<![CDATA[Ed Smither's Page:<br />Reflections on History, Theology, and Culture - Blog]]>Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:07:28 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[The end of summer]]>Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:05:13 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/08/the-end-of-summer.html
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This picture of my son standing in front of a crashing wave at Hatteras (OBX) is one of my favorites. While attempting to take a normal picture of him at the surf, this wave happened to crash into our picture. I'll take it. Yet, just as quickly as that wave broke, another summer has passed. This was confirmed when I took my two oldest to school this morning and they marched into class and immediately got to work. We had a great and full summer. For me, some of the highlights included:

- Making our annual pilgrimage to Hatteras Island (even though the entire family had a stomach bug for half of the week).
- Brennan and I camping out for the first time at the Peaks of Otter (though we forgot bug spray and other key camping essentials).
- Watching July 4 fireworks near the Lynchburg Hillcats stadium (we were running behind and didn't quite make it to the stadium).
- Taking Brennan and Emma to inner city Charleston, WV to serve in an outreach of communicating the Gospel and offering backpacks and school supplies to those in need.
- Teaching a PhD seminar on the Latin Church Fathers at Liberty.
- Finishing my PhD dissertation on Brazilian missions for the University of Pretoria.
- Doing initial research and writing for a proposed book on missions in the early church.
- Celebrating my 39th birthday with Shawn, Brennan, Emma, and Evie,eating Middle Eastern food and swimming.
- Biking 10-12 miles most mornings and then riding a couple more with Brennan and Emma.
- Lots of swimming.

It's been a full summer. It's been fun. And now it's over. As I reflect on the end of summer and beginning of a new school year, I am reminded of God's unchanging nature and His faithfulness. Consider the perspective in Moses' prayer in Psalm 90:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
]]><![CDATA[Coming to faith in the early church: the case of Augustine]]>Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:04:06 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/06/coming-to-faith-in-the-early-church-the-case-of-augustine1.htmlThe following is an excerpt from my article, “Learning from Patristic Evangelism and Discipleship,” in Paul Hartog, ed., The Contemporary Church and the Early Church, (pp. 27-49).

In the eighth book of his Confessions (c. 397), Augustine shares one of the most stirring conversion accounts in the early church period. The final stage of his conversion experience includes several intriguing features. First, he vividly relates the psychological and emotional battle that went on within him in the garden near Milan.[1] He writes: “When I was making up my mind to serve the Lord my God . . . I was the one who wanted to follow that course, and I was the one who wanted not to.”[2] Secondly, up until the very end of the garden experience, Augustine was in the company of his friend Alypius; so, the spiritual struggle was not an individual one.[3] In fact, immediately after confessing Christ, Augustine went inside and told his mother what happened.[4] Finally, from the famous “pick it up and read” (tolle lege) narrative, we learn that Scripture—in this case Paul’s letters—played a central role leading up to and encompassing the moment of Augustine’s conversion experience.[5]

In recounting his conversion story in Confessions, Augustine also narrates the faith stories of four other converts. These were testimonies that clearly encouraged him on his journey to faith that Augustine in turn uses to influence his readers toward the Gospel. He begins by declaring that he will “not pass over in silence” how Simplicianus (d. 400) told him the conversion story of the philosopher and rhetor, Marius Victorinus (b. 300).[6] Victorinus, who had been a pagan, became convinced of the Gospel’s veracity through reading the Scriptures. Simplicianus, who personally witnessed to Victorinus, urged him to forsake his public reputation and declare his faith in the context of the church. As a result, he enrolled as a catechumen, was baptized, and publicly confessed his faith before the church assembly.[7]

Augustine interpreted Simplicianus’ intentions for telling the story by writing: “I was fired to imitate Victorinus; indeed it was to this end that your servant Simplicianus had related it.”[8] Indeed, Augustine had much in common with Victorinus, as both men were interested in philosophy, were on a similar career path, had concerns about their public reputation, and had an interest in the Christian Scriptures. Hence, Augustine was encouraged to pursue Christian faith because Victorinus had.[9]

In the middle of Simplicianus’ narrative, including Augustine’s take on Simplicianus’ motives, Augustine pauses and offers a prayerful commentary that seems very much intended for his own readers: “Come, Lord, arouse us and call us back, kindle us and seize us, prove to us how sweet you are in your burning tenderness; let us love you and run to you. Are there not many who return to you from a deeper, blinder pit than did Victorinus, many who draw near to you and are illumined as they become children of God?[10]Could it be that Augustine was also reaching out to his philosophically minded, career-oriented readers who could relate to both Victorinus and Augustine?

