The Mind of the Early Church

What is the whole point of Christianity? It is to become the images and likenesses of Christ. How does this relate to the self? We become authentic human beings when we find our meaning into growing into the image and likeness of Christ. You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on Facebook by clicking here: goo.gl/tXwi7i Mus...

What is the human being? Modernity has had a very difficult time trying to answer that question. Ancient mythology and philosophy all had something to say about the nature of the human being. The early Church also had a teaching on what it means to be human. Further, this is brought into focus because the Son of God became human. The early Church's understanding of the human being also bears on th...

How do we approach the writings of the early Church as exemplified in the Church Fathers? This question is the starting point of gaining the ability to read the Church Fathers. Without having a clear answer to this question, we can never truly benefit from their writings. You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on Facebook...

The early Church identified three motivations people had when approaching God. They called these motivations by the names of Slave, Servant, and Son. Each one of these motivations had certain psychological characteristics and ways of thinking. The Church considered the motivation of fear in approaching God to be an approach to God in faith, but one that was less desirable than the motivation of lo...

What does it mean to read? While the question may seem to have a very simple answer, it is a lot more complicated. How we understand the act of reading can affect how we read the Bible or the writings of the early Church. The Church Fathers themselves had an idea of what it means to read and how this affects our spiritual development. Their idea also engages rigorously with the best modern theorie...

This is the first episode of "The Mind of the Early Church" podcast. This episode considers the question whether the early Church is outdated. It identifies several areas where the early Church's spirituality and insights can deepen our lives today. You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on Facebook by clicking here: goo.g...

Continuing from where we left off in Part I, Part II explores the spirituality of the mind in the Bible. In both the Old and the New Testaments, God engaged the mind to think. In the New Testament both our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles utilized reasoning to preach the Gospel. This also continued in the early Church. This is an audio version of my article, "The Spirituality of the Mind Part II...

When the word "reason" is mentioned in religious contexts, it is usually pitted against faith. Yet, early Christians understood that the mind had an active role in understanding God and the Christian faith. It also had an active role in living the virtuous life. This is an audio version of my article, "The Spirituality of the Mind Part I: Rationality and Spirituality." The written version can be f...

There are many misconceptions about the role of the Church Fathers and the writings of the early Church in Orthodox Christianity. I consider the different types of attitudes to approaching the Church Fathers, and how we can spiritually benefit by reading them and developing the mindset of the early Church that they exemplified. This is an audio version of my article, "Patrolatry vs The Mind of the...

The Saints are often misunderstood today both by Protestant Christians and by Apostolic Christians. Yet, their meaning is to be found within our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. They demonstrate His continuing work on earth in a most concrete way. You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on Facebook by clicking here...

There are ingrained false dilemmas (faith vs knowledge; humility vs intelligence) that create pastoral problems in our churches when it comes to developing the spiritual lives of our members. This does not have to be the case. This is an audio version of my article, "The Spirituality of Education and Experience." The written version can be found at www.danielhannawriter.com/the-spirituality-of-edu...

Orthodox Christianity has a distinct character. Salvation is understood as a healing and not as a release from a criminal sentence. Prayer is understood to be a lifting of the heart to be in God and not just petitions. Therefore, many different types of activities can become prayer even such as reflecting or writing a book. These things are not a matter of style, but they are the ethos of Orthodox...

This audio version covers the analogy of milk and solid food to describe the spiritual condition in the New Testament. It then considers the right application for using this analogy for pastoral purposes. This is an audio version of my article, "Milk and Solid Food." The written version can be found at www.danielhannawriter.com/milk-and-solid-food You can follow me to get updates by by signing up...

This is a comparison of the modern Christian understanding of the work of Christ with the ancient Christian understanding of the work of Christ. These understandings are not simply differences, but they are two systems of thought. This is an audio version of my article, "Two Ways to Look At the Work of Christ." The written version can be found at www.danielhannawriter.com/two-ways-to-look-at-the-w...

Most of us think that context is made up of the words that come before and after the verse we are reading. That is only a very small part of it. Context is much more complex than that, and without a good understanding of it, we can never hope to be able to read and understand the Bible adequately, much less teach it. Yet, there is good news: we can build context to help us understand the Bible. Th...

God's relationship to history has always been a focus in Christian theology. But what does that mean for us? How can that be applied to our spiritual lives? This is an audio version of my article, "The Lord of History Part I: The Father." The written version can be found at www.danielhannawriter.com/the-lord-of-history-part-i-the-father You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my maili...

What role does reflection have in Christianity? How can we practice it? Which parts of the Bible can help us reflect the most? This is an audio version of my article, "Christian Reflection." The written version can be found at http://www.danielhannawriter.com/christian-reflection/ You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on...