Clement and the Early Church of Rome: On the Dating of Clement’s First Epistle to the Corinthians – A Book Review

I selected this book from the list available at the Reviewers section of The Catholic Company, as I am very interested in the foundations of the Catholic Church, and the early writings of the Church.

I highly recommend before acquiring or reading this book that you acquire and read a copy of the two letters sent by St. Clement to the Corinthians, as it will make the reading of this text mean more to you.

Over all the book was pretty good. Reverend Thomas J. Herron goes into great detail into the history of the time and the reasoning he has for dating the writings as he does. He has, what I believe to be, sound reasoning behind his though processes, and gives strong validation to those thoughts.

Why is this important? It provides a context to the extent of the Church at the time of Clement before and after he took over as the “Pope” (he was not called Pope in that time in history) of the Christian Church. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the foundations of the Christian and specifically the Catholic Faith.

It is a well written book, worth the read, but I’m not sure most lay people would want to acquire this book, unless they are historians.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Clement and the Early Church of Rome . They are also a great source for serenity prayer and baptism gifts.

A busy time!

Like most of you (not that there are that many readers I’m sure!) I have a lot of projects I’m working on:

First and foremost is my home based business Watkins. This is a “self employment” process that I have been working for roughly 10 years now, and when I am active, it does good, and I’m active again, or at the beginnings of being active anyway! If you are interested in working for yourself, go here. An income stream that I control per say.

TDBell Enterprises, Inc., the second part of my self employment in which I do two things: Help Start Up business find money, and fix computers (software mainly, but hardware too). Again, a revenue generating practice to increase my income flows via multiple streams of income.

While it is on hiatus at the moment, Circular Wind Ryu, which is my martial arts school. Another self employed job. Here teaching martial arts. I plan on re-opening this aspect of work in the very near future.

ExsposeYourBlog.com. I am the owner and one of the admins of this blog exchange where you sign up (free and paid options), surf five blogs (read five blogs) and then post your blog or blogs on the site for others to read. Each day (hopefully ) you surf a few blogs, leave comments on those you like and earn credits so others can come see your blog when they surf. With this project I also have up a forum I work on, and both aspects take time in coding, fixing, monitoring and surfing. (GREAT blogs there worth reading on a daily or at least weekly basis!)

During they day, Monday through Friday I work as a OR Supply Technician until I can get into the IRM (Information Resources Management) department. This, for now, is my main income source. Not what I want to be doing, but hope to change that soon. (See top three jobs listed here. )

I am a Sir Knight (4th Degree Knight) with the Knights of Columbus, which takes up several hours a month in various functions and events, and I’m the web master of our site (http://www.kofc1487.org).

And I am studying theology on the side via reading and researching. I plan on taking this up formally once my income stabilizes and I have enough left over each month to take the next step.

What does your week look like?

Spring Time…

While there is still a bit over 6 weeks left to Winter, I feel the beginnings of Spring in the air. Spring is my most favorite time of the year, as I see more of God’s work each day in the re-blooming earth! I love the colors of Spring as the flowers bloom, the grass greens up, and the animals come out to play.

This Winter has been a cold and wet one, which will be good for the plants and grass, while it may been bad for some species of animals and some humans, it is a good thing to have a lot of snow in the Winter. It brings great nutrients to the ground, causing better growth in the new Spring.

This snow and cold SHOULD also have brought mankind closer to their neighbors. I have seen it in some cases, and missed it in other cases.

As we come into Spring, we will have rain and mud, which may cause even more problems. Now is the time to prepare for that, and to get ready to help your neighbors if they should need it!

2010 Goals in Review – 2011 Goals

Last year my goals for the year were:

Goal 1: Continue to loose body fat, and get my weight down to at least 210 this year.

Goal 2: Continue to live a life in God’s good graces and with God foremost in my mind.

Goal 3: To get Circular Wind Ryu and Hasumi Ryu Kendo up and running as strong, respected schools of Martial Arts in the US.

Goal 4: Get totally out of debt!

Goal 5: Find GOOD things to write here at least weekly, if not daily!

