Ancient Christian Witness

From Orthodoxbridge.com:
  Response to Theodore – Semi-Pelagianism, Sola Fide, and Theosis

  March for Life & Great Tradition

  Contra Sola Scriptura (1 of 4): Book Review: The Shape of Sola Scriptura by Keith A. Mathison

  Contra Sola Scriptura (2 of 4): If Not Sola Scriptura, Then What? The Biblical Basis For Holy Tradition

  Contra Sola Scriptura (3 of 4): Where Does Sola Scriptura Come From? The Humanist Origins of the Protestant Reformation

  Contra Sola Scriptura (4 of 4): Protestantism’s Fatal Genetic Flaw: Sola Scriptura and Protestantism’s Hermeneutical Chaos

  Calvin Vs. the Icon: Was John Calvin Wrong?

  New Apostles or Old Heresy? An Orthodox Perspective on the New Apostolic Reformation
 
From Classical Christianity.com:
  What is Pure Prayer? St. John of Kronstadt on Worldliness/Consumerism

  On Almsgiving Saint John of Kronstadt on Theosis/Deification

  Building The New City: St. Basil’s Social Vision

  St. John Chrysostom on Abortion and Birth Control

  Heresy as Intellectual Temptation

  Eastern Orthodox View of Calvinism

  On Irresistible Grace and Synergy

  On Limited Atonement

 

As seen from Conciliar Press:

Quote:
"Are you an Orthodox Christian who wonders how to explain to your Baptist grandmother, your Buddhist neighbor, or the Jehovah’s Witness at your door how your faith differs from theirs? Or are you a member of another faith who is curious what Orthodoxy is all about? Look no further. In Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick covers the gamut of ancient heresies, modern Christian denominations, fringe groups, and major world religions, highlighting the main points of each faith. This book is an invaluable reference for anyone who wants to understand the faiths of those they come in contact with—as well as their own."

It should be available soon! (Spring 2011)


Also, check out the interview:

Quote:
"Who do you think the target audience is for this book? Laypeople interested in apologetics? Inquirers from other religious backgrounds?

My primary intended audience is ordinary Orthodox Christians who are interested in the question of how our faith differs from other faiths. That said, I know that there may be some apologists for whom the book could serve as an introduction to the major issues, and I am sure that it is likely that folks who are interested in Orthodox Christianity may read it, as well. I tried to keep all of these people in mind when putting it together."

To read the rest please visit Byzantine Texas.

As seen from AncientFaith radio

From the website:

"The International Orthodox Christian Studies program in the United Kingdom is launching a new DVD based course for parishes to use in evangelism. John Maddex talks with organizer Dr. Christine Mangala Frost about The Way"

Play Audio


The actual website of the course:
http://www.iocs.cam.ac.uk/courses/courses_way.html

As seen from Orthodox Apologetics by David

Quote:
"One of the most common criticisms that Protestants express against Orthodox Christianity is the prominent place of iconography, a uniquely Orthodox Christian figurative art form, in the Church. That Orthodox Christians give a very special place to the Holy Icons is hard to miss. Our churches, homes, and even places of business are filled with them, often outside as well as in. Upon entering a church and before prayers at home, Orthodox Christians generally perform bows from the waist1 and kiss the icons in reverence. During the worship services in an Orthodox Church, the Priest frequently incenses the icons and the worshipers frequently bow and even prostrate toward them. On various feast days throughout the year,2 icons of Christ, of the Theotokos,3 and of various Saints and Angels are raised high and processed in and around churches and streets. And we do, after all, refer to them as the “Holy Icons.”


