New Testament: Gospels – Episodes 28 to 31

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

Christ-Samaritan womanatwell-Ravenna-6th C

Hoping to get the revisions to New Testament: Gospels online before Christmas (and even more hopefully before Thanksgiving), I’ve accelerated the schedule of uploads.  For the week of October 27th there are four new episodes.  Episode Twenty-eight is focused on how the followers of John the Baptist became followers of Jesus Christ; the calling of the two pair of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John; and the dramatic conclusion of Chapter 1.  Episode Twenty-nine is the first of seven episodes focused on the “I Am” declarations, beginning with Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well of Jacob, with St. Photina as the first to whom Jesus reveals Himself as Messiah.  Episode Thirty continues with two more “I Am” declarations, the first calming the Disciples at sea and the second being Part 1 of 2 on “I Am the Bread of Life.”  Episode Thirty-one continues the story with Part 2 of 2 of the “I Am the Bread of Life,” plus “I Am the Living Bread,” and Part 1 of 2 in “I Am the Light of the World.”

It is always hard to decide upon a feature image for a multi-episode release.  I have chosen a 1st Quarter, 6th C. A.D. Byzantine-style mosaic of St. Photina and Jesus at the Well of Jacob, one of 13 mosaics in the upper tier in the left wall of the Nave at the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.  The figure in white is not identified.    Among the professional photographs of the Basilica I could not find a higher resolution version of this image.  Because it is so high up on the wall, it is very hard to photograph without distortion.  The image here is from Wikipedia Commons.  In the video I explain the meaning of St. Photina’s name, her family history, and the traditional story of her death as a martyr.   I also explain why this encounter and the first one in Episode Thirty is presented as an “I Am” declaration.  Among other details I encountered is the tradition that the well-head from this story was bought by a Byzantine emperor and was installed and still exists beneath the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey.

Watch Episode Twenty-eight      Listen to the Podcast of Episode Twenty-eight.

Watch Episode Twenty-nine.      Listen to the Podcast of Episode Twenty-nine.

Watch Episode Thirty.      Listen to the Podcast of Episode Thirty.

Watch Episode Thirty-one.      Listen to the Podcast of Episode Thirty-one.

I have recorded and edited into video format (and made the companion MP3 podcasts) for Episode Thirty-two through Episode Forty-one.  These will be released during the early weeks of November.   I still need to record the sound tracks for Episode Forty–two through Episode Forty-five, but will not be able to do so until the week of Nov. 10th.

I have also been upgrading each page on this site, adding images from the newest videos and correcting formatting errors.  In coming weeks, I hope to replace several of the masthead images with material from the videos.  This will not be easy owing to the wide-screen format.  Narrow slices of most images would be unacceptable.  My objective is to make the site more usable in conveying traditional Christian teaching.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. I urge viewers and listeners to share this material with others.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name! Amen!  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

 

New Testament: Gospels – Episodes 26 & 27

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

NT-Gospels-Title1-revEpisode Twenty-six and Episode Twenty-seven, the first of twenty focused on the Gospel of St. John in the AIC Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels, were uploaded this week.  In Episode Twenty-six I explore the history, authorship & themes and offer some suggestions on how to read the Gospel of St. John, plus a reading of the first five verses of John 1,the opening words in St. John’s ground-breaking Prelude.  In Episode Twenty-seven I read and discuss the whole Prelude:  John 1:1-18.     Among the many examples of historic art depictions of St. John is a remarkable and colorful example from the Carolingian era of the revived Holy Roman Empire in western Europe.  The manuscript, The Benedictional of Aethelwold, a service book for the Mass by the Bishop of Winchester, based on the Gallican and Gregorian Sacramentaries, was protected by various noble families after the English Reformation.  It was acquired from the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth, Devonshire, by the British Library in 1958 A.D.  Below is the only illumination of a Gospel author that has survived, St. John with the traditional Eagle symbol.

John-Writing-Aethelwold Bened-Addl 49598_f019v-v2
St. John Writing His Gospel.  Illumination in colored inks and gold on parchment, The Benedictional of Aethelwold, made at Winchester, England, for the use of Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, 963-984 A.D.   Ms. Additional 49598, Folio 19v, British Library, London, England.  Perspective correction applied.