In the very next passage, Augustine tells of a visit from Ponticianus, a Roman functionary, who told Augustine and Alypius about the Egyptian monk Antony (c. 251–356). While recounting Antony’s call to the ascetic life, Ponticianus also related the story of two Roman officials from Trier, who after reading Athanasius’ Life of Antony, resigned from their posts in order to pursue an ascetic lifestyle. Augustine, intrigued by the accounts, wrote: “even while he [Ponticianus] spoke, you [God] were wrenching me back toward myself . . . that I might perceive my sin and hate it.”[11]

Ponticianus’ account connected with Augustine for a number of reasons. First, there was probably a cultural connection because Ponticianus was an African who was telling the faith story of another African (Antony) to two other Africans (Augustine and Alypius) in Milan.[12] Second, Antony’s conversion to an ascetic lifestyle—as well as the similar conversion of the officials from Trier—was meaningful for Augustine because one of his biggest obstacles to faith was sexual immorality. In fact, Augustine introduced the entire Ponticianus encounter with this prayerful commentary: “Now I will relate how you set me free from a craving for sexual gratification.”[13] Third, Augustine, who had been quite infatuated with career ambitions, identified with the two officials who set aside their careers for the sake of the Gospel. At the conclusion of his conversion account, Augustine testified that he was “no longer . . . entertaining any worldly hope.”[14] As a result, he also resigned from his imperial post before moving back to Africa to pursue a monastic lifestyle.[15]

While his account of Simplicianus’ story of Marius Victorinus impacted some readers, Augustine’s narrative of Ponticianus telling the story of Antony and the two officials probably reached others with the Gospel. Surely, there were those whose career ambitions were poisoning their spiritual lives, while others struggled like Augustine with sexual immorality. Perhaps Augustine’s African readers were especially attracted to the African angle of Ponticianus’ story. Hence, the example of Antony, the two officials, and now Augustine provided models for imitation.

Augustine’s testimony in Confessions is one of the most celebrated conversion accounts from the early church. Moreover, by narrating faith stories within his own faith story, Augustine does seem to have an evangelistic purpose for his late fourth- and early fifth-century readers, who could probably identify with at least one of the characters mentioned in Augustine’s narrative.

[1] Augustine, Confessions 8.8.19–12.29.

[2] Augustine, Confessions 8.10.22; all English translations will be from Boulding, St. Augustine’s Confessions.

[3] Augustine, Confessions 8.8.19; 8.11.27; 8.12.29.

[4] Augustine, Confessions 8.12.30.

[5] Augustine, Confessions 8.12.29.

[6] Augustine, Confessions 8.2.3.

[7] Augustine, Confessions 8.2.3–5.

[8] Augustine, Confessions 8.5.10.

[9] For a helpful discussion on parallels between the conversion experiences of Victorinus and Augustine, especially regarding the relationship between humility and baptism in both men’s spiritual journeys, see Alexander, Augustine’s Early Theology of the Church, 67–79.

[10] Augustine, Confessions 8.4.9.

[11] Augustine, Confessions 8.7.17.

[12] Augustine, Confessions 8.6.14.

[13] Augustine, Confessions 8.6.13.

[14] Augustine, Confessions 8.12.30.

