Heliocentrism as Promotion

In what might be one of the best books I’ve ever read, Remi Brague assembles a number of excellent essays regarding the political and intellectual world of the middle ages.  One chapter takes on the supposed psychological effects of the fall of geocentrism, and in it, Brague proceeds to “beat down a door that stands wide open.”  Far from the “central” position of the earth making man the focal point of all things, it demeaned him.  Every pious soul wanted to be, not in the center (between heaven and hell, mind you), but up!  For the earth to actually have been among the heavenly bodies would have been a great compliment.

Brague marshals an array of quotes from pagan, Jewish, and Christian philosophers making this point, but then he finishes the whole thing off with the big dawg himself, Galileo:

As for the earth, we seek rather to ennoble and perfect it when we strive to make it like the celestial bodies, and, as it were, place it in heaven, from which your philosophers have banished it.

~The Legend of the Middle Ages, 219

So once again we are reminded not to draw historical talking point for contemporary political polemics without taking great care.

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Resurrection Sunday School

My class on the resurrection is online now.  There was a small blip in the recording, and so at the beginning a piece is missing.  This part dealt with Old Testament passages about the resurrection which are important, and so I will post these on the blog.

More Temple Audio

My third Sunday School is online now.  The series is as much about the temple as “heaven,” but that was the secret point all along.  I think this installment has the most stuff all in one place, though I may have said one or two things that are a bit off.  I always catch stuff after it is enshrined for all the world to see.  Oh well.

Enjoy.

The Tabernacle and Heaven

My second Sunday School class is up.  I had way too much material for the time allotted, and so I suspect I will be saying more about the tabernacle and the temple next week.

1st Heaven Sunday School

The first class in my heaven series is now online for download.  I will be giving the second part tomorrow, with the class consisting of a total of five parts.

Heaven

I’m beginning a study on heaven that will serve as a five-part Sunday School series at my church.  The general outline so far is this:

Class 1: An Introduction to Heaven and Its Place on Earth (With Apologies to Belinda Carlisle!)
Class 2: The Temple: Gateway to God
Class 3: New Covenant and New Temple
Class 4: The Resurrection of the Body
Class 5: Heavenly Questions and Earthly Answers

I will be interacting with the popular works by N T Wright and Randy Alcorn (surprisingly good!) on this topic, as well as C S Lewis’s The Great Divorce. I’ve also got some great stuff by Bruce Chilton, Jacob Nuesnar, Margaret Barker, Gregory Beale, Jon Levenson, and Crispin Fletcher-Louis that I plan on including.  I’m excited about it.

Audio should be up on the church’s website a few days after each Sunday, and I will post links and maybe outlines to go along with them.