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CHURCH HISTORY                              Return to top       Return to Current Topics

 Augustus Caesar said, “Make haste slowly!” That may be one reason he had a very long life as Princeps (look it up; what does it mean?) and Emperor. And that is good advice for us as we study church history. Over time, we will become acquainted with many new names and places, doctrines and practices, many of which have names and titles derived from Greek and Latin. As a matter of course, we will see that the two major divisions of the Roman Empire were designated the Latin Roman Empire and the Greek Roman Empire (i.e. the Byzantine Empire) and the Church in two major divisions as the Latin Church and the Greek Church (Byzantine Church). Clearly, there must be significance for church history for those distinctions both for the Empire and the Church.

The temptation will no doubt be to visit these names, places, persons, practices, doctrines, etc. briefly and go on. But like all new words and nomenclatures, a little practice with them helps a lot. So, get in the habit of not only reading about each of these Greek and Latin word derivations, but practice saying them repeatedly and, further, rehearsing aloud the historical information you locate about them. Make them your own.

At this point I want to stress the importance of women to both the Roman Republic and Empire and the Church. Our inclusion will not be as extensive as the presentation in the Women in Religious History section of the Journal. But, it is a serious mistake and one so often made not to include women who contributed to church history and secular history.  So, throughout this study, we will level the playing field as much as possible to include significant contributions by women who helped turn the pages of history in their times. Like men, some will inspire and like men, some will appall. But, their stories must be  told.

To touch on this very point, I want to lift the veil of ancient history to a time in the 4^th century BC to a woman named Olympias. Did she affect history as pertains to the church and Roman history as well as to the history of all the Mediterranean basin in ancient times? How could one women have such influence? I will give you a hint by quoting a well know aphorism “Who rocks the cradle rules the world”.  Ok, that is all you get for free. The rest of the story you have to dig out for yourselves. We’ll see how you dig  later.

Lest we dash away from the women too soon, in a time a little closer to the major concerns of ancient church history, the second and first centuries BC of the Roman Republic were hotbeds of political intrigue and collusion. Amidst it all and with perhaps unquestioned influence was Cornelia whose sons were Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus.  Ok, that much is a freebee. You are on your own. Who was this woman and who were her sons and how does our aphorism above apply here? Very fascinating history and without the vision and “radicalism” of the Gracchi there might never have been a Roman Empire as the church knew it. See if you agree with that statement as you do your study.

In Issue 2 I mentioned some terms that I hope you studied at considerable length – diaspora and intertestamental period.  In light of what you have learned in your study, what is meant by Second Temple Judaism? Take that phrase – Second Temple Judaism – and research it thoroughly. Why would anyone want to know anything about Second Temple Judaism during the time of Christ, the apostles, and the early church? And thinking of the importance of dates in church history, what would 70AD have to do with Second Temple Judaism and the life and progress of the Church?

Coming through the intertestamental period some significant religious, social and political developments occurred for the Jews. I don’t want to list them for you; I want you to look around in that period to see what you find the Jews doing and why. Get the big events and the little supporting events throughout the region that define the complex religious, social and political scenes of the Jews that prevailed at the time of Christ, the apostles and the church.

 Did you ever drink an ice cream soda? Before I learned to count calories I loved them. Early in life while in New York City, I stopped in a drug store with a fountain (am I the only one who remembers those things?). Being from a small town and with very little savvy about big city life, I was a bit skeptical and subdued.  I walked up to the fountain counter in this drug store and the guy popping sodas asked me “what d’ya want, kid?” “May I have a coke float, please” He snorted back “with or without?” Well, I didn’t want to appear (who was I kidding) unsophisticated and inexperienced, so I tilted back and smugly blustered out “make it without” thinking all along “what would this guy put in my drink if I had said “with””? He wheeled to his left, shook up a mixture in a flask, spewed some coke in it and I got my coke float “without” –  ice cream!

