Articles by Bruce Strom

About Bruce Strom
I was born and baptized and confirmed as a Lutheran. I made the mistake of reading works written by Luther, he has a bad habit of writing seemingly brilliant theology, but then every few pages he stops and calls the Pope often very vulgar names, what sort of Christian does that? Currently I am a seeker, studying church history and the writings of the Church Fathers. I am involved in the Catholic divorce ministries in our diocese, and have finished the diocese two-year Catholic Lay Ministry program. Also I took a year of Orthodox off-campus seminary courses. This blog explores the beauty of the Early Church and the writings and history of the Church through the centuries. I am a member of a faith community, for as St Augustine notes in his Confessions, you cannot truly be a Christian unless you worship God in the walls of the Church, unless persecution prevents this. This blog is non-polemical, so I really would rather not reveal my denomination here.
Bible Stories and Parables

Elisha Cures Naaman of Leprosy, Not With Mighty Deeds, But By Simply Washing in the Jordan

07/27/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Naaman, in the story, is not asked to perform mighty deeds by Elisha, as befits an ancient warrior and hero, but rather to perform the rather simple task of washing in the shallow, muddy Jordan River.

Ancient readers living in their ancient warrior culture would pick up on this contrast immediately, but modern readers often totally miss it. Which makes this one of my favorite stories, since one of the themes of this channel is that, when interpreting the Old Testament stories, you must always remember that most ancient peoples lived in a warrior culture much like that of the Iliad, where life was uncertain, when armies could appear over the horizon, slaughter all the men of military age, and enslave the women and children. […]

Greek and Roman History

Spartan Lysander Shows Mercy on Athens, Ending the Peloponnesian Wars

07/22/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Lysander was appointed as the Spartan naval commander near the end of the war. He was both an effective military leader and an able diplomat, negotiating Persian assistance from Cyrus the Younger in building and funding the fleet of triremes that would check Alcibiades and the generals who succeeded him, eventually winning the Peloponnesian Wars. We will consult Plutarch’s Life of Lysander, and also Thucydides and Xenophon, since Thucydides’ history ends soon after the Oligarchic coup, where it is picked up by Xenophon. […]

Greek and Roman History

Comeback of Alcibiades in Peloponnesian War, according to Plutarch, Thucydides, and Xenophon

07/15/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Thucydides quotes the comic playwrights who say that regarding Alcibiades, the Athenians Love Him, Hate Him, and Can’t Do Without Him. During the war, he first advises the Athenians, then the Spartans, then the Persians, then he advises and leads the Athenians again, and everyone who takes his advice is successful in the war, but he manages to irritate so many Greeks and, after the war ends, is eventually slain by the Persians and Spartans. […]

Book Reviews and Miscellaneous

Book and DVD Reviews on the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue

07/08/2022 Bruce Strom 0

These are book reviews on the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments. Our first sources are the Lutheran and Catholic Catechisms, they discuss each of the Ten Commandments. Pope Benedict, aka Cardinal Ratzinger when footnotes for the sources used in the Catechism between the eastern and western church fathers, which means that this is an excellent study program for the writings of the Church Fathers for both the Catholic and Orthodox religious traditions. […]

Catholic Middle Ages and Beyond

Dark Night of the Soul, by St John of the Cross, and Mystical Theology of Pseudo-Dionysus

07/06/2022 Bruce Strom 0

What is the Dark Night of the Soul? Many are misled into thinking that the dark night of the soul is a dark place, but St John of the Cross views the dark night of the soul not from his mortal perspective, but from perspective of the eternal, the unknowing, where light we cannot perceive is so luminous that we see it as darkness, this Mystical Theology he draws from the poetry of Dionysius. […]

Catholic Middle Ages and Beyond

St John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, Seven Capital Sins and Best Type of Close Friend

07/02/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Before you can truly deepen your interior life of prayer and communion with God, you must first purify your soul by combating your spiritual capital vices, strengthening your inner virtues, which are revealed by how you think of your neighbor, what you say about your neighbor, how you act towards your neighbor, and how eagerly you seek to forgive and overlook the shortcomings of your neighbor. […]

Greek and Roman History

Athens’ Disastrous Defeat at Syracuse in Sicilian Expedition, Peloponnesian Wars

06/29/2022 Bruce Strom 5

We cannot improve on Will Durant’s summary of this ignoble defeat:
“The disaster broke the spirit of Athens. Nearly half the citizen body was enslaved or dead; half the women of the citizen class were widows, and their children were orphans.”

With modern scholarship, Professor Kenneth Harl estimates that only a quarter to a third of the male citizens of Athens were lost at Syracuse, which makes more sense, but is still a devastating blow. […]