Although often overlooked today, whether or not to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols was a major issue in first-century Christianity, especially in urban centers like Corinth. The city was teeming with temples, idols, and smaller shrines. Divinities abounded and devotees made offerings regularly from a little wine poured out at a home Read more about 592 1 Corinthians in Context 9: Food Sacrificed to Idols[…]
The Romans looked at families and marriage very differently than most of us do today. In this session we’ll cover arranged marriages, the double standard for adultery, and the new Roman Women who were breaking all the rules. This will put us in a good place to read chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians and see Read more about 591 1 Corinthians in Context 8: Marriage, Divorce, and Remmarriage[…]
Now that we’ve familiarized ourselves with the city of Corinth and Paul’s missionary activity there, we’re ready to dive into 1 Corinthians. As I mentioned previously, my strategy for this class is to focus on the major themes rather than covering every verse. Our first theme is the issue of divisiveness among the Christians at Read more about 586 1 Corinthians in Context 3: Factions & Status at Corinth[…]
Today we’re beginning something new. I’ve been working on this class on 1 Corinthians for months and months. I had taken classes on 1 Corinthians at Boston University twice. The first time we just read through the entire epistle in Greek. The second time was when we learned about what modern scholars said about Corinth. Read more about 584 1 Corinthians in Context 1: Corinth as the Context[…]
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Recently Tom Huszti interviewed me for his YouTube channel, the Unitarian Anabaptist. We talked about the importance of geography, archeology, and Greco-Roman history for interpreting the bible, especially the New Testament. Next we delved into early church history, starting with the earliest forms of Jewish Christianity Read more about 516 Sean Finnegan on Restoring Authentic Christianity (Tom Huszti)[…]
Like all kingdoms, God’s kingdom is political in nature. As a result, the kingdom requires allegiance from its citizens. By examining Jewish messianism and Roman political sensibilities, you’ll come to better see how early Christians prioritized their allegiance to the age to come over their local and national allegiances. This is lecture 9 of the Read more about 100: Kingdom Allegiance (Kingdom of God 9)[…]
Believing Jesus is Lord and Christ is both religious and political. Watch this to see how early Christians living in Philippi would have interpreted the gospel message as requiring a radical shift in allegiances from Caesar to Jesus. Here are the slides from this sermon: Here are my notes: Battle of Actium (Sept 2, 31 Read more about Kingdom Citizenship[…]
Historical Jesus 3: Rulers in Christ’s World Life was very different in the world of Jesus, especially politics. In this lecture you will learn about the three main leaders that shaped Jesus’ time: Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, and Pontius Pilate. Drawing on the Jewish historian, Josephus, you will discover the cut-throat way that Roman Read more about Podcast 27: Rulers in Christ’s World (Historical Jesus 3)[…]