Transcript
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it is the end of the first century BC
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and right now we're in realm then we're
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in an area of Rome that is relatively
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under populated and it's the area where
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the church was largely active it would
00:26
be the area around the largely Jewish
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settlements in the Roman area of the 1st
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century and here we see clement clement
00:35
of rome to distinguish him from another
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figure by the name of clement later
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Clement of Alexandria but clement of
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rome is a 1st century man he's a bishop
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there in the city of rome and he is
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actually one of the disciples of the
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apostle paul tradition actually has it
00:53
that clement is the same clement that is
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mentioned in philippians 4 3 where paul
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refers to his fellow servant clement and
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whether or not that's this clement or
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not it's hard to understand but we do
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know that clement of rome is a disciple
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of paul's he sees himself as a successor
01:12
of sorts to the great apostle in there
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in rome clement as bishop and as a
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disciple of Paul heard that things were
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still not quite as good as they should
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have been in the Church of Corinth and
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so they're from the city of rome clement
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writes a letter in that letter today is
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known as first clement but it is a
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letter from clement to the city of
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corinth admonishing them on certain
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doctrinal points encouraging them and in
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many ways mimicking though not trying to
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fully embody all of Paul's writings to
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churches of the first century in fact
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some have tongue-in-cheek refer to this
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as 3rd Corinthians because it seems very
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clear that clement in this letter is
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trying to say some things that forwards
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it advances the gospel in the city of
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car than in the Church of Corinth that
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really mimic and push forward some of
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the things that Paul was trying to say
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then one of the things that was going on
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in Corinth this time is there seems to
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have been some deacons and elders who
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had been deposed and there was some
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consternation as to whether or not they
02:20
should be allowed back into the church
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and under what order of discipline and
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clement encouraged them to allow them
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so long as they are repentant to return
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to the office of leadership he sees in
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their full removal and permanent removal
02:33
a real heavy hand a Clement says it this
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is not how we do things the elders and
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the Deacons those who were chastised and
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disciplined for a time need to be
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restored he says in particular it is
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their job to offer up the gifts which is
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almost certainly a reference to the
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Eucharist that in the order of worship
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it is to the charge of the elders those
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who are ordained to offer up the
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Eucharistic sacrifice in so clement
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argues it's a bit unseemly to
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permanently bar those who were under
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discipline who have now repented and
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have come back among other things
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clement refers extraordinarily to the
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resurrection of christ but he does a bit
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of a poetic sort of turn of phrase he
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actually does a bit of what we call
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natural theology in this text when he's
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referring to the resurrection of our
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Lord he actually refers to the
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resurrection of a bird that he thinks is
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actually a historical actual bird in
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real time and space and that is the bird
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the phoenix and clement really believes
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that it's a marvel that the lord in sort
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of a symbolic fashion in the order of
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nature has given this bird who dies and
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then is resurrected year by year as an
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example of the resurrection of our Lord
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and of course not a few people
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throughout history who have come to
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realize that the Phoenix is a
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mythological creature that it's not a
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historic creature have chuckled this