For Orthodox Christians, icons are an intrinsic aspect of our spirituality and of our everyday lives. We use them for prayer, as gifts, as decoration, as jewelry, and as ever-present reminders of our loved ones and the love and inspiration they offer. We even believe that God can and does work miracles through them. There are many icons referred to as “wonder-working” or “myrrh-streaming” which Orthodox believers bear a special reverence for, accepting that through these particular icons God has done a special act for man.4 Some of these icons are even on the calendar of feast days we celebrate.5"

To read the rest please visit Orthodox Apologetics




Part 2

Quote:
"An obvious and important question to ask when examining the validity of the presence and veneration of the Holy Icons in the churches today is whether or not the earliest Christians, roughly those of the first five hundred years of the Church, used iconography and, if so, how they used it. The faith and practice of these earliest Christians is supremely important in deciding correct faith and practice of Christians today as these early Christians lived the closest in time, place, and culture to the Apostles and other first century followers of Christ. Many of the Christians who lived during this period were members of churches which had been directly founded by Apostles and lived in cities mentioned in the Bible. In addition, very importantly, most of the Christians of this period spoke the ancient Greek of the New Testament as their own native language. Recognizing the importance and authority of the early Church, John Calvin wrote:

If the authority of the ancient church moves us in any way, we will recall that for about five hundred years, during which religion was still flourishing, and a pure doctrine thriving, Christian Churches were commonly empty of images. Thus, it was when the purity of the ministry had somewhat degenerated that they were first introduced for the adornment of churches.12


Until fairly recently, Calvin's words here were the common assumption of both Protestants and historians of early Christianity. It was widely believed and taught that the churches of the first several hundred years were largely imageless and that Christians themselves were generally hostile to figurative art, rejecting it as an idolatrous pagan practice. This assumption was largely based on a dearth of archaeological evidence and on a false assumption of Jewish iconophobia coupled with erroneous prooftexting of various early Christian writers' criticisms of the idols of the pagans.


All three bases of the theory of early Christian hostility toward images have been dismantled by the introduction of new evidence throughout the 20th century, and more evidence continues to be uncovered today through archaeological exploration.14 The hole that once existed in physical evidence of the worship of ancient Christians and Jews has now been filled with numerous discoveries throughout the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and North Africa."

To read the rest please visit Orthodox Apologetics








ICXC NIKA

This is from Saint Andrew Orthodox Christian Church of Riverside, Ca

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:







ICXC NIKA

The link:
http://notjameswhite.wordpress.com/













ICXC NIKA

Thanks to David of Pious Fabrications I found out about him. And I am enjoying his lectures more and more. I think he should write a book about the 7 councils. We are in need of a good scholarly Orthodox alternative to the Roman Catholic one done by Dr. Leo Donald Davis.

We need one from our own perspective, and he would be great for the job. Also, why isn't he on Ancientfaith radio? It would be awsome if he had his own podcast too!

His website:
http://orthodoxchurchhistory.com/















Christ is Risen!

I could be wrong, but I believe the going back and forth is now at an end.

You can see the latest installments at either his blog Pious Fabrications. Or at Orthodox Apologetics.

To watch everything, go to his Youtube page.


Some of the older videos in the series:









and from Drake Shelton:




To see the rest (from both sides) please visit the links at the very top of the post!















Christ is Risen! P.S. "I'm gonna keep saying this til Pentecost Sunday"

This was done by David

Check out his Youtube Channel as well as his Pious Fabrications blog.













ICXC NIKA

This is from Saint Louis University's Library
The link:
http://libguides.slu.edu/content.php?pid=36399&sid=267985




The Orthodox World
The Link:
http://www.orthodoxworld.ru/en/index.htm




Silouan Library
The Link:
http://silouanthompson.net/library/




Byzantine Icons website index
The Link:
http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/iec_idb1w.htm










ICXC NIKA

His website:
http://www.orthodoxchurchhistory.com/



I never knew of his existence. Thanks to Dave, I found out about him through his youtube channel.










ICXC NIKA

This one was made by David!






ICXC NIKA

The Link:
http://societyfororthodoxapologetics.blogspot.com/


It's a blog started by:

Daivd
http://piousfabrications.blogspot.com/

Tony Allen
http://catechumens-tale.blogspot.com/

And Myself:
http://ancientchristiandefender.blogspot.com/


We decided to form like Voltron. And so, I'm gonna finish what I started with the review of Robert Morey's book. I gotta up date it as well as change the name of it.

