Smyrna — a city that came back to life | Ferrell's Travel Blog

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Smyrna — a city that came back to life

Posted on May 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Our group arose early this morning in Istanbul in order to make our flight to Izmir. Izmir is a beautiful city on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor about 35 miles north of Ephesus. It is known as the location of the Biblical city of Smyrna.

Smyrna is mentioned only twice in the New Testament as the location of one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation (1:11; 2:8-11).

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’ (Revelation 2:8-11 NAU)

The earliest city of Smyrna was founded in the first half of the third millennium B.C. at Bayrakli, a few miles from the present city of Izmir. In 600 B.C. the city was captured and utterly destroyed by King Alyattes of Lydia. During the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. the city was insignificant.

All of this changed after the time of Alexander the Great when a new city was founded on the slopes of Mount Pagos.

Our visit today included Mount Pagos. From there we had a magnificent view of the city and the harbor. We also visited the Roman Agora, and two archaeological museums.

This photo shows the great arches in the lower level of the three story civic agora dating to the second century A.D., and a powerful spring of water that was discovered only a few years ago.

Lower level of the agora of Smyrna and a powerful spring. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

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Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Seal of Mattaniah Discovered in Jerusalem

A seal from the days of the First Temple has been discovered below the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. From thepress release by the Israel Antiquities Authority:

The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in IAA excavations beneath Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations.
In the excavations, underwritten by the Ir David Foundation, a personal Hebrew seal from the end of the First Temple period was discovered on the floor of the ancient building. The seal is made of a semi-precious stone and is engraved with the name of its owner: “Lematanyahu Ben Ho…” ("למתניהו בן הו..." meaning: “Belonging to Matanyahu Ben Ho…”). The rest of the inscription is erased.

Two people with the name Mattaniah are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:4, 16 and 2 Chronicles 29:13.

The full press release is here. Leen Ritmeyer comments on thelocation of the find. Joseph Lauer passes on word that some information in the press release is incorrect. According to Zachi Dvira (Zweig), “This was not sifted at our site. And the visitors sift only the debris from the Temple Mount. Only our staff workers do the sifting for other excavations."

Mattaniah seal. Photo by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Grinding grain in Bible times | Ferrell's Travel Blog

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Posted on April 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

The grinding of grain was an important part of the life of people in Bible times. After the grain was gathered from the fields it had to be threshed. This was done by running a threshing sledge over the stalks of grain on the threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:22). The stalks, now cut into small pieces, was then winnowed with “shovel and fork” to separate the chaff from the good grain (Isaiah 41:16; Ruth 3:2; Luke 3:17; Psalm 1:4). Next came the sifting of the grain to further removed small pieces of debris. Jesus makes reference to this practice when he predicts Peter’s denial:

“Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, (Luke 22:31 NET)

After that, there was still hard work to be done. The grain had to be ground between two millstones. The photo, below taken at The Museum for Bedouin Culture at Kibbutz Lahav in the Negev, shows the process.

Grinding grain. Exhibit at The Museum of Bedouin Culture at Kibbutz Lahav in the Negev. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. (Luke 17:35 NET)

There was still the necessary kneading before the bread could be baked and eaten.

I am worn out. I think I will run down to the store and get a loaf of bread.

The Development of the English Bible - ERASMUS

During John Wycliffe's life, he was not called down for translation of the scripture into English. He was called down because translation of the scripture began to change and alter his views and teachings with regard to the then Catholic Church. John Wycliffe's primary wrong was that he  appealed to of the authority of the Bible, instead of giving deference to the authority of the existing Catholic authority and Pope. It wasn't until after his death in 1384 that "the church" declared in 1408 the province of Canterbury declared it an offense punishable by imprisonment to be convicted of reading Wycliffe's translation. In 1414 a law was enacted requiring all persons found reading the Bible in English to "forfeit land, catel, life, and goods from their heyres for ever."  That same provincial synod decreed " that henceforward no unauthorised person shall translate any portion of Holy Scripture into English, or any other language, under any form of book or treatise ; neither shall any such book or treatise, or version made either in Wycliffe's time or since, be read either in whole or in part, publicly or privately, under the penalty of the greater excommunication, till the said translation shall be approved either by the bishop of the diocese, or, if necessary, by a provincial council."  This was in an effort to contain what they felt were subversive teachings to the detriment of the authority of "Christ's Holy Vicar - the Pope."  However, the seeds of what became known as "The Reformation" had begun.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (October 28,1466? – July 12, 1536) was the next in succession to the English Bible's formation. While he did not translate a direct Greek-English version, his development and desire of mastery of Greek laid the foundations for others. A Dutchman by birth, he entered monastical life due to severe poverty. He went on to accept a post as secretary to Henry of Bergan, Bishop of Cambray because of his proficient knowledge and use of Latin.  From there he attended the University of Paris. In 1499, while in England, Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of John Colet. This prompted him, upon his return from England, to master the Greek language, which would enable him to study theology on a more profound level and to prepare a new edition of Jerome's Bible translation. 

