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Chapter 15: Russia: The Third Rome (900 – 1800) – Part II (1448 – 1800)
Next Wednesday, March 12, 2014, we will finish up Chapter 15 and our journey into the history of the Orthodox Church and specifically the Russian Orthodox Church by covering the sections: Muscovy Triumphant (1448 – 1547), Ivan the Terrible and the New Patriarchate (1547 – 98), and From Muscovy to Russia (1598 – 1800).
Ivan IV, aka ‘Ivan the Terrible’
With these readings, and with all the tensions that has been going on in Kiev, Ukraine currently, I hope we’ve gained a better understanding of its complex history and geopolitical importance throughout Russian history.
Does God Change in Response to Suffering? Motlmann, von Speyr, the Cross, and the Suffering of God, the Trinity
Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, chapel of the Hospital of Saint Anthony, Isenheim, Germany, c. 1510-15, oil on wood
Undoubtedly, suffering and death changes us in some degree or another. It’s a given in life. A death of a close friend, parent, or loved one can profoundly affect the outlook of one’s life.
I can only imagine the unimaginable pain a parent has to go through if their child dies. It would undoubtedly change the parent’s life.
Is it the same for God then? Did God change when he experienced Jesus’ death? Does God himself change in response to suffering, pain, and death?
Plato and Theology
In order to really get a good understanding of Christian theology and Christian philosophy, you first need a solid foundation of understanding Plato’s philosophy.
There’s just no way around it. Even Paul’s writings contain Platonic thought and ideas.
Plato’s philosophy still heavily influences Christianity today as well – for instance, our ideas about body/soul dualism, the afterlife, the spiritual being greater than the flesh/material, repentance, conversion, etc.
Here are some summaries we wrote about Plato’s and Greek philosophy’s impact on Christian thought here in terms of church history.
Here is Prof. Andrew Davison of St. Johns College, Nottingham, UK, talking about how Plato influenced Christian philosophy – especially that of Augustine, who was heavily influenced by Plotinus and Neoplatonism.
New Updates – Chapter 15: Russia: The Third Rome (900 – 1448) – Part 1
Hi everyone, here is the update for Chapter 15 that you can read here.
Topics on the Tartars, Mongols, Kiev, Vikings, and how the Rus’ adopted and accommodated Byzantine culture and the Orthodox faith into their own.
Chap. 15: Russia – The Third Rome (900 – 1800) – Part I
Hi folks, next Wednesday (Feb. 26) we will begin our journey of Orthodoxy in Russia by focusing on the first two sections of Chapter 15: “A New Threat to Christendom: Norsemen, Rus’ and Kiev (900 – 1240)” and “Tartars, Lithuania and Muscovy (1240 – 1448)”.
Cathedral of the Dormition, Kiev, Ukraine
Studying Russia’s Orthodox Church history seems appropriate with all that is happening in Russia currently with the Sochi Winter Olympics and the political unrest that is happening in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
Engineering an Empire – The Byzantines
We just concluded our readings about the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire.
One of my favorite programs that aired on the History Channel was a series titled “Engineering an Empire” hosted by Peter Weller, lecturer of ancient history at Syracuse University – yes, that Peter Weller who starred in “Robocop”, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai”, and most recently in last year’s “Startrek: Into Darkness”.
The Problem with Camels and the Old Testament
Camels are mentioned as pack animals in the biblical stories of Abraham, Joseph, and Jacob. But archaeologists have shown that camels were not domesticated in the Land of Israel until centuries after the Age of the Patriarchs (2000-1500 BCE).
Whenever you read a Bible or a children’s Bible with illustrations, you’re bound to come across images of camels alongside Abraham, Issac, or Jacob. We take this for granted most of the time.
The New Bible Dictionary: 3rd Ed. states,
In Scripture, camels are first mentioned in the days of the Patriarchs (c. 1900 – 1700 BC) [a bit different from the caption above]. They formed part of the livestock wealth of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. 12:16; 24:35; 30:43; 32:7, 15) and also of Job (1:3, 17; 42:12). On only two notable occasions are the Patriarchs actually shown using camels as transport: when Abraham’s servant went to Mesopotamia to obtain a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24:10), and when Jacob fled from Laban (Gen. 31:17,34)- neither an everyday event. Otherwise, camels are attributed only to the Ishmaelites/Midianites, desert traders, at this time (Gen. 37:25). This very modest utilization of camels in the patriarchal age corresponds well with the known rather limited use of camels in the early 2nd millenium BC. (p. 160)
However, recent archaeological and scientific studies provide new evidence that suggests that camels were domesticated in the regions associated with the biblical Patriarchs centuries later than is portrayed in the biblical accounts.
This research and issues with the domestication of camels is not new news and has been known for some time now.
This research is interesting when trying to place a time-frame on when and where the Pentateuch was written and compiled.
How science and biblical studies converge – read the article here.
Dr. Irving Finkel – CNN interview – 1/28/14 – “Blueprint for ‘Noah’s Ark’ Found”
Since the post about Dr. Finkel’s recent work on the “Ark Tablet” was rather popular, here he is discussing the translation of the “Ark Tablet”.
The clip’s title is a bit misleading, somewhat, but you get the idea.
Does God Play Dice with the Universe? The Role of Chance and Providence in Theology and Science
“God does not play dice with the universe.”
– Albert Einstein
“Einstein, stop telling God what to do.”
– Niels Bohr, in reply to Einstein
In Gerald L. Schroeder’s book, The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom, he describes the blind forces of nature that lie behind much of human grief:
“An earthquake shakes a bridge from its foundation, dropping it onto a crowded bus passing beneath. A chance cosmic ray smashes into an ovum, produces a free radical which in its natural drive to establish electrical balance tears and mutates a chromosome. As a result, a crippled child is born. The same Creator that produces the beauty of a sunrise and the colors of a flower must be credited with these horrors as well.” (p. 168)
Last year, while I was attending classes at a city college, I would always pass by a cerebral palsy center. From time to time, I would see patients from that center lined up outside, mostly in their motorized wheelchairs, waiting to be assisted upon by their caretakers or be helped unto a transport truck.
For some reason, thoughts and questions would run through my head each time I would see these patients –
What if I were them? What made me so special that I was born normal – even though my mother had a complicated pregnancy with me, I came out relatively normal? But what about these patients afflicted with cerebral palsy? Was God directly involved in contributing to their physical and mental conditions? Or was it by pure, random chance, with no discernible reason whatsoever that they were in the condition that they were in? Didn’t God have the power to divert the cosmic ray from hitting the ovum and mutating the chromosome perhaps? Did he do that for me? Why me then and why them?
Or perhaps there’s just no reason or purpose whatsoever in all this.
It was by pure random, blind chance that I was born this way and not another.
And you can run a billion what-if scenarios in your head and ruminate what your life would’ve been like if you made this decision or that, etc.
Did we even have a choice to begin with?
Chapter 14: Orthodoxy – More Than an Empire (900 – 1700)
Next Wednesday, we will discuss Chapter 14 which deals with the Orthodox Church during the time of the Crusades, up until its fall by the Ottomans in 1453, and the Orthodox Church’s struggle under Ottoman control afterwards.
The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453
Project Augustine 