| Levine, Baruch. JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus. Jewish Publication Society, 1989. Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 1–16. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Wenham, Gordon. The Book of Leviticus. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979. Числа Ashley, Timothy. The Book of Numbers. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993. Levine, Baruch. Numbers 1–20. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Milgrom, Jacob. JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers. Philadelphiä Jewish Publication Society, 1990. Wenham, Gordon. Numbers. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, 111.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1981. Второзаконие Tigay, Jeffrey. JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy. Philadelphiä Jewish Publication Society, 1996. Weinfeld, Moshe. Deuteronomy 1–11. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Книга Иисуса Навина Boling, Robert G. Joshua. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1982. Hess, Richard. Joshua. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, I11.: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Книга Судей Израилевых Block, Daniel I . Judges/Ruth. New American Commentary. Nashvillë Broadman & Holman, 1999. Boling, Robert G. Judges. New York: Doubleday, 1975. Книга Руфь Bush, Frederic. Ruth/Esther. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1996. Campbell, Edward F. Ruth. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1975. Hubbard, Robert. The Book of Ruth. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988. Первая и Вторая книги Царств Bergen, Robert. 1 & 2 Samuel. New American Commentary. Nashvillë Broadman & Holman, 1996. McCarter, P. Kyle. Samuel. 2 vols. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1980, 1984. Третья и Четвертая книги Царств Cogan, Mordecai, and Hayim Tadmor. 2 Kings. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1988. Gray, John. 1 & 2 Kings. Old Testament Library. Louisvillë Westminster John Knox, 1970. Jones, G. H. 1 & 2 Kings. New Century Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984. Wiseman, D. J. 1 & 2 Kings. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, I11.: InterVar-sity Press, 1993. |
| D. M. Howard, M. A. Grisanti. Grand Rapids, 2003. P. 256-282; idem. The Rise and Fall of the 13th-Cent. Exodus-Conquest Theory//JETS. 2005. Vol. 48. N 3. P. 475-489; idem. The Biblical Date for the Exodus is 1446 BC: A Response to James Hoffmeier//Ibid. 2007. Vol. 50. N 2. P. 249-258; Kitchen K. A. Exodus, the//ABD. 1992. Vol. 2. P. 700-708; idem. The Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt: A Current Assessment//Acta Archaeologica. Kbenhavn, 1996. Vol. 67. P. 1-13; L é cuyer J. Exodus//EEC. Vol. 1. P. 311-313; Sarna N. M. Exodus, Book of//ABD. 1992. Vol. 2. P. 689-700; Hasel M. G. Israel in the Merneptah Stela//BASOR. 1994. N 296. Nov. P. 45-61; Livingston D. P. Further Considerations on the Location of Bethel at El-Bireh//PEQ. 1994. Vol. 126. N 2. P. 154-159; Preuss H. D. Old Testament Theology. Louisville (Kent.), 1995. Vol. 1; Ben-Tor A. Hazor//OEANE. 1997. Vol. 3. P. 1-5; Bietak M. Dab‘a, Tell ed-//Ibid. Vol. 2. P. 99-101; Cooley R. E. Ai//Ibid. Vol. 1. P. 32-33; Holladay J. S., Jr. Maskhuta, Tell el-//Ibid. Vol. 3. P. 432-437; Holland T. Jericho//Ibid. P. 220-224; Ussishkin D. Lachish//Ibid. P. 317-323; От бытия к исходу: Отражение библейских сюжетов в слав. и евр. нар. культуре: Сб. ст./Отв. ред.: В. Я. Петрухин. М., 1998; Finegan J. Handbook of Biblical Chronology. Peabody, 1998; Князев А., прот. Господь, Муж брани: К уяснению религиозного значения книги Исход//АиО. 1999. 2(20). С. 35-58; Propp W. H. C. Exodus: A New Transl. with Introd. and Comment. N. Y., 1999-2006. 2 vol. (The Anchor Bible; 2-2A); Davila J. R. Exodus, book of//EncDSS. 2000. Vol. 1. P. 277-279; Тов Э. Текстология ВЗ. М., 2001. С. 391; Чистяков Г. П., свящ. Вторая книга Моисеева: Исход//Истина и Жизнь. 2001. 1. С. 22-27; 2. С. 10-17; 3. С. 18-25; 4. С. 12-21; 5. С. 22-29; 6. С. 16-21; 7/8. С. 20-27; 9. С. 28-35; Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy/Ed. J. T. Lienhard. Downers Grove (Ill.), 2001. P. XVIII-XXI, 1-162; рус. пер.: Книги Исход, Левит, Числа, Второзаконие/Ред.: Н. А. Кулькова, С. |
| Hendcl, R. «The Exodus in Biblical Mcmory. " yBZ. 120 (2001): 601622; Hubbard, DA, and F.W. Bush. «Deuteronomy.» In Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, pp. 111127. 2 ed. Ed. by W.S. LaSor, DA. Hubbard, and F.W. Bush. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. Hubbard, DA., and F.W. Bush «Numbers.» In Old Testament Survey: The Message.Form, and Background ofthe Old Testament, pp. 99110. 2 ed. Ed. by W.S. LaSor, DA. Hubbard, and F.W. Bush. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996; Humphries, C.J. «The Number of People in the Exodus from Egypt: Decoding Mathematically the Very Large Numbers in Numbers I and XXVI.» VT 48:2 (1998): 196213; Kaiser, O. «The Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History.» In Text in Context, pp. 289322. Ed. by A.D.H. Mayes. Oxford: University Press, 2000; Kaufman, SA «The Structure of the Deuteronomic Law.» Maavav 12 (197879): 105158; Kaufman, Y. The Religion of Israel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960; Kenyon, K.M. Archaeology of the Holy Land. 4,h ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979; Kenyon, K.M. Digging Up Jericho. New York: Praeger, 1957; Kitchen, KA. «Exodus, The.» ABD, 2:701–708. Ed. by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992; Kitchen, KA. «The Fall and Rise of Covenant, Law and Treaty.» TynBul40(1989): 118135; Kitchen, KA. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003; Kline, M.G. Treaty of the Great King. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963; Krentz, Е. The Historical-Critical Method. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975. Lambert, W.G., and A.R. Millard. Atra-hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969; Laney, J.C. «The Role of the Prophets in God " s Case against Israel.» BSac 138 (1981): 313325; Lemche, N.P. Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society. The Biblical Seminar 5. Sheffield: Sheffield, 1995; Leveen, A.B. «Falling in the Wilderness: Death Reports in the Book of Numbers.» Prooftexts 22 (2002): 245272; Leveen, A.B. «Variations on a Theme: Differing Conceptions of Memory in the Book of Numbers.«/50r27 (2002): 201221; |
