In which we we find out how we know all this ancient history

March 11, 2011

I just got done telling a story yesterday – historical fiction about a family from 2000 years ago. Anybody wonder how I could speak with such certainty of how things would had have played out? With Philippi it’s really easy. It’s all in the Philippian P.R. In this city where social rank meant everything, everybody […]

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In which the trouble in Philippi has a happy ending

March 10, 2011

  As we left off things were horrible – and getting worse – and the ending – no matter which one of many – was very sad. When we last saw our Philippian carpenter his hands were useless, his family homeless, and penniless, and things were on the verge of actually really getting bad… just […]

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The trouble with Philippi (pt7)

March 9, 2011

As we left off, the carpenter and his son have been thrown in Paul’s old jail cell. Luckily the jailer is a member of the church – and their treatment is better than it could be. If you missed any – this is part of a larger series on the city of Philippi. But this […]

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The trouble with Philippi – the tour continues (p6)

March 8, 2011

We’ve been following Paul’s footsteps as he first met the city of Philippi. First we hiked our way to town and, then we “oohed” and “ahhed” at the theater inside. (here) Then we took a quick look about at the surroundings (here) and soon headed into the slums – where almost all of our future […]

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“The Trouble with the Philippians” the city tour continues (pt5)

March 7, 2011

The last couple of posts have been about how Roman society was extremely top heavy and that ALL of the power was in the hands of  3% of the population – the “elite”. This meant that 97% of the people had to bow at the feet of the of the elite just to keep a […]

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In which the tour of Philippi continues – and status is everything (pt4)

March 4, 2011

I wrote yesterday, on the twin site of Deep into Scripture, about the rules of success in the world. We live in a status driven country – in a status driven world – but not nearly as status driven as Philippi. In Philippi, who you were, and exactly what your level was in society, was […]

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In which we take a closer look at “home” in Philippi

March 3, 2011

So far we’ve trekked across Greece (here), entered the city gates of Philippi (here), and we began a look at the tenements (here).  I want to stay here a little more today because this was how our Philippian brothers and sisters lived. We know everyone was cramped in the apartments like cans on a grocery […]

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In which a frisky lamb frolics through time (pt3)

March 2, 2011

Time and eternity, eggheady stuff that makes me dance around joyfully like a frisky little lamb. I get giddy And today we can blame Ann Voskamp again for making me write crazy stuff. She said to explore time. She let the frisky lamb into the China shop. I’m linking today with… Two weeks ago I […]

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In which are the insulai of Philippi

March 1, 2011

Until I was 10 I lived in Brooklyn. We lived in a brownstone apartment like everybody else. The apartments lined the streets wall to wall. Some had pizza parlors on the 1st floor, or a vegetable store, a butcher, or some other shop. But above them – all apartments. Each city block was a rectangle […]

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In which is a walk-through of Philippi

February 28, 2011

Last time we stepped inside the gates of Philippi for the first time. I figured we’d need a map for the walk through. So here’s one I’ve been working on. If you click on it it gets bigger. It’s a topographical map – so those lines you see? That’s a very steep hill. You can […]

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