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C. S. Lewis once wrote a preface to a translation of the Bible, "Modern Translations of the Bible" (1947). Here Lewis explains a tenant of reformation theology about scripture, that there ought to be translations in the vernacular of the day so that all may "read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" what the Holy Spirit has inspired in scripture. This essay explores theology around Bible translation, inspiration, and interpretation. We also dip into what Lewis wrote elsewhere about good translation and interpretation in the essays:"A Lectionary of Christian Prose from the Second Century to the Twentieth Century", "Odysseus sails again: The Odyssey", and"The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version"These can be found in "Image and Imagination," and "Selected Literary Essays"Find more Lesser-Known Lewis — Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewisPatreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewisInstagram: @lesserknownlewisFacebook: Lesser-Known Lewis PodcastEmail: lesserknownlewis@gmail.comGraphic Design by Angus Crawford.Intro Music - Written by Jess Syratt, arranged & produced by Angus Crawford and Jordan Duncan.
In this episode of FACTS, Dr. Stephen Boyce explores one of the most beautiful and overlooked writings of the early Church — the Epistle to Diognetus. Written in the second century, this anonymous apology offers a stunning portrait of early Christian identity before Constantine, before the great councils, and before Christianity held cultural influence.What did Christians actually believe about their place in the world?How did they explain themselves to pagan critics?And what does it mean that Christians are described as “the soul in the body” of the world?We'll examine the historical background of the letter, its theology, its apologetic strategy, and its powerful vision of Christians living as citizens of heaven while dwelling among the nations. Long before Christendom, this text shows us a faith that was confident, distinct, and radically countercultural.If you want to understand how the earliest Christians saw themselves — and what that means for the Church today — this episode is for you.#ChurchHistory #EarlyChristianity #EpistleToDiognetus #Patristics #Apologetics #FACTSPodcastIf you'd like to donate to our ministry or be a monthly partner that receives newsletters and one on one discussions with Dr. Stephen Boyce, here's a link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6381a2ee-b82f-42a7-809e-6b733cec05a7Link to the Letter: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0101.htm
Developments occurred in the second century that impacted the Church, and eventually, controversies and crises created the need for a Christian collection of Scripture. But which books would be included? Apostolic writings were not immediately considered "Scripture." Why not?
"The second century begins with a great war of conquest, and ends with another civil war between pretenders to the throne. Between those two extremes, there were changes in equipment, the rise of career officers, and the introduction of campaigns fought with detachments, instead of uprooting the entire legion." The team discuss the latest edition of the magazine issue 105, A Century of Warfare: The Roman army in the 2nd century AD. Join us on Patreon patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship. Judith M. Lieu is the author of Explorations in the Second Century: Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices (Brill, 2025). She was Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge from 2007-2018. She studied at Durham and Birmingham Universities and previously taught at The Queen's College, Birmingham, King's College London (where she was Professor of New Testament Studies, 1999-2006), and Macquarie University, Sydney. From January 2020–June 2021 she was Frothingham Visiting Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. She is on the editorial board of a number of journals and series and was previously Editor of New Testament Studies. She is a Fellow of the British Academy (2014) and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship. Judith M. Lieu is the author of Explorations in the Second Century: Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices (Brill, 2025). She was Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge from 2007-2018. She studied at Durham and Birmingham Universities and previously taught at The Queen's College, Birmingham, King's College London (where she was Professor of New Testament Studies, 1999-2006), and Macquarie University, Sydney. From January 2020–June 2021 she was Frothingham Visiting Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. She is on the editorial board of a number of journals and series and was previously Editor of New Testament Studies. She is a Fellow of the British Academy (2014) and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship. Judith M. Lieu is the author of Explorations in the Second Century: Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices (Brill, 2025). She was Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge from 2007-2018. She studied at Durham and Birmingham Universities and previously taught at The Queen's College, Birmingham, King's College London (where she was Professor of New Testament Studies, 1999-2006), and Macquarie University, Sydney. From January 2020–June 2021 she was Frothingham Visiting Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. She is on the editorial board of a number of journals and series and was previously Editor of New Testament Studies. She is a Fellow of the British Academy (2014) and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship. Judith M. Lieu is the author of Explorations in the Second Century: Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices (Brill, 2025). She was Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge from 2007-2018. She studied at Durham and Birmingham Universities and previously taught at The Queen's College, Birmingham, King's College London (where she was Professor of New Testament Studies, 1999-2006), and Macquarie University, Sydney. From January 2020–June 2021 she was Frothingham Visiting Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. She is on the editorial board of a number of journals and series and was previously Editor of New Testament Studies. She is a Fellow of the British Academy (2014) and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023).
Pr. Will Weedon, Host of “The Word of the Lord Endures Forever” We Praise You, O God The Word of the Lord Endures Forever Celebrating the Saints Thank, Praise, Serve and Obey See My Savior's Hands The post Second Century Bishop and Martyr Ignatius of Antioch – Pr. Will Weedon, 10/16/25 (2893) first appeared on Issues, Etc..
www.jeffriddle.net
This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999-2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010-2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011-present). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999-2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010-2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011-present). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies
This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999-2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010-2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011-present). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies
This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999-2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010-2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011-present). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
BYU must be deliberate in its divine mission, amplifying prophets’ counsel and preparing disciples for the Lord’s return. Clark G. Gilbert, commissioner of education and a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered this BYU university conference address on August 25, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THEMES: - charges brought against the early Christians – the apologists' main lines of defense - the apologists and “apologetics” – the historicity and truthfulness of Christian faith – Greek philosophy and Christian faith – the apologists on the Roman EmpireBIO:Alvyn Pettersen is Canon Theologian Emeritus of Worcester Cathedral, UK, and an Honorary Chaplain at The University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford. He has written widely in the field of patristics, being the author of Athanasius and the Human Body (1990); the volume on Athanasius (1995) in the series, Outstanding Christian Thinkers; and the Cascade Companion, The Second-Century Apologists (2020).PODCAST LINKS:- The Second-Century Apologists (book): https://wipfandstock.com/9781725265356/the-second-century-apologists/NEWSLETTER:Subscribe to our podcast newsletter and get ***40% OFF*** any Wipf and Stock book: http://eepurl.com/cMB8ML. (Be sure to check the box next to “Podcast Updates: The Theology Mill” before hitting Subscribe.)CONNECT:Website: https://wipfandstock.com/blog/category/podcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WipfandstockpublishersX/Twitter: https://x.com/TheologyMill*The Theology Mill and Wipf and Stock Publishers would like to thank Luca Di Alessandro for making their song “A Celestial Keyboard” available for use as the podcast's transition music. Link to license: https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/.
Have you ever wondered what happened between the time of the early church and figures like Paul and later Christianity as represented by Augustine? Second-Century Christianity is an often-neglected time period but full of exciting changes in biblical theology, heresiology, and more. Ignatius, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Polycarp are just a few of the prominenttheologians of this time period. In this episode, Claire is joined by Mike Bird and Scott Harrower editors of A Handbook to Second-Century Christianity a forthcoming book from Baylor University Press. Michael Bird is an Australian biblical scholar and Anglicanpriest who writes about the history of early Christianity, theology, and contemporary issues. He is Deputy Principal and Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of over thirty books including Evangelical Theology, Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible, Romans (SGBC), The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus, What Christians Ought To Believe, and with N.T. Wright, The NewTestament in its World.Scott Harrower is a lecturer in Christian Thought at RidleyCollege in Melbourne, Australia and an ordained Anglican minister. He was brought up by missionary parents in Argentina and has wide-ranging ministry experience in several countries. He has published articles on SyrianChristianity, comparative hagiography, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as books on women in the early church and the Trinity. Scott is also a former nurse and has written extensively on how we can relate psychological science and theology for the sake of human flourishing in our churches, including Dawn of Sunday: The Trinity and Trauma-Safe Churches, and God of All Comfort: A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of this World.
