The god Asclepius was the ancient god of healing, and people went to Corinth quite specifically to get healed of all kinds of maladies and diseases. The small museum at Corinth has been upgraded since my last visit, and the display of the plaster cast molds of body parts is more impressive now. Scholars are undecided whether these are votives, made to ask Asclepius to heal that body part, or thank offerings, after it was believed that healing had been... Read more

The port city of Corinth on the Aegean side is Cenchreae, where Paul stayed in the house of Phoebe, the first person to be called a deacon in early Christianity, and Paul’s own patroness. She seems in addition to have been the person whom Paul entrusted the crucial letter to the Romans with, having written it in her house (see Rom. 16). She was tasked to take it to Rome while Paul returned to Jerusalem in about A.D. 57. Here... Read more

The instruments of democracy should be the title of this post. First, notice this decree from the golden age of Greece about getting rid of tyrants who try to destroy or rig a democracy (the relevance to today in various places in the world should be noted). Read the decree closely. There was a way to get rid of a tyrannical official or ruler, namely take a vote to banish him on the spot. This is where the word ‘ostracism’... Read more

The Delphi museum is another one not to be missed, however it is missing proper air conditioning, perhaps to allow you to experience ancient atmosphere in Delphi! Let’s start with the remarkable bronze statue of a charioteer, and yes there were chariot races in the upper stadium at Delphi. Clearly enough, this is Greek style charioteer, as the Romans didn’t wear a long toga to ride around in. Here is a statue of a handsome young man named Antinos, who... Read more

Not for everyone was the steep journey up to the oracle of Delphi in the Temple of Apollo (the god of prophecy), but many made the trip. What one needs to understand is that in ancient Greece, prophecy was a matter of consultation, by and large. That is, one went to the Pythia to ask pertinent questions about one’s life and future— Should I marry this woman? Should I buy this land? Will I ever get well? Should I go... Read more

A few more locales and scenes from Athens are in order, and here we will focus on things in the agora and Roman forum, namely the temple of Hephaestus, the most well preserved temple in the area, and one Paul could have seen, and the Horalogea– or water clock in the Roman forum. The more things change, the more they stay the same… in the forum men play backgammon…. listen to traditional Greek music…. imbibe some liquids and eat some... Read more

Monks, in the old days, were hauled up these bluffs in baskets and with pulleys, as were supplies. No small feat even now. Today, the lifestyle is less strenuous in most cases. First, we must consider the imposing locale itself, which was picked precisely because it was ‘far from the madding crowd’, a good place for retreat, prayer, contemplation, study. We had to climb 120 steps straight up to get to the monastery we were visiting. It is not a... Read more

One of the great problems with cruises to Biblical sites is you don’t have nearly enough time at the Biblical sites to see them properly, never mind visiting the many museums. This is why I much prefer doing land tours of these countries by a good comfortable bus such as this one…. You never know what you will see next, for example, a Greek road sign that appears to point one to the city of Anthill….,although it really is Anthili.... Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4OYdWtyClg Good News. The latest Mission Impossible is the best of the whole series, and it will have you on the edge of your seat right to the end. There are the usual impossible stunts, performed by Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise (not without injury this time), the usual chase scenes (the one continuous take through Paris is impressive), but this movie has more complexity to it than most others in this series. In some ways this seems like some of the... Read more

When Paul went to Berea, he was going off the beaten track, for sure. And honestly, there is not much to see in modern Berea in terms of antiquities, though there is an excellent fish restaurant there! There are nice monuments to Paul, including one depicting his vision of the Macedonian person telling him to come over and help them….. We have a nice depiction of the text of what Acts says about the visit to Berea (from which so... Read more