An Early Christian Refuge?
A 2,000-year-old underground chamber has been discovered in Israel’s Jordan Valley.
The largest human-made cave in Israel, the 1-acre (0.4-hectare) space is thought to have begun as a quarry. In subsequent centuries it may have served as a monastery, hideout for persecuted Christians, or Roman army base, experts say.
Archaeologists working in the valley found the cave this past March when they came across a hole in a rock face.
As they were about to enter, two fearful-looking Bedouins appeared and warned the team that hyenas and wolves inhabited the cave.
Read more at National Geographic…
Mysticism
I mentioned yesterday some spiritual themes from John’s gospel. A superb survey of this and the development of Mysticism generally is Thomas Merton’s “An Introduction to Christian Mysticism”. Be warned, though, that it is not a book but rather lecture notes for course run for novice monks. It means that it is a bit condensed to read, but the material is very good indeed.
You can read an excerpt here. The book is published by Cistercian Publications.
Herod’s Temple
“A retired farmer has spent more than 30 years building an enormous scale model of Herod’s temple – and it is still not finished” – A model of biblical proportions – Telegraph
Gamaliel
Gamaliel the Elder (or Rabbi Gamaliel I) was indeed the grandson of Hillel. He is in the “House of Hillel” tradition which tends to be less rigourous than the “House of Shammai”. It would, therefore, be the traditions of Hillel in which Paul was schooled.
Not a lot is known about Gamaliel’s distinctive teachings.
Backgrounds for Isaiah
Persian Fire by Tom Holland give a good introduction to the wider history of the Ancient Near East. It deals with the Persian empire and the beginnings of the rise of Greece and was published in 2006 by Abacus.
You might also be interested in an episode of In Our Time which deal with Babylon – you can listen again to it here. Also worth a listen in the programme on Zoroastrianism.
The Canon
More information on the development of the canon of scripture can be found here.
Sola Scriptura?
We spent some time on Monday discussing the authority of scripture and the development of the canon in the early church. You’ll find all sorts of websites on this issues, most of them from a Protestant or Roman Catholic point of view, but I’d like to steer you towards an Orthodox viewpoint.
Our Life in Christ is an excellent podcast which tackles plenty of the points of tension between Orthodox and Evangelical Christianity. They had a series of podcasts on the issue of Sola Scriptura and posted some notes online which can be found here. They have taken an argument from an evangelical site (CRI) and put their response in blue (OLIC).
As always, this represents only one point of view but it is a good way of getting a feel for the arguments.
Bitemybible
The Bible Style Guide is a reference text designed specifically for those working within the media industry. It provides a crash course in the Bible for busy journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.
Whilst the guide will hopefully tell you nothing new, it is interesting to see the commonly held perceptions of the Bible which are addressed here.
Bitemybible: The Bible Style Guide
The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis
“The medieval theory of levels of meaning in the biblical text, with all its undoubted defects, flourished because it is true, while the modern theory of a single meaning, with all its demonstrable virtues is false. Until the historical-critical method becomes critical of its own theoretical foundations and develops a hermeneutical theory adequate to the nature of the text which it is interpreting, it will remain restricted-as it deserves to be-to the guild and the academy, where the question of truth can endlessly be deferred. “
It is most commonly thought that the medieval method of exegesis was one which was hopelessly re-interpretive. Now, the story goes, we know better and can get back to the one true meaning of the text. This article makes a refreshing argument to the contrary.
The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis from Theology Today
The Great Isaiah Scroll
One of the great gems dug up amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls was the Great Isaiah Scroll. It dates to about 100 BC and is the only complete scroll to have been recovered from Qumran. It is 7.34 metres long.
You can view the scroll here, but be aware it’ll take a while to load over broadband. Take some time to look at the rest of the site too. As well as the excellent Shrine of the Book, there is a good section on the Second temple.