[15] Augustine, Confessions 9.2.2.]]><![CDATA[Review: How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind]]>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:39:34 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/04/review-how-africa-shaped-the-christian-mind.html
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Where would Christian theology be without the contributions of Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius and Augustine? What is often overlooked in historical theology is that these church fathers were all African. Thomas Oden has done a great service to students of history and theology in his recent work How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity (Intervarsity, 2008). My review of Oden's book, first published in the Criswell Theological Review, can be accessed here.
]]><![CDATA[Remembering Perpetua and Felicitas]]>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:15:33 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/03/remembering-perpetua-and-felicitas.html
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As March 17 or St. Patrick's Day (his feast day on the Catholic and Anglican church calendars) is quickly approaching, I am reminded of March 7--St. Perpetua and Felicitas Day. Remember them?

In 202, the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus--the first emperor of African origin--issued an edict banning conversion to Judaism and Christianity. Some months later in Carthage, three young men and two women (Perpetua and Felicitas) were arrested because they had embraced Christianity. Perpetua was a noblewoman from a well known family in Carthage while Felicitas was her servant. At the time of their arrest, Perpetua was nursing an infant while Felicitas gave birth to her baby in prison. Though they were from different social classes, they were both young mothers, young Christians, and both equally condemned by the State because of their faith.

In her diary, Perpetua describes her appearance in court before the governor of Carthage who attempts to persuade her to offer sacrifices to the emperor and deny her Christian faith:

Hilarianus the governor . . . said to me, "Have pity on your father's gray head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the emperors."  "I will not," I retorted. "Are you a Christian?" said Hilarianus. and I said, "Yes, I am." Then Hilarianus passed sentence on all of us: we were condemned to the beasts, and we returned to prison in high spirits (Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, 2.2). 

On March 7, 203, the young Christians were killed by wild beasts in the Carthage Amphitheatre (see photo). As the women were stripped of their clothes, it became apparent to the crowd that they were nursing mothers; so they demanded that the women be reclothed. However, the mob did not demand that the women be set free. A red heifer was set loose in the arena and quickly mauled them to death.

Through the testimony of Perpetua and Felicitas and their friends, we can better understand the statement of another African Christian, Tertullian of Carthage, who just a few years prior penned the famous words, "The blood of the martyrs is seed [for the Christians]" (Tertullian, Apology, 50).

Though March 17 is coming soon, let us not quickly forget March 7 and the conviction of faith of Perpetua, Felicitas, and their friends. To read the complete story of their suffering (probably edited by Tertullian), click here.
]]><![CDATA[Review: Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society]]>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:28:16 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/03/review-wealth-and-poverty-in-early-church-and-society.html
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I reviewed this excellent and stimulating book of essays for the Journal of Early Christian Studies. To read my review, click here.
]]><![CDATA[A New Book: The Contemporary Church and the Early Church]]>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:57:50 -0800http://www.edsmither.com/2/post/2010/02/a-new-book-the-contemporary-church-and-the-early-church.html
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I am happy to share that a new book, The Contemporary Church and the Early Church has been published. Here's a brief description: 

As "evangelicals" face future challenges, many are turning back to the ancient church for inspiration. But these ancient-future approaches remain diverse and sometimes even at odds with one another. This volume demonstrates and analyzes the complexity of such contemporary church-early church engagements. Six scholars share diverse insights from the Patristic period, including lessons on evangelism and discipleship, community formation and maintenance, use of the "rule of faith," the preaching of social ethics, responses to cultural opposition, and Christological development. The volume closes with two critical responses, from confessional Lutheran and Baptist perspectives. These collected essays will remind contemporary readers of the importance of a reflective and responsible ressourcement of Patristic wisdom.

I had the privilege to write chapter 2, "Learning from Patristic Evangelism and Discipleship," in which I consider some forms of early church evangelism (public preaching, personal testimonies, martyrdom) as well as some values for proclaiming the Good News (holistic ministry, Christians being integrated members of society, suffering). Regarding discipleship, I look briefly at how catechesis (pre-baptismal instruction) and monasteries served as teaching strategies. Following these reflections, some points of recovery for the modern church are offered.

To learn more about or purchase The Contemporary Church and the Early Church, click here.
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