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because they laugh at climate being so
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foolish as to believe that a Phoenix was
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an actual bird but his argument is
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simply that the resurrection is
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historically true that Christ was bodily
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resurrected it he makes this sort of
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oblique appeal to this Phoenix but his
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point is Christ is risen he is on the
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throne restore these elders and these
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deacons and get on with the ministry
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they are in Corinth and if we take a
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step back and we look at this here we
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have a direct disciple of poles
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ministering in the city of Rome now if
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you are familiar with a book of actually
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now pull labored and strove and desired
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above all things that get to the heart
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of the Roman Empire to the city of Rome
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itself in order to do ministry tradition
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has it of course that Paul does end up
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there in Chains and that he is
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eventually beheaded but he is not there
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to establish a church the best he's able
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to do is to offer the book of Romans to
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those in Rome who are ministering and it
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is at least a poetic ending in some ways
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that here we have Paul's Protege what
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appalls direct disciples ministering
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living in Rome and enacting the ministry
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that Paul himself was not able to do
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before his death and not only that but
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we see Clement taking up the charge of
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caring for some of the other churches
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that were under Paul's charge during his
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ministry and looking after feisty old
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cars off there in the distance and with
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this lecture we really get to this
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bridge point this lecture is on the
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Apostolic fathers which is a name we use
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for those figures who come directly
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after the Apostolic age in many ways
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like in Clement we're talking about
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people who either knew the Apostles or
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who through some degree of separation
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were directly linked to the Apostles
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themselves and the importance of
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understanding the Apostolic fathers is
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that it provides the context in the
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earliest vocabularies of worship church
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life discipline church structures in all
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these very interesting questions that we
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want to know about what was the earliest
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worship like often we don't have a lot
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of documentation of what happens after
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the book of Acts for sometime the period
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of persecution and the period of loe
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writing output by the early church means
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that sometimes I just have to piece
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things together through fragments and
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archaeology but when we look at the
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Apostolic fathers we have in written
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form though not as much as we'd always
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like but we have in written form the
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earliest evidence of the earliest church
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then we need to begin by reminding
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ourselves of the context in our previous
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lectures we've looked at the greco-roman
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world first by looking at the Greek
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world and hellenization and then by
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looking at
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Roman paganism very explicitly both in
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terms of how they worshiped and in terms
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of the wars and the armies it just the
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sort of overall ethos of the Roman world
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we even looked at some of the Roman
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philosophies and the Greek philosophies
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that were at least dominant over the
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centuries of the time either prior to
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the church or during it but the church
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right now is dealing with two contexts
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that it has to sort of wedge itself
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between and distinguish itself from on
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the one hand there is Judaism and the
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earliest church struggled to define
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itself over it against the Jewish Church
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this is not hard to believe if you look
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at the book of Acts there is so much of
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the ethos and the ethnic identity and
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the ritual identity of following Torah