The Gospel of Luke says: "Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles." John claims it was Mary Magdalene. Mark and Matthew also have a list of women ... so whatever Gospel you're reading, the Good News of Christ's resurrection was first witnessed and preached by WOMEN. So who were these ladies?? And why is their story so often neglected? We cover a lot of territory here and would love to know what kind of follow up episodes you want to hear from all the subjects we touched on! Call our hotline or leave a comment on instagram to let us know what you think, and be sure to rate and review the pod :)+++FOR FURTHER READING:**MOST GROUNDBREAKING: "Was Martha of Bethany Added to the Fourth Gospel in the Second Century?" Harvard Theological Review , Volume 110 , Issue 3 , July 2017 , pp. 360 - 392 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816016000213 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/abs/was-martha-of-bethany-added-to-the-fourth-gospel-in-the-second-century/6CBD2C9576A583DD02987FE836C427B7"The Meaning of “Magdalene”: A Review of Literary Evidence Elizabeth Schrader; Joan E. Taylor Journal of Biblical Literature (2021) 140 (4): 751–773. https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1404.2021.6**MOST ACCESSIBLE: Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church by Nijay K. GuptaThe Gospel of Luke, New Cambridge Bible Commentary, by Amy-Jill Levine & Ben Witherington III **BEST OVERVIEW OF THE NAG HAMMADI TEXTS AND THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE: https://breaking-down-patriarchy.captivate.fm/episode/the-gospel-of-mary-magdalene +++Like what you hear? We are an entirely crowd-sourced, you-funded project. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/AndAlsoWithYouPodcastThere's all kinds of perks including un-aired live episodes, Zoom retreats, and mailbag episodes for our Patreons!OUR HOTLINE - call in your questions! - 262.229.9763+++Our Website: https://andalsowithyoupod.comOur Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andalsowithyoupodcast/++++MERCH: https://www.bonfire.com/store/and-also-with-you-the-podcast/++++More about Father Lizzie:BOOK: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/762683/god-didnt-make-us-to-hate-us-by-rev-lizzie-mcmanus-dail/RevLizzie.comhttps://www.instagram.com/rev.lizzie/https://www.tiktok.com/@rev.lizzieJubilee Episcopal Church in Austin, TX - JubileeATX.org ++++More about Mother Laura:https://www.instagram.com/laura.peaches/https://www.tiktok.com/@mother_peachesSt. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, PA++++Theme music:"On Our Own Again" by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).New episodes drop Mondays at 7am EST/6am CST!
A secular self-proclaimed counter-evangelist and former Catholic underscores the lack of surviving historic records about Jesus of Nazareth from any non-Jewish author until the second century, adding that Jesus left no writings or other archaeological evidence. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mythicists argue that Christianity began almost one hundred years after the death of Jesus and was born out of a mélange of clashing second century religious ideas. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Let’s continue listening to a provocative, unconventional Christian origins assessment of the Historical Jesus. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Jesus fringe theory is supported by a small group of dedicated, active and vocal scholars and mythicists who argue that the Gospels present a fictitious historical narrative. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For two thousand years, we've been told that Christianity began around 33 AD when the disciples of the rural preacher ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ came to believe he had risen from the dead. But is that tale a myth? Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mythicism is a controversial, alternative, provocative, fringe theory supported by a small group of dedicated, active and vocal scholars and mythicists who argue that the Gospels present a fictitious historical narrative. One such controversial Mythicist argues that Christianity began almost one hundred years after the imagined death of Jesus and was born out of a mélange of clashing second century religious ideas. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the Second Century before the Common Era, the Jewish world was in an upheaval due largely to various splinter sects, such as the Sadducees and Boethusians, causing internal conflict and confusion among the nation. The two great leaders of the Jews at the time had many challenges on their hands. In this podcast we tell […]
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies
Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century (Routledge, 2023) explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament - The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation - make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text's composition. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham (1999–2010) and was Professor for Theology and Patristics at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London (2010–2021, ret.), is Fellow of the Max-Weber-Centre for Anthropological and Cultural Studies, University of Erfurt (2011–present). A recipient of awards from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Agence Nationale de Recherche, France, he is the author of Writing the History of Early Christianity: From Reception to Retrospection (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
Mary Magdalene is one of the most intriguing figures in the New Testament. She clearly held a special place in Jesus's heart and in his ministry, but that popularity also made her controversial. In today's episode, scholar Elizabeth Schrader Polczer presents compelling evidence that someone in the early Church tried to erase (and replace) Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John. Check out Elizabeth's eye-opening journal article, "Was Martha of Bethany Added to the Fourth Gospel in the Second Century?"SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!If you like the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription.BTM BOOK CLUBThe second meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club will be held on Saturday, December 14 at 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK! Members of the Time Travelers Club are invited for a live Zoom discussion of James McGrath's book, Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist. Grab a copy of the book and we'll see you in December!DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
This week, Dr. Marc Camille talks to us about his career path and approach to development as a college president. He sees himself as a chief storyteller and talks to us about ways he has built a strong culture of philanthropy while planning the Centennial Celebration of Albertus Magnus College! Dr. Marc M. Camille took office as the 14th President of Albertus Magnus College in June 2017. His career includes more than two decades of senior administrative experience at Catholic colleges. His leadership is inspired by Albertus Magnus' distinctive, values-based Dominican mission and the College's legacy of prioritizing education opportunity for those who might not otherwise have access. Prior to joining Albertus Magnus, Dr. Camille earned a national reputation for strategic enrollment management and marketing expertise and thought-leadership. Dr. Camille's presidency has seen Albertus Magnus launch an ambitious growth plan, deepen engagement within the greater New Haven area, and adopt a bold new strategic plan, Albertus 2025: Lighting the Way to a Second Century, setting the stage for the College's Centennial Celebration in 2025. Dr. Camille's leadership has prioritized deepened commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and in 2023, Albertus achieved federal designation status as an Hispanic Serving Institution. A comprehensive fundraising campaign is underway to coincide with the College's 2025 Centennial. Dr. Camille earned his Bachelor's degree in English at Rollins College, his Master's degree at the University of Miami, and his Doctorate in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/devdebrief/support
Here is a dash of chicory for your daily podcast listening. The Louisiana-based Community Coffee company is now in its 105th year. Headquartered in Baton Rouge with facilities in New Orleans, Community is the largest family-owned and operated retail coffee brand in the country and a top selling brand not only in Louisiana but throughout the South. Matt Saurage, the fourth generation owner and Chairman of Community, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to tell the story of the company's 1919 origin in founder Cap Saurage's Baton Rouge grocery store. Cap was so fascinated with mixing coffee blends he decided to enter the business, which now imports beans from Central America and Africa. Matt also talks about the company's signature dark roast brand and he offers a defense for chicory, which is more than an extender but offers its own flavors and which he always drinks straight up. In addition to coffee roasting, Community lives up to its name by having a history of making community contributions. It is a conversation that is full bodied and never decaffeinated.