Results:

Goal 1: My body fat is down to 19, and my weight is down to 258. I’m not down to 210 yet, but I am getting there… Lost over 30 lbs this past year! And I have given up sodas (coke/etc), candy, and as of a week ago, except for deserts after dinner, and “special breakfasts”, I’ve given up most sweets in general. Not a 100% success, but good advances!

Goal 2: I continue to live a life of Christ, and am working on walking away from sin. This is a hard road to travel, but I am happy traveling it!

Goal 3: This goal has gone the way of the dodo birds. It isn’t happening, because I’m not focusing on it.

Goal 4: I have one bill left. It will take a while to finish this bill off, but I have done a great job of not getting new long term bills, or even mid term bills. My finances are finally getting in order!

Goal 5: Didn’t post weekly at all. Not good of me, but I hope I haven’t chased everyone off. I, with the help of a few others, did create a blog exchange where bloggers can read other peoples blogs in exchange for them reading the bloggers. (http://exposeyoublog.com) This has taken a lot of my time, which isn’t an excuse, but is part of why I didn’t post weekly or daily. I do have four blogs in play though… (http://www.tdbellenterprises.com/dbblog, http://www.circularwindryu.com/blog/, http://tdbellwatkins.blogspot.com, and http://donmbell.blogspot.com/)

Over all this has been a good year. I should have put more effort in the school, but focused on getting in better shape, loosing weight and other related issues.

So, what are my goals for 2011? They are:

Goal 1: Continue my process of getting down to 210 lbs, and a 10% body fat.

Goal 2: Work on shrinking my debt, and begin building my credit score at the same time. It is too low to make me happy.

Goal 3: Increase my religious studies and reading.

And there are a couple of private ones as well….

What do you want for Christmas?

For those of you that celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts, what are you wanting for Christmas, if you could have anything you wanted?

Aside from books, especially for my Kindle, about the only thing I’m wanting this year is this:

So if you are looking for a gift idea, send away.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Ok, Santa JUST went across the screen at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it is now officially, for me, the beginning of the Holiday Season! (Spiritually the Holy Season starts Saturday with the beginning of the Advent Season.)

I am now OK with decorations being up, and with the playing of Christmas music, etc. (Although I could listen to most of the Christmas music year around…)

I do ask that you remember what this season is about though. It is not about giving and receiving gifts, but remembering the birth and life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior (for those that believe).

Christmas, Take Two…

Ok, so I am sitting in the living room, flipping through channels to see if there are any good movies on. (Bout the only thing I watch, although I prefer DVDs as I HATE commercials…) And what do I see? Three channels with CHRISTMAS movies!! And what do I do, I put one of them on, watched it, and then the next one starts up and it is Christmas as well! ALREADY!!

Have we TRULY forgotten the reason behind the season here in the US? Have we totally skipped Thanksgiving first? What happened to the Christmas “Season” starting with the end of the Macy’s Day Parade when Santa came across the screen.

I know that businesses are trying to raise revenues and think that getting the Christmas “spirit” (lower case S on purpose) going as soon as possible, but I would rather see them focus on the true meaning of Christmas, which is the Spirit of Christ our Lord being born.

Just “Who Is Jesus Christ?” – A Book Review

The list of books available to select from this time around from The Catholic Company Book Reviewer Program made it hard to choose a book to read. There are some great sounding titles there. At first glance I passed on this book, “Who is Jesus Christ?” for many reasons. One of those reasons is that every Protestant Preacher seems to lean on and preach mainly out of this book, and not out of the whole Bible. But I kept coming back to it, and I finally picked it. I’m glad I did!

This books was a great read. It went through the 25 titles and names given to our Savior and Christ, Jesus. In each naming, Eric Sammons, the author, gives great detail behind each title, the meaning of that title or name, and why it is important. He adds text from the Leaders and Doctors of the Church and what they have had to say about the titles/names as well, adding more credence to what he says. He ends each section with a question about that name or title or the meaning behind it and how it effects you, or your response to it, which really got me thinking on many levels.

This book is a MUST READ for any person starting in theology, or at any level of theological studies, and should be read by every Christian, especially Catholics!

This review was written as part of the Catholic Book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Who Is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery and be sure to check out their great selection of baptism gifts while you are there.