Huldah the Prophetess

Stoned-Campbell Disciple has an excellent post about Huldah the prophetess. You know, the lady so important in the days of Josiah and the discovery of the book of law. Her opinion on the matter was pretty important and her role or shall we say "leadership", it seems to me, cannot be denied.

She was an elder!

The Parkway Church of Christ - Correction

The Parkway Church of Christ of Knoxville, TN began meeting on May 21, 2006. I started a blog for the church; though, it has received no interaction as yet.

On Sunday, July 9th, we will have for our visiting minister Mike Lewis, presently of Manchester, TN. He was a well known youth minister in this area in the 80's and 90's and started Winterfest.

Earlier I had indicated a different date. There will be a fellowship dinner following. More details later.

Fascination with Europe

Only in recent years have I realized that I have a greater interest and affection for northern Europe than the average person in the U. S. Having just arrived home from my latest trip, I thought I would try and analyze my feelings.

1. Everyone's Youth is a Golden Age.

I first travelled to Europe in the summer when I was 19. I was part of a mission effort. We knocked on doors passing out literature and sang in parks and at nightly church services for several weeks in The Hague, Netherlands and Vienna, Austria. I was thoroughly enchanted for the entire trip. Living and working with people who lived in those places taught me things one cannot get by simply touring.

At that point I was considering the ministry and becoming a missionary. I spent the next summer as a mission intern in Augsburg, Germany. This built on the previous experience. I had taken a german course in the intervening year and was better at the language.

I enjoyed those two summers and have reminisced many times about who I met, what I saw, and the tastes, sights and sounds and the entire sensual experience. Yes, those were the good ole days.

2. The Past is More Important Than the Present.

I have always been interested in history. I got it from my Dad, Mom, and Grandmother. They are always reminiscing. I drive my family crazy with it too. Though I've told them all my stories I think.

My interest in history extends to both family history and world history. Have always been thirsty for it. My interest has always been on how people who existed in past times lived and how they felt. Knowledge of the larger picture of which wars were fought when and which kings ruled when are important mainly in how they help illuminate that. Another thing about the past that is of interest are those things that have affected how we live today and our religious heritage.

I've been to the British Museum and the Pergammon Museum, highlights of my life.

Wow, is there a lot of history in every square mile of Europe. Growing up in the US in the 50's and 60's, nearly all we saw on TV was Westerns. Ancient history meant before the Civil War and an occasional Biblical epic.

3. When you work hard for something, you are bound to it.

I worked hard at times on learning German. I struggled with it while there. I did not go there to tour but to serve and work. The effort served to promote attachment. None of the six trips I've made were for the purpose of touring, though I usually managed to do that a little while there.

4. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

There was 27 years between my sojourn in Augsburg and my next trip overseas. It was in 1998 to London for a conference commemorating the Cavendish experiment on gravity. I suspect in those twenty seven years, the good things of my earlier trips were romantisized in my mind.

5. The Senses are Heightened when on a Journey

Whether I am away in Europe or somewhere in the U. S., when I am away from home, my senses are at least a little more acute. The colors are brighter, the olfactory and tasting capabilities are more sensitive, my whole person seems to be more awake and alive. These help make the experience more memorable and enduring.


A Walkway Scene in the Sanssouci Park. (Summer Palace of Frederick the Great)

Berlin Trip Part 7: Potsdam Scenes

To the right is Branderburger Strasse in Potsdam, Germany This was a short walk from the Dorint Hotel (where I stayed) down Voltaireweg and then Schopenhauer Strasse. These streets therefore are named after philosophers. Later I made it down Hegelallee. Took these on the evening of May 23.

Below is the Sanssouci Palace. Found a great web site that has a satellite view from above and I can see all these places I walked.

Generous Orthodoxy Discussion on Universalism

Over at Generous Orthodoxy there is a discussion about universalism. It is not from the perspective of the traditional Universalist/Unitarian standpoint, rather from and with a philosopher with evangelical roots.

Berlin Trip Part 6: Checkpoint Charlie

This is Checkpoint Charlie. From about 1961 to the end of 1989, the only legitimate way to pass back and forth between East and West Berlin was through this portal. The US GI picture lets a person know which way to freedom. There is an iron curtin soldier on the opposite side. It is a wonderful thing that the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie are no longer barriers to the free flow of thought and human beings.

Cathedral of Lund, Sweden

In April of 2005, Dorothy and I travelled to Lund, Sweden where I lectured and served as a "Faculty Opponent" for a Doctoral Candidate (and he was successful). Here's a picture of the Lund Cathedral. Dorothy is barely visible at the entrance. If I remember what was said about it, this structure was lucky to escape the destruction of churches associated with the reformation in Sweden.

The more cathedrals you see, the more you want to see and experience. In 1999 I took some Russian colleagues around Germany and Holland and the was one of the main things they wanted to see.

Da Vinci Code Movie - About our Ancestors

Well, we saw the Da Vinci Code last night. Because of reviews I was prepared for it to be less good than it was. I'd rate it 4 stars.

Of couse the story line is baloney. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. About 15 years ago, I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail; the book from which Brown got many of his ideas. Those guys evidently really believed what they wrote. If not, I don't know how they could sleep at night. There are so many holes in their arguments, it is amazing anyone could be taken in by it. They pile on subjunctive phrase after subjunctive phrase. If such and such happened then we might assume whatnot and therefore it could be possible that blah blah blah. Given this then perhaps ....

Let us suppose that Mary Magdalene really did bear Jesus' child and that the line continued. Why keep it a secret for so long? I can see maybe for a generation or two. Hegissipus talks about two of Jesus' kinsman who were known during the reign of Domitian. (As everyone knows, Jesus had a brother named Judas. They were his grandsons. Domitian questioned these two grandnephews of Jesus but decided they were no threat to him. See Peter Kirby's fine website on Early Christian Writings for more information about these relatives of the Lord.)

What secret would we like to make up and send to our descendants in 4000 AD? Its hard to get excited about anything like that. Give me a reason I should dedicate my life to such.

I read a book about 20 years ago called the Mountain of Names. The author claims that any person of English descent has a 95% chance of being descended from Alfred the Great. I believe he was a 9th century king. More recently, in a newspaper article, it was stated that virtually all Europeans can claim they are descended from Mohammad. He married off one of his daughters to some fella in Spain. A mathematical statistical model predicts our relationship. I don't have a problem with that. Though Jesus didn't have any children, his brothers likely had several. If they and a sufficient number of their descendants got out of Jerusalem in time before its decimation in about AD 70, then it is likely their line continued and that nearly all Caucasians and many Asians and Africans are descended from them. If that isn't the case then we can move it back a generation or two to Jesus uncles and aunts. For sure, virtually all of us descend from David, King of Israel.

Berlin Trip Part 5: Pergamon Museum

Visited the Pergamon Museum for 1 1/2 hours before closing time. Could have spent all day. They have a fantastic collection of things from the ancient world. It is a wonderful thing to see the actual items in person that I've seen in history and religious books all of my life. Yes, those things are real.

















Assyrian Basrelief

Berlin Trip Part 4: The Berlin Wall

One of the biggest and happiest surprizes of my life was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall around Christmas time 1989. It was a wonderful thing to have my picture taken beside these painted remnants of the wall.