As the Coronavirus spreads across the globe and with it the contagion of fear, I want to take up the shepherd’s pen and follow in a long line of letter writing pastors who sought to guide and encourage their sheep in times of trial and testing. … More Letters in Uncertain Times
The Passion of Saint Perpetua, Saint Felicitas, and their Companions is one of the oldest and most notable early Christian texts. It survives in both Latin and Greek forms, and contains a first person prison diary of the young mother and martyr Perpetua. Scholars generally believe that it is authentic although in the form we … More The Martyrdom of Perpetua (203 AD)
Source: The text below is the full story, from around 160 AD, of the martyrdom of Polycarp, the Bishop of the church in Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor (modern Izmir in Turkey) devoted to Roman worship. The account is in the form of a letter from eye-witnesses to other churches in the area. It … More The Martyrdom of Polycarp (155AD)
This Holy Week, as an outflow of our CrossRoad sermon series, I am sharing some stories of early martyrs who took up their own cross and bore the ultimate witness to the cross-shaped Kingdom. One of the great treasures of church history is the collection of writings called The Apostolic Fathers. These are the earliest writings outside the … More The Martyrdom of Ignatius (c.107AD)
I’m preparing a message on the stoning of Stephen this Sunday. Here’s something to ponder from William Willimon in his commentary on Acts: Stanley Hauerwas has written about the mass suicide at “Jonestown” when hundreds of followers of Jim Jones and his “People’s Temple” took their lives and the lives of their children (p. 106). … More A Faith Worth Living & Dying For?
Jeremy L. Berg 