Nothing is flatter than a coke float without ice cream unless it is the study of history without some of the cultural and technological trimmings of ordinary life lived by the folks we study.  There is always the temptation to study names, places, dates, events, etc. outside of the context in which they occurred.  For instance, when Paul decided to tour around in Asia Minor he no doubt drove in his new Lexis out to the Ephesian International Airport and caught a flight to his next destination. Oh? He didn’t, you say! Well, surely when he crossed the Aegean into Greece he had already planned his itinerary over the Troas Palatial Hotel internet connection to Philippi. What’s that? He didn’t have an internet connection? Then, he surely must have used a phone to call to the Aegean Resort Hotel on the beach near Philippi?  Uh huh! Ok, if he didn’t do anything like that, what did he do? How did he communicate? How did he travel? What were his means of transportation?

Our thoughts about coke floats without ice cream and Paul’s travel accommodations are just a trigger to stimulate us to ask “what in the world was that world like in the ancient world?” Now here is what we should do – consider every facet of our contemporary life and compare each to the results of our research (yet to be done) into the comparable facets of ancient life. Rummage around every where in the ancient world to reconstruct in your mind how the folks lived and attended to personal and public business. What kind of clothes did they wear? What kind of houses did they live in? What kind of sanitary technology and habits did they have? How clean were their homes, clothes, and communities? How about schools, what we would call primary, secondary and post secondary? Medical care – did they have any that we would ever consider using? What about hospitals? Were they veritable charnal houses or did people actually get well in them? What did kids do in their spare time? What kind of games did they play and how did they choose their friends? Was their much sense of humor in the ancient world? How about artistic activities and productions? Sports and recreation?  Were teenagers like our own and like we were? Did the boys and girls date and spend time together? How did the boys “pop the question” and proceed to marriage?

Was culture and technology “uniform” throughout the Mediterranean basin and inland from the sea? Or were there noticeable differences from one city to another, from one country to another, from one region to another? To whom did the people give their allegiances and why? And speaking of people, what ethnic demographics populated the entire ancient world around the Mediterranean and inland parts? Where did they come from and how did they get where they are? For example, the Galatians!

So we need to put ice cream in coke floats and we need to put culture and technology into our understanding of the lives of the folk in the ancient world, many of whom are our brothers and sisters in Christ ahead awaiting us to join them for an eternal life with our Lord. Let’s scoop up big portions of ancient culture and technology. It will enliven everything we learn and provide a foundation for every thing that is to come as we take the uneven paths of history leading to our moment in time. Largely. you will do this research and assimilation of culture and technology on your own. But, it is high priority to understanding. Make a point of consistently researching what it was like to live then.

Now to close the study this issue, I want to direct our thoughts to the full spectrum of relationships Jews had with the Roman Empire by the time Jesus was crucified and resurrected and the church began. Why would that be important? What kind of agreements, protocols, policies, and laws accommodated both the Romans and the Jews (and I am including the Jews of the diaspora) in their relationships and how did that effect Christians and the evangelism of the ancient world?

 In connection with that assignment, how did the Romans understand Christians and how and when did Christianity as a distinct religious presence crystallize in the private and public mind?

Issues, emperors, religious leaders and geographical locations – keep studying them – the ones mentioned in Issue 2 and others that you come across. Next time, we will pick up the thread of church history as the church encounters favorable and unfavorable times and places. But take advantage of the time we have now to pull together as many of the details I have suggested as you possibly can.

Keep up your good work. Until next time, God bless you all and your loved ones.

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COLOSSIANS                                            Return to top        Return to Current Topics      

Hello my blessed brothers and sisters in Christ! I am so very happy to talk with you again this month.

Here is our line up of activities in this month’s issue:

First, we’ll see what we did with some of the assignments from last month.

 Second, we create a little story of a nice pagan family living just outside of Ephesus who will take a trip to Colossae.

Third, we will begin to introduce Discourse Analysis. You probably know quite a lot about it already, so we may just think of this as a refreshment with a possible new idea or two.

