Stuff they don’t talk about in Sunday School
October 12th, 2008 — Archeology, Early Christian History, Geography, Israel, Judaism, Mormon, Movie/Book Reviews, Multi-Faith, Muslim, Old Testament
I just finished a book called “DNA & Tradition”, by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman. The book discusses evidence of Hebrew DNA, and talks about the science and religion of Judaism. As part of the discussion, I learned these interesting facts.
The oldest diaspora communities are in Assyria, later conquered by Babylonia (now modern-day Iraq) and Persia (now modern day Iran). They have been there for 2000-2500 years.
September 25th, 2008 — Christian, Culture, DNA, History, Islam, Judaism, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Muslim, Race, Science
Ok, I will confess that I love learning about the Middle East. I love learning more about Jews, Muslims, Arabs, etc. I have so much to learn.
I’m a grad student working on some genetic studies (one of my many jobs). As part of the genetic study we are doing, we have our study participants tell us their race. In medical studies, different treatments can affect different races quite dramatically.
July 20th, 2008 — Catholic, Christian, Early Christian History, Geography, History, Islam, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Muslim
As I mentioned before, I have been learning about Ancient and Medieval Church history from the Covenant Theological Seminary. What has been so interesting to me is that Turkey is a real center for Christianity.
Paul spoke to the Ephesians in Ephesus (and his letter is in our bible now.) He also travelled to many other cities such as Perge, Derbe, Lystra, Antioch. John died in Ephesus. Peter built the first Christian church there in Antioch. Philip lived in Heirapolis, and was killed with him family there.
February 16th, 2008 — Islam, Judaism, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Muslim, Old Testament, Scripture, Theology
I was reading an article in Time Magazine a while back about how Abraham is a central figure in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. I was intrigued to learn that the article states, “The Koran includes scenes from Abraham’s childhood in which he chides his father for believing in idols and survives, Daniel-like, in a fiery furnace to which he is condemned for his fealty to Allah.” As I recall, the print version of the magazine had additional information on Abraham and Islam, including more details of this story.
To me, this sounds very similar to the account in the Pearl of Great Price. Is it possible, that Joseph translated a Muslim text? I find no accounts of this in the Bible, and I am not aware of any apocryphal writings about this story. Is anyone out there familiar with this? Are there other parallels with Islam, or is the story found elsewhere?
