old days, that would be the spot where you would retreat to if Athens were invaded, because it can be held much longer. Tom Huszti: Apostle Paul preached in that place. Sean Finnegan: Well, I think he preached. On Mars. So which is right next to it. So it's yeah, it's right. Right nearby. Tom Huszti: Can you imagine the possible Paul in that setting? Sean Finnegan: Yeah. Well, I mean, the interesting thing about the apostle Paul at the Areopagus or Mars Hill is that he is looking at all these statues. And I when I was in Athens, I got to go to the museum. Tom Huszti: Can you picture him there? Carry out this OK? Sean Finnegan: The Acropolis Museum, which is. Walk. We got there and we went inside and you see all these statues? These are all these statues that they found? Of course. The Acropolis had actual temples to gods on it and that wouldn't have been unusual. There would be temples and statues of gods all throughout the city. And that's not weird for Athens. All Greco-roman cities had statues to gods, shrines, little other ways of worshipping their gods, you know, depending on what gods we're talking about, they're all a little different. You know, there's Paul. He's not really from the West, you know, for and for his perspective as as somebody from. Horses and cilicia. Athens is the. West, we say Athens is east, but for him that's. Tom Huszti: OK, he's from us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sean Finnegan: West and you know, so for Paul, he would have seen plenty of this throughout his travels and stuff. But for whatever reason, his heart was just so troubled in Athens, he saw that people just in the city just given to this in Act 17, he finds this altar to the unknown God and he's like. All right, well, here's. Here's someplace where I can hook on a gospel presentation. Really good speaking. But it's interesting too, going back to our former conversation about burial and resurrection, when it comes to the part where Paul says that God has furnished proof by raising that Jesus is the Messiah by raising him from the dead. The Athenians had no trouble hearing that Jesus would be the Messiah. I don't think that was like a really understood category to them. They wouldn't have a hang up about that as him being a king or whatever. But when he says. He has given proof by raising him from the dead. Suddenly they're just like this is ridiculous. Everybody knows you don't want your body back again. This is stupid. I'm out of here. And like the Greeks, the Greeks, they're standard approach to the afterlife. Tom Huszti: Ohh yeah yeah. Sean Finnegan:That's right. Sean Finnegan: Was to get rid of the body. It was not to keep the body or to get the body back. Restored and renewed. And so this. This was always a big issue between Jews and Christians. Agree on. Over against the the Greco-roman, whether the philosophers or just like the folk religion of like going down to Hades and you know all the stuff they, you know, they had stories about all that. Tom Huszti: Have you been to Cesarea Philippi in Israel? Sean Finnegan: Yeah, it's like they call it banya or. Tom Huszti: Something banyas. Yes, banyas. And actually, I guess you know why it's called banyas. Sean Finnegan: Well, there was a. Shrine to the God pan there. Tom Huszti: Right pan, right. So the original name was panyas. But the Arabs have a hard time pronouncing the sound, so they change it to bond. Yes, believe it or not. But yes, yes, yes. So now. Sean Finnegan: Well, that makes sense. Thank you. Tom Huszti: You learn something. From me for a change, right? OK. Sean Finnegan: There it is. There it is. Yeah. I have been there. It's a beautiful spot. And you know, again, talking about the heat and the the arid climate of Israel to have a place with a beautiful water supply. Tom Huszti: Oh my. Sean Finnegan: Like sensory flip by where you say, OK, this is it. This is going to be a big spot. This is going to be a place where people are going to want to go and build things and live because there's plenty of water. Tom Huszti: Yes. Yeah. Tom Huszti: Yeah, it's beautiful there, isn't it? Maybe the most beautiful place in Israel. In my my view, as far as the physicality of it, that's arguable, but. Sean Finnegan: I don't know. I loved Dengeki. I thought it was. Tom Huszti: And Betty was beautiful too. Yes. Also water the the shrine. So do you remember what the shrine of Pan looked like? And and with the details about what was happening there. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, yeah. No, no, remind me. Tom Huszti: OK, there's a a graven image of pan on the the wall of the the side of Mount Hermon, the base of Mount Hermon there. And there is a cave right next to it. And there would would have been an altar for a member, correct? There would have been an altar in front of The Cave, and they were doing sacrifices to the God pan, and they were throwing the sacrificed beast into The Cave and the Jordan River begins flowing from that area. So. There was some kind of a relationship to throwing the sacrifice into The Cave and and whether or not the blood came out at the Jordan River that cave. On the side of the mountain, Mount Hermon was supposed to be the gateway to the underworld. Sean Finnegan: It is certainly the case that the Greeks and the Jews looked very differently at the dead. The Jewish mindset was at the dead are resting and they had the term show all for that. The sort of realm of the dead where all the dead are they're they're awaiting, they're asleep, they use that language. Lot, even in the the Christian New Testament. Tons of references, a lot of our translations, just like get rid of it and they say died or. Something like that. But that it actually says fall asleep or fell asleep. Ohh which you know the a Greek person wouldn't say that they would say no, they're in a different realm. And they're in the underworld of Hades, and Hades is not just a realm. It's also the name of a God who's in charge of all of those shades or departed souls. And you know, so, like, these are very different views. You know what I mean? And it's sad to say, but Christianity has more often than not. Agree with the pagans over against the early Christian. Of view, which is a shame, right? Tom Huszti: Unfortunate indeed. Yes, it is in the the first conversation I had with Tovia Singer, we hit upon so many touch points that we agree upon resurrection life in the age to come. The term Messiah is something that we can talk freely about. There's so many things from my Christian view that actually are terms that you can talk to Jewish people in this present day about, especially those who are inclined to study the Old Testament. And that's a conversation that most nominal Orthodox kind of Christians cannot have with Jewish people. The the rule seems to be that Jews have to leave Judaism in order to come over to Christianity. But strangely enough, we received Christianity from the Jews. And so the context that you're you're seeing here is something that is is very interesting. In restoring Christianity to its 1st century foundations, which is your your big desire so. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's what, that's what I'm all about, is trying to clear away the accretions of the Middle Ages and the post Christian. Developments and getting back to that original earlier version of Apostolic Christianity, you know what? What would the church have thought about this in the 1st century rather than in the 2nd and following centuries? The the subsequent centuries? And, you know, I'm not against technology. Renovation. But I am against changing our beliefs from what the New Testament says and that has happened a lot and it happens very slowly. And I've had a a a desire to understand that development. For a long. Time and did my masters on the subject and was really surprised to see that, you know, people are just not asking this question. Like I'm I'm a member. Of the even to this day of the the Boston area patristic society. OK. And so I get emails and, you know, invitations to attend their meetings, which I attended when I lived out there. And, you know, they're held either at Harvard or at Brown University or sometimes at Providence College as well as three schools have good patristic good, early church history programs. And you know so. They they issue these papers a couple. Of times a year. I don't know like 3 or. Four to five times a year and you know you have lint chocolates and a little wine and a little cheese. And you know, you sit around and, you know, just kind of listen in with these, you know, somebody presents on some aspects some facet of. Early church history. Three, I've been a member of this for I don't know a decade they have never done. A doctrine not once. Not once. There's no interest at all in doctrinal development or this mindset that says, hey, let's get back to living out our faith the way they lived out there is, as far as how we treat people or how we think about the government or whatever practical area. There's zero interest in that. In the the more liberal side of the fence and then on the conservative side of the fence, you have the Catholics that really dominate. And not that there aren't liberal Catholics. I'm sure there's plenty of them too. But I'm talking about the more conservative minded ones and they're always just trying to show that what the church teaches now is really what Christians have always believed. So it's apologetic. It's not OK, let's see what happened. It's more like, alright, well, this person like, for example Ignatius of Antioch, there's going to be an amazing presentation on this. Tom Huszti: Come on. Sean Finnegan: At the Unitarian Christian Alliance Conference next month, Nathan Massey has done some cutting edge research on Ignatius of Antioch. But anyhow, people, Catholic scholars in particular love Ignatius, and they'll go to Ignatius and they say, well, see, Ignatius calls Jesus God. Therefore, the Trinity is true as we, you know, 20 centuries later. Teach it it. It's it's all true because Ignatius said Jesus is God, and there's just more problems with that than you can shake a stick at, which you know I won't get into unless you're interested. But like my my point is. There's very few scholars who are honestly going to the sources of ancient Christians. Whatever books have survived right, and saying what were they saying? And and just taking them on their own words, their own terms, giving them the credit that they knew what they. Were talking about even. If it disagrees with what the? First later said was the right way to think, right? So let me let me just give. You one example. So for example. Justin Martyr, Justin Martyr doesn't fit with anybody, right? I mean, he's just idiosyncratic. He has his own way of thinking and talking. About things, he will even call Jesus, the second God sometimes. And you know he doesn't. Think at all that. Jesus, even in his preincarnate state, was equal. With God the. Father ever, you know, at the same time he's he's sort of like very much like in mesh with the Jews and and like very much talking to the Jews and at. The same time, incredibly rude. And it, you know, by what I would say, it's totally inappropriate. You know, some of the ways he he talks to in in one of his books, the book against Trifle. So yeah. So anyhow, Justin Moorer, you know, a church historian will come along and say, Justin, Monta was just. Tom Huszti: Ohh trifle.Speaker 5You know, he was reaching in the dark for the doctrine of the Trinity. He just didn't quite have the language yet to express it, and it's like. Sean Finnegan: No, he wasn't. He had a he had a mature developed view of who he thought Jesus was. And it's just different than yours, man. Just just. Allow him to be him. Tom Huszti: He might have squeeze everybody into the. Sean Finnegan:You know. Tom Huszti: Same mold, huh?SpeakerHe's not. Sean Finnegan: Hinting at anything he thinks he knows what he's talking about. You're not. Tom Huszti: Right. Tom Huszti: He wore the philosopher's robe, didn't he? Sean Finnegan: He did, and he had a he had a a little meeting spot in Rome above a, you know, above a shop, you know, he had a little apartment or whatever, and he'd he'd meet with people and he'd teach him what he thought was the definitive understanding of the Christian religion, just because nobody else later on agrees with him doesn't mean he was just like. Undeveloped or something, you know, he he believes what he believed, and it's just different and that's OK. And what I see when I look at Justin or Irenaeus or, you know, a lot of these guys is I see development. And when I see development, I think to myself, let's rollback the tape and see the trajectory overtime. Yeah. What is the vector? Where is this heading? So if I see you know a couple of points on a line that go in One Direction, I could say OK, I make a measurement here, make a measurement here, connect those dots and trace it backwards. What's there in the? 1st century and that's that's what I love to do. That's what I want to know. That's my my research, my investigation to find. What's the earliest beliefs and practices and that I'm crazy enough to think we can live that out today? Tom Huszti: Yeah, you are a strange bird, but I agree with you I. Guess I am too so. Sean Finnegan: Well, and The thing is we both came to this from very different milieus, different backgrounds, denominations and so forth. But we both recognize that it makes logical sense that if the church has gotten off track. Then you know the best way to do it is to reform back to the, you know, whatever we can recover of the original version of Christian. