I saw the fresco below a few years ago when I went to the British Museum in London. It is from a Roman-era villa in Britain, from the 3rd/4th century AD. The symbolism is fascinating to me: – In the very middle is the Chi Rho, which is the monogram of Christ, being the first two letters of the name …
Monthly Archives: August 2016
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who helped lead what was called the “Confessing Church” during World War II. He refused to go along with the Nazi government, so he formed an alternative to the state-run seminaries and raised up new men for the ministry in order to help keep the Church faithful to her confession of faith …
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel begins with the Beatitudes (see Matthew 5). In the Beatitudes, Jesus says that the blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and those who are persecuted …
There are two main models of, or ways of thinking about, the Church. What I mean is that people have beliefs about who the Church is and what her mission is, and this influences how they go about the business of “being the Church” or “being a disciple of Christ.” The model a person holds is normally unspoken, but influences …
My family and I went on vacation in Europe earlier this summer. We began in Barcelona and ended up in Rome. One of the stops was at Cartagena, Spain. It’s a small city on the south-eastern coast on the Mediterranean, across from Algeria. This was a very exciting stop to me, because the city had been very prominent during the …
Isn’t it amazing that – without a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Snapchat account, a LinkedIn profile, a Pinterest page or things like that – that here we are after over 2000 years still talking about Jesus Christ, and in many cases still arguing about him. We have lived to see the truth that he has brought division into …
“Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). These are Jesus’ words to you. You have no need to be anxious, because God your Father has given you the kingdom. He has forgiven you of all your sins, reconciled you to Him and to each other within the Church, and …
I’ve started on a project to re-publish some of the apologies of the Christian faith from the period of the early New Testament Church. The first is Tertullian’s Apology, and the second is a new edition of Justin Martyr’s First and Second Apologies. Both Tertullian and Justin provide a strong defense of the Christian faith in light of Roman persecution. …