And You Thought Libraries Were Dull?

 This probably is the last book in the series of The Library of the Dead.  However, the book ends with the mother pregnant again with another ancient scribe.  So?  I'm writing about The Keepers of the Library by Glenn Cooper. Will Piper, the supposedly retired NY cop/FBI agent, is the protagonist.  His teenage son runs to a girlfriend, in Scotland.  They met online.  Unfortunately, her family keeps him.  Will takes off to get him back.  As usual, in Cooper's books, the action is crazy fast.  The armies of three countries get involved.  They are all after the library.

The library continues past the dates, everyone thought was the end of the world.  Even more surprising is the diary of Benjamin Franklin, which the family had.  Evidently, Franklin was there three centuries ago.  Franklin was concerned with the American Revolution and set up of a new government.  Will saves Franklin's diary too.  

Honor Not Worship

 When Christianity was in its infancy, the Emperor of Rome was considered a god.  Around 45 BC the Jewish army helped Julius Caesar fight his wars, and so, the Jewish worship of Yahweh was tolerated.  However, the Jews insisted that these Christians were not Jews and weren't excused from worshipping Caesar, as god.  

The Christians acknowledged Caesar's authority to govern but would not worship him.  Remember Matt 22: 20-21, They would pray for him, honor him, obey him, but he is only a man who God appointed to rule.

                                                              Art from Catacombs

                                                                        Baptizing

Wagging Tongue

 She stopped in her tracks.

She looked shock.

Her eyes narrowed.

She turned and walked away.

What did I say?

I tried to think back.

Did I offend?

By her response, yes.

She was hurt, deeply.

If only I could silent my tongue.

God's Breath

                                                         God breathes life into Adam.
                                                         Newborns scream that same breath
                                                                           into their lungs.
                                                         Resuscitation breathes that same
                                                                           breath to life.  Again
                                                                           and again.
                                                         

We pray.

Early Christian Consciousness

 Our favorite author, Anonymous, wrote an Apology dissertation, known as To Diognetus.  It has been renowned for its resonance with current Catholic theology.  Mind you, it's dated 160-200 AD. I imagine there were all sorts of ideas running loose, so the apologists hammered down the Apostolic teachings.  

It criticized pagans, atheists, Jews, etc. Anonymous explains the nature of Christianity as "love."  How's that compared to the other early religions?  

Do you think the citizenry laughed at these Christians?  Probably some did, some still do, but actually, paradoxically, the followers of Christianity multiplied exponentially.

The Physician of Nineveh by Glenn Cooper has something for everyone.  It has history.  It has romance.  It is an action thriller.  It has fantasy.  It has science.  It has time travel.  It has a happy ending--for all.

The major characters are a physician from the seventh century, BC, and a scholar specializing in Assyriology, Kate Mayne, from the twenty-first century, AD. They meet through time-travel.

See, Mannu the Assyrian physician uses black magic to travel through time, to find a cure for King Ashurbanipa's favorite concubine.  He lands in London, where Kate finds him.  Kate, scholar, that she is, thinks her dreams have come true.  The drama comes in when the King's enemies follow Mannu to make sure he doesn't succeed in his quest.

The story is different, and like I said, it has everything.

Melito

 Melito was the first bishop of Sardis, in Asia Minor.  Sardis, once was capital of Lydia, a wealthy capital in modern day Turkey. It one of the Seven Churches of Asia, in Revelation.  King Croesus's wealth was known in Sardis.

Did you ever hear of it?  Keep that in mind and meditate that "All is passing, only God abides."  

Melito, as other evangelists, was writing Apologies, defending the faith in the second century.  Most of what he wrote is lost.  What remains is his Apology, or some of it.  From it, we understand that he mentions the existence of cooperation between the church and the Roman Empire.  One gets the idea that God predestined that the church was formed specifically to flourish during the Constantine era and after, giving rise to the Holy Roman Empire.  Do you want to call this political theology?