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Understanding The New Testament: Inspiration, Canonisation, And Historical Context

A common modern perception of the inspiration of Scripture often portrays it as a rigid, divine dictation of words from God to be written down verbatim. This perspective leads to concerns among some religious communities, such as Muslims, who view any alteration or addition to the text as a potential threat to the entire faith. The Islamic understanding of inspiration emphasises direct and unalterable divine dictation, contributing to their scepticism of multiple Bible translations, which they falsely label as “corruption”. In contrast, the Biblical inspiration of the Scriptures has never been viewed as a literal divine dictation, as if the apostles were un...

Before The Pumpkins: The Road To The Lions

The sound of chains echoed through the streets as Ignatius of Antioch was led from Syria to Rome. The old bishop’s body was frail, but his heart burned with the strength of Christ. Each clinking step brought him closer to the arena — and to the wild beasts that would tear him apart — yet his letters brimmed with joy and passion, and a sense of urgency inspiring others to unity, obedience, and unwavering faith. For Ignatius, death was not defeat; it was the completion of discipleship, crossing the finish line of faith… the moment when imitation of Christ became complete. Ignatius of Antioch is one of my favourite Early Church Fathers mainly for h...

The Historic Practice of Abortion and How Ancient Christians Responded

It’s no secret that the majority of Christians are against abortion, no matter where you look in the world. But nowhere has the issue come to more of a head than in the US recently with the overturning of Roe v Wade, which had made abortion legal across the country. Now abortion is no longer a federal constitutional right, but individual states now have the authority to determine the legality and rulings around abortion. Christian opposition to abortion in America has always been a heated topic, especially in recent decades, but this isn’t a novelty within the Church in America, or globally, and has been a position of the faithful for about 2000 years. Even...

Is fasting an expectation for Christians?

...https://patristics.info/didache.html https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=fasting&qs_version=NRSV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphanius_of_Salamis https://thesacredfaith.co.uk/home/perma/1455202239/article/great-lent.html https://thesacredfaith.co.uk/home/perma/1518523140/article/lent-2018-the-temptations-of-jesus.html https://thesacredfaith.co.uk/home/perma/1521918240/article/how-was-jesus-a-sacrifice.html https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes/institutes.vi.xiii.html...

Using AI to bring the Early Church to the modern age!

...Hello everyone, I've created and trained some AI chatbots on the writings of the Apostolic Fathers! You can ask them anything about the authors, the texts, topics, or quotes. Give it a try and see what you think: Apostolic Fathers Chatbot | patristics.info I've also made Irenaeus into an AI so you can go and have a chat with him about his works Against Heresies. The bot 'thinks' it is Irenaeus too, so you can ask it personal things as though you were talking to Irenaeus: AI Irenaeus | patristics.info And finally, introducing AI John Chrysostom as a similar AI which acts as the person so you can ask it questions in a more natural way: AI John Chrysostom | Pa...

Francis Chan turns towards a more historical and ancient view of Communion

...https://patristics.info/ignatius-of-antioch-letter-to-the-smyrnaeans.html https://www.theopedia.com/transubstantiation https://www.theopedia.com/consubstantiation https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/articles-religion#XXVIII http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/father/fathers.htm https://www.britannica.com/technology/pulpit Rebuttals: https://reformationcharlotte.org/2020/01/05/francis-chan-rejects-protestant-view-of-communion-embraces-catholic-transubstantiation/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=155v2IT47Nc...