Dr Paul Allen

Reviewed version of Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The author, Daniel Clendenin, writes to introduce Western Christians to the mysterious world of Eastern Orthodoxy . He describes his approach as “not uncritical, but … nonpolemical.” Translation? He takes a rather friendly view of Eastern Orthodoxy, lumping it together with Protestantism and Roman Catholicism as “three siblings of the same family.” Given that foundational caution, however, the book can be a helpful introduction to Eastern Orthodoxy. The first two chapters list reasons why Western Christians ought to study the Eastern church and provide a brief sketch of Eastern church history. The next four chapters are the heart of the book, each one focusing on a main area of Eastern theology and tradition that Western Christians often find to be strange. The first is the apophatic approach to knowing God , which derides logic and rational analysis and exalts unknowable mystery. The second is icons, ...

Embraced by Words (Photo credit: Robbert van der Steeg ) “And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:29–31 Have you ever had someone give you tremendous help? Maybe it was on a tough homework assignment where you didn’t know what to do and your parents came to your rescue. Perhaps your family was stuck on the side of the road, and some nice person stopped to give you a hand. Maybe you didn’t have enough money to buy something you wanted, and you were able to do a little extra work for someone and get paid exactly what you needed to get what you wanted. We all need help in various ways, and part of the joy of living in community is having people around us to give us help when we are in need. The Spirit loves to do this when it comes to h...

  Wikipedia ) It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left (Isa 11:11a). This prophecy speaks of a day when the remnant of God will be gathered together. While the prophecy was fulfilled in part at different times during Israel ’s history (i.e. the deliverance that took place under Zerubbabel , discussed in Ezra 2:2), it also reminds us of the kingdom of Christ . During the deliverance under Zerubbabel, not all Israelites were brought back from Egypt, Ethiopia , and other countries. Only in the kingdom of Christ is this deliverance fulfilled by the preaching of the Gospel . Though the remnant be scattered throughout the earth, those who are Christ’s sheep hear His voice and follow Him. He “gathers” His people by the preaching of His Word and by the calling of His Spirit. No matter how much opposition there is toward the church in any given age, the Lord will gather His people to Hi...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia The Guardian: A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures. Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia  and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon . Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory. Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about  archaeology  is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary." An initial clue lay in a 20ft stone stele (or slab) carved with ...