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Fasting: A spiritual and physical discipline

...istorical tradition: don’t fast on Sundays – this is because it is a day of celebration in remembrance of the resurrection; a “mini-feast day” as it’s known! Also, this is why and how during Lent the forty days “fits” from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday, by not counting the Sundays of Lent, otherwise it would be 46 days. Types of Fasts There’s a whole variety of different fasts which the Church has observed over the years (see this calendar as an example of Greek Orthodox fasting)! But here’s a breakdown of some typical fasts which anyone in good health should be able to keep which I’ve taken from the various teachings found in the Churc...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...of their traditions are very ancient, even in some cases from Moses himself. How is the similarity between these 2 texts best explained? The Rabbi is too late to be the source of the saying of Jesus, but also it would be most peculiar for a non-messianic Rabbi to be using Matthew as his source, taking a saying of Jesus from it and equating or replacing Jesus with the Shekhinah, especially in the presence of other parallels that have less correlation with Matthew 18:20. As a result most scholars agree that this is based on an earlier Jewish tradition, one from which these later rabbinic sayings were derived. These later rabbinic traditions and the similarity to...

Jesus Like You've Never Seen Before - Discoveries from Early Christian Art

...the more traditional images that we’ve come to associate with Jesus — an older, bearded figure. In iconography, the beard and age often symbolises wisdom and the role of a teacher. On the other hand, the older Roman-like depictions tend to present Jesus as a typical person of the day, as seen by the artists of that time. Moving further back in time, we find depictions from the 3rd century, around the early to mid-200s. One particularly interesting image from this era portrays Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In this piece, and indeed, in other early Christian art pieces from this period, Jesus is rather shockingly depicted holding a wand while per...

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

...anuscript tradition of the New Testament. The flawed view of inspiration as a series of momentary “supernatural writing sessions” creates an expectation that anything “spiritual” written by an apostle or associate had to be preserved. This mindset suggests that missing letters indicate a failure in the process of collecting inspired books. Instead, we should understand inspiration as a collaboration between normal people and God’s providence. The apostles, as normal individuals, used common vocabulary, styles, and forms of expression of their time, as evidenced by comparisons with contemporary literature. In essence, understanding the New Testament r...

Lent: Day 7 - Ignatius to the Trallians

...Day Seven: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Trallians (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: Ignatius urges the church to continue in unity and to honour their leadership. This letter also gives a defence against certain heresies. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Colosseum around 108 AD. When: Around 107-108 AD The letter to the Tr...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

...Day Eight: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Romans (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: A challenging letter in which Ignatius pours himself out to the Roman church about his impending martyrdom. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Colosseum around 108 AD. When: Around 107-108 AD On reading the introduction to this letter my first th...