Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Friday, April 20, 2012

Nat Geo: The Apostles, Part2



Continue from -
Nat Geo: The Apostles, Part 1



SPREADING THE GOSPEL

by National Geographic

The Bible says Jesus named a dozen of his most devoted disciples Apostles, or messengers, choosing a number that paid homage to the 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 Jews preached their new faith across thousands of miles in the first century A.D., changing history. Several early converts—including Matthias, Mary Magdalene, Mark, and Luke—also became apostles. A vision transformed Saul, a persecutor of the early Christians, into Paul. His missionary journeys helped spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean.






MARY MAGDALENE

Mary, from Magdala, followed Jesus after he cured her of “seven demons.” She stayed
near him during the Crucifixion and was the first to see him after his resurrection.

BY DOMENICHINO, ARTE & IMMAGINI SRL/CORBIS




PETER

Jesus gave some disciples a second name; Simon the fisherman was also Peter, the “rock.”
He was the first to invite non-Jews to join the early church.

BY EL GRECO, ERICH LESSING, ART RESOURCE, NY




ANDREW

Persuaded by John the Baptist, Andrew and his brother Peter became Jesus’ first followers.
Andrew later preached in Greece and perhaps Ukraine.

BY EL GRECO, SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NY




JAMES THE GREATER

He was a fisherman with his brother, John, and was beheaded in Jerusalem. Some
believe that he preached in Spain and was buried there.

BY GAROFALO, FINSIEL/ALINARI/ART RESOURCE, NY




JOHN

John and his brother, James, “sons of Zebedee,” were in Jesus’ inner circle. The
fourth Gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation are attributed to John.

BY VALENTIN DE BOULOGNE, RÉUNION DES MUSÉES NATIONAUX/ART RESOURCE, NY




PHILIP

Like nearly all of the Apostles, Philip hailed from Galilee, the region in northern Israel where
Jesus’ ministry was centered. He may have been martyred in Hierapolis.

BY POMPEO GIROLAMO BATONI, ILIFFE COLLECTION/ NATIONAL TRUST PHOTOGRAPHIC LIBRARY/JOHN HAMMOND/BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY




BARTHOLOMEW

Some believe he was Nathanael, who questioned the Messiah’s small-town origin: “Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?” He may have gone to Turkey, India, or Armenia.

BY REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, FRANCIS G. MAYER, CORBIS




THOMAS

Though doubting Thomas needed to touch Jesus’ wounds to be convinced of the
resurrection, he became a fervent missionary who is said to have proselytized in India.

BY EL GRECO, UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/ ART RESOURCE, NY




MATTHEW

Jesus shocked Jewish society by dining with Levi, whose job as a tax collector had made
him an outcast. As an Apostle, Levi was called Matthew and wrote the first Gospel.

BY GUERCINO, HANS-PETER KLUT, BPK, BERLIN/ GEMÄLDEGALERIE ALTE MEISTER, STAATLICHE KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN DRESDEN/ART RESOURCE, NY




JAMES THE LESSER

The Bible reveals little about this James—only that he was a “son of Alphaeus.” Most
scholars think a different James wrote the biblical epistle of that name.

BY GEORGES DE LA TOUR, PHILIPP BERNARD, RÉUNION DES MUSÉES NATIONAUX/ART RESOURCE, NY




THADDAEUS

Several stories connect Thaddaeus, known also as Lebbaeus or Jude, to Persia. According
to Eastern tradition, he converted the city of Edessa after healing its king.

BY ANTHONY VAN DYCK, FRANCIS G. MAYER, CORBIS




SIMON

The Bible calls him Simon the Zealot, perhaps a reference to his political affiliation. Later
accounts depict him as a missionary to Persia, where he was martyred.

BY EL GRECO, ERICH LESSING, ART RESOURCE, NY




JUDAS ISCARIOT

Famous for betrayal, Judas (gold robe) was paid 30 pieces of silver for leading Roman soldiers
to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas later repented and hanged himself.

BY PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE, ERICH LESSING, ART RESOURCE, NY




MATTHIAS

To replace Judas Iscariot, the Apostles chose Matthias, who was a disciple during
Jesus’ ministry. Post biblical lore says he preached in the “land of the cannibals.”

BY ANTHONY VAN DYCK, ELKE ESTEL AND HANS-PETER KLUT, BPK, BERLIN/STAATLICHE KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN DRESDEN/ART RESOURCE, NY




MARK

Also called John, he was mentored by Peter—his likely source for writing the second Gospel -
and traveled with Paul to Antioch. Mark founded the Church of Alexandria.

BY VALENTIN DE BOULOGNE, DANIEL ARNAUDET AND JEAN SCHORMANS, RÉUNION DES MUSÉES NATIONAUX/ART RESOURCE, NY




LUKE

A gentile physician from Antioch who joined Paul’s missions, Luke chronicled the
development of the early church in the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

BY EDWARD MITCHELL BANNISTER, SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, D.C./ART RESOURCE, NY




Paul








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