I will continue to post here ....mostly what I've been doing for the past year almost......links, videos, articles, resources, podcasts, personal research .......etc.

As well as more about my personal life and stuff like that. But most of my Apologetics is gonna be at the other site. I have been hibernating for a year......just building up my tool chest of resources.

Right now, it is still in the building stages, and so, it's gonna take a while. At this point in time, I have no idea what direction it will go in the long run. I will have to talk with the others to see what their longterm vision is and go from there.

One of the things I wanted to do.....longterm wise........ was try something similar to what some of my Arminian homies were doing at SEA:
http://evangelicalarminians.org/


I'm not good on every topic under the Sun, and so, I thought it would be good to seek help from others that knew alot about a certain area. There maybe an Orthodox blogger that might know alot about Lutheranism, and so they maybe better suited to defend Orthodoxy against recent Lutheran attacks.

There maybe an Orthodox blogger that might know alot about Roman Catholicism or Islam, and so they may be better suited to handle attacks from that direction.

Also getting help from priests, Orthodox scholars, and other Orthodox Apologists would be a plus as well. But like I said before............I have no idea in what direction this may go.

I have to talk it over with the others to see what direction they would like to eventually take it.










ICXC NIKA

A few Apologetic Responses by Fr. John Whiteford can be found here:

The Link:
http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/responses_sola.htm

and

http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/sola_scriptura_john_whiteford.htm



I dissagree with the sufficiency argument for you can find fathers and maybe nonfathers that tought a form of sufficiency. I know that modern Roman Catholic Apologists will split the sufficiency argument into two catagories.

I don't know if we should split the issue into real fine catagories or not. I know that there should be an easier and more efficient way to handle the issue......for whatever the fathers and nonfathers had to say about the subject, we know that they didn't see Scripture as being the "only" Authority (solo Scriptura....Anabaptist churches, church of christ churches, and landmark Baptist churches), nor did they see it as the "only" authority in regards to the rule of Worship and church government (the Reformed churches). Nor did they see it as being the "only" authority to bind ones individual conscience (Lutherianism as well as other forms of protestantism).

Instead, what we do see, are the Fathers and nonfathers looking to Church practice, the consensus of the fathers, gathering to form councils.....etc.

In short, they used anything and everything that the Church had in Her possession, and so, the issue of "sufficiency" should be looked at in that context.






ICXC NIKA

This is a lecture by Fr. Andrew Damick from the podcast Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy.

As seen from the website:
"In the next section of the series, Fr. Andrew begins exploring the "Classical" or "Magisterial" Reformation which adopted the five "Solas." Today he looks at Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)."

Play Audio


It's an updated series from the one he did earlier in the year in West Virginia. The cliche "going to the source" was a slogan of the Renaissance movement in which the later Erasmus & Protestant Reformation used to do to the Bible what was first done to Aristotle and the other classical works. And in this sense Protestantism can be seen as being the liberal/modernist/humanist group of it's day.

When you add that to the heavy influence Saint Jerome had on the latin speaking west due to his commentaries and notes in the vulgate, then it's easier to understand why Luther and the other Protestants wanted to drop the D.C.'s in favor of the nonbelieving post christian jewish canon.

Roman Catholicism as a whole, always favored at least "some" of the D.C.'s, even back when they were in communion with us. You can see this whenever they gathered for a council for Jerome's position never won the day. But eversince Saint Jerome, you always had individual christians throughout the centuries that wanted to follow his lead.

The Protestant Reformation allowed for such a thing to happen. Well, not really, for it took the Puritans to finally seal the deal in what Martin Luther started. They were the one who kicked the books out of Protestant Bibles through Bible societies.........Martin Luther just put them in an appendix and didn't see them as inspired. But non the less, the finger can be pointed at Saint Jerome for at least sparking the idea through his nonbelieving pharisiacal Rabbonical Hebrew teachers.

