| The lengths of the canonical gospels suggest not only intention to publish but also the nature of their genre. 68 All four gospels fit the medium-range length (10,000–25,000 words) found in ancient biographies as distinct from many other kinds of works. 69 A «book» was approximately what one could listen to in a setting. The average length of a book of Herodotus or Thucydides is about 20,000 words, which would take around two hours to read. After the Alexandrian library reforms, an average 30–35 feet scroll would contain 10,000 to 25,000 words–exactly the range into which both the Gospels and many ancient bioi fal1. 70 Also seeking popular analogies, Moses Hadas and Morton Smith compared the Gospels with aretalogies. 71 Aretalogies do have some features in common with some Gospel narratives, but they are normally brief narrations or lists of divine acts, hence do not provide the best analogies for the Gospels as whole works. 72 These narratives may support the hypothesis of early circulated miracle-collections (such as Johns proposed signs source), and indicate the degree to which narratives could be employed in the service of religious propaganda. They do not, however, explain our current gospels and their length; aretalogy was not even a clearly defined genre. 73 2. Novels and Drama Not all literary works concerning specific characters were biographies. Yet all four canonical gospels are a far cry from the fanciful metamorphosis stories, divine rapes, and so forth in a compilation like Ovid " s Metamorphoses. The Gospels plainly have more historical intention and fewer literary pretensions than such works. The primary literary alternative to viewing the Gospels as biography, however, is not entertaining mythological anthologies but to view them as intentional fiction, 74 a suggestion that has little to commend it. First-century readers recognized the genre of novel (the Hellenistic «romance»), 75 including novels about historical characters, 76 but ancient writers normally distinguished between fictitious and historical narratives. 77 As some literary critics have noted, even when historical works have incorrect facts they do not become fiction, and a novel that depends on historical information does not become history. 78 Talbert argues that not all biographies were basically reliable like Suetonius and Plutarch; but his examples of unreliable biographies, Pseudo Callisthenes» Alexander Romance and Lucian " s Passing of Peregrinus, do not make his case. 79 The former is more like a historical novel, and the latter resembles satire. This is not to deny some degree of overlap among categories in historical content, but to affirm that what distinguishes the two genres is the nature of their truth claims. 80 |
| Thus some scholars have even compared them with a typical «retainer» class. 1520 With the demise of the leading priests in Jerusalem during the Jewish revolt, the Pharisees were well-positioned to have their interests represented in a new coalition of power. The increasing power of some Pharisees after 70 would thus not be surprising. Yavneh was one of the Judean cities controlled by the Herodian family with Romés approval, 1521 and there Vespasian settled Judeans willing to submit to Rome, who would have included many aristocrats with vested interests. 1522 Some argue that the leading citizens among those settled there were especially Pharisees; 1523 others suggest that the leaders were scribes in general, including but not limited to Pharisees. 1524 In any case, many of the leaders (such as Gamaliel and Eliezer ben Hyrcanus) were Pharisees–which fits the otherwise probably inexplicable portrait of their role in a hostile Judean leadership in the Fourth Gospe1. The Pharisees and Jewish Christians probably had a more amicable relationship in the sixties, 1525 but some factors surrounding the Judean revolt–perhaps the need to consolidate influence afterwards, perhaps the social class or just idiosyncrasies of Yavnehs surviving elite–seem to have changed the relationship to what appears presupposed in Matthew and John. 1526 That the rabbis spoke and wrote with authority does not indicate that everyone observed or even understood their legal rulings, even where they were accepted as experts; 1527 they achieved only gradually the status they held by medieval times. 1528 As late as the fourth century, archaeological evidence shows that observant Palestinian Judaism did not abide by rabbinic norms, 1529 although the same evidence shows that popular legal practice and rabbinic opinion often coincided, perhaps because rabbinic opinion often reflected existing legal traditions. 1530 Because they became the «winners» in subsequent Jewish history, however, their perspective has often been read as normative. 1531 Of course, the average Jewish Palestinian peasant, while influenced by more educated classes, was probably influenced more by the popular trends of the culture than by rabbinic rulings. This need not mean that the rabbis were disrespected, but that untrained people then, like most people today, were eclectic and synergistic; sharing a common basis of morality, popular ideology, and popular stories in folk religion, they may have been no more skilled in the intricacies of rabbinic disputes than the average U.S. citizen is in the details of U.S. case law. Roman legal scholars were likewise heeded at times–and usually ignored. 1532 Especially before the abortive Bar Kokhba revolt, apocalyptic ideas must have flourished on the popular level as in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Such ideas probably influenced revolutionaries like the Zealots, though Josephus " s Hellenistic apologetic excludes such ideas from mention. |
