1st century BC

Exegesis: I. Historical Setting: A. When: There has been a long standing debate over the timeline in which both Acts and Luke were written. In my previous research of Luke, I concluded that Luke was written sometime between A.D. 58-62. In following with the traditional belief that the book of Acts was written as a sequel to Luke, it would place the writing sometime between A.D. 62-64. Others scholars may argue for a later date. B. Setting: The passage takes place in Jerusalem sometime after…

Athens and Sparta were two city-states in the land of Ancient Greece. In fact, they were the largest of them all. Athens was a very calm and creative city who was known for thriving in politics and economy. They were also very laid back. In Athens, you could get a good education and major in whichever subject you chose. Focusing on scholastics, they allowed serving in the military to be a choice, not a requirement. However, Sparta was a very strict city that is remembered especially for their…

Freedom, is supposed to be the basis upon which the United States of America was founded, a nation in which all beliefs and views are considered in equal measure to each other. Yet are US citizens truly free? According to the ancient Greek city-state Athens, freedom was the privilege of being civically engaged in lawmaking and everyday governance of the community. Athenian citizens would scoff at the idea that freedom is the ability to pursue happiness and pleasures, because to them those…

Dear Cousin Betty, The war here is getting challenging and harder every moment. But I have hopes that we are going to win and get it all over with. The Persians attacked the Ionians and because we have nothing against the Ionians they asked us to allied with them. But they also asked some Greek city-states for help. The Spartan army was going against the Persians, but one thing has to be clear the Persians didn’t attack us directly we were asked to ‘group up’ with the Ionians and with Greek…

James D G Dunn notes: “The epochal significance of Pentecost raises the whole course of salvation-history to a new plane ….In one sense, therefore, Pentecost can never be repeated - for the new age is here and cannot be ushered in again. But in another sense Pentecost, or rather the experience of Pentecost, can and must be repeated in the experience of all who would become Christians.” Dunn is effectively saying that in order to witness for Jesus Christ today, just as the disciples…

trend. In the Bible, the early Christians through their house churches demonstrated to the world God’s plan for the salvation of the world. According to Filson (1939), “the house church was a vital factor in the church's development during the first century, and even in later generations.” (p. 112) Just like in the early house churches, the modern days persecuted church demonstrates a sense of community and…

Red Rocks Church is only ten years old, and the Lakewood campus is brand new. It’s not even two years old and so many people flock to that campus every Sunday. It’s astonishing to see hundreds of people come through those doors and find a seat in the movie-esk pew area and praise the Lord. The church is nondenominational. They believe that God is the loving creator of the seen and unseen. According to their website, they also believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and that he lived a sinless…

Andrew Walls, former missionary and lecturer was the founder of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non- Western World (University of Edinburgh). He also was the founding editor of the Journal of Religion in Africa. Walls was one of the first people to document a southward gravitational shift of the Christian Church. He first wrote about it in his essay “The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture” which was published in 1982 The aim of this paper is to assess and critique Walls’…

The Gospel of Matthew contains a number of verses that provide a conflicting yet intriguing insight to the status of women and the interactions that Jesus had with them. A consequence of these differing views is the uncertainty readers may have over the role of women and their influence in the rise of Christianity. Professor Rodney Stark’s essay on the role of women promotes the notion that women were major stakeholders in Christianity and acted as a catalyst to the religion’s rapid growth.…

the Lord. The resurrection changed history by letting all followers of the Lord and Jesus Christ be able to rejoice in heaven once their time on earth is done. Chinese Make Silk The Chinese knew how to make silk by the 27th century BC, but it wasn’t until the Second Century BC did the creation of silk begin to be exported to Europe and other areas.…