Circumcision controversy in early Christianity

Children, parents, students, athletes and all different walks of life live to meet a certain standard that is set for them. There is a reason for this and its to ensure that you are meeting the expectations and requirements. As a Christian, there are rules, standards, and levels of measurements that you must meet. Where does this come from? A Christian uses the Bible that outlines the rules and measuring sticks for the Church. The term Canon is used to establish this measurement so that young…

Therefore it would make logical sense, considering the mass conversion to Christianity that followed the emperor Constantine much later than the documentation here, that Christian views and beliefs shaped an extremely large amount of the modern concepts that exist in the world today. It is important to note the context in which early Christian writer Paul spoke of homoeroticism, particularly in his letter to the Romans, which is argued by sociologist Jeramy Townsley to not really be about…

theological scholars of Christianity should be looking into the canonization of this text. Clement of Rome, as part of his moral instruction, cited the example of the obedience of the inanimate creation. The Passage he cites is in close parallel to 1 Enoch 2-5 and 101. This would reflect either knowledge of 1 Enoch from a personal experience, or a Jewish instructional tradition that was inspired by 1 Enoch. Either way, this proves the function of 1 Enoch in the early church as much more…

Santa Costanza, an ancient church of Rome, depicts more than a building. Representing an early treasure of Italy, this church illustrates a great masterpiece of architecture. A circular structure outside the walls of ancient Rome, Via Nomentana, was built as a mausoleum for Constantina, daughter of Constantine I (Poetschke 52). The ambulatory is surrounded by a central dome and the building is constructed as a tholos related design. The structure has survived stability in its original form, but…

submitted ourselves to the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments that are divinely inspired and the inherent Word of God while recognizing the books as the only infallible authority in life. It is very common of a religion, when under controversy, to increase the written symbols to the point of absolute validity and absolute authority in order for people of their own religious tradition to feel that they have significant authority over others. The increasing validity of one’s religion…

title First among Equals, which later caused a lot of problems. When the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, only two bishops were left, and began to fight between themselves. One of their great arguments was the Iconoclastic Controversy – whether to use paintings to tell Biblical stories or not. The bishop of Rome agreed with the use because people could not read; however, the bishop of Constantinople called it adultery. Moreover, the bishops and the regions of their coverage…

The Preface of N.T. Wright's book, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, explains what Wright's intent and purposes were for writing this book. Wright's purposes for writing this book was to show who the real Jesus was, what his teachings meant and how they can be applied to the modern society. Wright presumes that Christians go Sunday to Sunday repeating scripture and repeating the same things over and over, not fully analyzing what the text is saying. He claims that…

Introduction Due to his influence in establishing Christianity, Paul the Apostle is consider by some scholars to be one of the most influential early Christian missionaries. In addition, later generations viewed him as the first and greatest Christian theologian due to his commitment to his calling. It was that same dedication to spreading the Gospel that he used in his times as a persecutor of Christians. He was born in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, a major Roman city, hence was a Roman…

most integral aspects of a religion is its scriptural text. It assumes the role as an identifier to the followers of that particular practice as well as provides a sort of guide book of traditions and values. The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam find their own respective ‘guide books’ in the form of the Tanakh, the Bible, and the Qur’an. Although these three scriptural canons share the similar belief of dedicating oneself to one true God (names may vary) and sometimes in…

alone was the way to salvation and that external measures like indulgences were not useful to good Christians. While this view formed the basis for his broad activism and acclaim, Luther was also engaging with Jews and trying to convert them to Christianity. The most important factor of this outreach was, however, Luther’s lack of knowledge about actual Jews. Because Jews had largely been expelled from cities, Luther rarely encountered them. As a result of this circumstance, Luther only knew of…