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: And you know, that's. Yeah, it makes sense to me. A lot of people don't. They don't believe in Restorationism. They they say, oh, that's you can't go back there. It's impossible and it's like. Tom Huszti: That's so true. Sean Finnegan: Well, well, why let? Tom Huszti: Me. Share you with you my thought on this. So the the 1st century church was waiting for the return of Jesus and it didn't happen in their age, but. We who claim to desire the return of Jesus need to be postured as they were. Like I'm I'm just. Wondering you know. Like if Christianity gets far enough away from their origins, it's an awful lot to ask Jesus to return when we've strayed so far from. What our forefathers believed so that the church that I was put out from is called the Apostolic Christian Church Nazarene. And the term Nazarene is a a term that is very, very honorable, I would say. But when you think in terms of the early church, the term Nazarene meant Jewish believers in Messiah. And I still call myself a Nazarene, even though my community has, for the by and large, has disfellowship. Hit me. I'd like to to trace my origins back to the the Nazarenes my my Jewish Brethren, believers in Jesus, and this is something that you touched upon in your. Your church history. You think you could fill us in a little bit about the views of different Jewish Christians, Abbey Knights and Nazarenes and. Any others that would kind of fit that category maybe give us a little summary. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, to do work on the Ebionites or the Nazarenes is to read late reports. By their enemies. I don't know of a single document that survives other. Than I would. Argue that, dedicate, I would say that dedicat is a Nazarene document. Tom Huszti: Oh wow. Sean Finnegan: It reads that way to me. It has a low Christology. It's very Jewish, you know, it's very Christian, you know. And it it just seems to kind of fit that that mindset. So I would argue that the dedicate would be a Nazarene document. Now these these terms, Nazarene, it's actually in the New Testament. The sect of the Nazarenes. Where was that? They said. Tom Huszti: Right, Paul Paul, was it? Yes, they did. That's correct. Yeah. Yes. Sean Finnegan: That about Paul, right? Yeah. So that's old school. Right. But what we can kind of gather is from these late reports and when I say late, I'm talking like from the year 375, we get this heresy hunter named Epiphanius of Salamis and he writes a book called The Panarion. You know, so this is this is riding 300 years after all the action and the excitement has already happened, right? Where's where's the action? Where's the parting of the ways? As James Dunn's famous book called it? Well, it's really in that post 70AD pre. Justin. So like between like 70 AD when the temple. Tom Huszti: Yeah, yeah. Sean Finnegan: Got destroyed and the Romans conquered Jerusalem to the time of Justin Mortar where, like he begins in, you know, maybe like 135 was the 2nd revolution. Right. So you have the the bar Copa revolt. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: Actually, some people might call it a third revolution because there was another one in between the two, but whatever. It wasn't in. Jerusalem. But you know, in that period there, what is that like? Probably like 60-70 years something happened and there was a a splitting away and Gentile. Tom Huszti: Ohh there was OK Ohh. Sean Finnegan: Christians and Jewish Christians. Stops influencing each other. And it's a really murky period of time. Scholars have all kinds of theories from there was never a parting of the ways. What are you? Talking about to it. Tom Huszti: Uh-huh. Well. Sean Finnegan: It happened because of this or because of that. But let's just put it this way, the the the official Christian line on it has always been since. The time of Eusebius. That the followers of Jesus when they. Saw the Roman legions coming. Abandoned the city of Jerusalem. And if that's true and they, he says they went to power, they went to this other area. If that's true, then the native Jewish people who stayed and fought and died. And then many of them also survived. Would not very much like the Jewish Christians because. They didn't stay, they didn't like. Tom Huszti: So you're talking for 70, you're talking about from 70 AD that the Christians would have left. Sean Finnegan: Yeah. Yeah. So, like, after the city is conquered by the Romans, things kind of settle down politically. I mean, I guess the last holdouts are at Masada up until what, like 7370? Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: 4 but like. Then that OK, this period ends, the Romans have reasserted their dominance. But you know a lot of Jewish people survive and and. And they're not looking at the Jewish Christians positively, they're looking at them negatively. And we have this Birkat hominem. Yes. Are you familiar with that? It says for the apostates, let there be no hope and uproot the Kingdom of arrogance speedily. And in our days, may the Nazarenes and the sectarians perish, as in a moment let them be blotted out of the book of life. Tom Huszti: I am. Sean Finnegan: And and so forth. So it's like OK by the time of Justin, he makes mention of this and he says you. Know why? Why? You guys cursing us in your synagogues, right? So like Justin knows about it, so. It's got to be before 160 and it's. Probably after the month. Tom Huszti: So let me ask you this, would that curse? Be specific to Jewish believers in Messiah Jesus. She will. Or would it? That was specifically for them because they were thought they were thought to be created. Sean Finnegan: Well, they they would be the ones to go to the synagogue. So this is something. That would be spoken. Publicly in the synagogue, along with the other blessings and. Tom Huszti: OK. Ah. So that would discourage them from attending synagogue. Sean Finnegan: It would expose them as well because they wouldn't be able to recite that. Tom Huszti: Oh, they wouldn't be able to recite it, OK. Sean Finnegan: You can't curse yourself, you know. It's just awkward. Tom Huszti: Yes, so so so.SpeakerYou know, right. Tom Huszti: During the time of the Barkha revolt, the Jewish believers in Yeshua Miss Jesus would not have taken up arms against the Romans and this would have been a further offense against the. Against the revolution, revolutionaries against the Jews. Sean Finnegan: Well, you know. We we see we see rumblings even before in the I don't know if it's the Jewish war or the antiquity of the of the. Jews with Josephus. He talks about how there was a power vacuum just for a moment in Jerusalem and during that power vacuum when the old governor had, I don't know if he died or just had left or whatever happened to him. But the new governor, I think, was Albinus, was on his way then the non Christian. Jewish people were able to gang up on James, and when James was fairly old brother of Jesus and that they were able to more or less lynch him, you know, they just got a mob together and they they were able to to kill. Tom Huszti: A friend. Sean Finnegan: Him. So there was already animosity before the war. War starts in 66, you know it. It did blow up from time to time. We see it in the book of Acts. Right. There's a lot of animosity between the Jewish Christians, the non Christian Jews. OK, so this this continues. But after the war.SpeakerOK. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: It it's it seems like there's not even much real space left for Jewish Christians to even go to a synagogue with this curse that's put there specifically against them. Again, the war is such a massive historical event. The Jewish War of Rome, 66 to 74, where I mean, how many kinds of Judaism. Do we know? About from the 1st century, you have your Sadducees, you have your Essenes, you have the rebellious types. They call the 4th philosophy and Josephus. You have your Pharisees, and then you have the Christian Jews. Tom Huszti: They would be the zealot. Would there be the zealots or the sikari? Sean Finnegan: Yeah, yeah, that would be the 4th philosophy. The Zealots, the sicari, all the revolutionary types. Right. So you have like, five types of Judaism. And so the Christian Jews. Tom Huszti: OK. OK. Sean Finnegan: Five and the Pharisaic Jews survive, but the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the revolutionaries. They're all gone, or completely disempowered. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: After the war, so now you have pharisaic Judaism, which eventually kind of develops into rabbinic Judaism, and you have the Jesus Jews. And they gave birth to the Christian movement, which is kind of like, it's almost like in a sense gone public like a like a corporation offers an IPO. And then, like, the, the company has kind of a life of its own, independent of what the founder, really. Tom Huszti: Yeah. OK.SpeakerHis vision was. Sean Finnegan: And maybe that's a good analogy for it, cause like Christianity goes pretty much Gentile and there it's Jew and Gentile together in the 1st century for sure. But like as we get into the 2nd century. The kinds of literature that survive from Christian pens. It's just like either ignorant of Jewish practices and interpretations of the Old Testament or outright antagonistic, where you get like documents from like the middle of the 2nd century. Like I'm thinking of the Epistle of Barnabas, and some of the other documents in the Apostolic Fathers, where like they're just like you, Jews are crazy because you kept the law. And it's like, how could you ever say that if you're if you're a little more aware of what the, you know, that that was the law that God gave to the Jewish people to keep, why would they be crazy to keep it? Right? So it seems like there's just a parting of the ways. And that's the term James Dunn used for it. And, you know, we just wish so much that we had. We have more information about it. We just kind of get these little bits and pieces. We don't know exactly how it happened. We just know that it happened.SpeakerOh yeah. Tom Huszti: Some hostile witnesses, of all places. Sean Finnegan: So now you've got. These Jewish Christians, Tom and they're kind of isolated in the east, they're not well loved by the Gentile Christians or they don't have access or I don't know, for whatever reason, there's just not a lot of interaction, which is tragic in my opinion. Tom Huszti: Yeah. Yes.SpeakerBut they're also. Sean Finnegan: Alienated from their own Jewish brothers and sisters because they're not allowed in the synagogue and you know, if you're in a little village and there's only one place putting shoes on horses. Or doing some other craft or trade. And they don't want to sell to you. Guess what? You're in trouble, you know, because you're one of the Nazarenes or. One of the Ebionites. Tom Huszti: Sure, sure. Sean Finnegan: So you know these people had a really tough go of it and you know, we hear about them later on and they may have survived pretty well. Outside the Roman Empire, in the east, in the Persian Empire. But we don't know much about that either, so it's really hard to do scholarship on them. There are more questions than answers, but my best guess, OK. And that's really what it is, is it's a guess is that the community of James, the brother of Jesus, they didn't really get on board. With what Paul? And Gentile Christianity was doing they got on board to a certain degree and and this we see this conflict in the book of. Acts 15 and then later. Tom Huszti: Yeah, 15. Sean Finnegan: On in .2 what happens is.SpeakerThey say all. Sean Finnegan: Right. Well, you you can have. Gentiles and they don't need to keep the law. Fine, but we Jews are going to keep the law. Still, I don't think Paul got on board with that. Paul would say Jews don't need to keep the law either. Obviously they can. Anybody can keep the law. Who wants to? But Jewish Christians, I should say I should be clear. I'm not talking about just Jews in general. I'm saying Jews who believe in Jesus because of a covenantal understanding expressed later. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes. Sean Finnegan: In the Book of Hebrews, whoever wrote Hebrews that it is clear that Jewish Christians don't need to keep the law. James and his group of Jewish Christians disagree with. That viewpoint, they say no. This is the covenant. We're Jewish Christians. We're going to continue to keep the law. So I think this James Community is what left during the war and survived north and east of Jerusalem. And that then this community had a doctrinal division where some of them. Accepted the Gospel of Matthew, which possibly was in Hebrew or Aramaic. You know some language that the people could readily read. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: There are lots of hints of that in the patristic literature. People talk about it quite a bit. They don't talk about any other writing. From the new. Testament, all the other books in the New Testament. They never mentioned as being in Hebrew, just Matthew. Tom Huszti: Wow, just Matthew cross. Sean Finnegan: It's the only one. Yeah. So why would you? Put it in Hebrew, whether it was written in Hebrew originally or translated into Hebrew. Why would why? Because you have Jewish people. Reading it. You read the Gospel of Matthew. What does it begin with? A genealogy? Who loves genealogies? The Greeks? No, they don't care about genealogies. The Jews love genealogies. So Matthew begins by making a convincing argument that this Jesus of Nazareth has a claim. And. Could possibly be the Messiah because of his ancestry. That's how it starts. So you've got this community and in. The Gospel of Matthew as well as. Luke, you have. The virgin birth. You have the virgin conception and you know this idea that in in some way Jesus is the son of God.Speaker 5Some of the. Sean Finnegan: Jewish Christians in this community don't believe that. And others do, and that is, and again, this is a reconstruction based on hostile sources like Epiphanius, and you siberius, and there are plenty of later ones too. Like Jerome mentions this stuff and it, and and it's even possible that these Jewish Christians survive. Arrived and they there was some interaction with them. It wasn't just all hearsay. OK, but it's possible for us to know today how reliable these reports are. But so you have the James, Jewish Christians. They go away from Jerusalem and they settle in north and east of of Jerusalem. And they have this difference. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: Among them the ones who? Believe in the virgin birth. Are Nazarenes the ones that do not? Are Ebionites both of them believe that Jesus is a human being? Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: Whom God anointed as a Messiah. They both believe in crucifixion. Both believe in resurrection. Both believe in Ascension. Both believe in the coming Kingdom. So the question is, you know whether he is biologically. Whatever that means, you know, like, if there was this miracle to get him started or if he was the son of Joseph. OK, so that's that seems to be the disagreement there between the Nazarenes and the Ebionites. And here's here's just one more thing to complicate it, make it worse is some Christians will call both groups of unites. Tom Huszti: Yeah, that's a mistake. Sean Finnegan: And they're saying, well, some of you guys believe this and some even nice believe. That it's like. Tom Huszti: Yes, right. Well, it seems to me the very, very important doctrines they agreed upon. And I know I noticed in the Apostle Paul's writing, he never mentions the virgin birth, he does emphasize. The authority that Jesus received through the resurrection, most notably in Romans chapter one, that's where. Sean Finnegan: Yeah. I mean, I think the closest pull comes is Galatians 4 four, where it says when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law. Sort of like the closest. To it you. Can interpret that a number of different ways. Tom Huszti: So it's fascinating to understand that we've actually lost connection to a large extent to the original source of our our gospel message. And I suppose that makes that makes your challenge of restoring 1st century Christianity even a bit. Your task you're trying to recreate these things based on what you know and based on hostile witness accounts. Sean Finnegan: Here's the good news. We still have the Bible. We have the New Testament. You know, we can read it, we can see. And it's not like the New Testament is hiding or covering over any controversy like the The Paul. James, things is is is plain as day in Galatians like pull, yes, pull lays it out, you know, and I and. I'm going with Paul on. This I'm going to. I'm going to disagree with James. I think he was a great. And but I think he just didn't have the full understanding of how Jesus, through his actions, how he affected our relationship with God and and this whole understanding of covenant. So I'm going to go with Paul on that. What happened among Pauline Christianity is. A development that slowly moved away from the New Testament read from a Jewish perspective because I think Pauline Christianity basically got swamped by Gentiles. Tom Huszti: Yeah, I think so. Tom Huszti: Too and I. Sean Finnegan: Think the leaders. Of Pauline Christian. Probably not in his day, but maybe within a generation or two. Became highly educated intellectual gentiles who were financially well off enough to get an education because education costs them money. Otherwise you got a farm or you got to do a craft or a trade, right? So is that is that sort of movement occurred away from? Apostles and their appointed success. More towards these intellectuals. We get Christian doctrine shifting away from what's in the New Testament into these more Greek and Roman ways of thinking. And that's kind of an area where I've been doing a lot of work recently. Trying to understand. Especially on Christology, how would a a Greek or a Roman person? How would they hear the story of Jesus? What would that sound like to them? And so I've done a lot of work on that and I'm going to be presenting that in a month as well at the UCLA conference. Yeah. But that will be out later on YouTube as well. If you don't make. Tom Huszti: Ohh at the OK. But that should be very interesting. Sean Finnegan: It to the conference, you know. Tom Huszti: I bought my ticket already. Ohh, good. Yes. Yes. I'll look forward to that. I guess we probably shouldn't talk too much about it in advance because we have to. We don't want to. Take the the. Thunder out of your presentation. Sean Finnegan: Well, I I just mentioned, I'll just mention one thing, OK. So let's imagine you're a non believer, you're a Pagan. You've worshiped the gods all your life. You've heard stories about Apollo getting banished down to Earth and having to work as a servant. You've heard stories about Zeus coming down impregnating women. You've heard stories about. Tom Huszti: Hercules. Dad. Huh, Hercules. Dad. Sean Finnegan: You've heard stories about Hercules as well, and Asclepius was originally a human who got deified, and he got deified to such a level that he became essentially an Olympian God, that that level of. Elevation and exultation was possible. So you hear all these stories about these gods who come down to become men, or appear as men being made in appearance as a man, right? Like this is this. Is their vocabulary. That's their world. And then you hear lots of stories. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes, right. Sean Finnegan: Humans, who had a beginning normal humans, but were so exceptional that they got to skip Hades and instead go to Olympia or instead go to some heavenly realm like. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: You this is just your.Speaker 5World these are all your stories. Tom Huszti: OK. Uh-huh. Sean Finnegan: Now you're going to hear a story about a miracle worker, Jewish miracle worker. Who was executed came back to life. And now lives in heaven. And is immortalized. You have a category for that. Kind of a being. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: It's called a God. Tom Huszti: Yeah. Yes. Sean Finnegan: Like in our in our language. Today we would say a lower case G God, right? They didn't fuss with capital. A lowercase. You know, like everything's capital pretty much and all the inscriptions we have in the manuscripts from this period, right. So they would just say, oh, that yeah, we. I know, I know. Plenty of other beings that are like that too. Yeah, they're they're called. Gods. And so you're you're trying to say that Jesus is a man and now he's become. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: God. So like you could just imagine a like an evangelism encounter going like that. And if you don't have that Jewish sensibility to say, well, hold on a second.SpeakerThere's only. Sean Finnegan: One God, and that's the supreme God who created everything. You can just see like Christian saying well. Yeah, I guess so. Like in that way of thinking. Yeah, he's a God. So now people. Start calling Jesus God. And now the question becomes well, in what sense has he got? Does he have a beginning before he was a human, you know, and you're just operating in a totally foreign. World View, mindscape than the Jewish mode, which is the Jewish mode, sees Jesus doing miracles and they say how great it is that God has given such authority to men. Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: What do they say when they see a miracle in the book of acts, when Paul and Barnabas? Tom Huszti: Right. Sean Finnegan: You know, get that guy filled. Tom Huszti: The gods are come down to us, the gods. Sean Finnegan: Of course, that's what they. Said that's what they believe could happen, right? We really have two different thought worlds that are combining in in weird and innovative ways. And that's just like one step along the path that leads to the doctrine of the Trinity, which doesn't really get fully developed until the late 4th century. Tom Huszti: Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Tom Huszti: So Paul is trying to emphasize that Jesus is a human being, a second Adam. So that has a different flavor to it, like you have to. Paula is using the first Adam story to introduce the second Adam. And this is a glorified human being who is residing in heaven until God sends him back. That's a different. Category isn't it? For the Greco Roman mine? Sean Finnegan: Yeah, they don't. They don't. That doesn't. That doesn't make sense to them. You know, it's just that's just weird. That's like resurrection. Like, why do you want your body back? And what did Christianity do with that one? We get rid of it. You go to any funeral like unless it's somebody from my own group of churches, network of churches, or maybe like one or one or two other denominations. Right. Like you go to a funeral. What 99% of the? Funerals you go to they. Say this person is now in heaven and their soul. Whatever you know, they make up all this stuff. You know, it sounds just like the Greco Roman stuff from the ancient times. It doesn't sound. Like the Bible. Tom Huszti: Right, yes. Can you imagine sitting in the audience when Paul was preaching from the Acropolis? Sean Finnegan: Not to me. Tom Huszti: Can you put yourself in the in the shoes of a a Greek sitting in the audience hearing this message for the first time? And you know the setting. What would have impressed you or what you already mentioned this earlier but like if you as an individual were doing this? What would be going through your mind? Given your background and context. Sean Finnegan: Well, I think. There's a lot of misunderstanding going on. And and that's just normal. We shouldn't be upset about that. We should expect that. I think we see the same thing today. In the 21st century, where you try to explain something and somebody just doesn't get it, who's not a Christian, and I think that's what was happening here. And what happened is Paul is is evangelizing people. He's talking to people in the marketplace, his Jewish sensibilities, I think, are offended by seeing a city full of idols. It's just as somebody who was raised with the 10 Commandments, it's offensive. I mean, it's offensive to most Christians. Well, I don't say most, but many Christians today are offended. By seeing idols and statues and seeing people actually worshiping them, Paul is very disturbed by this. He's trying to to help. He's reasoning in the synagogue. And also in the marketplace every day. You've got the Epicureans, you've got the Stoics there, and then they say this is act 1718, he says. He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities. Because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection and see the word resurrection, there is Anastasia. Tom Huszti: OK. It's a Greek. Sean Finnegan: Word it means resurrection. You know, stand up again, but it seems like. And I I think some translations might do it this way, that they're thinking that. Jesus is 1 divinity. And they think that Paul saying that Jesus is divine being, which is interesting, right in light of what I said just a minute ago. And then the other thing they think resurrection is is another divinity. Right. So there's just. Misunderstandings all over the place. They're. Like you know, it seems like he's bringing in some new gods. Let's go here. What these new gods have to say, he's kind of like you. Remember. Back in the old days, kids would collect baseball cards. Or like when my kids were little, it was Pokémon cards. And you know, you trade with each other. This one, it's like gods to the, to the Athenians. You know, they're like, oh, you've got that. Tell me about that. God, I let me tell you. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: The story about this. One you know, so they're. Tom Huszti: Yes, yes. Sean Finnegan: Interested. And they put them up there and they say, OK, what is this new teaching? Tell us what this is all. About and so we know. There's going to be misunderstanding. We know there's going to be confusion, but that's no reason not to get started. And so he does. He starts in a very friendly and flattering way. Tom Huszti: He used their own poets. Their own poetry. Yeah, yeah. Sean Finnegan: He's building the bridge as much as he can to their thought world, but at the same time. He's so disturbed. Buy the idolatry that like he just. He just wants to hit that, you know, like it's just and it's not. It's not out of sense of superiority. I don't think. I think it's a sense of empathy and compassion. And so it just starts in with, like, explaining who God is. And he's like there's a God above everything else that made everything else. And he doesn't need you. He doesn't need you to. To offer animals. And he believed in animal sacrifice. I don't know if he still believed in animal sacrifice or not, but he believed in it. At least most of his life. And still, he's just like, look, he doesn't need. He doesn't need anything. God is radically. What do they say? Ah, say he's not contingent or dependent on us for anything, and that's not. How they thought about their Greek gods. They thought their Greek gods needed to be cared for. They believed that the Greek gods created humans to do the work for them, so they didn't have to do the work all the time, including feeding them these sacrifices that nourish them.SpeakerRight. Tom Huszti: Right, right. Tom Huszti: A hutch. Sean Finnegan: You know it's a. Tom Huszti: Very the gods. They were very dependent. They're their gods, were very dependent. Sean Finnegan: They needed a bunch of slaves to do all the hard work of cultivating the lands, raising the animals, planting the vegetables, do all the things so that they could be properly cared for and fed. And if you didn't do that, then they messed with you. They stopped the rain, or they brought war or whatever, you know. So that's the kind of thing he's coming against here. And he says, look there the the God who made the world and everything in it, Lord of heaven and Earth, does not need temples. This is a radical message. I mean, it's just like. You're in a. City, now that I've been there, like I've literally seen the temples.SpeakerWith my or. Tom Huszti: Not they're still there. They're still there. Tom remnants. Amazing. Sean Finnegan: Wow, there's actually, when I was there was scaffolding all around it. You know, they're always restoring these things because of the weather erosion and what, you know, but. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: You know, massive, massive. Structures unquestionable. You don't go to a Greek ancient Greek city and say God doesn't need tempo. Tom Huszti: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sean Finnegan: You know that they. Would really get their attention, it's. Like, wow, what is this guy saying? Tom Huszti: Yeah, I can imagine. What would it like these temples were full of pillars and the structure would have been probably unprecedented structures. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're looking at structures that are so impressive that if you didn't live in a city. If you live somewhere out in the country, you can't in the city. It would just take your breath away and then going into the temple itself, seeing most cities, temples they have what's called an apps, which is kind of like the back curved area where they had the statue itself and to see, you know, this huge statue. The artistry was magnificent. And you know, I've seen this where I think I saw this in a museum in Ephesus, on site, they have a little Ephesus museum there. And they had the head of Domitian. Which is a Roman. And it looked like a baby head. The proportions were all wrong. You know, just you know how, like, baby heads look. Weird, I don't know really how to describe it like there. May be a little spot. Tom Huszti: Oh yeah, yeah. Compared to the rest. Of the body you mean? Sean Finnegan: No, no, it was just the head. It was just the head and it and it. It looked like a baby head. And I asked my team. I was a part of a class at Boston University. I asked my teacher. I'm like, what's the deal with this? Why does it look like a baby head? And he just kind of laughed a little bit. And he said. Tom Huszti: Or it was just a hat? A hat. OK, OK. Sean Finnegan: Get low. Imagine this being 20 feet up in the air. Change your perspective and look at it again and it was exactly right. If you got. Low and looked at that same head. Of the mission. From that angle that you would see it. From the ground. All the proportions were perfect. Tom Huszti: So it was designed to be looked up to right? Sean Finnegan: So we're looking at people that have the. Artistry of the skill. Well, to to you know to like factor in perspective and angle. You know what I mean? Like that's something I would never think of you.SpeakerOh yeah. Sean Finnegan: Know. Of course I'm. Not a sculptor, but you know. I mean, you come in and you and you're.Speaker 5Confronted by this? Sean Finnegan: Stone object that is beautifully done. You just takes your breath away. For anyone to question it. It would just be like. What are you talking about, man? Everybody believes in this. And then there's a parade where they bring the portable idols through the city, and then they end up out front of the temple and you get a big barbecue and everybody's rejoicing and you know, the Jews and the Christians are just like, we're not going, we're going to stay home free. Tom Huszti: Oh yeah. Tom Huszti: Neat, right? And they're they're. Sean Finnegan: Well, free meat. Tom Huszti: For the pagans, right? Yeah. For the pagans. Right. Right. Yeah. Do you happen to know this story about the Roman general? Was it Pompeii that when he came into Jerusalem? And he was going to go into the holiest of holies, and the priests were. Standing in the way. And he ordered several, several of them killed with a sword. He wanted to see what the God of Israel looked like, and and he entered in the Holy, Holy Holiest of Holies. After these priests gave their life and he found nothing. What a surprise, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, so the Paul is preaching the same unseen God, but he's preaching the Jewish Messiah, who was seen, who was raised from the dead. Exalted into heaven, and whom God made judge over the earth. So this is the Athenians are being told that this Jesus God gave authority to for judgment, and that the world will be judged by him. Sean Finnegan: Yeah, even before that, you know, just talking about how you mentioned that Paul quoted a couple of their poets. You know that in him we move and have our being, we live and move and have our being and the other statement for we indeed are his offspring. You know, there's a lot of depends on how deep you want to go in this town. But like, there's a lot going on. The schools of the philosophers. Tom Huszti: You know, delve into it? Sure. Sure. Please. Sean Finnegan: OK, so so you have the Epicureans. Founded by Epicurus, and then you have the Stoics founded by Zeno, and they are just. Like total opposites? Right. So the the goal of the Epicurean is to to seek pleasure. Tom Huszti: OK. Sean Finnegan: But not in a primitive like spring break frat party way. You know where, like you just go crazy, and then you you're in pain and suffering the next morning. That's amateur hour. For that, you'd be curious. Or maximizing pleasure over the course of your entire life. Tom Huszti: OK. OK. Sean Finnegan: What would maximize my pleasure, and the Epicureans tended to say that either the gods don't exist, or they exist, but they don't care about us. So you don't need to worry about the gods. There's a lot of precursors to modern atheism and agnosticism there, but the Stoics are saying, ohh pleasure is bad and you got to serve the gods. You have civil duty. The Stoics tended to be the ones in charge of the cities, and the Stoics are absolutely convinced pleasure is. Inherently sinful, like any kind of any kind of pursuit of bodily pleasure, is well, I would say, at least, question. Bowl, but probably like if you could really live without food that tastes really good, or beds that are nice and soft, or a woman's touch or a man's touch if you're. A woman, you. Know like that you would be happier, you would live the good life. So the philosophers are all all about Greek philosophers in particular, or all about how do you lead the good life? Then

