‘IN CHRIST’—PAUL’S PREFERRED LANGUAGE FOR CHRISTIANS AND THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY The phrase. ‘in Christ’ or ‘in Him’ (ἐν αὐτῷ) used interchangeably occurs some 39 time in the NT mostly in Paul’s letters, 11 examples of which are found in the opening 202 word sentence in Ephesians 1. Paul does not use the language we find in Acts, namely the term Χριστιανούς– which means a partisan of Christ, or belonging to Christ, but we simply translate the term as ‘Christians’. ... Read more
This is in some ways, an epic of epic proportions. It is frankly too long, but it raises such an important question, namely whether there is any justification for using weapons of mass destruction that do not discriminate between combatants and innocent citizens, even in a lesser of two evils situation, that one must be content to sit and watch this painful long drama a bit at a time. I will talk about the film below, but first I would... Read more
Lynn Cohick, The Letter to the Ephesians, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020), 520 pages. So I decided to do something I’ve never done before in the last 50 years of studying the Greek New Testament. I read right through a major commentary skipping nothing. It turned out to be very worthwhile. In fact, it was rather like writing such a commentary, which I have done on Ephesians (see my The Letters to Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians, 2007). Lynn Cohick’s commentary... Read more
So there is a long walk up a hill, and then a further walk up to the top of the hill where the monastery was. So, first the cave….. To give you some perspective, here’s the view from below up to the monastery. This is a steep hill. So here is the monastery itself, which is worth a visit, skip the trinket shop, where amazingly, they still sell postcards which are antiques now. This is a beautiful well maintained monastery.... Read more
Going to Patmos, a good 60 or so miles off the Turkish coast, depending on where you catch the ferry, is not a journey for those who get easily seasick. The ferries going bouncing along, and depending on how heavy the chop is, you may really be slamming up and down the waves. But is it worth the trip? Well yes…. and no? If you are wanting to see some ancient archaeological site, then Patmos is not for you. You... Read more
With the sarcophagi on the first floor there is also a model of a famous mausoleum from Smyrna. If you are wondering, yes, there are some Christian artifacts in this museum, in particular some icons. There are also interesting smaller objects too. There is even some metal work, this time of the god Demeter…. There is a nice description of a day in the life of someone who lived in Smyrna in the Roman period. In short, this new museum... Read more
As I have mentioned, the murals in this museum are just excellent. First here’s one of a library. Nearby Pergamon had the very best library in the ancient world, except for the one in Alexandria. Or consider this one of a medical practice. Again, Pergamon had a famous Asklepion and the equally famous doctor Galen was from there… Or here’s a woman called Sophilos—a painter…. Notice the mistake in the poster telling us she is a he…. Here’s a nice... Read more
Smyrna did not lack for entertainment, by which I mean plays, but also Olympic style games, to which the Romans added gladiatorial combat, or bloodsport. In an honor and shame culture, while entertainment was important and mostly for the leisure class (i.e. mostly the rich who had time for it), honor was also established by honorific inscriptions, which kept these guys in work…. But the rich also wanted glass objects, and decorative perfume vials too. Read more
Well friends, this movie is a true spectacle, all 2 hours and 24 minutes of it. The stunts are spectacular (and Tom does his own), the scenery in Rome and Venice and the Austrian Alps are spectacular, and the acting is actually quite good. Now the story line— well it has some twists and turns, but overall, there is a through line one can follow, and of course this is only half the story. More next summer I assume. I... Read more
On the first floor of the new museum there is a considerable display of massive sarcophagi, which are truly works of art. Here we have an illustration of the artisans who made such things. Of course they didn’t just do burial boxes they did steles to honor the dead, and statues to honor the gods as well… They were busy carving marble! This is a headless statue of many breasted Artemis (or alternatively those things are eggs or bull’s testicles—... Read more
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