He was an early proponent of religious toleration, and enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists"; he has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists." He prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which was to be considered the language of the scholars. 

His works were censored by the Catholic Church and he argued with Luther.  They raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation.  Erasmus lived through the Reformation period and was contemporary with Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale, and Ulrich Zwingli. Yet,  while he was critical of the Church, he did not join the cause of the Reformers and remained committed to reforming "the Church" from within. He also held to the concept of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the "doctrine of predestination." His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps. Though unlike them, he chose to remain with the "Catholic Church" because he detested dissenting as against the law of God. 

It is said of Erasmus, that he laid the egg of the Reformation and Luther and others hatched it. It is interesting that he chose the road of moderation, when so many were for total dissent.  Much can be owed to him and his desire to master the original languages of the scripture, and of his overall attitude. In an age of anger and rebellion, he stood out commanding not only the learning, but the application of the scripture's teaching.

Jim

The Wycliffe Bible - the First ENGLISH Version

In this second article on the development of the English translation of the Bible, we will center on John Wycliffe (1328 – December 31, 1384) was an English Scholastic philosopher, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher at Oxford in England. Wycliffe was a man known for his dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century preaching anti-clerical  and biblically-centered reforms. He was one of the earliest opponents of the authority of the Pope influencing secular power. Wycliffe was also an early advocate for translation of the Bible into the common language, during a time when "the church" held a very closed view that interpretation of the scripture and God's will could only be done by Priests and Clergy within the church.  Wycliffe held that the Bible alone was authoritative and, according to his own conviction and that of his disciples, was fully sufficient for the government of this world (De sufficientia legis Christi). He then set about to make it so.

Wycliffe's translation was based directly from the Latin Vulgate into common English of the period in the year 1382. The Latin Vulgate was a standardized translation of the scripture texts into Latin by Jerome (382-405 a.d.) who was commissioned to do so by Pope Damascus I. Prior to that, the Vetus Latina was a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that  became the standard Bible for Latin-speaking Western European Christians. These however had many grammatical errors and thus a common more easily understood source was sought. Using the Latin Vulgate, Wycliffe translated from Latin to English what became known as Wycliffe's Bible. While there were many English renditions of various books of the bible before Wycliffe, his is the first compiled edition of the entire bible into English. It is probable that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his associates translated the Old Testament. Wycliffe's Bible appears to have been completed by 1384, with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey and others after his death in 1388 and 1395. While Wycliffe died of natural causes, The Council of Constance declared Wycliffe (on May 4, 1415) a stiff-necked heretic and under the ban of the Church for his translation against the will of "the church." It was decreed that his books be burned and under command from Pope Martin V his remains were exhumed, burned, and the ashes cast into the river Swift which flows through Lutterworth. 

While not a direct translation of the scripture from the original Hebrew or Greek Texts, this was a monumental effort for its day, and was the first foray of the development of the Bible into common English. It was hand written, as there was no typeset for the day. Wycliffe stated,  "Even though there were a hundred popes and though every mendicant monk were a cardinal, they would be entitled to confidence only in so far as they accorded with the Bible." 

Jim

Preliminary report on Khirbet Qeiyafa for 2010-2011 | Ferrell's Travel Blog

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Preliminary report on Khirbet Qeiyafa for 2010-2011

Posted on April 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

A preliminary report for the 2010-2011 archaeological seasons has been published by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. The report is written by  Yossi Garfinkel, Sa‘ar  Ganor  and Michael Hasel.

My photo shows the Iron Age, four-chamber, gate with a view toward Tel Azekah.

Iron Age Gate with a view toward Azekah. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins. May, 2011.

The full report with 11 photographs (or plans) is available here. The report concludes,

The excavations at Khirbat Qeiyafa clearly reveal an urban society that existed in Judah already in the late eleventh century BCE. It can no longer be argued that the Kingdom of Judah developed only in the late eighth century BCE or at some other later date.

The current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (May/June 2012) carries two article relating to the Qeiyafa ostracon. One is by Christopher A. Rollston who asks the question, “What’s the Oldest Hebrew Inscripton?” He responds that each of four inscriptions he considers (Qeiyafa, Gezer calendar, Tel Zayit, and Izbet Shartah) predate Old Hebrew.

The other article is by Gerard Leval. In “Ancient Inscription Refers to Birth of Israelite Monarchy” he summaries the French-language article by “Emile Puech, the senior epigrapher of the prestigious École Biblique et Archaéologique Française in Jerusalem.” Puech draws the following conclusion:

Moreover, the inscription seems to memorialize (or, in Puech’s words, is “a witness to”¹⁸) the transition not from one king to another (from Saul to David), but rather from the period of the judges to the monarchy—thus from Samuel and his sons to Saul.¹⁹

If Puech is correct, the Qeiyafa Ostracon is the only archaeological artifact referring to Israel’s first king. And it is the earliest non-Biblical confirmation of the establishment of the Israelite monarchy.