A True Story, translated as True History, is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata. Feature video: “The Absurd 2nd Century Space Opera You'll Never Read” AustinMcConnell Call us and leave a voicemail at 1 ‪(305) 563-6334‬ Music provided by: Atlas Sound Arts This is SciFi Voice: Dear Nikky Mentions: Streaming Bubble, Scarif Podcast, Robopulp Ads: Studio in a Box (Blind Knowledge), The Podcast That Wouldn't Die! Sci-Fi fan or creator? Follow the hashtag ⁠⁠#ThisisSciFi⁠⁠ for more sci-fi goodness! #ScienceFiction And join our ⁠⁠Discord Server⁠⁠! #WeNeedRobertToWatchBabylon5 Part of the ⁠⁠Blind Knowledge⁠⁠ Network #BlindKnowledge A "⁠⁠Spotify for Podcasters⁠⁠" podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scifiremnant/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scifiremnant/support

In this recent monograph Sarcasm in Paul's Letters (Cambridge University Press 2023, Matthew Pawlak offers the first treatment of sarcasm in New Testament studies. He provides an extensive analysis of sarcastic passages across the undisputed letters of Paul, showing where Paul is sarcastic, and how his sarcasm affects our understanding of his rhetoric and relationships with the Early Christian congregations in Galatia, Rome, and Corinth. Pawlak's identification of sarcasm is supported by a dataset of 400 examples drawn from a broad range of ancient texts, including major case studies on Septuagint Job, the prophets, and Lucian of Samosata. These data enable the determination of the typical linguistic signals of sarcasm in ancient Greek, as well as its rhetorical functions. Pawlak also addresses several ongoing discussions in Pauline scholarship. His volume advances our understanding of the abrupt opening of Galatians, diatribe and Paul's hypothetical interlocutor in Romans, the 'Corinthian slogans' of First Corinthians, and the 'fool's speech' found within Second Corinthians 10-13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies

In this recent monograph Sarcasm in Paul's Letters (Cambridge University Press 2023, Matthew Pawlak offers the first treatment of sarcasm in New Testament studies. He provides an extensive analysis of sarcastic passages across the undisputed letters of Paul, showing where Paul is sarcastic, and how his sarcasm affects our understanding of his rhetoric and relationships with the Early Christian congregations in Galatia, Rome, and Corinth. Pawlak's identification of sarcasm is supported by a dataset of 400 examples drawn from a broad range of ancient texts, including major case studies on Septuagint Job, the prophets, and Lucian of Samosata. These data enable the determination of the typical linguistic signals of sarcasm in ancient Greek, as well as its rhetorical functions. Pawlak also addresses several ongoing discussions in Pauline scholarship. His volume advances our understanding of the abrupt opening of Galatians, diatribe and Paul's hypothetical interlocutor in Romans, the 'Corinthian slogans' of First Corinthians, and the 'fool's speech' found within Second Corinthians 10-13.

In this recent monograph Sarcasm in Paul's Letters (Cambridge University Press 2023, Matthew Pawlak offers the first treatment of sarcasm in New Testament studies. He provides an extensive analysis of sarcastic passages across the undisputed letters of Paul, showing where Paul is sarcastic, and how his sarcasm affects our understanding of his rhetoric and relationships with the Early Christian congregations in Galatia, Rome, and Corinth. Pawlak's identification of sarcasm is supported by a dataset of 400 examples drawn from a broad range of ancient texts, including major case studies on Septuagint Job, the prophets, and Lucian of Samosata. These data enable the determination of the typical linguistic signals of sarcasm in ancient Greek, as well as its rhetorical functions. Pawlak also addresses several ongoing discussions in Pauline scholarship. His volume advances our understanding of the abrupt opening of Galatians, diatribe and Paul's hypothetical interlocutor in Romans, the 'Corinthian slogans' of First Corinthians, and the 'fool's speech' found within Second Corinthians 10-13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