“Latter-day Saints believe in the pursuit of truth through ‘study and faith' and are thus not opposed to intellectual examination of scripture” (Dr. David R. Seely). One way we might examine the scriptures is through the use of biblical criticism, or historical criticism, an approach regularly used by biblical scholars to assess the meaning of a text—it's original context, audience, and authorship. In this episode Dr. Jason Combs, associate professor of ancient scripture, discussed his chapter “Historical Criticism of the Bible among the Latter-day Saints.” He outlines the history of biblical criticism and explains how it may serve as a tool to aid our scripture study. Further, Dr. Combs details how such approaches may provide a more well-rounded vision of the scriptures, especially in studying the Old and New Testaments and comparing multiple accounts of the same events. In doing so we should balance biblical criticism with the application of scriptures and the gospel to our daily lives. Publications Jason Robert Combs, “Historical Criticism of the Bible among the Latter-day Saints” (in The Bible and the Latter-day Saint Tradition, eds. Taylor G. Petrey, Cory Crawford, and Eric A. Eliason (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2023), 202–16.).Used courtesy of the University of Utah Press. Jason R. Combs, et al., eds. Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints (Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2022) “‘Christ' after the Apostles: The Humanity and Divinity of the Savior in the Second Century” (in Thou Art the Christ, the Son of the Living God: The Person and Work of Jesus in the New Testament, Religious Studies Center, 2018) Professional Website, https://www.jasonrobertcombs.com/ “A Modern Perspective on Ancient Christians” (Y Religion, episode 70, 2022) “The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ” (Y Religion, episode 37, 2021) Click here to learn more about Jason Combs
“Rhabarberbarbara” Daniel 11:2-45 by William Klock On Wednesday a friend at the pool stopped me and asked if I'd watch a video on her phone and tell her what it was about. It was in German and she didn't understand. So she hit “play” and two men started singing and I laughed. I said, “It's ‘Rhabarberbarbara' and they've set it to music. “Rhabarberbarbara” is a German tongue twister poem. Imagine “She sell seashells down by the seashore”, but it's all ba…ba…ba sounds, and with each stanza the tongue twisting part gets longer. Barabara opens a bar to sell her rhubarb cake: Barbaras rhabarberbar”. But pretty soon bald, bearded barbarians in need of a barber show up. It's a funny poem and it's hard to say, but these two guys set it to music and sang the whole thing perfectly. My friend said she liked how catchy it was, but had no idea what it meant. I laughed, because this is how the Greeks came up with the word “barbarian” for foreigners. Their languages just sounded like “Bar…bar…bar”. If you don't know the language, your ear hears the repetitive sounds, but you have no idea what any of it means. Imagine hearing “She sells seashells down by the sea shore” if you didn't speak English. It's just rhyming repetitive gibberish. As I was walking away I started thinking how this is a metaphor for how a lot of people might hear Daniel 11, which is what we come to today. It's the longest chapter in the book and most of it describes a long conflict between the King of the North and the King of the South. The actual kings are never named. The places involved aren't named. It goes on and on, back and forth between north and south. In this case the language is history, not German, but if you don't know the language it's not that different than my friend listening to that German tongue twister that's all bar…bar…bar. It's just repetitive gibberish. But if you know the history, Chapter 11 describes the historical events that were whirling around Judah from the time of Daniel in the Sixth Century up to the 160s BC. If you know the history a story emerges from the Rhubarberbarbara. That said, knowing all the historical details isn't the important thing you need to take away. I'll give you the big picture and skip the nitty-gritty. If you want to know all the details, the actual historical events are well documented and you can look them up in a history book or Wikipedia. If you've got an ESV Study Bible, it's all there with nifty maps and genealogies and historical outlines. But before we get into that, remember the lesson from Chapter 10. That was the first part of this vision. The lesson from that first part is that there's more going on than what we can see. Daniel was frustrated and discouraged by earthly circumstances and—as we'll see—things weren't going to get any better. It's easy to lose hope. But the angel explained to him that the battles he saw being fought by kings on earth corresponded to battles being fought in the heavenlies. The point of knowing this isn't to burden us with some new responsibility—as if there's something we can do to win those battles in the heavenlies. Just the opposite. Those battles in the heavenlies are not our responsibility. Apart maybe from praying, there's nothing we can do to assist the angels. God has given us things to do and battles to wage in our sphere and he and his heavenly forces will do battle in their sphere. And the point is that we should find hope in that. The battle here may feel hopeless. But knowing that God fights a battle in the heavenlies that somehow corresponds to the one we fight here and that the outcome in the heavenlies corresponds to the outcome here—that should inspire hope to stand firm, to keep the faith, and to fight the good fight. Knowing that, the vision now continues with a summary of historical events. Let's start with verses 2-4. “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. There were more than four Persian kings following the time of Daniel. This “three and a fourth” is a Hebrew way of talking about all the things. We see it in Proverbs: “There are six things the Lord hates and a seventh is an abomination to him.” The Lord hates more than seven things, but these seven are representative of all the things the Lord hates. Just so with these four Persian kings. The point is that the Persian empire will get bigger and bigger, richer and richer, more power and more powerful and eventually—and this is what happened historically—it will go up against Greece and be defeated. Xerxes I invaded Greek territory. He was defeated and that started a century of conflict that ended with the defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great. And mighty Alexander, who like the beasts of earlier chapters rampaged and did what he willed—or so he thought—he fell almost as soon as he arose. Alexander conquered the known world in fifteen years and suddenly died of a fever at the age of 32. His generals fought over his empire and eventually divided it up four ways. Two of those successor kingdoms would have a profound influence on the land of Judah: the Seleucid kingdom based in Syria—the King of the North—and the Ptolemaic kingdom based in Egypt—the King of the South. That's the setup for the rest of the chapter, which rushes through about 160 years of the history that follows. The Seleucid kings were Seleucus I-IV followed by Antiochus I-IV. The Egyptian kings are easy: They were all named Ptolemy—Ptolemy I-VI. (Actually there eventually thirteen Antiochuses and fifteen Ptolemies, the last being the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII.) Verses 5 to 20 move quickly through the first five Ptolemies, the first four Seleucuses, and the first three Antiochuses. Fifteen verses sweep us through history from about 320BC to 175BC. Here's the text: “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land. “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. If that makes as much sense as “Rhabarberbarbara”, that's okay. If you know the history this maps right on to it, but if you don't, all you really need to know is that this describes about a century and a half of the kings of Egypt and Syria fighting with each other. And that's important because of what's right between Egypt and Syria. Picture a map in your head. What's between Egypt and Syria? That's right: Judah. Judah sat on the crossroads of the ancient world and so it went back and forth between Egypt and Syria and eventually many of the Jews themselves got caught up in the politics and the intrigue. Some of them thought that by siding with these pagan kings they were fulfilling God's purpose. Again, when we see things happening in the world around us—the things we can see—it's easy to get caught up in them, it's easy to compromise our faith and our values and what's right. But Daniel reminds us that there's more going on than what we can see with our eyes. Things are never truly hopeless for God's people, because God is ultimately in control and because his angels fight for us. We need to remember that as things get worse, and get worse they did for little Judah, caught in the middle of all this. Verse 20 describes the Syrian King, Seleucus IV Philopater. He sent a “tax collector”, a man by the name of Heliodorus, to collect the money needed to pay tribute to Rome, which was now involved in the intrigue. Heliodorus tried to plunder the temple in Jerusalem, but had a nightmare that put him off the idea. Instead, Heliodorus poisoned the king, Seleucus IV. That opened the door to the real terror. Look at verses 21-35: In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers' fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land. “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. The