Early Church | My Doctoral Studies

Mar

N. T. Wright on Resources for the Gospel writers

It seems to me that the evangelists may well have faced, as a major task, the problem not so much of how to cobble together enough tradition to make a worthwhile book, but of how to work out what to include from the welter of available material. The old idea that the evangelists must have included everything that they had to hand was always, at best, a large anachronism.

John, in his gospel, basically says this same thing at the end of his Gospel. “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)

Feb

Sometimes I Feel the Same Way

Found this in an introduction to Philo. He lived from about 20 BCE – 40 CE. It amazes me how someone from two centuries ago can pretty much sum up life in the present age.

In at least one important passage Philo reveals something of his perspective on his life and work (On the Special Laws 3.1–6). Here Philo remembers that “There was once a time when, devoting my leisure to philosophy and to the contemplation of the world and the things in it, I reaped the fruit of excellent, and desirable, and blessed intellectual feelings….I appeared to be raised on high and borne aloft by a certain inspiration of the soul….�? But this life was interrupted with “… the vast sea of the cares of public politics, in which I was and still am tossed about without being able to keep myself swimming at the top.�? But all was not lost, for “… even in these circumstances I ought to give thanks to God, that though I am so overwhelmed by this flood, I am not wholly sunk and swallowed up in the depths. But I open the eyes of my soul … and I am irradiated with the light of wisdom…. Behold, therefore, I venture not only to study the sacred commands of Moses, but also with an ardent love of knowledge to investigate each separate one of them, and to endeavour to reveal and to explain to those who wish to understand them, things concerning them which are not known to the multitude.�?

from Philo, o. A., & C. D. Yonge. The Works of Philo : Complete and Unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1993.

Dec

If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.

- Thomas, à Kempis

Humility is one path to take to spiritual fulfillment. It seems so easy, yet, humility is one of the difficult qualities to develop. Even when I seem humble, I may not be. My lack of humility usually comes when I’m stressed. Sometimes it looks like impatiences, because, after all, I’m too important to have to wait. If I could develop true humility, I would find peace.

Dec

Reading with [different] Eyes

For the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life…[A]nyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints by compuing their deeds.

- Athanasius

I wonder how much “American church culture” would change if our primary focus was on a “good life and a pure soul.” Would the way we understand the Scriptures change? Would our interpretations be different? Would our communities of faith be transformed?