First, one of our assignments from last month. Did you have an opportunity to read up on the history of Colossae?  If not, do it now as we will be rolling forward to other concerns about Colossians. Knowing as much as you can about the history, culture, politics, commerce, religion, and ethnicity of Colossae and its people will make your study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians a more spiritually tasty and nutritional feast. So, go after it!

Second, the story of our little pagan family. Let’s pretend that our young family lives just outside of Ephesus on a small grazing farm. The family has a mom, dad, 4 siblings under fourteen and one on the way due in about 7 months. As for the number of sheep, we can make up the number of sheep that our litte family has for commercial uses. The dad and mom work very hard every day of the year feeding the mouths of their sheep and their kids (how many sheep did you decide they have?) and the kids pitch in with whatever they can do. The parents are raising the kids well.

A vacation away from the hardship of their lives is probably not even a passing thought, but a relative who has done very well in commercial fishing in the Black Sea off the coast of Bythinia knows the rigors of life that their family endures just to eek out a living and he and his wife and 20 year old son have offered to tend to their home and the flock while our family takes a few days off for a breather and a trip out of town. Dumbfounded at the generous offer, it took the mom and dad one and one-half seconds to say “yes”! (By the way, how did their relative contact them? The Internet? The Telephone?

The Telegraph? No? None of these? Then, how did the relative contact them from such a distance?)

Now what?

Well, our little family pow-wows (a bit of an anachronism). A trip to Rome or Athens – breathtaking but impossible. So, how about something closer to home – some thing inland to view the cities and terrain they have heard so much about. Why not Colossae!  Why not? It’s located in a lovely geographical setting with famous cities close by. And, anyway, the dad has done business with some entrepreneurs from those cities and this would be a terrific opportunity (and maybe their only opportunity) to meet them. It would be a fine educational opportunity for the kids, also, since their teachers keep testing them on the history of the area.

 The mom and dad have been worshippers of Artemis for their entire lives and have carefully brought their children up in the Artemisian faith. But, they have always felt that they needed to know how other people worship and what other people believe and this trip to Colossae might be just the opportunity to broaden their religious horizons. Not to change their faith, of course, but to enrich it by seeing the temples, practices, and lives of communicants of the different gods. Oh, the mom and dad will be certain to keep their children in the one true faith of Artemis and explain why Artemis is the only way.

Let’s start preparing! Colossae  - here we come!

Ok! The story isn’t over yet, but let’s try to situate this little family in its time and place in the history of the Roman Empire and of the Church before we go farther.

Let’s start with the mundane stuff about this little family. What we learn about this family will tell us loads about the people and their society at the time the Gospel began to be preached in the area.

This family bought and owned a grazing farm (Was it actually possible to buy property then?)

This family had a number of sheep.

They owned a home on their farm.

They were married.

They had relatives.

They had children.

The kids had to go to school and even study. (We need to talk about it.)

They had to pay taxes.

They had to provide for the health of the kids and sheep and themselves.

They were expecting another child.

They were planning to take the first trip away from their business into the hinterland of their province for a few days.

They had to make plans.

They had to have a way to travel.

They had to have clothes to carry as well as to wear.

They had to have a place to stay.

They had to have money to spend.

They had to have food to eat.

The kids had to take a few toys and play a few games along the way.

Go through that list beginning with the buying and owning a grazing farm and describe how their activities would differ from yours today in each of the points of the list.

 For instance, if today you wanted to buy a piece of commercial property, what would you have to do? What would the little family have done then? If you and your spouse were going to have children, what medical care would you find available today? What medical care would the little family have found then? If you have to pay taxes (and I suppose that you do), you fork it over to the Internal Revenue Service. How did this little family pay its taxes, at what rate, and to whom? (By the way, what was the money they used? Not dollars! What?) What was the school system for kids then or was there any formal education? What kind of food did the family have to eat? Did they have anything comparable to a hamburger and fries combo and a soft drink? What kind of clothes did they wear? (Were they like ours? Pants, shirts, skirts, blouses?) How did they stay warm in winter and cool in summer? What was a house like then? Today, do you think your family would be willing to live in a house like theirs (minus the sheep, of course)? Why? What were their means of transportation? If they didn’t walk the whole way to Colossae (about 120 miles) then they had to ride something alive. How did they care for their beasts (had to have more than one unless they took turns riding) on their trip? Where did the beasts sleep? Where did they get their food? What complications would you face today if you had to ride a mule to work every day the rest of your life? (Just imagine the problems when the kids become teen agers – “Folks, can I borrow the mule tonight?)

