“At the heart of early Christian worship was table fellowship. Throughout the first three centuries Christian communities gathered once a week for a meal. Across time these communities moved from an early model, which Tertullian called “our small feasts,” to… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“According to Tertullian, impatient actions do not produce what they promise. Instead, impatient actions make things worse, bringing about massive misfortunes. “Now, nothing undertaken through impatience can be transacted without violence, and everything done with violence has either met with… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“This, the Christians believed, was God’s work and not theirs. So they did not engage in frantic action to save those who were not… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“An unmixed marriage, Christian with Christian—this according to Tertullian enabled believers to live life in its fullness. This is not what we expect from the ascetic Tertullian, who said harsh things about marriage. 66 But here it is—Tertullian celebrating the knitting together of “two who are one,” who together serve the same Master. Nothing divides them. And together they are… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“At the heart of early Christian worship was table fellowship. Throughout the first three centuries Christian communities gathered once a week for a meal. Across time these communities moved from an early model, which Tertullian called “our small feasts,” to a later model, which Origen called a “great feast.” 3 I call these models the “evening banquet” and the “morning… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“Does my subjectivity shape the book? Of course it does, and that dynamic can be bad or good, or both! For example, in reading the early Christian writers closely I have been astonished to discover the widespread presence of the theme of peace in the life and mission of the church. And I have asked myself: Why have others not… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“According to Tertullian, impatient actions do not produce what they promise. Instead, impatient actions make things worse, bringing about massive misfortunes. “Now, nothing undertaken through impatience can be transacted without violence, and everything done with violence has either met with no success or has collapsed or has plunged to its own destruction.” 57 Patience, on the other hand, brings new… — Alan Kreider Copy Share
“The Christians’ focus was not on “saving” people or recruiting them; it was on living faithfully—in the belief that when people’s lives are rehabituated… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“When people seek to follow Christ, according to Origen, God forms them into people who embody this patience. Christ’s followers are not in a… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“Origen was most articulate about this struggle. “For you who are redeemed by Christ,” he challenged believers in Caesarea, “a physical sword has been… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“So, in our imaginative scenario, Constantine the Christian decided to adopt a policy of mission true to the early Christians’ tradition of patience: Regarding… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“We can hear the catechist intoning precept 26: “That it is of small account to be baptized and to receive the eucharist unless you… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“As Tertullian put it around AD 200, “Christians are made, not born.” 4” — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“In all their activities Christians are “filled with joy uttering and doing the precepts of the Lord,” teaching their children never to lose hold… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