other kings were bad, but this new king who arises is truly contemptible. The heir of Seleucus IV was imprisoned in Rome and Antiochus IV bought and manipulated his way to the throne in his place. He took the name “Epiphanes” meaning “Manifest One”. In short, he thought he was God. And Antiochus Epiphanes did his best to turn Jerusalem into a pagan Greek city. The passage here refers to him deposing the high priest, Onias III. His action against the holy covenant refers to his making it illegal to live by torah, his manipulation of Jewish collaborators, and to his defilement of the altar in the temple. But Antiochus Epiphanes pushed too hard. It's not that the earlier Greek kings weren't bad or that they, too, hadn't imposed pagan culture on Judah, but none had ever made the effort that this king did. For the most part, they'd left Judah alone, under the rule of the high priest, as long as he coughed up tribute money every year. Under the earlier kings, most people didn't feel compelled to make a choice between the Lord and the pagan gods, but under Antiochus Epiphanes, that's just what happened. No one could sit on the fence anymore. No one could say that this didn't affect them. And so the vision tells of the wise in the community standing up and encouraging the people—not all (there were many who collaborated with Antiochus), but still a good many of them—these wise ones encourage them to stand firm. They prepared the faithful to pay with their lives for doing so. Those days tested the faith of the people and, in the end, revealed who was seriously committed to the Lord and who was not. Again, in all this we're reminded that God was at work in the days of Antiochus just like he had been in the exile back in Daniel's day. And this brings the vision up to what was the present day for the author of Daniel, about 167BC. So far the vision has been relating the history that led up to this point as if it were a prophecy given by Daniel back in the Sixth Century. With verse 36 the vision transitions. Now it looks into the future. But the style changes, too. Everything becomes more grandiose, but more importantly, the description of how this crisis will reach its climax uses imagery and language from the Prophets, especially Isaiah 10, Ezekiel 38-39, and Psalms 2, 46, 48, and 76. The Prophets spoke of the “End” and Daniel's vision describes the present crisis as another embodiment of that great “End”. This is the point where evangelical interpreters disagree with each other. Some see the change in style, the language of the End, and the fact that Antiochus didn't exactly meet his death the way it's described here, some see all this as reason to think that the vision is now turning from the events of the Second Century to events much further in the future. It's no longer talking about Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but about a future “Antichrist”. Other evangelical scholars see nothing in the text that justifies that kind of change in subject and timeframe and believe this is still talking about events in the Second Century. Either way, there are difficult problems and anyone who says otherwise simply isn't being honest. I'll say that Daniel 11:36-12:13 is the most difficult Bible text I've ever wrestled with and every time you think you've made progress untangling the ball of yarn, you discover that you've just turned one big knot into half a dozen smaller ones that are just as tenacious. If you know me, you know I think it's best to let the text speak for itself even if that makes things difficult. I can't see anything within the text itself that justifies projecting this part of Daniel into the far future. The text itself is pretty clear that it's looking to the immediate future—to the three or three-and-a-half years to come, to the death of Antiochus, and to the vindication of the Jews who were faithful in that crisis. I might be wrong, but either way you end up with some problems that are hard to resolve—I just prefer going the route that lets the biblical text speak most naturally for itself. So, verses 36-45: “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. Antiochus Epiphanes wasn't unique in making claims of divinity and the description here about his idolatry is grandiose, but there's nothing in the text that suggests at all that this is suddenly about some other king, let alone an Antichrist figure in the distant future. I think what's going on here is that the vision captures how it felt for the faithful Jews to live under Antiochus, because he was the first of these rulers to deliberately undermine their laws, their faith, their worship and to defile their temple. We do the same thing in our political discourse all the time, turning bad politicians into over-the-top monsters, and our politicians aren't half the monster that Antiochus was. It goes on: “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. We don't really know how Antiochus Epiphanes died. The Greek historian Polybius and the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees give varying accounts of his being driven mad after an attempt to plunder a temple in Persia. He seems to have died not long after. 1 and 2 Maccabees suggest that there was an element of divine wrath in his affliction and death. The description here, again, seems grandiose and we know nothing of him pitching his tents between the sea and Mt. Zion. Whatever we make of the specifics, what the author saw in the Prophets—and I think, too, that he was an astute observer of how the hubris of these Greek kings and their internal intrigues worked out in history—the author understood these things and could say with certainty that the wicked Antiochus Epiphanes would get his divine comeuppance. Whether this vision was actual prophecy or whether it was the author's attempt to exhort the faithful in Judah by working out a sort of pseudo-prophecy based on the visions of Daniel and the writings of Israel's prophets, the Spirit stands behind the text. I've been wrestling with the difficulties here for months. Is it prophecy? Is it pseudo-prophecy? Was it written in the Sixth Century or the Second? Did the people who received it think it was written by Daniel hundreds of years before or did they know it was written by one of their own who was suffering under Antiochus just as they were? These are hard questions and there's no easy solution. But what I do know and what I keep coming back to is that the Holy Spirit stands behind these words and we know that, because Jesus drew on them as scripture and so did the writers of the New Testament. I expect I'll get into this idea more next week, Lord willing, but I think Jesus' use of Daniel points us in the right direction, because Jesus used this last vision of Daniel to point to the future vindication and resurrection of his people. In doing that I think Jesus was doing with Daniel what Daniel had done with the earlier prophets. As I said a few minutes ago, the Prophets often pointed forward to the “End”—the End with a capital “E”—and it was usually associated with whatever historical events of judgement and vindication they were prophesying. And those prophecies were fulfilled in history, those times of judgement and vindication came as they had said, but always that great End was still out there, always pointing to a time when there would be a great and final day, at the end of history, on which the wicked will be judged and the faithful will be vindicated and I think that's what's going on in this final vision of Daniel. Through the judgement of the wicked and vindication of the just in his own day, the author of Daniel points even more emphatically than the prophets of old had, towards that final Day of the Lord. And this, then, is what Jesus picks up from Daniel and makes his own. In his death and resurrection, in his ascension and his judgement of faithless Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus is saying that that great eschatological End with a capital “E” is finally here. The end of history has begun. And in that he's much like the old Prophets and he's much like Daniel. There's still time to go. There are still things to be done on both earth and in the heavenlies before every last enemy has been put under his feet. And in the meantime God's people—even now empowered by the gospel and the Spirit—God's people, like they always have, need this encouragement to stand firm, to keep the faith, and to fight he good fight—even if it means our death. Our acclamation as we come to the Lord's Table gives us just this kind of exhortation and if you aren't accustomed to thinking of it that way, try to think of it that way from now on: Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Jesus has fulfilled what the Prophets spoke. He has inaugurated the End. And now we live in that in between time—between the beginning of the End and the end of the End. And that, Brothers and Sisters, is good news. It is the exhortation we need to stand firm, to keep the faith, and to fight the good fight knowing that our Lord sits enthroned in the heavenlies and has already won the battle and decisively turned the tide of this war. Let's pray: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the many and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We Have Not Obeyed His Voice Daniel 9:1-27 by William Klock Last week we looked at the resurrection story in John 20 as it continued into the evening that first Easter Sunday—as Jesus appeared to his disciples while they were hiding, as he breathed