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that is there in the early church and
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there's so much of the structure of the
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synagogue that comes over into the
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earliest days of the church that at
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times again not unlike Paul's disciples
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or any of the other figures in the New
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Testament period trying to parse out the
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subtle differences at times between
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followers of Christ and those who
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externally follow the Jewish ways was
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not always an easy task increasingly
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though it does become easier in terms of
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your allegiance in particular the
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obvious allegiance of the church to the
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Messiah to Christ as Lord to him as the
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Incarnate God that he came down and bore
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our sins on the cross and was
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resurrected was simply not tolerable in
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the Jewish faith still the Jewish faith
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is what gave birth to the Christian
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world the Christian world was not a
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wholesale rejection of Judaism by any
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means the Old Testament Scriptures are
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the Christian scriptures it's just that
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the church sees the fulfillment of these
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scriptures in the person and work of
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Christ but on the other hand on the
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other side apart from Judaism there was
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this pagan world this hierarchical world
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this very much have
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have nots world there were those who the
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elites to be Roman to have your
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citizenship to be part of the army this
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was considered to be virtuous but
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by-and-large Christians did not come
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from any of these rags if from the early
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days any of these ranks at all and so we
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can really characterize the earliest
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century or two of the church but really
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one word vulnerable the early church was
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vulnerable it had a vulnerability
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because it had no natural power base it
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was neither Roman it was not embraced by
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any means or nor would it ever be
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embraced by the Roman aristocracy or by
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the Roman pagan practices but it also
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wasn't Jewish and as we've seen before
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the Jews had carved out a little niche
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at least for a time where they were able
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to do their worship and offer their
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sacrifices in their own way so long as
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they from time to time made sacrifice on
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behalf of the emperor Christians however
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had no such pocket no such place where
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they could kind of keep to themselves
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and yet also not participate in the
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Roman pagan world Christians worshiped
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predominantly in houses in all of the
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Christians views and expressions and
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it's theology from the earliest days
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from the very New Testament itself seems
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to run against the grain of just about
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every major principle of the Roman world
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the Romans appreciate power but
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Christians live in meekness the Romans
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appreciate powerful gods but our God
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came and died and suffered on their
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cross Romans believed that Caesar is
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Lord and yet on the lips of all
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Christians from the very beginning is
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the claim that Christ is Lord Caesar is
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not Lord Christ is Lord and so from the
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beginning Christians are on something of
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a collision course of the Roman world as
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the Jewish world of the Christian world
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begins to separate and so all these
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things are happening roughly at the same
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time and there really is no single
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moment when these things begin to
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unravel when Christianity more and more
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separates itself from the Jewish
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synagogue world and from the ethos of
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early Judaism and when it become
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more and more the Anathem of the Roman
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people's as a pitiable foolish weak
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religion but there are some indications
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the Jews themselves for all the peace
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that they had carved out for themselves
