We are coming to the end of our course ldquo The Cradle of Early Christianity rdquo after time spent journeying from Athens to Thessalonica to Philippi to Pergamum modern Bergama nbsp Smyrna modern Izmir Ephesus and Constantinople Istanbul nbsp We have surveyed the ruins of numero

In Chapter 3 Luke presented a traditional story about what occurred around the time of Jesus baptism this story in the main agrees with what we read nbsp Matthew and Mark nbsp But it is Luke who returns for a moment to that coming of the Spirit upon Jesus in order to explain a purpose for tha

I have been musing about what it means to be beginning Ordinary Time for 2010 In one sense the term has a simple liturgical meaning Ordinary Time begins on the Monday after the Second nbsp Sunday of the Year The Baptism of the Lord There is paradoxically no first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Certainly the changing of water into wine is an astounding accomplishment its being the first miracle story told by John nbsp about the public life of Jesus shows its ability to make clear the identity of Jesus nbsp It was the first of Jesus signs and the disciples believed in him nbsp Bu

The strange thing about studying early Christianity in Turkey is that there are not a lot of Christians left in Turkey the lands that were home to so much of the earliest growth and development of Christianity and the location of all seven of the first Ecumenical Councils As we discuss how Christi

For reasons having to do with airline flights we trace the Apostle Paul s journey through Greece backwards at least Paul s first journey through Greece described in Acts which is often titled The Second Missionary Journey Acording to Acts 17 1-15 and 1 Thessalonians itself Paul was persecute