 Think through each point in that list and do a little research if necessary to find out what this family had to do for each point. How does it differ from what you would do? What does it tell us about the times of the earliest church and the people who were members?

Do your best to frame a picture of what life was like for our earliest brethren, their circumstances, their (most likely) previous pagan faith, their quality of life, their advantages and disadvantages. In other words, every aspect of life in which they participated.

Now, I want to add just a bit more to this aspect of study: learn everything you can about what this family might expect on its journey. What route would they likely take? What cities would they most likely visit that were in the area of Colossae? Why would they want to go to Colossae in the first place? How would such a trip enrich their lives?

This thought:

The life concerns of the first century AD are not much different from the life concerns of 21^st century AD - just the solutions are different and the way the solutions affected the lives of our earliest brothers and sisters in Christ, some of whom lived in Colossae.

 We will take a break from the socio-cultural-ethnic thoughts of the Colossian landscape, but we’ll be back. So, do your home work well!!!!

Third, let’s take a go at Discourse Analysis.  In an issue or two later we will begin to apply it to Colossians in earnest. But, for now, let’s lay the ground work for Discourse Analysis.

If I said, please look up Acts 2: 38, none of you would have a moment’s trouble. You could by now go to it instinctively. The same thing with Mark 16:16. But how about I Corinthians 17:3? Well, now that would present a real problem since there isn’t a I Corinthians 17. I Corinthians stops off with I Corinthians 16:24.  But why? Why does I Corinthians stop at I Corinthians 16:24?

 I think this question is so foolish to ask that I think I will ask it anyway? Why are there only 16 chapters in Corinthians? Why aren’t there 36 or 4 or 17 or whatever number you want there to be in Corinthians?

Uhhhh, because I Corinthians is inspired?  I Corinthians is inspired but are the designation of chapters and verses? Uhhh(again)didn’t Paul write I Corinthians in chapters and verses so that’s why they are there? Paul wrote I Corinthians for sure but the chapters and verses?

Now I am pretty sure everyone who is reading this knows the answer to this line of talk. But, take a little while to read on the chapterfication and versification of the Bible, who was responsible for it, why did he divide the way he did into chapters and verses, when it was done, how it was received, and, down through the years, has anyone disagreed with it?

 One of the most important questions to ask is this: would we understand the Word of God any better or any less without the chapters and verses? Do we gain in specific meaning and sense of meaning more or less with or without the chapters and verses?

If the Word of God was written without chapters and verses, should we risk missing continuity and cohesion of thought and intent by arbitrarily setting apart small separate sections within larger separate sections?

Certainly all of you know that the words of the earliest Greek texts that we have were written in capital letters without spaces between the letters and words and no paragraph, verse, or chapter designations. In other words it would look like this:

Godisnowhere.

Look carefully at that sentence. What does it say? Say it out loud to your self.

If you said, “God is now here”, fine. But, an old professor of mine in graduate Greek read it as “God is no where”! Oh!Oh!Oh! How frightful, but I took graduate Greek in a state university and came to expect that kind of stuff from this particular professor. (We had some talks about it, but I couldn’t budge him.)

Now, in preparation for Discourse Analysis proper, do this:

Either locate or create an English text of Colossians (better in Greek if you read Greek) without any chapters and verses and paragraphs. I haven’t looked on the internet to see if one is available there, but some of the recent (last 50 or 60 years) modern versions may have such a text. Also, as a bonus ordeal, see if you can manipulate the text so as to run all the letters together from beginning to end without any kind of break whatsoever.