Watch the Video of Episode Twenty-six.          Listen to the Podcast (Episode 26)

Watch the Video of Episode Twenty-seven.       Listen to the Podcast (Episode 27)

The text and audio of the next two episodes (28, 29) will be released during the week of Oct. 27th, with two more episodes each week until the entire revised series is complete later this year.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name! Amen!   Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Please consider subscribing by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the righthand column.

New Testament: Gospels – Episodes 24 and 25

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

 

Luke-Writing His Gospel-Byzantine-Ms Additional 28815-f76v-BritLibr-PCA
St. Luke Writing His Gospel  Byzantine illumination in tempera and gold on parchment, 10th C. A.D., Constantinople.  From the Yorck Project (10000 Masterworks of Painting).  Original image is Ms. Additional 28815, Folio 76v, British Library, London, England.

Once again this week I have “doubled up” and uploaded two new episodes in the revised and extended version of our Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels.  In Episode Twenty-four and Episode Twenty-five I complete my discussion of the Gospel of St. Luke.  Both episodes are focused on Unique Content in the Gospel of St. Luke.  Episode Twenty-four is focused on the Kingdom Lectures and the Restoration of Zaccheus.  Episode Twenty-five is focused on three topics, Jesus Before Herod, the Prayer Habits of Jesus, and the important roles for women in St. Luke’s Gospel.   The featured image is a 10th C. A.D. Byzantine illumination in tempera and gold on parchment made at Constantinople, showing St. Luke seated in an upholstered chair with a platform for his feet and in front of a large desk writing his Gospel.  The desk is filled with quills and what looks like a paper knife.  There are scrolls and a inkpot at his feet.  This version does not include the traditional image of an ox, the symbol of Luke.  The original is from Ms. Additional 28815, Folio 76v, British Library, London, England.  The British Library has not yet digitized much of the Additional Ms collection, including No. 28815.  This version is sourced from the Yorck Project, a DVD published in 2002 A.D. as 10,000 Masterworks of Painting.  The entire set of more than 10,000 images can be viewed on line.

Watch the Video of Episode 24.        Listen to the Podcast of Episode 24.

Watch the Video of Episode 25.        Listen to the Podcast of Episode 25.

I have recorded the first two of twenty revised and extended versions focused on the Gospel of St. John, these being episodes twenty-six to forty-five.  Episode Twenty-six and Episode Twenty-seven will be released during the week of October 20th. Episode Twenty-five is focused on a general introduction to the Gospel of St. John and a reading of St. John’s unique Prelude in verses 1-5.  Episode Twenty-seven begins with a discussion of John 1:1-5 and moves on to reading and discussion of John 1:5-18.  Later today I will record the next two episodes which will be released during the week of October 27th.   The slides and script for all remaining episodes have been completed but lack sound tracks and picture-to-sound correlation in iMovie.  The final slide in the series, in Episode Forty-five, will be No. 1560 (vs. No. 885 in the original series).  It has been a great and enjoyable adventure finding and editing the great Christian tradition of spiritually-minded images (vs. the modern representational forms in which the meaning often gets lost in the details and backgrounds).  I hope and pray that viewers find them spiritually enriching and helpful in understanding Scripture.

I have started work on a new series of Podcast Homilies based upon the appointed readings from Psalms and Lessons for Morning Prayer in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, using the alternative which includes a Gospel reading for the Second Lesson.  These will be linked from the Podcast Homilies page and posted in the order of the Church Calendar beginning with First Sunday in Advent.  I hope to have the four Advent podcasts complete before the start of the new Church Year 2019-2020 on December 1st.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God continue to bless you in all that you do in His Name! Amen!  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

New Testament: Gospels – Episodes 22 & 23

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

Episode Twenty-two and Episode Twenty-three in the revised and expanded version of the AIC Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels, were uploaded to the AIC’s YouTube channel and Podbean channel this morning.

Thomas-Incredulity_XIV_C_Russian
The Incredulity of Thomas.   Icon in tempera and gilt on panel, 14th C. A.D., Monastery of the Metamorphosis, Meteora, Greece.  The icon was lost for centuries and was rediscovered in the early 1960s A.D.  There are several versions of the same scene currently available but with disputes over dates and location.  Some sources claim this version is a later Russian Orthodox copy.    Public Domain.

