The relationship of Jesus to the Torah the Law of Moses is a decidedly complex issue in general In the case of specifics such as the kosher or dietary laws it can be just as complex The Gospel reading for the Memorial of Saint Scholastica virgin February 10 Mark 7 14-23 is indeed complex
John W. Martens
John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.
Posted inThe Good Word
No to Tradition?
The Gospel reading for the Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 7 1-13 nbsp raises the issue of tradition the theme of my last post on 1 Corinthians 15 1-13 but in this context it is raised in terms of condemnation At least a superficial or initial reading points to condemnation of
Posted inThe Good Word
Tradition! Tradition!
You must sing the title as in Fiddler on the Roof Go back and try it if you did not this blog post will improve greatly with the sound of the song ringing in your ears Paul s beautiful demonstration of the reality of Christ rsquo s resurrection is based on the tradition of the early Church of w
Posted inThe Good Word
Mass in Istanbul
We are coming to the end of our course ldquo The Cradle of Early Christianity rdquo after time spent journeying from Athens to Thessalonica to Philippi to Pergamum modern Bergama nbsp Smyrna modern Izmir Ephesus and Constantinople Istanbul nbsp We have surveyed the ruins of numero
Posted inThe Good Word
Ancient Christianity in Turkey
The strange thing about studying early Christianity in Turkey is that there are not a lot of Christians left in Turkey the lands that were home to so much of the earliest growth and development of Christianity and the location of all seven of the first Ecumenical Councils As we discuss how Christi
Posted inThe Good Word
Paul in Thessalonica and Beroea
For reasons having to do with airline flights we trace the Apostle Paul s journey through Greece backwards at least Paul s first journey through Greece described in Acts which is often titled The Second Missionary Journey Acording to Acts 17 1-15 and 1 Thessalonians itself Paul was persecute
Posted inThe Good Word
On the Areopagus
We went on a tour of classical Athens today with stops at the Acropolis and the Parthenon which sits majectically upon it and the ancient Agora In between quite literally we went to the Areopagus called Mars Hill by the Romans The Areopagus associated with the Greek god of war Ares and m
Posted inThe Good Word
Happy New Year!
I want to wish all readers of this blog a Happy New Year I also want to let you know that I will be leaving for Greece and Turkey tomorrow with Dr Pavel Gavrilyuk and 25 students to explore the sites of ancient Christianity When able I will try to post on the sites the readings for our course
Posted inThe Good Word
Advent IV
For the Third Sunday in Advent I reflected on the joy inherent in the Christmas promises as we look to the past present and future Then some two days later I was felled by a bacterial infection that kept me in bed for the next five days unable to do much beyond sleep take my antibiotics and dr
Posted inThe Good Word
Advent III
We have had what I consider a rousing discussion on the Immaculate Conception still ongoing as I write with cris de coeur from some participants that we concentrate more on our relationship with God and less on dogmatic definitions Dogmatic definitions in a sense set the boundaries of discussio