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Title: A Once-And-Coming Spirit at Pentecost: Essays on the Liturgical Readings Between Easter and Pentecost, Taken from the Acts of the Apostles and from
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| A Once-And-Coming Spirit at Pentecost: Essays on the Liturgical Readings Between Easter and Pentecost, Taken from the Acts of the Apostles and from by Liturgical Press The early church in action | | Raymond Brown has a firm understanding of the progress of the early church from being predominatly a sect within Judaism to a universal church. He is able to perceive that the rosy colour presented by the author of Acts, is not necesaarily historically true. In combining Acts with the readings fromn John's Gospel for the Easter season he is able to present the reader with many issues that faced ther early church, especially in those thatg eventually resulted in Christians being forced out of the synagogues. | | A Once-And-Coming Spirit at Pentecost: Essays on the Liturgical Readings Between Easter and Pentecost, Taken from the Acts of the Apostles and from by Liturgical Press Material We Don't Often Pay Attention To. (Though We Should.) | | As Christians it is easy to fall into the trap of losing focus on events after the Resurrection of Christ. To be sure, we do have the Sunday of Pentecost. (Descent of the Holy Spirit.) But it is not the mass that Easter is. We also have movies like "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "Jesus of Nazareth" to portray the events of the Gospel. But we have little more than the Bible itself to tell of the events after Jesus ascended into heaven. Father Brown points out that as Christians we should know the Old Testament. Partially because in the Old Testament, the Jews follow God even though he is not physically present. While Moses and some others have the luxury of talking to God, the majority of Jews hear God only through the prophets. And that is essentially the same pattern after Jesus ascends to heaven. Most of us probably remember that Peter was hot headed in the Gospels. And I doubt any Christian ever forgot about how Peter denied Christ 3 times. But what about after Jesus ascended into heaven? How many of us recall that Peter continued Jesus' work? In the Book of Acts, Peter heals the ill and crippled and casts demons out of people. One major thing that Father Brown shows us is that the changes from Judaism to Christianity were not overnight. For some time, the early Christians still observed the Jewish customs. Why not? Jesus himself observed Jewish customs such as the Passover even if he was in the process of changing it. The clashes came because there were Jews who became followers of Christ as well as Gentiles who became followers of Christ. It is interesting that the Jewish authorities DID tolerate Christians for awhile. But tolerance usually has its limits. Eventually, the Gentiles became the better candidates for conversion, and many of the Jewish traits such as circumcision, observation of the Sabbath, and the Kosher laws had to go. To be sure the church leaders Peter, Paul, and James did not always agree on these things. But it was clear that if they tried to maintain the Jewish practices that Christianity would be just a minor break off from Judaism. (Even in religion, we have to some extent know where the market is.) Overall, this is a wonderful book that focuses on material we often neglect. If you like this book by Father Brown, be sure to also check out his "A Crucified Christ In Holy Week." | | A Once-And-Coming Spirit at Pentecost: Essays on the Liturgical Readings Between Easter and Pentecost, Taken from the Acts of the Apostles and from by Liturgical Press A Once and Coming Spirit at Pentecost | | Using the mass readings for the weeks following Easter, Raymond Brown tours Acts (with some detours into Luke and John) to explain the role of the Holy Spirit in the early (and contmeporary) church. Catholics, Protestants and charismatic Christians will all find Brown's combination of theological and devotional insight spiritually nourishing. Not difficult reading. He makes clear much that tends to be confusing. |
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