When I retired I began traveling and writing. Travel has focused on the way Christianity moved into the Roman Empire, especially during the two centuries between 100 and 300. This focus required me to understand, as best I could, the religious life of the Roman Empire. In other words, I had to develop a deep understanding of classical mythology. I also had to pay attention to Greek and Roman philosophy.
In my travels I have given most of my attention to archaeological museums where I have spent many serious hours and taken thousands of photographs for later study. What’s the point? For example, when one visits many museums and finds that each of them has many ancient artifacts related to the worship of the god known as Dionysus or Bacchus or Lieber, one comes to understand how truly significant this religion was. Likewise one finds many votive items dedicated to Hercules or Herakles. This leads one to ask if or how these religions were recognized in the New Testament and in the Early Church Fathers. I have come up with some ideas about this.
Of course, it was not sufficient to simply look at the years between 100 and 300. The New Testament is critical, as is the early Christian understanding of the Hebrew Scripture (commonly known as the Old Testament). Likewise, writings from the Early Middle Ages (such as the writings of St. Augustine) are very important, because these authors give us an insight into what came before them.
The fruit of this labor has been in the form of books, mostly self-published through CreateSpace, a service which has been replaced by KindleDirect. More recently one of my books has been published by Wipf & Stock. All are available through Amazon.com.
In addition to books about early Christianity, I have written some books for pastors and for devotional study.
You can find out about my books by clicking the "Books" tab.
I have attempted to write all of my books in “ordinary language.”
In the blog you will find musings about early Christianity in the Roman Empire. I hope you enjoy these pictures and short essays.