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over time increasingly came to
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loggerheads with the Roman state and
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there wasn't back the Jewish war which
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in eighty seventy of course culminated
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in the destruction of Jerusalem itself
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in the entire destruction saved for the
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Wailing Wall that still stands of the
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Jewish temple now what does this mean
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for the early church well essentially it
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meant that the church transitioned as it
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already was with the Ministry of Paul
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from a more Palestinian focused ministry
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in around the area Jerusalem to a
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ministry that we might as well describe
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as a ministry to the Diaspora to the
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Jews who were further afield who were
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more in the far-flung lands of the Roman
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world as well as to the Gentiles of
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those regions as well so as Rome and the
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Jews come to war Christians find their
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expansion and their opportunities for
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ministry growing on the outreaches and
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in the farthest areas of the Roman world
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exact numbers and expansion statistics
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are almost impossible at this point but
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we can have some sort of round numbers
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in the first ten to fifteen years after
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the death of Christ in his resurrection
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the earliest church was really focused
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around the areas of Palestine and Syria
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by the time you get it in the early
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second century though you start to see
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that the church has expanded rapidly not
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only beyond the borders of Palestine and
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Syria but all the way into the heart of
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Rome and even up into modern de Gaulle
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itself in some areas so if you just look
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at the map the church has gone from
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Jerusalem essentially and it is expanded
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all the way through Asia Minor through
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parts of Greece and in the realm and up
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beyond Rome into the farthest reaches of
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the Roman Empire and it is within that
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expansion of the early church that we
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really see the flourishing of the
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Apostolic fathers themselves now who
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the ops taluk fathers put simply the
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Apostolic fathers were a group of
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figures who lived roughly from 75 on up
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until about 150 to 200 AD now that last
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number obviously is a bit of a wide
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berth 50 years is a bit of a stretch in
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really going on up to the Year 200 is a
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bit far to still be talking about the
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Apostolic fathers but give or take this
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is roughly the time of the Apostolic
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father's age in all we mean by apostolic
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fathers is this history has accorded the
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earliest writers in the earliest figures
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and pastors of the earliest church with
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the name of the fathers now it depends
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on how you ask if you ask a Roman
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Catholic the patristic s-- age as it's
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called the age of the fathers can go
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quite some time it can go all the way up
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until the fifth century or even beyond
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if you talk to others they don't really
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like this term at all certain and a
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Baptist groups tend not to prefer to
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give an honorific to one age of the
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church and those who see the early
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church is somewhat corrupt anyway tend
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not to glory in the writings from this
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period anyway but both Protestants and
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Catholics are agreed that there was this
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patristic age this age of the earliest
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centers of the church the Church Fathers
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and so all kinds of folks in the first
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at least four or five centuries the
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church can be called the father's the
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fathers of Orthodox you might say or the
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Fathers of the Church
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and so Agustin and Jerome and all these
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earliest figures can be considered
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father's when we refer to the Apostolic
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fathers were only referring to this
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earliest century of the church those who
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are the bridge between the Apostles
