ANCILLARY READING, RESEARCH

These are records of the items I looked up either at the direction of the author (Sheed is quite good about this!) or just because I didn't understand the context or the background necessary to appreciate a passage fully.  Like most things I endeavor, however, as you'll see, this grew from merely recording scripture passages that I looked up, to full-blown observations based on items I was reading at the time.  When the items become analyses and not just records, I placed them in the page titled "OBSERVATIONS."

1.    Is 26:19

2.    Ezek 37: 1-4

3.    Daniel 12:2-3

4.    Mac 7:9

5.    Psalms 110, 8

6.    Thais, by Menander:  An early hedonist.

7.    St. Fulgentius, On the Faith, I bought the text, have it in my Google Library.

8.    Gen 2:7

9.    Is 25:8

10.  Hosea 13:14

11.  Stephanas, Fortunata, Achaicus

12.  Aquila, Prisca

13.  Didache 10, 6

14.  Ezekiel (biography, etc.)

15.  Tertullian:  History, Moses gives us law and consequences; Christ gives life, morality, and offers         help to follow Him.

16.  St. Ephrem (Ephraim)

17.  Origen:  Hermeneutics; the OT is literal; filled with types waiting to be fulfilled by Christ's spirit.        The NT is full of LIFE, and was foretold by the OT.

18.  Arianism:  Denied Christ's consubstantiality with the Father.

19.  St. Athanasius:  (b. 296-298)  Expert on incarnation; Alexandrian, promoted the Divinity of                Christ.

20.  St. Basil:  Major proponent of the Nicene Creed; early developer of Christian Monasticism; one          of the "Cappadocian Fathers"; Doctor of the Church; his spiritual awakening was in some ways          similar to that of St. Augustine--embedded in the world (classical literature, law, rhetoric,                    oratory)--then awoke to see this was ephemeral, worthless--literally; his Rule was more moderate        than most of those at his time, and it influenced Benedict.

21.  Romans 3:8:  I was reminded of an early heresy wherein adherents would intentionally sin as              much as possible, because in their thinking, the greater the sin, the greater the grace is required to        overcome that sin.

                Heresies:  In general.

                Jansenism in particular:  This heresy involved an emphasis on original sin, human depravity, predestination, divine grace.  Jesuits, especially, attacked Jansenius as a near-Calvinist.  They saw him as nearly heretical because his teaching diminishes the role of free will in the "acceptance and use of grace."  (Wiki)

22.  Romans 4:2--John Chrysostom, Saint:  Archbishop of Constantinople, Church Father, asceticism, Sept. 13, wrote against "the Judaizers"; Wikipedia entry [salt, large grain], claims that St. Chrysostom's writings may have been the impetus behimd "periodic bouts of Christian anti-Semitism" [but, remember, whenever Paul came to a new community, he first approached the Jewish leaders, and focussed his preaching in the synagogues.  Also, Paul's was not an anti-Jewish message, rather, he stood strong against the Jews who attacked the early Christian communities, NEVER Jews in general.]  Chrysostom was a hermit, and a severe ascetic--he STOOD for almost two years, 375-377, almost never slept, and memorized the Bible; this resulted in lifelong poor health; he was an eloquent speaker; he died in exile for speaking out against the financially wasteful ways of (among others) Eudoxia, the wife of Eastern Emperor Artcadius.  

I read Chrysostom's Homilies on Romans 8 and cannot believe what a prolific writer he was!  His writing is tough to slog through, however.  Speaks of justification, faith, works, and grace.