| Introduction For well over fifty years now, and in virtually every country in Western Europe, that is in countries with a millennium of Catholic-Protestant culture, small numbers of Western Europeans have been joining one or other of the local dioceses of the Orthodox Church. In general it can be said that the numbers joining have been higher in the less traditional and more Protestant countries and lower in traditional Catholic countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal. And numbers have been much higher among more uprooted and cosmopolitan city-dwellers than among more traditional country-dwellers. Here there is something to do with spiritual degeneration. Though there is a detailed thesis here, the full story of this Europe-wide movement has yet to be written – probably because it has so far been very marginal. In some countries, especially small ones like Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Luxembourg, where also there has been relatively little immigration from ‘Orthodox countries’ until recent years, numbers of native Orthodox are tiny, often a few dozen at most. In other countries, especially larger ones like Germany , France and Great Britain , which have also received more immigrants from ‘Orthodox countries’ in Eastern Europe, numbers of native Orthodox rise into the low thousands. Indeed, the process has been under way for so long that in all these countries we can find adults who are second and third generation Orthodox of purely Western European origin. Some of the first generation are now elderly and have been members of the Orthodox Church for between forty years and seventy years. Some have been present for between twenty and forty years. Others are newcomers who have entered into communion with the Church more recently, only over the last twenty years. On the surface, it might seem that there are today anything between 10,000 and 20,000 native Orthodox living in Western Europe. (Here we exclude those who have already passed on). However, such a high figure is very misleading because in order to understand real numbers we have to look at the motivations of those who have joined the Orthodox Church in Western Europe, sociological and not spiritual motivations which sadly have resulted in a majority of those received and their descendants lapsing from the Faith. |
| The entire fourth book of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome († 604), for example, is devoted to this subject. In our own days an anthology of these experiences, taken both from ancient Lives of Saints and more recent accounts, has appeared in English (Eternal Mysteries Beyond the Grave, Jordanville, N.Y., 1968). And just recently there was reprinted an English translation of a remarkable text written in the late 19th century by someone who returned to life after being dead for 36 hours (K. Uekskuell, “Unbelievable for Many but Actually a True Occurrence,” Orthodox Life, July-August, 1976). The Orthodox Christian thus has a whole wealth of literature at his disposal, by means of which it is possible to understand the new “after-death” experiences and evaluate them in the light of the whole Christian doctrine of life after death. The book that has kindled the contemporary interest in this subject was published in November, 1975, and was written by a young psychiatrist in the southern United States (Dr. Raymond A. Moody, Jr., Life After Life, Mockingbird Books, Atlanta, 1975). He was not then aware of any other studies or literature on this subject, but even as the book was being printed it became evident that there was already great interest in this subject and much had already been written about it. The overwhelming success of Dr. Moody’s book (with over two million copies sold) brought the experiences of the dying into the light of widespread publicity, and in the four years since then a number of books and articles on these experiences have appeared in print. Among the most important are the articles (and forthcoming book) of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, whose findings duplicate those of Dr. Moody, and the scientific studies of Drs. Osis and Haraldsson. Dr. Moody himself has written a sequel to his book (Reflections on Life After Life, A Bantam-Mockingbird Book, 1977) with supplementary material and further reflections on the subject. The findings of these and other new books (all of which are in basic agreement concerning the phenomena in question) will be discussed below. As a starting point, we will examine Dr. Moody’s first book, which is a fairly objective and systematic approach to the whole subject. Dr. Moody, in the past ten years, has collected the personal testimonies of some 150 persons who have had actual death or near-death experiences, or who have related to him the experiences of others as they were dying; out of these he has concentrated on some fifty persons with whom he has conducted detailed interviews. He attempts to be objective in presenting this evidence, although he admits that the book “naturally reflects the background, opinions and prejudices of its author” (p. 9) who by religious affiliation is a Methodist of rather liberal views. And in fact there are some drawbacks to the book as an objective study of “after-death” phenomena. |