| The lesson is clear: An average Internet surfer, potential visitor or local resident certainly isn’t going to go the extra mile to uncover your community’s vitality if they are unimpressed with what they find on your parish Web site. And that’s more than an opportunity for evangelism lost. In today’s online culture, a poor Web site could even affect your parish’s ministry to existing parishioners. According to the Barna Research Group, Americans of all ages use the Internet as a way to explore their own faith and different faith traditions in a private, non-threatening environment. Soon, that sort of Internet-based religious activity will be the normal course of action for any interested person — seeker or parishioner. In fact, a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicates that only 15 percent of Americans are currently “off the network,” meaning they are completely without Internet-based access to news, information and interaction. Even more significantly, 51 percent are regularly engaged in various forms of what has been dubbed “Web 2.0”, a new culture of sorts, in which participants use various forms of online media and technology to regularly consume information and communicate with the world of cyberspace. That means that your parish’s online presence is more important to its ministry and religious education efforts than ever before. And the old patterns of static Web sites, without regularly updated content or the opportunity for user participation, aren’t going to hold people’s attention. While all of this may sound like bad news, it’s actually an amazing opportunity for ministry and religious education. Social trends like Web 2.0 are so powerful and pervasive because of the technological advances that have allowed average people to produce a variety of attractive and interactive Web sites without much difficulty. In other words, the hard work has already been completed. All we, as Orthodox Christians, have to do is tap in to existing resources. |
| 3. Cohabitation has weakened the connection between marriage and parenthood since the 1970s. A startling discovery was made in the early 90s which has enormous consequences for family formation well into the third millennium. Jane Lewis and Kathleen Kiernan postulated two major changes in Britain with regard to ‘reproductive behaviour’ in the previous 30 years. The first was a widespread separation of sex and marriage which happened in the 1960s. The second was a widespread separation of marriage from parenthood, which happened in the 80s and gathered pace in the 90s. The first of these was greeted by social commentators and radical theologians with optimism: the second ‘has given rise to moral panic about lone motherhood’. The key to both changes is the declining importance of marriage. According to this thesis when an unmarried couple conceived in the 60s, they generally married. In the early 70s, when an unmarried couple conceived they generally either married or had an abortion. Living together as a prelude to marriage ‘began in the 1970s’. In the late 70s and early 80s, an unmarried couple upon conception opted increasingly for an abortion or an illegitimate birth. The 90s has seen a confirmation of this trend. But in the 90s 70% of women marrying for the first time had cohabited before marriage compared with only 6% in the late 60s. Cohabitation is therefore ‘inextricably linked’ both to the decline of marriage and the increase in childbearing outside it. 4. Some people choose cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, not as a preparation or ‘trial’ for it. They avoid it for different reasons, perhaps from a scrupulous boycott of a failing patriarchal institution, or because of dating behaviour described as ‘sex without strings, relationships without rings’. 5. ‘Trial-marriages’ are unlikely to work. There are plenty of difficulties with trial-marriages, best exposed by asking what is being tried. Some cohabitors are trying out whether they can bare living with someone else - they are trying out whether living together is better than living alone. Others are trying out their suitability for marriage - called (in the trade) the ‘weeding hypothesis’. Only ‘those cohabiting couples who find themselves to be well suited and more committed to marriage go on to marry’. The rest weed themselves out or are weeded out by the experience. But all the research shows that the likelihood of divorce increases with the incidence of previous cohabitation. The unconditional love which in Christian marriage reflects Christ’s love for the Church (Eph.5.25) cannot be nourished in a context where it can be terminated if ‘things don’t work out’. |
| Similarly when the Egyptian Pharaoh memorialized his victory over “the numerous army of Mitanni” he said that it was “totally annihilated, like those non-existent”, whereas they in fact lived to fight another day. This hyperbole was part of the royal assertion of sovereignty of the time (today called “trash talk”). In terms of the Biblical narrative, it meant that the defeated Canaanite armies would be utterly put down, with no hope of return. This hyperbole would explain the otherwise odd contradiction between the assertion of Joshua’s annihilation of all the Canaanite population in Joshua 10:40 and the record that much of the Canaanite population remained to be conquered and driven out in Joshua 23:5 and Judges 1:1. Complete genocide was never envisioned by Moses or Joshua; complete subjugation was. It was understood that defeat on the battlefield would result in the population fleeing before Israel and leaving their towns vulnerable and vacant. The Canaanites were to be driven out not because they were part of a cosmic war of light against darkness or because they were the fruit of demonic fornication. The Biblical text is quite clear: they were to be driven out because they were idolatrous, and if they remained in the land Israel would surely be assimilated and learn their idolatrous ways (Deuteronomy 7:1-6). The danger was not cosmic or demonic, but local and cultural. Intermarriage would inevitably result in syncretism. The people of Canaan were not subhuman or demonic, just idolatrous, and therefore constituted a threat to Israel, fresh from the idolatry of Egypt. God’s programme for Israel when they came out of Egypt and entered Canaan involved cultural and religious exclusivism, but not genocide. They were told to drive out the original inhabitants of the land lest they learn their sinful and idolatrous ways. The warfare against Canaan involved merciless victory on the battlefield, but the final goal was not wholesale slaughter of populations, but displacement. The ultimate goal was what today is called “ethnic cleansing”. This displacement of population was the only way that Israel could remain pure and secure. This may not sit well with modern sensibilities, but it was not genocide. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Apostolic Succession JUSTIN M. LASSER Orthodoxy begins not with definition or argumentation, but with an intimate and revelatory encounter with its Lord. It is this awe-inspiring engagement that the Orthodox Church yearns to preserve in all it does. Whether it is like the woman who reached out to touch Christ’s garment, the rich man that went away in shame, or the disciples trembling before their transfigured Lord, the church’s primary function has been to preserve and hand on the “Tradition” of these revelatory moments, as continuing gateways of grace for his present disciples. Plate 4 St. Matthew the Evangelist. By Eileen McGuckin. The Icon Studio: www.sgtt.org The Orthodox preserve and enact the occasion of Jesus’ sending-out (apostellein) of his followers to proclaim the good news to all who would listen. Indeed, for the Orthodox, this “sending-out,” this mission of Christ, never ended. The term “apostolic succession” derives from the Greek word apostolos which can be translated as “a sent-one.” This term marks an important transition in the Christian experience. The mathetes, the follower, takes on a new role as one who is sent-out not merely to proclaim the Kingdom of God, but to enact the Kingdom of God; in other words, to bring the reality of Christ to those seeking. The apostles were not sent-out so much to prove the Christian faith as to live as Christ, teach Christ’s message, and to establish a space where those seeking might encounter Christ. The essence of the apostolic preaching is captured in St. Peter’s paradigmatic proclamation, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” ( Mt. 16.16 ). This kerygma was and remains the substance of all that apostolicity means. It is this mystery and stunning realization that the apostolic preaching is intended to impart and enact. Because the apostolic mission never ended, the Orthodox affirm that this kerygma, this living proclamation of the Kingdom of God, was passed on to the successors of the apostles. |
| Chapter 12.– Whether the Fire that Came Down Out of Heaven and Devoured Them Refers to the Last Punishment of the Wicked. The words, And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them, are not to be understood of the final punishment which shall be inflicted when it is said, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire; Matthew 25:41 for then they shall be cast into the fire, not fire come down out of heaven upon them. In this place fire out of heaven is well understood of the firmness of the saints, wherewith they refuse to yield obedience to those who rage against them. For the firmament is heaven, by whose firmness these assailants shall be pained with blazing zeal, for they shall be impotent to draw away the saints to the party of Antichrist. This is the fire which shall devour them, and this is from God; for it is by God " s grace the saints become unconquerable, and so torment their enemies. For as in a good sense it is said, The zeal of Your house has consumed me, so in a bad sense it is said, Zeal has possessed the uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the enemies. Isaiah 26:11 And now, that is to say, not the fire of the last judgment. Or if by this fire coming down out of heaven and consuming them, John meant that blow wherewith Christ in His coming is to strike those persecutors of the Church whom He shall then find alive upon earth, when He shall kill Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 then even this is not the last judgment of the wicked; but the last judgment is that which they shall suffer when the bodily resurrection has taken place. Chapter 13.– Whether the Time of the Persecution or Antichrist Should Be Reckoned in the Thousand Years. This last persecution by Antichrist shall last for three years and six months, as we have already said, and as is affirmed both in the book of Revelation and by Daniel the prophet. Though this time is brief, yet not without reason is it questioned whether it is comprehended in the thousand years in which the devil is bound and the saints reign with Christ, or whether this little season should be added over and above to these years. |
| —But many people these days talk about just such negative experiences… —It has become bon ton in certain Orthodox circles to say that a person has " over-prayed " : he reads a prayer rule, canons, kathismas, and is just too pious. This is pronounced like a diagnosis. But we are taking the role of judge upon ourselves, for the most part not out of an abundance of spiritual discernment, but rather out of our own weak faith, slothfulness, and self-love. Out of self-defense, our lazy comfort consciously paints a picture of some Feropont from Brothers Karamazov—do you remember that cruel and foolish ascetic of Dostoevsky's? You know, there is great danger in the fact that we eagerly over-emphasize and exaggerate such morbid instances, and use them, unnoticeably to ourselves, to defend our laziness and indifference. In general, such pernicious generalizations and wrongful stereotypes are circulating more and more in church spheres: if old ladies are church-goers, then they're mean witches; if they are young people, then they have complexes; if they are adults, then they are unlucky in life; if they are altar attendants, then they have abandoned