September 2009 thru June 2010
Mary's virginity was hidden from the prince of this world; so was her child-bearing, and so was the death of the Lord. All these three trumpet-tongued secrets were brought to pass in the deep silence of God. How then were they made known to the world? Up in the heavens a star gleamed out, more brilliant than all the rest; no words could describe its lustre, and the strangeness of it left men bewildered. The other stars and the sun and moon gathered round it in chorus, but this star outshone them all. Great was the ensuing perplexity; where could this newcomer have come from, so unlike its fellows? Everywhere magic crumbled away before it; the spells of sorcery were all broken, and superstition received its death blow. The age-old empire of evil was overthrown, for God was now appearing in human form to bring in a new order, even life without end. Now that which had been perfected in the Divine counsels began its work; and all creation was thrown into a ferment over this plan for the utter destruction of death.
It looks like scripture, but is actually part of a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch to the church at Ephesus.
There is quite a collection of letters written to and from the early churches, written when early Christians were struggling with the issues as to whether there should be a formal church structure, the attitude of Christians to variations in belief, and the relationship of the Church to a state that was rapidly turning hostile. We shall also look at the references the church fathers made to earlier writings, some of which would become part of the Bible we know today.
We shall look at the letters, and at their background -- for example, Ignatius was actually on his way to execution when he wrote the letter to Ephesus, and he gave it to Bishop Onesimus, who, some have suggested, might be the returned slave mentioned in the Epistle of Philemon.
We start, though, with messages written to seven churches in Asia. Oddly, these messages preface the dramatic apocalypse that we know as the Book of Revelation. These are full of local and topical references, and we shall be looking at these.