Lecture Day

Dr. Kalantzis lectured in the morning on Nestorianism. When we try to define who God is, we always end up in heresy. By definition, to define something is to shape and control something, and so by trying to define God we are trying to control God. At this point, God is not God, but an idol. This is a bottom up definition of God. We can only describe who God is through His revelations of himself, top down.

     Dr. Cohick lectured on Acts, which was fitting, as we are preparing to follow Paul's journey. We discussed whether Paul was called or if he was converted as well as the historical context of various stories in acts.

We were lucky to be able to Skype interview Dr. Kassis, a Lebanese Christian, living in Lebanon, and talk to him about Christianity in the Middle East. It was very informative and helpful to talk get the perspective of a native of the area on such an important issue. He said that there needs to be pressure from the church and the United States on the Israel Palestine issue. He also said that he feels as though he needs to stay in Lebanon, he still has a mission to do.
Later in the evening, we were able to walk to the downtown area of the suburb of Athens we are staying in and look around. Because we with Dr. Kalantzis, we obviously got coffee and dessert. It was nice to explore a bit with a local. It was nice to walk around the suburb that we are staying in and see part of daily Greek life.