Last but not least, a good number of American Evangelical Protestantism would fall into what some might call "Solo Scriptura", which is pretty much the view of the Anabaptist or the Radical Protestant Reformation.

The Radical Reformers were Restorationist, and this tends to be the most popular view/interpretation of Sola Scriptura today.

Some modern advocates of "Solo Scriptura" would be:

1.) Churches of Christ / Stone and Cambell movement
2.) Landmark Baptists
3.) Prespyterians that are followers of Gordan Clark

Alot of other groups and individuals will advocate "solo scriptura" as well. Which is slightly different from the "Sola Scriptura"(the rule of faith) view of Classical Protestantism.

The Classical Christian view or Patristic view was Prima Scriptura.










ICXC NIKA

As seen from his website A Catechumen's Tale:
"Is it bad to study the Church Fathers, and have a grasp on Patristics? Many modern Protestant scholars, such as James White and John MacArthur, have studied the Church Fathers to a large degree, while others are reading the works to at least become acquainted with them. Even on Protestant websites featuring works of religious literature one can find western and eastern Fathers of the Church included among the Reformers.

Many non-Orthodox and non-Catholics seem to believe the Fathers are of some use.Unfortunately, some think this is the wrong attitude to take. Indeed, they think it makes a person self-condemned!A friend recently pointed me towards an article penned by T.A. McMahon, an associate of Dave Hunt at his ministry The Berean Call. Many might remember, from this post I made in response to Hunt, that it was McMahon who said Orthodoxy liturgy was known in some circles as "smells and bells." This article in particular is a direct attack against the study of patristics, questioning not any veneration of the Church Fathers, but the fruition of researching the Church Fathers at all."

To read the rest please visit his website.









ICXC NIKA

The link:
http://orthodoxresource.com/












ICXC NIKA

This is a new podcast on AncientFath Radio by Fr. Andrew.
last week, he gave me the heads up that it was going to air on AncientFaith on October 4th.

He did a series similer to this at his old parish back in January. This updated one is for his new Parish. I enjoyed the old ones and I can't wait to hear this one as well.

The first topic in this series is "Understanding the Terms":
As seen from the website:
"In this premier episode, Fr. Andrew provides helpful definitions of such terms as “orthodoxy,” “heterodoxy,” “heresy,” “heretic,” “schismatic,” and—most importantly—”truth.”"

Play Audio




Related Links:
Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy: What are the differences between Orthodox Christianity and other religious traditions?

and

Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy







ICXC NIKA

(From an Orthodox perspective)
The Formation of the Scriptures:(Video)




(From an Orthodox perspective)
Formation of the Scriptures: Another presentation with more detail (video)





(From an Orthodox perspective)
The Septugient (audio)
The Oral Tradition (audio)
The Canon part 1 (audio)
The Canon part 2 (audio)
The Canon part 3 (audio)
The Canon part 4 (audio)
The Gnostic works (audio)
The Gnostic works part 2 (audio)
The Canon part 5 (audio)





(From a moderate protestant perspective) (Video)
Old Testament Canon 1
Old Testament Canon 2
Old Testament Canon 3
Old Testament Canon 4
Old Testament Canon 5
Old Testament Canon 6
Old Testament Canon 7
Old Testament Canon 8
Old Testament Canon 9



(DAVID BERCOT-Protestant )(Audio)
Saint Jerome & The Septuagint part 1
Saint Jerome & The Septuagint part 2
Saint Jerome & The Septuagint part 3






Jnorm888

This is a podcast by the Christ in the Mountains blog.

The link:
http://christinthemountains.blogspot.com/2009/01/orthodoxy-heterodoxy-what-are.html


The introduction:
Play Audio


Roman Catholicism:
Play Audio


Classical Protestantism:
Play Audio


Churches of the Radical Reformation:
Play Audio



To play the other 3, please visit the blog.





JNORM888