Leval’s article is available online at BAR here.

This information is sure to create a lot of discussion.

Anatomy of the Soul (RJS):

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Anatomy of the Soul (RJS)

April 17, 2012 By RJS Leave a Comment

I was given a book recently,  Anatomy of the Soul by Curt Thompson, that connects with ideas we have discussed in a number of different posts – from those on Joel Green’s bookBody, Soul, and Human Life to  a series on Science and Sin. The topic also connects with posts on Science and Christian Virtue exploring ideas developed by NT Wright in his book After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. If interested you can find these posts in the Science and Faith tab at the top of the blog – scroll down to the topic heading Science, Faith, and Being Human.

Anatomy of the Soul explores the relationship between brain and mind and looks at the impact a better understanding of this relationship might have on both spiritual practices and relationships. Neuroscience is a booming field of study today, attracting large numbers of undergraduate majors and active graduate level research programs. Experimental techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET)  have been used to explore the relationship between brain activity and a variety of different kinds of stimuli. The subject is fascinating and our understanding of brain function is growing quickly. The image above comes from the NIMH site – where much more information is available.

Dr. Thompson is a psychiatrist in private practice, and this book comes from his study and experience in this context. At first glance this seems to be the kind of  popular self-help book I pass over at the book store The publisher’s blurb is no help:

Do you want to improve your relationships and experience lasting personal change? Join Curt Thompson, M.D., on an amazing journey to discover the surprising pathways for transformation hidden inside your own mind. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and attachment with Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be.

There are places in the book (and I have not finished the book yet) where there does seem to be an over emphasis of self-help and an under emphasis on the power of God to transform. There are also some statements about God that leave me scratching my head …  But the book also introduces some interesting ideas worth some discussion.

To what extent is transformation something we leave to God through the Holy Spirit?

To what extent is transformation a process we participate in and actively pursue?

What we do, who we associate with, and how we choose to relate to people changes our brain. In turn these changes in the brain influence what we do, who we choose to associate with, and how we are able to relate with people. To a certain extent the brain, like a muscle but in even more profound ways, can be modified and trained through the practice of either vice or virtue.

In chapter three of Anatomy of the Soul Dr. Thompson outlines various aspects of the brain -looking at both left brain and right brain ideas as well as a top-down model of the brain. In the context of this background he describes how the brain changes through various stages of human development, from early infancy through adolescence.

Thompson also discusses briefly the neuroplasticity of the brain. While the accepted paradigm some twenty years ago was that the brain stopped changing and growing once an individual reached adulthood – this idea has been modified if not overturned by more recent research. The brain can continue to develop and change as new neural connections are formed and old ones are bypassed throughout are lifespan. The process is faster and easier in youth, but it does not vanish with age.

Dr Thompson suggests three activities that enhance this growth (p. 47):

Aerobic exercise at least 45 minutes a day, five days a week. This is good for the heart and good for the brain.

Focused attention exercises – here he gives prayer as an example, something he will return to in a later chapter.

Novel learning experiences – the brain needs constant and creative exercise. Learn a language, learn to play an instrument, learn to build furniture, learn to repair a car …

At the end of this chapter Dr. Thompson brings up a big topic for us in the church.

Have you ever wondered if, when people begin to follow Jesus, they really experience the change he promised? And if so how does it happen and what role, if any, does the individual play? Does this sound like a distant rumbling of what you have heard echoed before, that God is a God who changes us?

Of course we have stock theological answers like “It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Or, “He does it by grace, and that’s a mystery.” Great.

While there certainly is truth in those statements, giving a theological answer to someone’s agony over his or her failed attempt to overcome a pornography addiction or to forgive an abusive parent usually produces only guilt. …

But what happens when we begin to consider that we can change the way our brains are wired? Perhaps it can point us to what God is up to when he invites us to love him and give us hope that the tools he’s built within each one of us can help us move toward lasting change. (p. 47-48)

Here we hit a real road block for many – to what extent does our theology allow us to participate in our transformation and sanctification? Perhaps this is just another form of what Tim Keller calls “religion” (see Ch. 11 of The Reason for God). Religion leads to a belief in salvation through moral effort while the gospel is salvation through the grace of God. The idea of transformation or sanctification through the effort of shaping one’s own brain treads dangerously close to self-help in place of reliance on God and his mercy and power.

To what extent are we in control of our transformation?

To what extent can we participate in transformation?

Is training for moral behavior and godliness similar to training for a marathon or is it something to leave in the hands of God?