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themselves and the patristic age I mean
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the figures that we're talking about are
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not all that numerous and the writings
15:24
from these folks are not all that
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significant there are the short epistles
15:28
or short little tracts and treatises but
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we can list them here just so that
15:32
you're aware of them does clement of
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rome who we've already mentioned those
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Ignatius of Antioch
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Polycarp and Papias there are a couple
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of books that are given the name of an
15:44
author that we're not entirely
15:46
sure of its authenticity in terms of the
15:48
name of the person who wrote it and
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there are other books that simply have
15:52
no author at all the Shepherd of hermas
15:54
for example has no author listed with it
15:57
it's a prophetic utterance two of these
15:59
texts in particular though we're going
16:00
to separate and isolate and sort of
16:03
study just briefly one is the Epistle of
16:06
dog netis which we're actually gonna
16:08
look at in our next lecture on early
16:10
heretics and Christian orthodoxy right
16:13
now we're going to look at the did okay
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now the Didache is a very important book
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from this earliest time and in fact it
16:21
is actually the earliest surviving
16:23
catechism from the early church the dead
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okay now the name the dead akkada simply
16:29
means the teaching or sometimes the
16:30
teaching of the twelve now this text had
16:33
for a long time been lost to us in the
16:35
West it was Ash in 1873 that someone
16:38
rediscovered the text in another codex
16:40
and ever since then it's been studied as
16:43
one of the earliest if not the earliest
16:44
texts that we have from the first and
16:47
second century dating it is next to
16:49
impossible but it is certainly
16:51
extraordinarily early either late first
16:54
century or the early second century and
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this text is a catechism it's designed
17:00
to instruct new Christians on the order
17:03
in the structure of the faith and the
17:05
way to live the Christian life in this
17:08
period of time and for that reason alone
17:10
it is extraordinary because it says so
17:12
many things about the early church
17:14
pattern of life that we're always
17:16
interested in now the teaching of the
17:19
decay is vital for understanding its
17:21
impact in the earliest centuries and it
17:24
actually brings together all that we've
17:26
talked about so far in this lecture
17:27
which is the early Christian desire to
17:30
distinguish itself as the culmination
17:33
and the fulfillment of the Jewish
17:35
Scriptures well yet also saying that the
17:38
Christian Way is different and on the
17:42
other hand distinguishing the Christian
17:44
faith from the pagan world around it and
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so if you go into the decay and you read
17:49
it
17:49
the earliest sort of move that the text
17:52
makes is it lays out what it calls the
17:55
two ways and it says that there is one
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way which is the way it
17:59
death in the other way which is the way
18:01
unto life and it opens in a very
18:04
strikingly Jewish way it opens with the
18:06
Shema the call and Deuteronomy and
18:09
elsewhere in the Old Testament that here
18:11
o Israel the Lord our God is one it
18:13
opens with this and then it goes on to
18:16
list the greatest commandment that we
18:18
should love our neighbors ourselves and
18:20
it goes on down a list of programmatic
18:23
comments really about the ways that
18:26
Christians are to live their lives it
18:29
then next transitions to a number of
18:31
prohibitions against activities or
18:34
engagements with the world around it the
18:36
Christians we're supposed to take care
18:38
and distance themselves from they were
18:41
for example to avoid things like murder
18:43
and adultery sexual promiscuity theft
18:47
very sort of earthy ethical things then
18:51
there were other things that were listed
18:52
that are clearly coming from the Roman
18:54
pagan world things like magic sorcery
18:57
infanticide abortion perjury coveting
19:00
all these things that are part and
19:03
parcel to some of the Roman ethos it
19:07
even speaks about not bearing false
19:08
testimony about not holding grudges not
19:11
being double-minded acting as though are
19:14
yes as are yes and our know is our know
19:17
in other words the de decay is calling
19:20
for Christians to be upstanding citizens
19:22
in the context of the ancient world that
19:24
they do not participate in the things
19:25
they consider to be idolatrous but on
19:28
the other hand they will not be
19:30
vindictive oppressive backbiting kinds
19:33
of folks who are after their own gain
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and against that of their neighbors so
19:39
the text lays out all these things that
19:41
the Christian is supposed to do as it
19:43
conducts himself in the world the other
19:45
half of the document though deals with
19:48
the rituals and the formation of the
19:50
church's worship and it's this section
19:52
that always draws the attention of
19:54
students and scholars and experts and
19:57
novices and everyone in between because
20:00
in this section the dedication a is out
20:02
some instructions for baptism and the
20:05
Eucharist and for fasting in the early
20:08
church that are unrivaled in their
20:11
explicit design
20:13
baptism for example for all the debates
20:15
that a lot of modern post-reformation
20:17
will people have over baptism
20:19
particularly in the mode of baptism do
20:21
you sprinkle or D dunk
20:23
well variously enough the decay doesn't
20:26
really seem to care at all in fact it
20:28
doesn't mention anything to do with
20:29
sprinkling or dunking it does seem to
20:31
have a preference for immersion some
20:33
level however it makes the case that
20:36
sometimes immersion is impossible
20:38
because you don't have enough water the
20:40
one thing that the delica does care
20:42
about though is that there is at least
20:44
some pains taken to try to find what it
20:46
calls living water which is the mean a
20:49
running river that if possible that
20:52
baptism was to be done in living water
20:54
that is to say a stream now the decay
20:57
does not cast the Natha Mazon those who
20:59
are unable to do this it just says if
21:01
you're able to do this that's fine he
21:03
also says that those who do the
21:05
baptizing and those who are to be
21:07
baptized should faster at least a day or
21:09
two beforehand to prepare their hearts
21:12
and minds for what they're about to
21:13
undertake he says if immersion is
21:16
impossible in living water that's fine
21:17
just pour the water three times over the
21:19
head and I didn't believe once and for
21:21
all that should put to rest the mode of
21:23
baptism problem those who think that the
21:25
practice is so clear one way or the
21:27
other should take a little bit of the
21:28
pragmatism of this document into their
21:30
hearts and realize that if you're in an
21:32
immersion that's fine but if you can't
21:35
immerse pouring over the head three
21:36
times it's just a sufficient for the
21:38
baptism secondly the dedicate is very
21:41
clear on some of the language used in
21:44
the Eucharist in fact you might even say
21:46
this is liturgical language now I don't
