Books of the Apocrypha

[Resha Caner]

I was never tempted by Buddhism. I experienced the hippies of the late 60s and 70s, and it just made me nauseous. Weirdly enough, though, I have a strong philosophical/mystical streak in me. As a kid I was fascinated by Greek myth. When I dug deeper I found Greek philosophy. That led me to history and into the Byzantine Empire. That was my original intent in getting a history degree - to connect with all of that.

But I had a similar moment of crisis to what you describe. Who was I, as an American Midwesterner, to interpret the history of the eastern Mediterranean? My problem is that while I am American by birth, I feel no loyalty to it. For the most part Americans annoy me. I understand my economic privilege since I've seen 3rd world communities. I appreciate the sacrifices made to protect me, and understand why it is attached to patriotism. But I can't lie about how I feel. My heritage is Scottish, and I was always jealous of the way the Scots love their land - which is weird given how desolate it is. Anyway, I finally found something I could connect with in Confessional Lutheranism.

 

[FireDragon76]

One noteworthy thing about the ELCA that might be pertinent is that it does have at least one parish that use an eastern rite similar to the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, mostly for Ukrainian immigrants, in Arizona.

This also looks interesting. I'm familiar with Rev. Justin Cannon, who seems to be a lot of the impetus behind the movement. But it also seems to involve a lot of people that are simply interested in Eastern Christian spirituality but not necessarily in the EO ecclesiology:
http://www.easternanglicanism.org/

 

[FireDragon76]

RC, this article might be interesting for you to read, esp. as you were hinting at the quietistic tendencies regarding vocation:

http://thedaystarjournal.com/quietism-in-missouri/

"Ours is a purpose-driven life because it is a promise-driven life." - that's a really great quote.

 

[Resha Caner]

RC, this article might be interesting for you to read, esp. as you were hinting at the quietistic tendencies regarding vocation:

http://discovermagazine.typepad.com/
horganism/2007/01/
in_his_patworth.html

"Ours is a purpose-driven life because it is a promise-driven life." - that's a really great quote.

I must have the link wrong. I got something about Francis Collins & fatalism.

 

[FireDragon76]

Sorry about that:

http://thedaystarjournal.com/quietism-in-missouri/

 

[Shibolet]

While I haven't shared this yet, I am currently a seminarian pursuing ordination. So because of this, this semester I'm taking a Confessions class. I noticed something interesting. While the confessions speak about the authority of the Old and New testaments, they also do not define them as some other confessions do. So I was wondering, what is your take on the place of the Apocrypha? Are these books to be counted as part of the Old Testament? What value if any do they have if the answer is no?

My opinion is that the Apocrypha ought to be left in the Tanach because of the Historicity, especially of the books of the Maccabees as they for instance help to understand the prophecy of the 70 years the Jews spent in Babylon.