new life into them through the Holy Spirit, and as he commissioned them with those words, “Even as the Father sent me, I am sending you.” With those actions, with those words, with that little group of disciples hiding in Jerusalem Jesus began the renewal of Israel. That was the beginning of a new people called to be light in the darkness and sent out to boldly proclaim the good news and the coming of God's kingdom. At its core it was the same mission that the people of God had had since Abraham: to be light in the darkness, to make the one, true God known to the nations. But now, recentred in Jesus, this people would go out—as I said—as prophets, priests, and kings. As prophets, calling first Judah, then the nations to repentance. As priests, mediating, proclaiming the good news about Jesus who has died, who has risen, and who is now the world's true Lord—it's King. And as kings, as we make real Jesus' kingdom in practical ways in the world, anticipating that day when we will reign with him. And the New Testament tells us how those disciples went out into the world as prophets, priests, and kings. We read of their faithfulness. We read how they were opposed and persecuted and even killed. And yet we also see the seeds of what would come as little churches popped up all over the Roman Empire—even right under the nose of Caesar himself in Rome. And history shows us how the gospel continued to conquer and transform the world, until even mighty Caesar submitted himself and his empire to Jesus. The gospel did its work. The old gods were defeated and their temples torn down—even turned into churches. The perverted sexual ethics of the Greeks and Romans faded away. The brutal gladiatorial games were outlawed. Slavery became a thing of the past. Women and children came to be valued and abortion and infanticide were done away with. The gospel taught the world about grace and mercy. It wasn't perfect by any means, but I think most of us really have very little grasp just how much the power of the gospel transformed Western Civilisation for the better and in ways that displayed the life of the Spirit, that honoured Jesus, and that glorified God. But what happened to all that? Christendom has fallen. The world around us is retreating back into darkness. Anti-gospel philosophies are taking over. Sexual immorality has become rampant in just a few short decades. We're back to murdering our children before they're born. The church has fallen out of favour. Christians are mocked. And while the gospel is still active, gone are those days when it captured whole peoples and radically transformed their societies. Instead, it's become a regular thing to hear of prominent Christians apostatising. Whole churches forsake the gospel. Even our covenant children are turning away in troubling numbers. Again, what happened? Could it be that we can learn something from Israel's story of discipline and exile? That's what got me thinking about preaching through the book of Daniel. The church today in the West seems to be in a sort of exile and Daniel offers us timely wisdom—showing us how to be faithful in an alien land and how to be light in a darkness that does its best to snuff us out. And I think a part of that wisdom that Daniel offers also addresses the question of “Why?” Why did this happen? If anything is clear in Daniel, it is that God is sovereign and that even the raging beasts of empire ultimately serve his purposes. And so as we find ourselves in exile, the story of Israel's exile helps to answer why—if we have the humility to see it. And, I think, Daniel 9 exhorts us to just that sort of humility. It exhorts us to see the hand of God at work to fulfil his purposes in even the fall of Christendom and the demise of the church. God's people don't just happen to experience defeat and they aren't dragged into exile by random chance. Israel's story reminds us that God has always had a purpose for his people—in the old covenant and in the new—and that he will do whatever it takes to make us the holy people, the light-in-the-darkness people he needs us to be. And that includes refining us to remove the dross, like gold in a crucible, when we've failed. There's no Old Testament prophecy foretelling our current situation, but I think Israel's story should prompt us to ask with great humility how we have failed in our prophetic, priestly, and kingly roles. It should prompt us to confess our sins, and to pray for the Lord's gracious and merciful renewal. So let's look at Daniel 9, starting with verses 1 and 2: In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. We're back in the space between Chapters 5 and 6. Babylon has fallen to the Persians. Israel's great enemy is gone. But Israel is still in exile. When will it end? When will the people return to Jerusalem? What does Daniel do? He turns to scripture. Daniel would not have had the Bible or even the Old Testament as we know it, but he did have both the Law and the Prophets in some form. And so Daniel goes to the Prophets and specifically to the Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah had spoken of the exile lasting seventy years and as Daniel calculates it that seventy years is nearly up. Before we go on, this is the first hint we get here that even if context allows us to line up Daniel's chronology with historical events, the numbers are first and foremost symbolic. What comes later in this chapter has been the basis for countless eschatological speculations, some reasonable and some completely crazy. Our modern brains see numbers like this and want to think in terms of literal chronology. Seventy years means seventy years. And yet no matter how we try to line up the numbers of Daniel 9 with historical events, nothing is ever an exact fit. And that's because the numbers are symbolic—because that's how their brains worked—and what we have is more of a chronography than a chronology. It's a symbolic or stylised sketch meant to make sense of historical events. So the first vital thing to see with these numbers is the connection with the idea of the jubilee. Just as every seventh day was a sabbath, so every seventh year was a jubilee—a sort of year-long sabbath. The land was to have rest from planting and harvesting, debts were forgiven, land was returned to its owners, slaves were set free. It was very impractical from a human standpoint, but like the sabbath it showed the people's trust in the Lord to provide. It reminded them that it was his land and he had given it to them. They had not dug the wells or planted the vineyards. Both they and the land belonged to him. You can image that if people struggled to keep the sabbath, they'd really struggle to keep the jubilee. And they didn't. At best, only very, very rarely was the jubilee observed. And this became symbolic of Israel's failure to keep God's law. And so the Prophets spoke of Israel's exile in terms of the land finally having its rest—but one jubilee wasn't enough, so Jeremiah spoke of the exile as seventy years—ten jubilee cycles—to make up for Israel's long history of unfaithfulness. But, too, and this is the second part of the symbolism, seventy years is roughly a lifetime and the idea is that the exile would remove a full generation from the land—kind of like the forty years in the wilderness of Sinai. A full generation of exile gave time for a new generation to grow up, a generation that would be repentant, would return to the land, and would live in faithfulness. A new generation that would appreciate the Lord's presence and provision. So that's the idea behind this figure of seventy years. Keep that in the back of your mind for when we come to the final verses of the chapter and remember that the numbers here in Chapter 9 aren't the important thing, what Daniel does in response to Jeremiah's prophecy is what's really important. So Daniel sees that things are changing around him. The Babylonians that took his people into exile have been defeated—just as the Prophets had said they would. A generation has passed. He's now an old man. When will the Lord fulfil his promise to return his people to Jerusalem? When will he fulfil his promise to return to the temple? Again: Daniel goes to the scriptures, to God's words. Brothers and Sisters, if you want to hear from God, go to his word. Don't look for special revelation. Don't try to divine his will. Go to his word. And go to his word responsibly. Daniel knew that Jeremiah had prophesied the exile and so that's where he went. Because Jeremiah didn't just say that the exile would happen, through him the Lord explained why. It was because of the unfaithfulness of the people. It was because of his covenant with them. He would be their God and they would be his people. And he committed himself to them and, back at Sinai, they had committed themselves to him. He'd given them his law. That was their end of the covenant. Now, to be clear. They didn't earn their special place as God's people. That was grace. That was mercy. And they didn't earn anything by keeping the law. They kept the law because it was what identified them as God's people and made them different, made them light in the darkness. They kept the law because they loved him. Being faithful to God's law was their response to his loving-kindness. But in the covenant, the Lord had also warned that if they were unfaithful—like a cheating spouse—they would be exiled from the land, they'd no longer be permitted to live in his presence. And Jeremiah, on the eve of the exile, had enumerated the many sins of the people. That was the reason for the exile. And through Jeremiah, the