Where did the three ‘Wise Men’ that presented gifts to baby Jesus come from? And after, to where did they return? We can’t of course be sure of an answer, or even of their definite identities. The Biblical account in Matthew 2:1 says that “when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days… Read More Where did the Wise Men come from? And go back to?
What does it mean for Christianity to ‘Triumph’? As seen in the photo, this is the title of one of Rodney Stark’s books, The Triumph of Christianity. Actually I’m not taking aim at this historian or even this book. Rodney Stark has had a distinguished career as a sociologist/historian, the last many years at Baylor University… Read More What Does the ‘Triumph’ of Christianity Really Mean?
It has been often taught that the first Universities were in Europe, and particularly so when it comes to “Christian” ones. But this must be re-evaluated when considering that there were several centers of learning in Asia centuries before Oxford, Bologna, Paris and others existed. In my blog post The First Universities were in Asia, not… Read More Nisibis in the 5th Century: First Christian University in History
Where exactly did St. Thomas go on his journey from Jerusalem? Did he go by land or sea? Did he go east more than once? Did he indeed make it to India, or even as some believe, to China? And the specific question I’m asking in this post, did he visit the First century educational… Read More Did St. Thomas visit the University of Taxila in the First Century?
Many of us have heard that the first universities were in Europe, growing often out of monastic education. The second part only is accurate. Actually the first universities, or centers of learning, were in Asia. They were in places like Taxila in what is now Pakistan, Nalanda in Eastern India (ruins are in the photo… Read More The First Universities were in Asia, not Europe
Wondering what my favorite movie is? Not interested? I’ll tell you anyway. It’s Gladiator, the Oscar-winning blockbuster starring Russell Crowe as a Roman General in 180 A.D. He serves loyally the Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, but runs afoul of the wicked son and becomes a slave and gladiator. I’ve seen it many times, as recently as… Read More An ‘Imperial’ View of History
It is the first few days of Ramadan, the month of fasting that Muslims all over the world are participating in. As an act of love, faith and hope, an estimated one million Christians are praying for their Muslim friends and neighbours during these same 30 days. What is not often considered is that those… Read More Praying Not Only For Muslims But With Them
Some years ago in Delhi, India, I listened to a Muslim friend describing how he had only seen his wife-to-be through a veil before the wedding night. He had also shared only a few words with her. In a minority culture of Northwest China as pictured in the scene above, the bridegroom uses a stick… Read More Do You Have a Flawed View of History?
Peter Frankopan and the Sogdians? Sounds like an Indie music group that would appear at international music festivals in places like Coachella, Croatia, and the Isle of Wight. Wrong. Peter Frankopan is an Oxford-based researcher who wrote in 2015 perhaps the most comprehensive book to date on trade routes in Asia, titled The Silk Roads:… Read More Peter Frankopan and the Sogdians
Have you reached for your smartphone in the last six and a half minutes? In my last post on Isaac the Qatari, I wrote that according to one study, people are checking their phones over 150 times a day! I ended the post reaching for my own phone once again. Much of the earth is… Read More The Antidote to 24/7 Connectivity: Isaac the Qatari, Part 2
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