The Early Christian Writers site includes most of the New Testament Apocrypha (pseudepigraphal works that Eusebius would have called "really spurious") and the works of the men who came to be called the Apostolic Fathers (books accepted by the church as orthodox in doctrine, though not authoritative).
Please choose either one of the Apocryphal books or the Apostolic Fathers (the first nine on the link here). What is your evaluation of this book? Is it a book to die for? Does it seem to you useful and/or interesting? Or is it a book you wouldn't mind seeing burned by government officials? Why?
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
For this, I chose to do one of the Apostolic Fathers. I chose St. Polycarp, because this is an Apolostle I had never heard of.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this book is just about a lesser know apostle who seemed to not be cared for by many. This book is not one to die for because like I said, this man was not well known and wasn't really a main character like St. Paul or St. Peter were. This book could be burned because he wasn't well known and I don't think people would be too hurt over it.
For this, I chose to do, Clement of Alexandria of the Apocryphal books, I chose because I never even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteWith a quick read-through, this looks like a book similar to James. It tells you how to act, and also what to do if faced with persecution. It doesn't seem like something I would die for. Basically, everything said in this book, has already been said. It seems interesting. It might be a good resource for younger Christians if taken with a big dose of salt. I wouldn't mind seeing this burned. Would it be unfortunate yes, but a tragedy no.
Walker Larson
I chose the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. We covered this in class, also, but I found it to be rather humorous, so I wanted to look it over again.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to doubt Jesus here in any way, but this book seems a little dramatic. At five years old, I am sure Jesus could have done those things, but I just have a hard time believing that. It's difficult to a Jesus as a child acting the same way he did when he was in his 30s. I think when he was a 5 year old boy, he probably acted like a 5 year old boy, in most ways.
I certainly would not die for this book, but I do find it to be rather interesting, whether it be true or not. Thomas may have made the whole thing up, or he could have taken it and RAN with it. Jesus could have done something similar to this as a child, but if He did, why wasn't it mentioned anywhere in the Bible? It's possible that Thomas just wanted to make Jesus sound "cooler" (even though He's already pretty cool...).
-Lauren Bland