Lord had also promised that when the exile was over, he would restore his people to the land and to himself and they would be faithful again. And so Daniel goes to God's word and he reads all of this and he's moved to confession—not just for himself, because everything we've read so far would indicate that Daniel has been personally faithful—Daniel confesses on behalf of his people. This is the main section of Chapter 9. Let's read through the whole thing from verse 3 to 19: Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” Daniels confession is a long one, but at the heart of it is the recognition that his people were in a covenant relationship with the Lord and that they had broken it. In chapter after chapter, Jeremiah enumerates the plethora of ways that Israel had sinned, that she's failed to keep the covenant, and that she's failed to trust in and to be faithful to the Lord. He had called and redeemed this people so that they could make him known to the nations, to be light in the darkness, but instead Israel had brought shame on the Lord. Because of Israel, the nations mocked the Lord rather than giving him glory. Jeremiah recognised that the exile was his discipline. The Lord was not merely casting his people away in anger. Through Isaiah the Lord had said to his people, “you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you…bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” No, the exile wasn't a casting away. It was an act of loving discipline and when the time was right—Jeremiah's seventy years—the Lord would restore his people to Jerusalem and return to his temple. And so knowing that, Daniel fell to his knees and confessed. And notice how he confesses the sins of his people. Occasionally, someone will say something to me about the confession in our liturgy. “I don't feel like I need to pray that this week.” “Why do we repeat it. Why do we confess ours sins, hear the absolution, and yet again confess our unworthiness when we come to the Table and then when we leave?” Brothers and Sisters, it's not just about you or me as individuals. We are a people united in a covenant with the Lord and with each other. We're responsible as individuals, but we're also responsible as a community. When one of us sins, it affects all of us. Think about Israel. The righteous were carried away with the wicked in the exile. The righteous suffered with and because of the wicked. And yet we don't hear them crying out, “Why me? I didn't do anything wrong! This isn't fair!” Just the opposite, like Daniel, they threw ashes on their heads, put on sackcloth, knelt before the Lord, and confessed the sins of the people, and prayed for the Lord's mercy and grace. I think we can learn something from that. The church today is in a mess. It's divided. Parts are preaching heresy. Parts are sold out to the world and its ways. Parts are consumed with materialism and greed and selfishness. Some have shallow and man-centred preaching and some have shallow and man-centred worship. Some have no concern for holiness. Some trust in Caesar or Mammon or horses and chariots more than they trust in the Lord. And some of us can be very prideful, look down our noses, and as much as our criticisms may be good and right and true—and even needed—we become very self-righteous. We're blind to our own sins and shortcomings. And it never occurs to us that perhaps we're all in this together and this current “exile” in which the church finds herself and this collapse of Christendom is because we have failed in our collective witness—because instead of being kings and priests and prophets proclaiming and displaying the glories of the Lord, we have like Israel, brought shame on his name. Maybe others bear more guilt than we do, but notice that that was never Daniel's concern. Instead, he got down on his knees and repented and prayed “we” and “us” and begged for the Lord's mercy on the whole people. We have all in our own ways sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In response to Daniel's prayer, we read in verses 20-23, that the Lord sent his angel, Gabriel, to show Daniel a vision—to give him insight and understanding, because the Lord had heard him and because the Lord greatly loved him. We'll finish with verses 24-27: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” Sadly, this is the part of Daniel 9 that often gets all the attention—and then not even for the right reasons. People want to know the future and an unbelievable number of bizarre and downright silly explanations have been given to explain what's really a very simple passage. This is usually because people try to apply this to events in their future, while overlooking the context. Chapter 8 is clear in pointing to the years around the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt and so is the vision of Chapters 10-12. That's what Gabriel is pointing towards here. Instead of Israel's time of discipline ending completely after seventy years, the end of the exile will be more like the beginning of the end. Instead of seventy years, it will be seventy sevens—seventy being symbolic of a lifetime multiplied by the sevenfold chastisement of Leviticus 26. God's people will return to Jerusalem, they will rebuild the temple, but that won't be the end of their trials and tribulations. The first “week” of years will lead into sixty-two weeks of years, which will bring them to the reign of Antiochus, and that final week of years represents his reign over Judea, beginning with the murder of the high priest, leading in the middle to his desecration of the temple, and finally to his death and the deliverance of Judah. This is a reminder, once again, of the sovereignty and faithfulness of the God of Israel. That's one of Daniel's major themes. When everything is wrong with the world and God's people are suffering, Daniel reminds us that all these things are serving God's purposes, that he is sovereign, and that he is faithful. He hasn't cast us aside in anger and left us to be. Instead, our trials, his discipline, refine us as gold in the crucible, so that when these days are over, we will give him glory before the eyes of the watching world. Again, there's no Old Testament prophecy (or New Testament prophecy, for that matter) that points to our current situation and tells us precisely what is happening the way Jeremiah pointed to Daniel's day. In a sense we have to do what the author of Daniel did in those days of the Second Century as his people experienced the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. We have to go back to the story of God and his people. We need to remember that he has brought us into covenant with himself—in our case, through Jesus and the Spirit—and that he has made us prophets, priests, and kings for the sake of the kingdom of his son, for the sake of making him known, for the sake of transforming this world with the power of the gospel. He has made us to be light in the darkness. And, just as he did with Israel, he will take that light away if instead of bringing glory to his name, we bring shame. And lest we think that is some old covenant thing that doesn't apply to us, we have Jesus' words to those seven churches under John's care, the one's John writes to in Revelation. Again, those words were written to them about their situation, about the trials and tribulations they were about to face, but their calling to be light in the darkness is our calling too. And Jesus warned them that if they would not repent of their sins and failures, if they refused to be faithful in their duties as prophets, priests, and kings, that the Lord would take away their lamps. I had planned to preach on Daniel 9 to close out the season of Lent, but our Sunday snowpocalypse back in March pushed it forward. It's a somber theme for Eastertide, but I don't think it's entirely inappropriate. Brother and Sisters, we are called to be a people shaped by the events and the message of Easter, but the things happening around us practically shout at us of our failure to do that. Maybe you and I aren't the worst offenders. Maybe our church isn't the worst offender. And so many of the failures of the church and of Christendom happened before any of us were even born and, like Daniel, we're experiencing exile largely because of the failure of previous generations. But you and I are reminded that we are joined in a covenant with all of our brothers and sisters. And so being Easter people right now means humbling ourselves, examining ourselves and our church and our churches in light of the scriptures, repenting, confessing, and praying for the church and for the kingdom as a whole and asking the Lord to show us his mercy and grace. And if those Jewish saints living through those dark days two centuries before Jesus could trust that the Lord would deliver them, you and I can hope and trust in the Lord even more. That, too, is part of Easter. As we proclaim in the Lord's Supper: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. He will come again, someday, and he will come when his church has fulfilled the mission he has given. And that is reason to trust that he will never abandon us and it is reason to hope for that day when he has made his bride spotlessly perfect. Let us pray: Almighty God, who gave your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and an example of godly life: Give us grace that we may always receive with thankfulness the immesasurable benefit of his sacrifice, and daily endeavour to follow in the blessed steps of his most holy life, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for evermore. Amen.