Now if you can do this, first, you will have an idea of what the folks in the first centuries of Christianity had to read when they read Paul’s epistle; second, you will have to really concentrate – I mean really – to get the text organized in your mind so as to gain both an overall impression and specific applications.

I will wait until next issue to tell you how this assignment applies to Discourse Analysis. (You probably are ahead of me here and already know what is next.)  But I will say this: to do Discourse Analysis for yourself you will have to break the boundaries others have set for you and think outside the traditional structural organization of the text, i.e. outside the organizing influence of chapters, verses, paragraphs on your cognitive sensibilities.

Carry on! See you next month!  

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CHRISTIAN COUNSELING                              Return to top        Return to Current Topics

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

A busy time of the year indeed! Spring is here and summer is not far off. With the Spring and Summer months come both opportunities and obligations on our time. Somehow, someway we will try to maintain a good study schedule in Christian counseling. Not easy, but we are determined!

The Christian counseling enterprise and the Christian counselor are not unlike a fire department and a fireman. You don’t get to pick your fires nor at a time when you prefer them. Christian counseling needs occur in the best of times and the worst of times, convenient times and inconvenient times, when we are feeling great and when we are feeling lousy. Christian counseling needs are as predictable as the outcome of next year’s season for your favorite football team. We hope 11- 0; we’ll have to settle for what we get!

The point: BE PREPARED!!!!!!!

The fire department and firemen cannot save every last item and keepsake and memorabilia in a home consumed by fire. The loss of those items are heartbreaking for anyone who has lost them in a fire. Why? They simply cannot be replaced and nothing will fill the void in the hearts of the victims of the fire.

But the firemen train and try their best to be ready to save what they can at a moment’s notice. It is serious business. Very serious business.

There is a parallel here to the counselor, except the stakes are eternal in the case of the counselor. That’s right! Never lose sight of the fact that you as a counselor are touching eternity when you reach out to touch the counselees with the hurts, pains, sorrows, and losses in their lives.

The task: AWESOME!!

In the past couple of issues there were suggested activities to launch into this series of studies. If you have thought through them and done the research and reading necessary, KOUDOS TO YOU. If you haven’t, uh, well, hmmmm! Crank up and catch up! Run with us in this. The stakes are – what? – eternal! Try to make time in your busy month before the next issue to unpack them and draw some preliminary conclusions. (Most conclusions in counseling will be preliminary. It is an on going enterprise as varied as human nature itself.)

In the last issue we said we wanted to consider these three points for starters:

First, we want to think about the person;

second, we want to think about the counselor;

third, we want to think about the transaction between the person and the counselor.

Please re-read the section in Issue 2 that presented those points.

This month, we will continue with the person and suggest three directions for your thoughts to pursue.

The lady who came to see you is Beverly. You did not know her before and had never seen her before. You knew only that she was coming to see you for counseling. That’s it. Not a lot to go on.

Here she now is, this person you don’t know, about to unveil her life and problems to you. Are you really prepared for that kind of responsibility? Better be! Too much is at stake – eternity – to not be.

 Since Beverly in our example is a mythical character, we will put her in three different situations. If it helps, think of 3 Beverlys each with a different situation.

 Beverly comes to your office, takes her chair before you, and, after preliminary conversation (the nature of which we will discuss in later issues), you ask her why she has come to see you.

 Beverly in the first situation:

 Simply put she has come because she is a single mother with 2 children, one by marriage and one out of wedlock. Her husband is deceased (killed in a construction accident) and her boyfriend fled from the relationship as soon as he learned she was pregnant. She has struggled on and is now completely exhausted, without emotional, financial, or relational resources. She had been a lukewarm member of a Pentecostal church at one time before her marriage and now she is hurt and bitter to the extent that she has disdain pretty much for any kind of organized religion. She is here to see you because your services are free and she did hear that you had helped a friend of hers in a financial matter.

