torah

Was St Paul a Former Slave? Were His Parents Enslaved by the Romans?

06/05/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Our authors in Christianity Today note that several prominent Biblical scholars in past 150 years have speculated that Paul’s parents were enslaved, perhaps in “the uprising in 4 BC, when Varus, Roman governor of Syria, burned entire cities and crucified 2,000 people. In Galilean cities like Sepphoris, Josephus wrote in Antiquities of the Jews, ‘troops made its inhabitants slaves.’” Furthermore, in St Jerome’s commentary on Philemon, written around the end of the fourth century, likely using Origen’s commentary as a source, states St Paul’s parents were Gischala in Judea, and were among the Jews exiled to Tarsus by the Romans. A few centuries later, St Photius, the scholarly bishop of Constantinople, confirms this, adding that St Paul was born to enslaved parents in Tarsus. These ancient sources are highly regarded by modern scholars. […]

Do Not Steal: Dr Laura and Her Rabbi Stewart Vogel on Ten Commandments, and Excuses People Make

Do Not Steal and Excuses People Make: Dr Laura and Her Rabbi Stewart Vogel on Ten Commandments

03/22/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Dr Laura opens this reflection: “People spend a lot of time redefining stealing in order to increase their comfort zone as they assert themselves in a world of needs, wants, possessions, power struggles, fame, fortune, desire, envy, loss, hurt, greed, and antisocial personalities.” This observation implies that many people steal because they feel that they are being taken advantage of, or they themselves were the target of loss, hurt, and greed, and they want to get even with the world, though she does not develop this thought in depth. […]

Loving God in Deuteronomy, and a Gentile’s Defense of Judaism, Part 2

12/29/2023 Bruce Strom 1

When studying the rabbinical commentaries on Deuteronomy, I was struck by the number of times the commandment to Love God was repeated in various forms, including the commandment to Fear God, which is roughly equivalent, so I decided to count them, there are about twenty repetitions. This was surprising to me as a Christian, for as St Paul exhorts, “the letter” of the law “kills, but the Spirit gives life.” […]

Medieval Jewish and Christian Commentators, My Gentile Defense of Judaism, Part 1

12/23/2023 Bruce Strom 1

At roughly the time of Jesus, an inquirer requested of both Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel, “Convert me to Judaism on condition that you will teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai pushed the man away with the building rod he was holding. Undeterred, the man then came before Hillel with the same request. Hillel responded, “That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.” […]

Ladder of Divine Ascent, SMALL Steps 6,7, 13

Ladder of Divine Ascent, Remembrance of Death, Joy Making Mourning, and Despondency, Steps 6,7, & 13

04/07/2023 Bruce Strom 1

St John Climacus continues:
Step 6.3. “Fear of death” “comes from disobedience, but trembling at death is a sign of unrepented sins.” Those who fear death the most are the disobedient who live only to party, who live for today, who live for themselves, and do not live for others, they are the unrepentant who tremble at death’s gates. Even “Christ fears death, but does not tremble,” so He can show us that he is both God and man.
Step 6.24. “It is impossible, someone says, impossible to spend the present day devoutly unless we regard it as the last of our whole life.” […]

Metamorphosis of Apuleius, the Golden Ass, Possible Inspiration for Pinocchio

03/01/2023 Bruce Strom 0

The basic plot of the book is our young man Lucius spies a witch who has learned to transform herself into various types of birds. When she is gone, he tries out the same potions, but by grabbing the wrong flask, he is turned into a donkey, not a talking donkey, but a braying donkey who has kept his human intelligence and human tastes. Though there are scattered penitential regrets, mostly our donkey is able to spy on the crimes and indiscretions of both robbers and cheating lovers to provide the reader with many titillating tales. In the final chapter, the goddess Isis appears to him in a dream, telling him what he needs to do to be transformed back into a human. […]

Why doesn’t the Bible condemn slavery?

07/20/2022 Bruce Strom 0

The Bible does not condemn chattel slavery, or the institution of slavery, because, as Jesus exhorts, the poor will always be with us, there will always be wage slaves, because the rich will always take advantage of poor, seeking to pay them starvation wages, taking advantage of the poor. […]

Book Reviews, Commentaries of Torah and Talmud, Medieval Rabbis and Modern Rabbis and Scholars

03/14/2022 Bruce Strom 1

We encourage Christians to study the moral lessons of the Torah, we do not hold to the dual-covenant belief that the laws in the Torah have been superseded. St Irenaeus in his influential work, On Heresies, teaches us that the moral laws of the Torah are still binding on Christians, and that the dietary and festival laws that have been superseded can be read as teaching moral lessons allegorically. […]

The Decalogue in the Torah, Blog 6, Do Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor

10/06/2021 Jonah Fischer 2

A common misconception is that this Commandment only forbids us to lie. However, this Mitzvah goes deeper. Not only should we not destroy the reputation of our neighbor, we should also guard the reputation of our neighbor like we should build a parapet on our roof. Not only does this Mitzvah forbid us to lie, it also forbids us from telling the truth in a mean and heartless and cruel manner. […]