Primal Forces at Work in Shaping Early Christianity - Second and Third Century Christians of Asia Minor as seen through the Books of I Peter, I Timothy, and the Acts of Paul and Thecla
by Helen Mathis, MA

VIDEO REPLAY ON DEMAND - duration: 2 hours 37 minutes
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Description: Imagine what it was like to be a third and fourth generation faithful Christian living and struggling in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey)—a world changing at warp speed, just like ours is today.  We will examine passages illustrating the diversity of this early Christian environment, the burden of their persecution, the meaning of martyrdom, the pressure for social respectability, their creative problem solving, and how each new situation foisted them into the ‘organize, preserve and contain’ mode, even as they strove to keep their identity holy and distinct from the mainstream.  This PowerPoint will explore how the decisions made then especially impacted women, and were central in shaping who they (and we) would become. 

Helen Mathis, MA, Biblical Studies and Christian History, Pacific School of Religion (part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA), spent three years as Director for the Center for Scriptural Studies in Vermont followed by three years teaching religion at Principia College. She was also managing editor of a Bible study curriculum project, has actively presented Bible workshops around the country for the past 25 years, and is co-creator of the publication An Annotated Bibliography of Academic and Other Literature on Christian Science—see: https://csbibliography.com/

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