A History of the Church (Week 2)
Paul continued our series on historical Christianity by talking about Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius was born around 30-40 AD. By the end of the first century Ignatius was a leader in the church, and in 107 AD he was arrested and sentenced to death for reasons that are still unclear. As he was being sent to Rome to go on trial leaders from various churches intercepted him en route and received letters of encouragement for their churches. Among these leaders was Onesimus, the run away slave from Philemon, who had become a leader in the church at Ephesus.
The church in Rome began to make plans to break Ignatius from prison. Ignatius instructed them not to because he believed it was God's will for him to be martyred.
Polycarp was another early church leader who was martyred in 155 AD. Roman authorities went on the hunt for Polycarp after were insighted by a crazy old man named Germanicus. Polycarp fled and narrowly escaped capture a few times before giving himself up. At his trial, the crowd cried, "Out with the atheist!" (Christians and Jews were seen as atheists because they only believed in one God and followed Christ.) Polycarp turned turned the crowd's words back at them by pointing back at them declaring, "Out with the atheists!" He then publicly thanked God for the opportunity to serve Him before being sentenced to death.
Then as a class we discussed how our church today interacts with culture. We discussed everything from mimicry to politics to concern with image.
The early church also struggled with how to interact with culture. Everything from military service to the acceptance of classical Greek philosophy was debated among early Christians. And while some believe in a severe separation between the church and the surrounding culture, others like Justin Martyr looked for points of contact. He built upon the classical philosophies to explain how Christ and the church were the answer to the questions the philosophers had posed.
Paul finished up by reminding us that the question of how the Church should interact with the culture is not new, and we can take some comfort in that. As always feel free to discuss your thoughts below.
Announcements
- Spring Retreat - It's about time to go spend some time at Mary's Mom's lake house again. We're not sure when it will be, but look for information to come soon. It will likely happen the last weekend in April...or the first weekend in May.
- We're continuing to practice generosity by putting aside a little each week for the car fund.
- To support this we're continuing to forgo eating out in favor of dinner at someone's house each week. If you have a nearby house or apartment you don't mind sharing, please let us know!