23 May
In the last three hours temperatures have dropped twenty degrees. Strong gusty winds are keeping me inside this afternoon which is alright; a stack of books, plenty of coffee and a toilet are available. How then are you, Jack?
I've been in the states for a week now and still feel the effects of being in an unfamiliar time zone. I can only assume travel fatigue and bouts of manageable depression leave me wanting to sleep. Why depressed? An uncertain future and no sun contribute.
What have you been reading? I finished "The Swerve" a delightful and sometimes shocking story got me thinking so hard I had headaches. Today I've been looking at a variety of history books on the Catholic church, primarily, I must confess, to see how and why the books of the New Testament are in the order we have today. It's a given that the 13 letters St. Paul wrote were considered canonical because God called him out and told him to explain and defend the new faith to the new churches in Asia Minor. The new believers were pagans, though not necessarily heathens because pagans did believe. A heathen as I understand is an atheist and the Galatians and Ephesians to name but a few believed in the mythological gods of antiquity.
I also found translations of the New Testament that are not protected by copy write and thus are in the public domain. Sigh, Johnny boy, what are you thinking? According to these fellas at Gordon-Conwell 41,000 denominations exist in Christianity today.
Each group has interpretations ranging from baptism to free will and so forth. What I would like to do and this may take some effort that'll require more time than I have, is to trace the origins of the interpretations. It is my gut instinct that the differences come from Paul's letters. Inspiring, life-changing, divine, but divisive and in some cases merely opinion, a reason to consider a re-shuffling of the canon. I don't envision removing a single jot or tittle from the New Testament, but simply moving the 13th apostle's commentaries after the book of Revelation. And where else could I do this than my beloved and freezing butt country.
In the last three hours temperatures have dropped twenty degrees. Strong gusty winds are keeping me inside this afternoon which is alright; a stack of books, plenty of coffee and a toilet are available. How then are you, Jack?
I've been in the states for a week now and still feel the effects of being in an unfamiliar time zone. I can only assume travel fatigue and bouts of manageable depression leave me wanting to sleep. Why depressed? An uncertain future and no sun contribute.
What have you been reading? I finished "The Swerve" a delightful and sometimes shocking story got me thinking so hard I had headaches. Today I've been looking at a variety of history books on the Catholic church, primarily, I must confess, to see how and why the books of the New Testament are in the order we have today. It's a given that the 13 letters St. Paul wrote were considered canonical because God called him out and told him to explain and defend the new faith to the new churches in Asia Minor. The new believers were pagans, though not necessarily heathens because pagans did believe. A heathen as I understand is an atheist and the Galatians and Ephesians to name but a few believed in the mythological gods of antiquity.
I also found translations of the New Testament that are not protected by copy write and thus are in the public domain. Sigh, Johnny boy, what are you thinking? According to these fellas at Gordon-Conwell 41,000 denominations exist in Christianity today.
Each group has interpretations ranging from baptism to free will and so forth. What I would like to do and this may take some effort that'll require more time than I have, is to trace the origins of the interpretations. It is my gut instinct that the differences come from Paul's letters. Inspiring, life-changing, divine, but divisive and in some cases merely opinion, a reason to consider a re-shuffling of the canon. I don't envision removing a single jot or tittle from the New Testament, but simply moving the 13th apostle's commentaries after the book of Revelation. And where else could I do this than my beloved and freezing butt country.
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