 Beverly in the second situation:

 Beverly has been married to the same husband for 20 years. They have found happiness together in a middle class family structure and community relationship. Three kids have come along - 2 girls and 1 boy, the boy being the second born of the three. The boy is 16 with a birthday in about 2 months. The husband is a Christian who attends a congregation of about 600 membership with a staff of four full time ministers. (You are a minister on this staff and it is you to whom she is coming for counseling.) Beverly does not believe. She has been a life long agnostic. She is not positive God does not exist but she is not positive that He does. She fuels her unbelief by the books she reads and conversations with her other agnostic/atheistic friends.

Beverly is coming to you because she and her husband desparately need help with a problem that is consuming them. They recently discovered that their 16 year old son is heavily addicted to methamphetamime and any other drug he can get his hands on. His steadily deteriorating demeanor led them to deeper investigation into their son’s behavior and that is what they found. She is not coming to because you are a Christian but because her husband convinced her that you would be a knowledgeable, reliable, empathetic counselor for them.

Beverly in the third situation:

Beverly is a devoted child of God, having been born again in her early teens. Her mom and dad and her grandparents before them were Christians. She has hardly been exposed to anything else. She is married to a fine Christian man who is a deacon in a church of about 150 members. You operate a Christian counseling service in your community which is not officially part of the church ministry in that community. You established your Christian counseling service about 7 years ago and the Lord has blessed you in that service. You have counseled many people both Christians and non – Christians.

You are a member of the second congregation of the Lord’s church in that community and had just never had the opportunity to meet  Beverly or her family. Now this young mother and wife is faced with a tragedy that may literally consume her life. She has cancer and the physicians have given her a 50 – 50 chance of surviving. She is distraught with an endless stream of questions about every important aspect of her life. She has come to you.

Now you come into focus. You have heard each situation of our three Beverlys.

 Question: what are you going to do? How are you going to handle this? What preparations have you had that will enable you to serve this woman (that is, the 3 Beverlys) and provide insights to resolution for her? What is your approach? What experiences, skills, and knowledge do you have for this level of tragedy and hurt and desperation? What are your resources? What analytical techniques and tools do you know and use?

The assignment at this point is:

 1. with your imagination, fill-in, expand, elaborate the various unstated conditions and circumstances in each Beverly’s situation;

2. clarify for yourself the implications and ramifications of what is stated in each Beverly’s situation and in the results of the efforts of your imagination in point 1;

3. drawing on your current state of knowledge and experience and literature that you have read, set forth your strategies for resolving the situation for each Beverly with your anticipated difficulties and results;

4. after points 1 – 3, assess your process and procedure and the adequacy of your preparation. State your strong points and your weak points. Propose personal activities by which you may enhance what you are doing well and improve in the areas of insuffiency.

We’ll zip up this issue’s session with a brief look at psychotherapy and psychology.

Please keep in mind that for the time being in these Issues we are just getting a taste of psychotherapy and psychology along with leading exponents of the various schools of thought. We will keep on looking around in their theories and practices as we go along.

But now, I want to mention a few thoughts about psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis was the brain child of Sigmund Freud.  He was not the first to come up with the idea, but he did do the most to formalize the theory and its use. Take some time to read about Freud’s life and the development of psychoanalysis.

Just to have a peg to hang onto as we travel through the landscape of psychotherapy, it will be useful in point of time to know that Freud’s psychoanalysis was the first formalized method of psychotherapy.

Let me make this one caveat regarding Freud without a lengthy discussion: Freud was not religious in the sense we think of ourselves as religious.  His foundational religious thought is expressed in his book “Moses and Monotheism (1937). In this he contends that religion is an illusion, “the universal obsessional” neurosis of humanity. Religion is a wish-fulfillment which an enlightened person would replace with science. Now, these thoughts of his are challenged by some contemporary and later psychotherapists and psychologists who entertain a more favorable understanding of religion. But, nevertheless, there is Freud’s thought at the head of the stream of psychotherapeutic development.

We are dealing at this point with the baby and the bath water. Although Freud is wrong about religion, he is like a lot of other people who are wrong about religion and that likeness is: he is not wrong