About the King's Business Daniel 8:1-27 by William Klock The books of 1 and 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha detail the persecution of the Jews in the mid-160s BC, during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 2 Maccabees 6, for example, tells how “the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus” (6:1-2). The gentiles used the temple of God for their orgies and drunken banquets. Antiochus desecrated the alter with the sacrifice of a pig. On holidays the king's men would round up Jews and force them to participate in his parades and sacrifices. Those who refused to participate or who were caught living by torah were killed. Two women, for example, were caught having circumcised their baby boys. Their babies were tied around their necks as the women were paraded through the streets to the wall of the city and then thrown down it to their deaths. Faithful Jews who were caught secretly observing the sabbath in a nearby network of caves were burned alive. 2 Maccabees 7 tells the story of seven brothers and their mother, who were threatened with torture to eat pork. Despite being beaten, they refused. The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song that bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.'” (2 Maccabees 7:3-6) The king went on to do the same to the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh brothers who all refused. We read that: The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them, “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.” (2 Maccabees s7:20-23) She stood firm—and so did her sons—because they hoped in the Lord. They knew that he is the Lord of history. They knew his goodness. They knew his faithfulness. They knew their story and how it was interwoven with the story of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, and so even as they were brutally murdered by a mad king, they trusted in him. Daniel was written for these people. The stories in the first half of the book show Daniel and his friends standing firm for the Lord during the Babylonian exile, but the dreams and visions in the second are situated right in the middle of those days of violent persecution four centuries later. That's what we see now as we come to Chapter 8 and to Daniel's second vision. Let's start with verse 1 and read through to the end. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. Another vision during the reign of the blasphemous king Belshazzar. In his ways, he foreshadows the evils of Antiochus Epiphanes. But as the first vision revealed, the days of Babylon were soon to be over, so this vision whisks Daniel hundreds of kilometres to the east, to Susa, which would become the capital of the Persian empire. And there he sees another animal, this time a ram. This is another clue as to when the book was written. The ram as a sign of the zodiac was associated with Persia—not in Daniel's day, but in the time of the Greeks. The symbolism of Daniel 7 was difficult and there's a fair bit of disagreement about what it all means, but not so much with Daniel 8. This vision is simpler and the explanation pretty straightforward. Most everyone agrees on the major points. So it begins with a ram representing the combined empire of the Medes and the Persians—those are the two horns, one bigger than the other. Horns, in ancient imagery, represent strength. The Medes were strong, but the Persians eventually become stronger and gobbled them up and so Daniel sees the ram, lowering its head, and charging from the east into the north and into the south and into the west—which is exactly what the Persian empire did, until it controlled the known world, even as far as Greece. Daniel writes that the ram did as it pleased and became strong. It's the way of human empires. But as the ram reaches the peak of its power, Daniel sees a goat appear in the west. It helps to know that in the biblical mind, the goat was stronger and more powerful than the ram. This goat had a single horn and it made its way across the land so fast it might have been flying for all it seemed to touch the earth. It put its head down and charged the mighty ram and shattered both its powerful horns. In case the symbolism wasn't already obvious, the angel explains that the goat is Greece. The jutting horn is Alexander the Great. Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedon. He was tutored by Aristotle and assumed the throne when his father died in 336 BC. He was only twenty years old. By the age of thirty he had conquered the known world, from Greece in the west to India in the East, from Central Asia in the north to Egypt in the south. And then, in 323 BC, still a young man, Alexander died of a fever in Babylon. For twenty years his generals fought over his empire, eventually carving it up into four kingdoms, which Daniel sees as four horns. The two relevant ones for the Jews were that of Seleucus who controlled Syria and the east, and Ptolemy, who controlled Egypt and Palestine. But this is all the background to the most important part of the vision. Out of those Greek successor kingdoms arises another horn. He isn't named, but as the details of the first horn obviously point to Alexander, the details of this new horn point very obviously to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. In the great sweep of history, Antiochus was hardly the greatest of the Greek kings, but when he defeated the Egyptian Ptolemies and took control of Judah he became very important to the Jews. The Ptolemies had treated the Jews well and allowed them to govern themselves as a sort of religous state as long as the high priest coughed up the annual taxes. Antiochus, however, wanted to make good Greeks of the Jews and to get his hands on the temple treasury. Under his rule the priesthood was bought and sold and eventually observance of torah was outlawed and torah scrolls burned. God's worship in the temple was ended and it was turned into a temple to Olympian Zeus. And Antiochus murdered faithful Jews by the tens of thousands. In Daniel's vision, Antiochus takes the form of this great horn that rises up against heaven itself. These verses, especially 12-13, are difficult. Just when I was glad to leave the Aramaic of chapters 2-7 behind, here come these verses that I can only describe as a Hebrew word salad. The Hebrew of Daniel is something else that points to it having been written in the Second Century, because it's not written in the great literary Hebrew of Daniel's day, but in a sort of clunky Hebrew that looks a lot like it was written by someone who probably spoke Aramaic as a first language. But that's okay. The gist of Daniel's vision is that Antiochus, in going up against the temple and the priesthood, was really shaking his fist at the God of Israel. This little earthly king who called himself “Epiphanies”—the manifestation of God—was pitting himself against the living God, the Lord of history, the one the Babylonian kings had had the good sense to acknowledge as God Most High. That never ends well. And yet, for a time, the mad king seems to have won. Israel's identity was centred on the temple. That was the place where heaven and earth, where God and man met. They were the holy people who lived with God in their midst. And not only did Antiochus do his best to make sure they broke their end of the covenant with God by preventing them from keeping his law, but he suspended the very sacrifices that acknowledged God's presence in the temple. He wanted the Jews to live like good Greeks and when they insisted on living like Jews, he banished their God from his temple and set up an altar to Zeus. Judah was now his land. Their God was gone, so they had no reason to obey his law. Of course, the Jews knew better. Like that mother and her seven sons in 2 Maccabees, they knew the faithfulness of the God of the Israel and they knew that no puny human king could blaspheme against him forever. But, for a time, he would seem to have won the day. According to Daniel's vision, for 2300 evenings and mornings the temple would be desolate. That's a reference to the morning and evening sacrifices that were—or were supposed to be—made every day. The sacrifices that Antiochus suspended. Depending on how you parse this detail out, it's either about three years and three months or it's about six years and six months. Most people tend to go with the three years, which corresponds closely to the time when Antiochus had suspended the worship of the Lord in the temple. But the six-and-a-half years works too, if you count back to when the high priest was deposed. Either way, we know what the vision represents. And either way and for whatever reason, it's not an exact number, which means it may also be symbolic—we just can't be sure exactly how. However we parse out the number, the important point is that the Lord has numbered these evil days. And that's the point I want to close on. Too often we get fixated on numbers and on fixing dates and end up missing the point. We do it with books like Daniel. We do it with books like Revelation. We do it with the prophets and with the apocalyptic discourses of Jesus. It's nothing new. Christians have been setting dates for over a thousand years and whenever we do, we seem to end up distracted from the gospel mission we've been given. Often it ends with the creation of schismatic sects and cults. William Miller, for example, worked out from these 2300 evening and mornings that Jesus would return in 1843. His argument convinced a lot of people (and it helped that he threw in plenty of “God has told mes”). Of course, it didn't happen so he adjusted his formula, admitted a small error, and corrected the date to 1844. That didn't happen either. But his followers had given up everything and then many of them walked away and became jaded. They called it the “Great Disappointment”. But, still, to this day Miller has his ardent followers. They're the Seventh Day Adventists and believe that it really did happen in 1843, and that it wasn't about Jesus returning to the earth, but that Jesus on that date entered the heavenly temple to begin is work of judging souls in anticipation of his return. And many of us remember Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth that became a sensation in the 1970s. Lindsey made a point of not setting an exact date, but he wasn't shy about saying things like the 1980's would probably be the earth's last decade. It motivated some people to become missionaries, but it motivated lots of other people to abandon their jobs, their families, and to run up massive credit card debt because they were convinced that in a year or two none of it would matter. In more recent years we've had similar predictions made about “blood moons” and the like. Christian bookstores were filled books about the imminent return of Jesus and end of the world. People were, once again, all worked up about the