At the beginning of every training session, most budoka will have a time of silence known as mokusou (黙想). The purpose of this silence varies from dojo to dojo, but at its heart mokusou is about silencing the distractions and thoughts that crowd our minds and keep us from making good decisions. Most of what is asked… Read More »
Herod negotiated the complex relationship of the various Jewish groups, his Roman masters and the nations surrounding him with cunning, if not with ease. Herod’s cities and Temple complex attempted to bridge the gaps among these various groups, but there were simply too many moving parts and fissures appeared, especially among the rural Jews of… Read More »
Herod had seen the greatness of Rome. His sons were educated in Caesar’s household. His kingdom had a substantial, urban Gentile population which formed a substantial power block. Early in his reign, Herod even minted coins with Roman helmets on them, showing his reliance on (or at the very least, admiration of) the Roman system.… Read More »
Thanks to his partnership with Augustus Caesar, Herod became enormously wealthy. If Josephus is to believed, Herod’s wealth was truly staggering, and he put it to good use. In the broader world, he sponsored numerous buildings and improvements, and in one year even sponsored (and hosted) the Olympic Games at one of his new cities.… Read More »
Rome’s influence over the Levant began in 63 BCE when the general Pompey intervened in a feud between two factions of Hasmonean kingdom. Pompey took Jerusalem, installed one of the leaders, Hyrcanus as ethnarch and appointed one of his allies, Antipater of Idumea, as epitropos or “regent” to oversee affairs. Antipater saw the region through… Read More »
Herod the Great looms over the story of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Matthew. He is a character judged more by popular impressions than by Scriptural revelation. For generations, that brief glimpse fueled all sorts of false perceptions and fictionalized narratives about Herod and his reign. In the past half century or so, archaeological… Read More »
In my last post, I talked about the construction of the original basilica and rotunda built on the site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Those buildings were built in 337 CE and stood unmolested until 614 CE. What happened next is probably one of the worst things you have never heard of. In 476 CE,… Read More »
Psalm 42 pictures the world of the Banias River, one of the three sources of the Jordan River. The Banias rises in the Golan Heights, near the site of ancient Caesarea Philippi, and flows through what is now a National Reserve. It is possibly the most beautiful spot in Israel. The Banias has several beautiful cascades… Read More »
Last week, I reposted a list of eleven things you need to know about your pastor. I wanted to follow that list up with some things that pastors need to remember about the people of their congregations. As a pastor, whose vocation is the ministry of the gospel, it is easy to forget that not… Read More »
That the disciple of Jesus taught his resurrection was a revolutionary concept. Here is Tom Wright, former Bishop of Durham and one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our day, explaining why the resurrection must be true. “The only way you can explain why christianity began and why it took the very precise shape it was… Read More »
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