their families for the sake of the church; if they are monks, then they are money-grabbers and reprobates. —But this does happen to be the case sometimes… —Who would argue? You can't say that it never happens, that it's not true. However, why should you use a stubbornness worthy of better application to convince yourself and others that such a state of affairs is particular to our Church? I once took a tour through Orthodox forums, and I was simply put out by how cynically and viciously Orthodox people, who consider themselves quite educated in religious matters, relate not only to the clergy, whom they disdain utterly, but even to the most pious laypeople. —They say, " Orthodoxized " and " Orthodoxy of the brain " … —These terms, I'm afraid, have not come from somewhere out there, but from within Orthodox spheres. Only one of " our own " could jab with such sophistication. Nevertheless, these phrases have gained enthusiastic popularity in our midst. This is a truly alarming phenomenon in our Christian community. Furthermore, we ourselves gradually begin to look at ourselves and at those around us through a prism of such humiliating descriptions. |
| 267 Power of expulsion Mommsen objected to the suggestion in the account of Paul’s adventures at Philippi that the local magistrates, in ordering the release of Paul and Silas, ordered their expulsion from the city. 268 This implies that they possessed something akin to the governor’s power of relegatio, expulsion from the province. The wording of Acts does not quite bear out Mommsen’s interpretation. ‘Do they now secretly cast us out? Let them come in person and escort us out of the city.’ The original message given by the gaoler was: ‘The magistrates have ordered your release. Now come out and go in peace.’ Finally the magistrates came in person and begged Paul and Silas to leave the city. Mommsen is too sharp with the author here. Doubtless the local magistrates, far from the eye of authority, were capable of exceeding their powers. The Sardinian affair showed the difficulty with which governors enforced the respect for law on local authorities in other provinces. 269 In Pliny’s Letters to Trajan there are other examples of the violation of municipal statutes and proconsular edicts by civic authorities. 270 But the only precise parallel to the affair at Philippi comes from a late source, the Sententiae Pauli, on the treatment of itinerant seers or soothsayers, ‘Primum fustibus caesi civitate pelluntur’. ‘The custom is to give them a beating and drive them out of the city.’ Only if they persist are they formally put on trial. 271 But this usage cannot be brought down, in evidence, to an earlier age. CIVIC INDICTMENTS AND CIVIC GOVERNMENTS The affair at Philippi is more revealing. 275 It is the first clash between the apostles and non-Jewish interests involving the ordinary citizens of a commune, which was in fact a Roman colony. Hence it is natural that the clash takes the form, not of a riot, as at Iconium or Antioch, where the quarrel was within the Jewish community, but of a formal indictment before the municipal magistrates. The power of local magistrates to administer limited personal punishments has already been discussed. |
| During the pogroms in 2008 in India, 500 Christians were killed. The opposition Hindu nationalist party ‘The Bharataya Janata Party’ (BJP), which actually controls several states, has waged an active war against Christianity. On February 20 and 21, 2011, a wave of clashes between extremists and the Christian minority swamped Batala in the state of Punjab. Members of Christian communities in India continue to be attacked by organized groups of radical Hindus. In 2011 in India, there were 2141 registered cases of violence against Christians. According to the report presented by the Catholic Secular Forum, attacks on Christian by extremist Hindu groups are taking place at present in almost all the states of India. The authors of the report assume that the real number of cases of anti-Christian violence in India which took place last years must be three times as many. The statistics they presented is based on the information publicized by the mass media. In 2012, new cases of discrimination against Christians and attacks on Christian educational institutions were registered in India. Early in February, about 100 Hindu radicals attacked the campus of the Jesuit University of St. Joseph in Anekal near Bangalore, Karnataka state. I should address the causes of the growing persecution of Christians in recent years. Since your schooldays you remember that the causes of the persecution of Christians in old times can be divided in the three groups: social, religious and political.To a considerable extent these causes have remained the same, with certain reservations. We understand by social causes the poorly motivated hatred of the crowd. Heathen writers and Christian apologists unanimously testify that the emergence and spreading of Christianity was met by the population of the Roman Empire with unanimous hatred on the part of both the lower strata of the society and the educated class. ‘What damage do we do to you, Hellenes? Why do you hate us like the most out-and-out scoundrels who follow the word of God?’ Tertullian questioned. ‘How many times the mob hostile to us has attacked us, thrown stones and burnt our houses. They do not spare Christians, even dead ones, pulling out dead bodies from coffins to abuse them, to tear them to pieces’, cried out this Christian writer of the 3d century. The hatred of the throng towards Christians grew especially at times of social troubles. In some sense, the events repeat themselves since the psychology of the crowd, if this crows is consumed with hysteria, does not change whatever the religion those who make up the crowd may be. The crowd needs an enemy to take it out on him; the otherness of Christians excited and excites the hatred of ‘this world’. |
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