We go to hard places and do hard things for the Church and community
A veteran-led WV corporation (501c3) providing global action, education, health, and security since 2011
Pithy Prose for Politicians, Preachers, Professors, Pundits, and Public Speakers.
By Mark D. Harris
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
In critical moments even the very powerful have need of the weakest.
It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
Aesop (620 BC – 560 BC)
Continue reading “Useful Greek and Roman Quotations”
By Mark D. Harris
Ab ovo – from an egg
Ad alta – To the summit
Ad astra – To the stars
Ad libitum – at liberty, at one’s pleasure
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam – To the greater glory of God – motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Continue reading “Useful Latin Sayings”
Imagine a world without watches, clocks, or any timepieces. Life would, and did, move more slowly. We can understand our ancestors better if we understand this.
By Mark D. Harris
Students of antiquity stumble over important questions. To accept any ancient work such as the Bible as a valid historical document we must understand the basics of daily life in the Bible. It is unfortunate, or exciting depending upon your point of view, that the Bible encompasses over 2,000 years, thousands of square miles and dozens of cultures. Simple questions abound such as “what time of day was Jesus crucified?” While this article will not provide a definitive answer, it will shed light on the question.
Israel
Time was divided into days, weeks, months and years during the Israelite monarchy. During and after the Babylonian exile the Jews adopted the Babylonian system of dividing the daylight period into hours.
Continue reading “Timekeeping in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East”
Ours is a day of self-indulgence, where we are promised to “have it our way” and told “you deserve a break today”. Famous songs trumpet “I did it my way” and anything and everything, from privacy to health care to “self-expression”, has become a right. Few would argue for self-denial and some even hold that self-denial is bad and unhealthy. Abraham Maslow told us that our greatest need was self-actualization, Henry Ford taught us how to make anything faster and cheaper on an assembly line, and we soon discovered that life is really “all about us”.
Most men and women in history have either been self-indulgent or aspired to it, much like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof sang in “If I were a rich man”. There have been a few, like the Spartans in Greece, who believed that self-discipline and self-denial were valuable, and perhaps even better, than self-indulgence. Benedict (480-540) was one such man.
Continue reading “The Benadictines”
Christians sometimes broke under the pressure of Roman persecutions. In paying homage to the emperor they denied Christ. In the face of so many believers standing firm, even to the cost of their deaths, dealing with apostate Christians who wanted back into fellowship was controversial.
By Mark D. Harris
Christians had been persecuted in the Roman Empire since the Apostles, but the persecution under Emperors Decius and Valerian was more widespread and severe than before. Simply for bearing the name of Jesus, Christians faced loss of position, confiscation of property, rejection by pagan family members, and even death. Many Christians stood strong in the faith, but many lost their courage under the pressure, denied Christ, and even sacrificed to idols. The Plague of Cyprian, most likely caused by smallpox, created further suffering and confusion. After the death of Decius in 251 the persecution slackened and people who denied Christ expected to be restored to fellowship.
Continue reading “Restoring Apostate Christians during the Roman Persecutions”
Christians were accused of atheism, child sacrifice, orgies, and a host of other crimes by Roman writers. Leaders in the church such as Tertullian fought back. As Christians are falsely accused of more and more, we can look back to translate Christian apology to the modern day.
By Mark D. Harris
Contrary to the modern Western usage of the word, apology as first defined by Webster is “a formal spoken or written defense of some idea, religion, philosophy, etc.” By end of the second century AD, Christianity had grown dramatically in the Roman Empire and was clearly differentiated from Judaism, which had lost its place in the Empire as a result of the Great Revolt (66-70 AD), the Kitos War (115-117 AD), and the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-135 AD). No longer identified with Judaism which shielded Christianity from close Roman scrutiny in the earliest days (Acts 18:12-17), Christianity in the second century was a focus of great attention by non-Christians.
Christians lived differently than their pagan neighbors. They kept to themselves in entertainment, worship, and even some commercial transactions such as purchasing meat sacrificed to idols. They avoided politics. Believers in Christ observed neither the traditional religious practices of the Greek and Roman gods nor the worship of the Emperor. The former made them different, but the later made them potentially treasonous in the eyes of others.
Continue reading “Christian Apology in the Second Century”