21:49
mean that it's formalistic liturgically
21:51
but just simply that just as we see in
21:54
the book of Corinthians where Paul is
21:55
giving some comments about what is said
21:58
during the Eucharistic service the
22:00
dedicate repeats many of these lines
22:01
almost verbatim though not entirely so
22:05
it says that concerning the cup we say
22:07
we thank thee our Father for the holy
22:10
vine of David thy servant which thou
22:12
made us known to us through Jesus thigh
22:14
servant to thee be the glory for ever
22:16
and there is a similar refrain for the
22:20
bread when it is offered as well clearly
22:22
in other words the early church is
22:24
Eucharistic
22:26
so in other words if you are of the
22:27
opinion that the Lord's Supper is a lot
22:30
of gobbledygook that was sort of
22:32
invented and a lot of liturgy that was
22:34
sort of trumped up over three centuries
22:35
of the early part of the church you need
22:37
to really wrestle with the dead okay
22:39
from the beginning it is saying that the
22:41
Eucharist matters and here is the form
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and the language and the vocabulary we
22:45
use during this part of the service
22:48
another thing that the decay cites as
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part of the practice of the early church
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is the practice of fasting very
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instantly enough this is one of the
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points when the early church does take a
22:59
real sort of cultural stand against
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Judaism though not in practice it was
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the practice of the Jews to fast two
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days a week and the Jewish practice was
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to fast on Monday and Thursday that is
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to say from sunup to sundown on Monday
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and Thursday Jews would abstain from
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food they would perhaps give that money
23:19
away that they would have bought food
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with maybe they'd give the food itself
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away to the poor but on Mondays and on
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Thursdays the Jews would fast
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well the did I case as in no uncertain
23:28
terms that the Christians do not fast
23:30
quote with the hypocrites but instead
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the Christians fast on Wednesdays and
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Fridays and so the practice is still the
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same then it shows two alternative days
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in the week to have their fasts he also
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says that the Christians pray the Lord's
23:45
Prayer three times a day and he says
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very explicitly that by this point
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Christians are increasingly choosing not
23:54
to pray with their Jewish brethren that
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at some point their difference in their
23:59
understanding of the Messiah was causing
24:01
them to be unable to pray together
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because they were praying to different
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ends and for different means and frankly
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to different gods at least in terms of
24:10
different understandings of what God had
24:12
wrought in the person of Christ and he
24:14
says that at this point the Christians
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and the Jews had begun to pray
24:17
separately and that the Christians
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prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a
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day in the end what we know about the
24:24
Apostolic fathers is really only
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piecemeal we always wish we knew more we
24:30
always wish we had smoking guns about
24:33
you know early church worship liberties
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that were still sort of left lying
24:36
around
24:37
we wish that the practices via Church
24:39
were more obvious to us at times frankly
24:43
one of the most important questions is
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how did this untethering of the Jewish
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and the Christian world go about because
24:51
from the very beginning we see some
24:53
movements away from Judaism very
24:55
self-conscious movements away not just
24:58
animosity either not just simply
25:00
Christian rejecting Jews through
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anti-semitism but real structural
25:05
doctrinal liturgical problems when one
25:08
is worshipping Messiah as Lord and one
25:10
is not in the church having to reckon
25:13
with that in deal with its own identity
25:15
as the followers of Christ we also wish
25:18
we knew more about to simply day-to-day
25:20
life in the early church but fortunately
25:23
those pieces are hard to come by what we
25:26
have though in the early church right in
25:29
the dawn of the post apostolic age is
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some real broad sketches of a faithful
25:36
Church that is following Christ that is
25:40
attempting to distinguish itself from
25:42
paganism on the one hand and having a
25:45
bit of a difficult time understanding
25:48
its relationship culturally in day and
25:51
day out life with the Jewish synagogue
25:53
that was on the other side of the
25:55
Christian Church the Christians
25:58
obviously knew where they stood Christ
26:00
was Lord but Christians also had to
26:02
reckon with the fact that a number of
26:03
them in the earliest decades were Jewish
26:06
converts and they were so wrapped up in
26:09
the traditions and the rituals of things
26:11
not all of which were bad in pharisaical
26:14
that they had to understand how is the
26:16
Christian going to find its own way in
26:18
its own pattern of life in this world
26:20
and we see some of this in the dead okay
26:23
now the next thing to come up is as the
26:27
world begins to take its eye and it
26:29
looks at the church and it begins to say
26:31
things about the church as the pagans
26:33
look at the church and begin to cast
26:35
dispersions and make fun of it for being
26:38
sort of poor and weak in foolish and as
26:41
the Jews begin to attack Christianity as
26:43
being a pourraient and a bastardization
26:46
of the Jewish faith the
26:48
next step in the Apostolic fathers age
26:50
is a transition from simply maintaining
26:54
its own ethos and developing its own
26:56
ministry internally to a new move of
27:00
what we call apologetics and apologetics
27:03
is the explanation in the defence of the
27:05
Christian faith to the outside world and
27:08
that transition is a vital one because
27:10
we begin to see with the rise of the
27:12
apologists is a full-scale defense of
27:15
why the Christian faith is the truth in
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the life and why the scriptures are
27:20
fulfilled in Christ and when we get to
27:23
that age we begin to see the real
27:25
flourishing of Christian writings and we
27:27
will look at that subject in our next
27:29
lecture
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