In order to finish the revisions in the series before year end, I decided to “double up” and complete two each week.  Both of this week’s premiers are about Unique Content in the Gospel of St. Luke, with Episode Twenty-two on Jesus’ discourses on Spiritual Light and the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Episode Twenty-three on His moral discourses.  The featured illustration is from the latter episode (in the context of “O You of little faith” Luke 12:28b).

Watch Episode Twenty-two.      Listen to Podcast of Episode Twenty-two

Watch Episode Twenty-three.    Listen to Podcast of Episode Twenty-three

The two remaining episodes on the Gospel of St. Luke will be completed and uploaded during the week of October 14th.

The first two episodes on the Gospel of St. John (Episodes Twenty-six and Twenty-seven) are nearly complete and, barring any technical glitches, should be available for upload during the week of October 21st.  I have completed the revisions of all the remaining slides and scripts in the series and hope to release two episodes per week with a goal of getting the whole series uploaded before Christmas.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

New Testament: Gospels – Episode Twenty-one

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

Harley 2799 f 173vI’m pleased to announce the uploading for another revised episode, Episode Twenty-one in the AIC Bible Study Video series, The New Testament: Gospels.  Content is Part 2 of 6 in Unique Content in the Gospel of St. Luke, including Sending the Return of the Seventy and Jesus’ encounter with Mary and Martha at Bethany.

This week’s featured illustration is a miniature illumination in gold and colored inks on parchment of St. Luke writing his Gospel from the Arnstein Bible, produced at Arnstein, Germany around 1172 A.D. from Ms. Harley 2799, Folio 173bv, British Library, London, England.  The image has to be shown quite small because the original image is also very small.  Any larger and the image would break up and the sheen on the gold would be reduced.  It was originally housed at the Monastery of St. Mary and St. Nicholas and was sold to Edward Harley in 1720/21.  The scribe’s name was Lunandus, a monk at the monastery.

Watch the video.        Listen to the Podcast version.

This uplink brings me very close to completing the rebuild of the episodes on St. Luke’s Gospel.  I have recorded and edited Episode Twenty-two and expect to upload it plus Episode Twenty-three during the week of October 7th, with the final two episodes coming the week of October 14th.  All the slides and text for all the episodes (26 to 45) on the Gospel of St. John are complete, but no episodes have yet been recorded.   These final episodes include many more examples of Church art that are rarely seen in public, including a Gospel book written in Germany between 778 and 820 A.D. at the start of the Carolingian era that began with the coronation at Rome of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 A.D.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Please consider subscribing by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the righthand column.  You will receive a link to each new posting.

 

 

New Testament: Gospels – Episode 20

Anglican Internet ChurchLeave a comment

 

Christ-Healing Ten Lepers-Echternach-Detail-96dpi
Healing the Ten Lepers, Codex Aureus of Echternach, 1030-1050 A.D.  German National Library, Nuremberg, Germany.

Episode Twenty in the AIC’s The New Testament: Gospels Bible Study Video series was completed in the revised version earlier today and was uploaded this afternoon.  Topics include the final unique parable, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Publican in KJV); plus commentary on unique content including the Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain, the Healing of the Ten Lepers and the Sending and Return of the Seventy.    Other illustrations are an engraving by Gustav Dore’, two watercolors by James Tissot, and an early 13th C. miniature illumination of Jesus Teaching (originally used to illustrate Matthew 5).

 

This week’s featured illustration is from the Codex Aureus of Echternach, produced in the 2nd Qtr of the 11th C. at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Willibrod, Echternach, then Germany and now Luxembourg, from the collection of the German National Library, Nuremberg, Germany, which acquired the manuscript in the 20th C. in order to keep it in Germany.   In the original the scene was paired with the Healing of Blind Bartimaeus on the bottom line on a three-line page with six scenes..  The 96 dpi version barely does justice to the original. I’ve limited its size in order to enhance the detail.

Watch Episode Twenty.     Listen to the Podcast of Episode Twenty

Episode Twenty-one and Episode Twenty-two were recorded yesterday.  I have now completed the rebuild of the script and slides for Episode Forty-five, the final episode on the Gospel of St. John.  On the present schedule I hope to complete and release one video/podcast per week through the end of the year and complete the uploads in January A.D. 2020.  I’ll have to double up somewhere, with two per week, if my voice will permit, in order to complete the work by then.

As always, thanks for you interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!