| Rarely do we find easy answers to these and similar questions. Thus, those of us in the Orthodox Christian tradition search for help in Holy Scripture, the canons provided to us by ecumenical councils, the witness of the saints, the writing of the Fathers of the Church as well as theologians of recent times. Imitation of saintly forebears alone, however, will not solve our problems. Different eras have adopted different attitudes. Also many of today’s problems never existed before, not least the changed character of war in an era of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and mass propaganda. Yet knowledge of the thought and action undertaken by the Orthodox Churches on the issues of war and peace in recent decades surely can help us find ways out of the dead ends that many communities are experiencing today. This is the aim of this book. This resource book is a revised and expanded edition of a book first published in 1999 by Syndesmos, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth, working in cooperation with the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. Now thanks to the Orthodox Research Institute, it will reach a broader audience, not only Orthodox, we hope, but Christians from other churches. No matter who is reading it, we hope this resource book will assist the reader in coming to a deeper clarity about the issue of war and the challenge of peace. Those who preceded us in the faith offer us examples to follow, and also examples to reject. The tradition of the Orthodox Church has much to give every Christian caught up in the horrors of modern warfare. The present resource book attempts to provide original resource texts concerning Orthodoxy, War, Peace and Nationalism. In compiling the book, to supplement the primary tests, we have also sought to gather documents that express a variety of points of view. We express our gratitude to all those who have made this book possible. We especially thank His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for blessing this book and permitting us to quote from several of his speeches. We also thank Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, Metropolitan George of Mount Lebanon, Bishop Irinaeus of Backa, Fr. Stanley Harakas, Archimandrite Grigorios Papathomas, and the late Olivier Clément for permission to use their texts. |
| 89), which today’s researchers identify with the “being of light” described by many people today. There is no reason to doubt that what is described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead is based on some kind of “out-of-body” experience; but we shall see below that the actual after-death state is only one of these experiences, and we must beware of accepting just any “out-of-body” experience as a revelation of what actually happens to the soul after death. The experiences of Western mediums also can be genuine; but they certainly do not transmit actual messages from the dead, as they pretend to do. There is some similarity between the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the much earlier Egyptian Book of the Dead. 18 The latter describes the soul after death as undergoing many transformations and encountering many “gods.” There is no living tradition of interpretation of this book, however, and without this the modern reader can only guess at the meaning of some of its symbolism. According to this book the deceased takes in succession the form of a swallow, a hawk of gold, a serpent with human legs and feet, a crocodile, a heron, a lotus flower, etc., and meets strange “gods” and other-worldly beings (the “Four Holy Apes,” the hippopotamus-goddess, various gods with heads of dogs, jackals, apes, birds, etc.). The elaborate and confused experiences of the “after-death” realm as described in this book are in sharp contrast to the clarity and simplicity of Christian experiences. Although also based, it may well be, on some kind of actual “out-of-body” experiences, this book is as full of illusory visions as the Tibetan Book of the Dead and certainly cannot be taken as an actual description of the state of the soul after death. 2. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg Another of the occult texts which contemporary researchers are investigating holds more hope for being understood, for it is from our own modern times, is thoroughly Western in mentality, and purports to be Christian. The writings of the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1722) describe the visions of another world which began to appear to him in mid-life. |
| Tweet Нравится Book Launch of Fr. Peter Heers " " The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church " On Wednesday December 9, 2015 the Canadian Hellenic Orthodox Missionary Fraternity of Toronto of Apostle Paul held a book launch in their Toronto Apostle Paul Orthodox Christian Bookstore for Protopresbyter Peter Heers' new book " The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church, " which examines in depth in light of Orthodox Patristic teaching both the historical and theological road leading to the new ecclesiology promulgated at the Vatican II Council and the ecclesiology of the Council itself. A video of the book launch can be viewed below, as well as the words of several important and notable Orthodox Church personalities today in praise of Fr. Peter's essential new book, available from Uncut Mountain Press : Fr. Peter Heers’ book, The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II , is remarkable in every way. . . . I want to congratulate the author, for he labored on his subject with objectivity and sobriety and has presented us with an important work which assists us all, especially when, due to our lack of time and many responsibilities, we are unable to have access to the sources. The book is written in an academic manner, that is, objectively, as the tradition of the Fathers of the Church designates. Father Peter worked methodically, examining both the theological currents which preceded the Second Vatican Council and the context within which the council itself labored. Moreover, he studied in depth the texts of the council and the analyses of various theologians that followed the council. Having read this as a dissertation many times and as closely as possible, I have come to understand how papal theology became estranged from Orthodox patristic theology and tradition; how the views of papal theologians with regard to baptism and ecclesiology developed from Blessed Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and subsequent theologians; and how this line of thinking evolved through a variety of decisions and finally arrived at the Second Vatican Council, which then produced a new ecclesiology. |
| It is perhaps also significant that 2 Peter and Jude were among the last books to be accepted into the NT canon. We note too that the Epistle of Jude’s citation of a verse from Enoch was considered problematic in the fourth and fifth centuries. But then what about the Book of Revelation—i.e. “The Apocalypse”? It is, I suggest, the exception that proves the rule. And even so, this exception was late being accepted into the NT canon—so late, in fact, that it finds no place in the Byzantine lectionary. The Book of Revelation, though containing the usual apocalyptic staples such as lots of angels, multi-headed beasts, bowls of outpoured wrath, and symbolic numbers, is still primarily about Jesus Christ. Its first chapter, after an opening introduction, features a vision of Christ glorified and standing amidst seven churches on earth. The next two chapters consist of messages to those seven earthly churches, rebuking them for shortcomings and offering praise for faithfulness. Only in chapter four do visions of the future begin. We note too that the purpose of the visions was to promote constancy on earth on the part of churches under persecution so that they might persevere: “Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13:10). In fact, the Book of Revelation is not so much an expression of the Church’s nature and central concerns as it is ecclesiastical “push back” in the face of persecution. The Roman world, heretofore the Church’s helper, had suddenly become the Church’s main enemy. Caesar was demanding now not just respect, but worship. What should the Church do? The Apocalypse provides the answer: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (2:10). The Apocalypse was therefore an occasional epistle, drawing its significance from its context of persecution (which sadly, regularly seems to come around). But what if the Roman eagle grew a second head, and Rome became Byzantium? The significance and urgency of the Book of Revelation waxes and wanes with the times. At all times we need to know that Christ will come again, and that God’s ultimate triumph is assured. But the fires in which the Book of Revelation were forged went rather cold after Constantine. The Book of Revelation therefore reminds us of truths we need to know when the fire of persecution heats up. |
| It is only within the last twenty years, at the very, so-called triumph of materialism, that some doctors and psychiatrists have begun to seriously examine the existence of the human soul. A catalyst for this movement was Dr. Raymond Moody’s well-received book Life after Life published in 1975. In it, Dr. Moody collected a series of first-hand accounts of near death experiences. Initially, Dr. Moody’s interest in the subject was sparked by stories related to him by some of his friends. As he began to collect these stories, he realized that there were large numbers of people who had out-of-body experiences during the time they were clinically dead. This shocked him. However, many of these people, did not relate their stories to anyone to avoid embarrassment or worse, the questioning of their sanity. Soon after the appearance of Dr. Moody’s book, the sensation-hungry press and television media widely publicized the contents of his book. A firestorm of discussions and public debates on life after death issues followed. This caused a flood of doctors, psychiatrists and spiritual leaders, some of whom felt their field of expertise had been infringed upon by an incompetent source, to launch independent investigations to review the data and results published by Dr. Moody. Many of them were very surprised when the accuracy of Dr. Moody’s observations were verified. Specifically, that upon a person’s death, their existence does not cease, but on the contrary their soul continues to hear, think and feel. Among serious and systematic studies on dying, Dr. Michael Sabom’s book “Recollections of Death” should be mentioned. Dr. Sabom is a professor of medicine at Emory University and a staff doctor at the Atlanta Veteran’s Hospital. In his book one can find detailed histories and a penetrating analysis of the subject matter. Also of value is the systematic documentation of Psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Ring, published in his book “Life at Death.” Dr. Ring compiled a list of standardized questions for people who had experienced clinical death. |
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