Arts and Culture on The Ancient World

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Israel Was Part of The Ancient World

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1, Exodus 20:13

The [Mesopotamian ancient texts] serve as sources of information for us to formulate the shape of each culture’s ways of thinking. In most areas there is more similarity between Israel and its neighbo...

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Differences in Economics from the Ancient World to Ours

Author

Ben Witherington III

Keywords

At this point in the discussion some will remark that the Old Testament says a good deal about being prosperous and even occasionally speaks about wealth, but not about money per se. That is the case ...

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Humility Despised in Paul’s Day

Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 57:15, Mark 10:43-45, James 4:6, Ephesians 4:2, Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:12

In the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s day, humility was a despised trait. They viewed it as a sign of weakness. And our culture today is no different from that world of two thousand years ago. Maybe it’s...

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Story as Worldview and the Example of Passover

Author

N. T. Wright and Michael Bird

Keywords

Stories, after all, are one of the most basic modes of human life and are a characteristic expression of worldview. Human life is constituted by a series of stories, implicit and explicit, that makes ...

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The Importance of the Royal Image

Author

Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw

Keywords

Being made in God’s image is also about God’s purposes in the world (God through us). In order to understand how image is connected with purpose, we need to understand a common practice in the ancient...

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God's Image in Humanity

Keywords

Nahum Sarna writes in Understanding Genesis: Perhaps nowhere is the contrast between the mythological and the Israelite conceptions more striking and more illuminating than in their respective descr...

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Keeping the Body from Overheating

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 2:16, Matthew 22:37, Proverbs 4:23, James 1:5, Colossians 3:2, Philippians 4:7, Romans 12:2

According to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, the function of the brain was to keep the body from overheating. In The Parts of Animals, he noted that that the brain was a “compound of earth an...

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What is Wrong with Us according to Traditional and Modern Cultures

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:14, Proverbs 29:23, Isaiah 2:11, 1 Peter 5:5, Romans 12:3, James 4:6, Proverbs 16:18

Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the w...

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Author

Harvie M. Conn and Manuel Ortiz

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:25, Matthew 23:7, Mark 5:56, Matthew 25:27, Luke 19:23, Mark 12:1-12, Matthew 8:5, Matthew 9:10, Luke 5:27

One could not live in any village in lower Galilee and escape the effects and ramifications of urbanization.” Life here was urbanized and urbane as anywhere else in the Empire. Did these urban influen...

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The Origin of the Word "Sincere"

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always enjoyed hearing stories about the origins of certain words. One of these words is the “sincere.” While there are some questions about the history’s authenticity...

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Music's Human Origin

Author

Nahum Sarna

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:21

Music, vocal and instrumental, played a significant role in the organized institutionalized worship of ancient Israel. It was an accepted constituent of religious self-expression. Nevertheless, Israel...

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5 Quotes on Summer

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Looking for inspiration for your summertime sermons? Here are five quotes that highlight different themes about summer. Quote 1 Comment: I love The Office , but in this short quotation...

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Pearls of Great Price

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:45-46, Proverbs 3:13-15, Isaiah 55:1-2

Pearls were of much greater value in Jesus’ time than they are today. Queen Cleopatra is reputed to have had two pearls which together were worth around 15 million denarii. A denari was roughly a day’...

blog

Pop Culture Review: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

Entertainment

This summer, millions of people across the world will be absorbed in a highly anticipated, years-in-the-making, high-fantasy adventure featuring evil sorcerers, legendary swords, dragons, and a classi...

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A Roman’s View of the Jewish Faith and Its Interaction with Egypt

Author

Tacitus

Keywords

In this excerpt by the Roman historian Tacitus, we get insight into the Jewish faith from an ancient, extra-Biblical account. We also see how the Israelites took the first commandment seriously: The...

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He is Coming: A Triumphal Entry

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:8-11, Luke 19:36-44, John 12:16-19

Just under 80 years ago, a crowd gathered on a humid August day to commence what was to be an unparalleled event for its time. Hundreds of thousands of spectators, police officers, and soldiers gather...

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Socrates and Jesus against the World

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 8:35-36, Mark 10:25, Matthew 19:16-26, Luke 18:18-29

Those not familiar with ancient Greek philosophy may be surprised to find deep resonance with the teachings of Jesus. When on trial for his life, the 70-year-old Socrates pugnaciously responded that,...

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The Cross and the Lynching Tree

Author

James Cone

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 61:1, Jeremiah 22:3, Micah 6:8, James 1:27, Matthew 25:35-36, Psalm 82:3-4, Isaiah 58:6-7

In the wake of slavery and the Civil War, there was so much ugliness in black life that one would have had to be blind not to see it. And nothing, absolutely nothing, was uglier than lynching in all o...

Quote

Author

Charles De Montesquieu

Keywords

History

To comprehend modern times well, it is necessary to comprehend ancient times well.

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Finding Lost Treasure

Author

A. J. Swoboda

Keywords

In 1991, a yet-to-be-identified flea market enthusiast discovered a simple picture frame to his liking. Securing the purchase, the shopper returned home only to discover an ancient document hiding inc...

Quote

Author

John Starke

Keywords

The witness of Christian history is that the ambitious need quiet hearts. We need ancient paths for our modern, busy lives that teach us to be settled with God in an unsettling world.

liturgy

Good Morning, God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Prayer of Adoration Good Morning, God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Before the world was – you were. Before we were – you knew us. Before we awoke today – you were alert, active ready to meet us her...

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Constructing Ceremonies

Author

Cormac McCarthy

Keywords

In his post-apocalyptic novel The Road, McCarthy tells a story about a father and son traveling in search of civilization,. In a bleak, desolate world devoid of any human civilization, McCarthy descri...

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Comparing Collectivist & Individualist Cultures: Like Apples & Oranges

Author

E. Randolph Richards and Richard James

Keywords

The difference between collectivist and individualist cultures is not a surface value, such as “some people eat more rice than we do.” Individualism and collectivism describe two very different ways p...

Quote

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends, and myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. Of this [gospel] text there are only two possible ...

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The Fire of Fairy Tales

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Romans 1:20, Psalm 118:24, Job 38:4, Lamentations 3:23

This elementary wonder, however, is not a mere fancy derived from the fairy tales; on the contrary, all the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this…. We all like astonishing tales because they to...

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A Reward Seat

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

During the ancient Greek Olympics, the judge of the contest sat on an elevated seat. After the contest was over the competitors came before him to receive their rewards. This was not a judicial bench ...

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A Remote Village

Author

Timothy Jennings

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:9-10, Romans 8:3, Colossians 1:19-20, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Isaiah 53:4-5, Hebrews 2:14

Imagine a remote village in Africa. No modern Westerner has ever set foot there. The natives live off the land, using the same ancient methods and tools as their forefathers used for the last thousand...

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Getting to the Image

Author

Brian Zahnd

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, Galatians 6:1, Proverbs 9:10, James 1:4, Isaiah 61:3

Think of an ancient icon of Christ. Imagine that a thousand-year-old Christ Pantocrator painted on a wooden panel is discovered in some forgotten monastery. The image of Christ is there, but it’s cove...

Quote

Author

Wendell Berry

Keywords

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

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