3 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2019
    1. Monasticism

      Glad to see this referenced here, and Gonzalez covers it as well, though I must say, I am a bit bummed neither maes specific reference to the early monks as the Desert Fathers. Perhaps that's just their "popular" name, as called by folks like Thomas Merton and Richard Rohr. Either way, their's is a fascinating part of the Christian story and I'm glad to see them getting a little love.

    2. Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle, persecuted the early Jewish Christians, such as Saint Stephen, then converted and adopted the title of "Apostle to the Gentiles" and started proselytizing among the Gentiles. He persuaded the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow Gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments at the Council of Jerusalem. According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Paul's influence on Christian thinking is more significant than any other New Testament author;[3] however, the relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still disputed today.

      Reading the section entitled "Paul's Works" in Gonzalez's text, he seems to downplay Paul's influence and tries to provide some great context for all the other work that was happening that supported his own efforts and travel. I reckon my feeling here, which shouldn't be a total shocker, a bit frustrated with the knowledge that most people tryng to learn a bit about any of this stuff are probably reading these 3 sentences about Paul on wikipedia and callin git a day.