UFOs and aliens are in the news... again. Reports of aliens are nothing new. They go back at least to the second century, with the satirical work called "True History" by Lucian of Samosata. Since H.G. Well's "The War of the Worlds" we as a society have seemed to have been obsessed with alien stories ever since. Matt, Evangeline, and Christina talk about how alien stories have captured the modern imagination and (according to Matt, at least) fall into 3 different categories. 

This is part 14 of the Early Church History class. We've been learning about the controversy over Christ's origins in the last couple of episodes. This battle raged between groups of Christians who agreed that Jesus pre-existed for sixty years. But today we are taking a break from that and looking instead at the early Christians who held to a dynamic monarchian Christology. Specifically, we'll consider two influential bishops: Paul of Samosata and Photinus of Sirmium. Although sometimes mislabeled as adoptionists, these two believed in the virgin birth but did not think Christ existed before then. Although what we know about these two survives in the writings of their enemies, we can reconstruct sketches of their beliefs and influence. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFKAwd6Cqzc&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=14 —— Links —— See other episodes featuring famous biblical unitarians: Thomas Emlyn, Michael Servetus, Adam Pastor, Claude of Savoy, Armenian Unitarians, Socinian Movement in Poland and Transylvania, British Unitarians More Restitutio resources on Christian history For the postscript discussion about the Constantinian Shift, see Preston Sprinkle's book, Nonviolence (previously called Fight), and his interview with George Kalantzis as well as his book Caesar and the Lamb See other classes here Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Over the last couple of sessions, we've looked at the shameful battle between egalitarians and subordinationists. Both parties believed Jesus pre-existed but couldn't agree on whether he was eternal and equal with the Father or not. However, at the same time, another stream of Christians fought for another view – a theology they thought was more biblical and less fraught with philosophical conundrums—the dynamic Monarchians. Paul of Samosata's Life (200-275) 260 - Ordained Bishop of Antioch 264 - Synod at Antioch 268 - Synod at Antioch, debate w/ Malchion 272 - Aurelian deposed Paul Robert Lynn Sample: “Paul's particular brand of Christianity had an ecstatic or spontaneous character, with a stress on spiritual power.”[1] Artemon of Rome (fl. 230) Claimed that non-pre-existence dominated throughout the time of Bishop Victor of Rome (d. 199) Artemon taught that though Christ was born of a virgin, he was a “mere man”. Theodotus of Byzantium was Artemon's predecessor. Paul of Samosata's Beliefs Lumped in with Artemon and Ebionites by Eusebius Epiphanius accused Paul of importing Judaism (though not circumcision or Sabbath observance). Paul said the logos was homoousios with the Father. The Son is what the logos became when it was made flesh. Christ did exist prophetically before he was born. Paulinians or Paulianists continued to hold a unitarian faith long after Paul died. Photinus of Sirmium's Life (d. 376) From Ancyra in Galatia 343 - Ordained Bishop of Sirmium 344 - Council at Antioch (Macrostitch Creed) 345 - Milan Council condemned him. 347 – Rome Council condemned him. 351 - After a debate, Constantius deposed him. 351 - Council at Sirmium denounced Photinian doctrine. 361 - Returned to Sirmium as Bishop 364 - Valentinian I deposed him. Photinus' Beliefs Jerome accused him of reviving the Ebionite heresy. Very biblical; quoted 1 Corinthians 15.47; 1 Timothy 2.5; John 8.40 Christ only existed from Mary's time when she conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Son did exist, but only according to foreknowledge or predestination. Photinians persisted in the Roman Empire for another 150 years. Review From 260 - 272, Paul of Samosata was the bishop of Antioch, one of the four most important churches in the world. He was a charismatic preacher whose animated congregation participated with applauding, waving handkerchiefs, shouting, and even jumping. Paul prevented singing the newer hymns to Jesus, probably because they differed from his beliefs. Other bishops challenged him in 264 and tried to depose him in 268. Paul did not leave his church. In 272, Emperor Aurelian took back the region for Rome from Queen Zenobia of Palmyra and deposed Paul. Like Artemon a generation before him and Theodotus before him, Paul taught that Jesus was the Christ, but that he did not exist before his birth, though he agreed that he "existed prophetically." Paul taught that the logos was of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. Photinus was bishop of Sirmium in the middle of the fourth century until emperors Constantius and Valentinus I deposed him. Like Paul, he believed that the logos was "in the Father" but was not equivalent to the Son, though the Son is what the logos became when it became flesh. Photinus placed a heavy emphasis on scripture and said he had a hundred prooftexts for his Christology. After Photinus died, Photinians persisted in the Roman Empire for another century and a half in small pockets. [1] Robert Lynn Sample, “The Messiah as Prophet: The Christology of Paul of Samosata,” PhD diss., Northwestern University, June 1977, 5.

Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 02

In this video we discuss Athanasius of Alexandria and his two part works of "Against the Heathen" and "On the Incarnation". We mostly focus on "On the Incarnation". This is part 2. We mention Origen of Alexandria, Tertullian, Irenaeus of Lyon, Hippolytus, Arius of Alexandria, Anthony of the Desert, Paul of Samosata, Constantine, Alexander of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, Bishop Barron, John Calvin, Billy Graham, Pope Benedict, Thomas Aquinas, Jordan Peterson, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Ayn Rand. On the Incarnation Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7zTIxQLSzc St. Anthony of the Desert - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJJ4mq-CJ04&t=1s

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn't simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness. Listen as Pastor Clint explores the characteristics that made the early church so transformative in the world: their inclusive and diverse fellowship, and unselfish and sacrificial giving, and their connection to the ultimate source of such thing - Jesus. Learn how we can become that sort of transformative community in our own community today! Sermon Resources: 1. Letter from Pliny to Trajan in 112 CE about the early Christians: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html#:~:text=These%20letters%20concern%20an%20episode,the%20second%20and%20third%20centuries. 2. Journal article on the explosive growth of early Christianity: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222012000100076#:~:text=The%20calculation%20of%20Stark%20to,%3B%20Schor%202009%3A481). 3. “We slaughter a fierce ox; we strangle a mad dog; we plunge the knife into sickly cattle; children who are born weakly and deformed we drown.” -Seneca, early Greek stoic 4. Study on the divisiveness of American politics: https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/frenchpress/activism-and-apathy-are-poisoning-american-politics/ 5. See redlining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining 6. See John Brown University for prohibitions of interracial marriage until the 21st century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUwcs9qJXY&t=14s 7. “God's vision for his people is not…to form a colorblind uniformity of sanctified blandness. Instead God sees the creation of a community of different cultures united by faith in his Son as a manifestation of the expansive nature of his grace. This expansiveness is unfulfilled unless the differences are seen and celebrated, not as ends unto themselves, but as particular manifestations of the power of the Spirit to bring forth the same holiness among different peoples and cultures for the glory of God.” -Esau McCaulley, "Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope" 8. “Their founder [Jesus] taught them that they should be like brothers to one another, and therefore they despise their own privacy and view their possessions as common property.” -Lucian of Samosata, early opponent of Christianity 9. “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well.” -Emperor Julian of Rome 10. “This was an angelic commonwealth, not to call anything of theirs their own. Forthwith the root of evils was cut out.… None reproached, none envied, none grudged; no pride, no contempt was there.… The poor man knew no shame, the rich no haughtiness.” -John Chrysostom

Dr. Michael Bird is Academic Dean and lecturer at Ridley College and an Anglican Priest. He is the author of multiple books and a well know research in early christianity and the New Testament. We talk about his new book "Jesus Among the gods". We also mention Troels Engberg-Pederson, Bart Ehrman, Andrew Perriman, Richard Bauckham, NT Wright, Larry Hurtado, Jeremiah Coogan, David Litwa, Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Philo of Alexandria, Plato, Tertullian, Ignatius of Antioch, John Calvin, Marcellus of Ancyra, Athanasius of Alexandria, Paul of Samosata, Theodotus of Byzantium, and many more. Dr. Bird's book "Jesus Among the gods": https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-among-gods-Christology-Greco-Roman/dp/1481316753 Dr. Bird's twitter: https://twitter.com/mbird12 Dr. Bird's substack: https://michaelfbird.substack.com/ Dr. Bird's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC21I7qYVHPsOzL9ujxiRWZA

The Council of Nicaea was the first major ecumenical church council. Here we discuss the main people in attendance as the canons issued from the Council. We mention Hosius of Cordoba, Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Alexander of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, Arius of Alexandria, Constantine the Great, Paul of Samosata, Novatian of Rome, and of course Richard Nixon. Novatian of Rome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSIZOjMe2iA&t=1s Paul of Samosata : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fe4xO6IZRc Eusebius of Caesarea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVHaxczU_PA&t=4019s Arius of Alexandria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezeRekmP6ws&t=2982s Constantine the Great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyL6pFaAuL8

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

In the struggle against the Arian heresy, Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch, was deposed, and the emperor Constantius demanded that Eusebius surrender the document that proved his legitimate appointment to the Patriarchal throne. Eusebius said he would not surrender it without the permission of all who had signed it and, when imperial soldiers threatened to cut off his right hand, he held out both his hands to them. When Constantius heard of this, he was struck with admiration and ceased his persecution of the bishop. As the Arian heresy continued to rage, Eusebius stood strong, and was finally exiled by order of the Emperor Valens. When the messenger bearing the edict of banishment arrived, Eusebius warned him to keep quiet lest the people, hearing why he had come, should kill him. Then Eusebius left the city on foot, under cover of darkness, in order to protect the messenger from harm. Upon the death of Valens, Eusebius returned to from exile and traveled throughout Syria (though he was now a very old man), appointing priests and bishops known for their Orthodoxy. About 380, as he was entering a village to enthrone a bishop, an Arian woman threw a tile at him from a rooftop, fracturing his skull. As he lay dying, he made all the bystanders swear not to take any revenge.   Saint Gregory the Theologian corresponded with Eusebius, and esteemed him so highly that in a letter to him he wrote, 'That such a man should deign to be my patron also in his prayers will gain for me, I am persuaded, as much strength as I should have gained through one of the holy martyrs.'

This lecture discusses the ancient writer and satirist Lucian of Samosata's short work, The Cynic. It focuses specifically on his presentation of arguments for and against the Cynic school of philosophy, allowing the Cynic to make his case to the narrator and the reader To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO You can find over 2000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler You can find the text of Lucian's The Cynic here - http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:the-cynic

In the struggle against the Arian heresy, Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch, was deposed, and the emperor Constantius demanded that Eusebius surrender the document that proved his legitimate appointment to the Patriarchal throne. Eusebius said he would not surrender it without the permission of all who had signed it and, when imperial soldiers threatened to cut off his right hand, he held out both his hands to them. When Constantius heard of this, he was struck with admiration and ceased his persecution of the bishop. As the Arian heresy continued to rage, Eusebius stood strong, and was finally exiled by order of the Emperor Valens. When the messenger bearing the edict of banishment arrived, Eusebius warned him to keep quiet lest the people, hearing why he had come, should kill him. Then Eusebius left the city on foot, under cover of darkness, in order to protect the messenger from harm. Upon the death of Valens, Eusebius returned to from exile and traveled throughout Syria (though he was now a very old man), appointing priests and bishops known for their Orthodoxy. About 380, as he was entering a village to enthrone a bishop, an Arian woman threw a tile at him from a rooftop, fracturing his skull. As he lay dying, he made all the bystanders swear not to take any revenge.   Saint Gregory the Theologian corresponded with Eusebius, and esteemed him so highly that in a letter to him he wrote, 'That such a man should deign to be my patron also in his prayers will gain for me, I am persuaded, as much strength as I should have gained through one of the holy martyrs.'

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon's ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.