end of the world and, once again, nothing happened. Again, we too often forget the point of passages like this one in Daniel 8. Even if we could estimate or even set a date by it, the point is that God is in control and, because of that, we have every reason to stand firm in the midst of trials and persecution, knowing that God will vindicate us in the same way that he has vindicated his people in the past and, especially for us as Christians, in the same way that he vindicated his son when he raised him from death. Daniel 8—and so many other passages—remind us first and foremost that God is sovereign. No matter how it seems, history is not random. No matter how much they may shake their fists at the heavens, no king is outside the sovereign will of God. No matter how much we may abuse our God-given liberty, every one of us will be held to account. Sin and evil will not go on forever. God is judge, one day he will deal with sin and death once and for all, and eventually all of creation will be to rights—including us. And we know that this will happen, we believe, we have hope, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the cross God did the hard part needed to set the world to rights. At the cross Jesus won the decisive battle and one day the war will be over when we, the church, his people, have accomplished the work he has given. He has equipped us with his own Spirit and sends us out to proclaim the life giving and renewing good news of his death and resurrection. And for two thousand years, that good news has driven away the false gods of the pagans and brought kings and their people to their knees before Jesus and to give glory to the God of Israel. Brothers and Sisters, date-setting, goofy predictions, and eschatological paranoia do nothing to witness the sovereignty of the Lord of history. They do just the opposite and they undermine our witness. They make Christians look foolish and the scriptures untrustworthy. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel, because in Jesus and in his death and resurrection, that is where the world meets the living God and knows his faithfulness. And that brings me to the final point. Look again at verse 27 and Daniel's response. The vision left him troubled. He even lay sick in his bed for “some days”. He was in some sense dismayed because he didn't fully understand it. But what did he do? He says that he arose and went about the king's business. Brothers and Sisters, the prophecies and apocalypses that the Spirit has given us in the scripture were never meant to send us out in a panic or a frenzy, they weren't given to have us abandon our earthly responsibilities because the world is coming to an end. They were given to us to remind us that God is sovereign, that he will judge the wicked, and that he will vindicate his people for their faithfulness. So be faithful. The Lord had placed Daniel in a position of authority in the court of the king of Babylon. That pagan court was soon to fall. That pagan king was soon to die. But the Lord had put Daniel in that position for a reason and so he went faithfully back to his work. The same goes for each of us. The Lord has put us where we are for a reason. Be a faithful husband and father or a faithful wife and mother knowing that the Lord is sovereign. Be faithful in your vocation, whatever it may be, however mundane it may seem. Be faithful to your earthly obligations: to your family, to your business, to your school, to your church, to your club, to your friends, to your debts, to your country knowing that the Lord has placed you where you are. That is, after all, the King's business. This witness to our trust in the sovereignty of God is the foundation that undergirds our greater witness to Jesus and the gospel. It is what prepares us to stand firm should the day come when we find ourselves forced to choose between obedience to an earthly king and obedience to our heavenly King. May we stand firm like the saints of old and declare with the mother of those seven martyred sons, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us.” Let's pray: Almighty God, look with mercy on your people; that by your great goodness we may be always governed and preserved both in body and soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A secular self-proclaimed counter-evangelist and former Catholic underscores the lack of surviving historic records about Jesus of Nazareth from any non-Jewish author until the second century, adding that Jesus left no writings or other archaeological evidence. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization Source: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mythicists argue that Christianity began almost one hundred years after the death of Jesus and was born out of a mélange of clashing second century religious ideas. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization Source: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Let's continue listening to a provocative, unconventional Christian origins assessment of the Historical Jesus. Born in the Second Century podcast at https://amzn.to/3HNIxWV THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization Source: Born in the Second Century podcast with Chris Palmero (Episode 1: The Road Abandoned). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY continues its miniseries on the Gospel of John as a derivative work, with its author aware of the prior Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke.Host Chris Palmero follows the progress of Jesus from Galilee - where he urges a confused audience to eat his flesh and drink his blood - to the outskirts of Jerusalem, where he performs the Raising of Lazarus.Anyone who listens to this episode of Born in the Second Century can learn about why the general public never seems to learn anything new about Jesus; about the origins of the strange new ritual in the Gospel of John; why some Christians thought that the Beloved Disciples would never die; why the middle chapters of john are so chaotic; why John doesn't seem to think that Jesus was born in Bethlehem; and about the several rewrites of the Lazarus Miracle.Opening reading: An academic paper by Hugo Mendez about the Gospel of John being a forgery has got the usually staid Mainstream Theologians extremely excited.Support the showPatreon: www.patreon.com/borninthesecondcenturyWebsite: facebook.com/BornInTheSecondCenturyE-mail: secondcenturypodcast@gmail.comMusic: Pompeii Gray on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud
Today on the podcast I'm talking with Dr. Christopher Oscarson, a scholar of environmental humanities and an associate dean of undergraduate education at BYU. Christopher, or Chip as he's known, recently delivered an address entitled “Let Your Education Change You,” and I wanted to talk with him about another important speech he cited in his talk, President Spencer W. Kimball's landmark address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” Dr. Oscarson challenged me to ask not how learning can help me get ahead, but how it can refine my character. We talk about the challenges of faith-based higher education, whether real learning can happen outside the classroom, and why President Kimball worried about “invading ideologies.” I hope you enjoy the conversation.
BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY'S miniseries on the Gospel of John continues. Host Chris Palmero examines John's use of the Synoptic Gospels - Mark, Matthew, and Luke - as sources.Anyone who listens to this episode of BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY can learn about: why the Gospel of John contains two separate John the Baptist scenes; why Jesus only heals Gentiles at long range; the problems with the "Ecclesiastical Redactor" hypothesis; why John told us that Jesus was conducting baptisms; what the next logo of Born in the Second Century will look like; and why Jesus said that a prophet is only without honor in his hometown.Opening reading: Jesus cures the Royal Official's son, in a scene that not only borrows from Mark, Matthew, and Luke, but also gives John an opportunity to counteract those authors' opinions about miracles.Support the showPatreon: www.patreon.com/borninthesecondcenturyWebsite: facebook.com/BornInTheSecondCenturyE-mail: secondcenturypodcast@gmail.comMusic: Pompeii Gray on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud
NT Pod 103 is a conversation with Dr Elizabeth Schrader Polczer, focusing on her Duke PhD Dissertation, "'Those Who Love Me Will Keep My Word': Narrative Variants in New Testament Gospel Stories”, and related topics. NT Pod 103: The Joy of Textual Variants: In Conversation with Dr Elizabeth Schrader Polczer (mp3) You can leave feedback on Twitter or on our Facebook page, or on our new Instagram.Dr Elizabeth Schrader Polczer's homepageDr Elizabeth Schrader Polczer on Twitter“Those Who Love Me Will Keep My Word”: Narrative Variants in New Testament Gospel Stories (Duke University PhD Dissertation)"Was Martha of Bethany Added to the Fourth Gospel in the Second Century?" (Open Access via Duke Space; Harvard Theological Review official here)"Was Salome at the Markan Tomb? Another Ending to Mark's Gospel" (Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin article)"Apocryphal within the Canonical: Unorthodox Influence on the New Testament Textual Transmission" (forthcoming article)Mary Magdalene as a “revealer": translated page from the Syriac Sinaitic palimpsest Thanks to Ram2000, "Me and You", for the opening theme, released under a Creative Commons agreement.
Christian History is the whole reason I started this podcast. I love Christian History. As I take a break from the podcast for a little while, I would like to share with my new listeners my favorite episodes which happen to be my earliest episodes on Christian History. Now we go into the second century. In this episode we focus on the Christian leaders and authors of this pivotal century.Feel free to email me at soulanchorpodcast@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
Questions about whether God could reach a second-century Shinto monk who desired redemption and whether it's possible for someone to put their faith in Jesus for salvation but not have eternal life because they weren't chosen. Could God reach a second-century Shinto monk who was dissatisfied with his religion and desired redemption? Is it possible for someone to put their faith in Jesus for salvation and do their best to live a Christian life but not have eternal life because they weren't chosen?
Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow #BigAstronomy: Discovering Hipparchus's Second Century BCE star catalog. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03296-1?error=cookies_not_supported&code=8bb82a4c-36e5-4043-82b1-e104bd63807a
Dr. Joel Elowsky of Concordia Seminary-St. Louis
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