And so, we can perceive a flavor of paganism in some our Christian practices. It’s not surprising. After all, Christianity arose against a pagan background. And the early Christian church sometimes deliberately adopted and Christianized pagan practices to make Christianity more attractive to people who’d grown up pagan.
That’s an interesting and important story in its own right, but for the moment, I’m more concerned with what are entirely unconscious syncreticisms. A religion is “syncretic” if it absorbs practices and beliefs from the culture that were originally foreign to the religion.
The Romans saw the gods as beings to be manipulated into providing blessings.
The gods themselves cared little, if at all, about the people. Indeed, the stories about the gods suggested that that gods might rape and commit murder at will. The gods were in no sense “good.” But they had great power.
The gods’ influence on humans was called numen. The gods had a need for sacrifice — a pinch of incense or the blood of a bull — and providing sacrifices to the gods would be rewarded with numen. You can think if numen as a finite pool of goodwill or beneficence toward humans. As one author explains —
Those of us who cut our teeth on Romans tend to see the Christian world in a faith vs. works way. It’s not a bad thing. It just misses an even bigger theme.
Internal to the early church was a dispute regarding how to fit obedience to the Torah into the revelation that came through Jesus. It was (and remains) a very challenging and important question.
But there was also a tension between a Christian worldview and a pagan worldview. After all, it wasn’t long before there were far more converts from paganism than Judaism. And the former pagans brought with them their own errors and issues. Continue reading →
So it’s my task as an elder to teach a Wednesday night class on the 23rd Psalm. I have a great exposition of the words I’ll cover (from the Creation 2.0 series). But I thought I might begin by opening the class’s heart to the power of psalm as song.
This final version is a cappella and the prettiest I’ve ever heard. The arrangement is by Bobby McFerrin.
McFerrin refers to God consistently as “she” throughout, which is, of course, contrary to the psalm itself. However, there are several scriptures in which God is referred to as female (Deut 32:18; Isa 42:14; 49:15; 66:13; Matt 23:37). After all, for a spiritual being, gender is always a metaphor. And shepherds are very often girls.
Nonetheless, I find it an affectation. But it’s a beautiful arrangement — too good not to share.
So my hip seems to be better. And I’ve gotten some big projects behind me. And I’m starting a new series called “The Pain of Disappointment.” (Sound familiar?)
I’m not sure whether I’ll be keeping up the same pace as the last 5 years. After all, I have these surgeries scheduled for July.
Yep. I’ve got cataracts. I’m only 59 (and very youthful 59 at that), but I started seeing double a few weeks ago. I figured I needed new glasses. So I bought me some new glasses. I now I see double very, very clearly. Continue reading →
A friend of mine is looking for any suggestions for possible correspondence-based Bible studies or courses that might lend themselves to a prison ministry. Any suggestions, leads, or websites to explore would be appreciated.
I figured that either you or the One in Jesus community would have some of the best recommendations out there.
Thanks so much for your help!
I have good friends who are active in jail ministry, but I have no such experiences or materials to share myself.
