FRIDAY FIVE
For many Christians when they think of religious travel, whether a pilgrimage or study trip, they think of Israel. Rightly so. The biblical land of Israel, which includes the modern countries of Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank, provided the physical settings for most of the Old Testament-Hebrew Bible, as well as the life of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. The land of Jesus and the Bible offers a huge attraction. I understand when people ask me “Why should I go to Greece?” Jesus was never there. But, Paul was. I readily admit traveling to Greece (or even Turkey or Italy) does not possess the same ethos one encounters in Israel, yet, traveling to Greece highlights ancient issues directly relevant within modern Christian communities in a dynamic and compelling way, in some ways, more than traveling to Israel. It enables Bible readers to step into the past, feel the contemporary issues, and connect them to issues, conversations, and worldviews we face within our modern world.
Travel to the lands of the Bible should transform how you read the Bible. Not simply because you’ve been there and can visualize the landscape. No, traveling to the lands of the Bible, of which Greece is one, enables you to enter the world of the Bible, its history, its cultural, its spiritual world, and its physical settings. These features offer the contexts which enable us to understand the words of the Bible. Traveling to the lands of the Bible should enable a Bible reader to interact with these contexts and understand how to use them to read and interpret the Bible.
Today, our Friday Five addresses the “Five Benefits of Traveling to Greece for Understanding Paul.”
1. Discover Paul. There’s nothing like journeying in someone’s footsteps to understand them better. Paul stands as a pillar of most Christians’ theology, yet we do not really know or understand him. By physically entering Paul’s world—the places he journeyed as related in Acts 16-18, the locations of the communities he wrote to in Philippi, Thessaloniki, and Corinth—we gain insight and perspective on Paul, the issues of his world and the communities he founded, as well as the contexts for his words. Christians have historically read him detached from his world and context; traveling to Greece enables us to enter Paul’s world, so we can understand his words. Paul’s primary issues were sociological—integrating a non-Jewish community into a Jewish faith—and instructing non-Jewish how to live a Jewish morality as non-Jews among Jewish and polytheistic communities. His issues were not theological. These realities become evident as you journey in his footsteps.
2. Discover the Polytheistic Ancient World. Modern Western culture separates sacred from secular. Religion is something inward and personal. We tend to approach the ancient world projecting our modern worldviews into the past. This is a recipe for doing bad history. Religion penetrated every layer of ancient society. Families were not composed simply of biological human relations on a horizontal plane; they incorporated the gods too. Gods belonged to cities, families, and people groups. Belonging to a city as a citizen meant participating the polytheism of the city as part of one’s identity as a citizen. Athletic competitions and theater performances incorporated the worship of the gods. Because we do not understand how religion permeated all aspects of ancient life, we miss many of the struggles Paul addressed within his communities. Jesus’ movement accepted non-Jews without requiring them to convert to Judaism, but they expected them to forsake polytheism, its worldview, and morality. To understand the struggles and realities of this world, there is nothing like journeying into it. It becomes clear when you stand on the Acropolis of Athens gazing at the Parthenon, or wandering through the New Acropolis Museum; then, you can sense the challenges confronted by the apostle to the Gentiles.
3. Discover the Jewish Diaspora. Whenever Paul entered a city, he entered the Jewish synagogue and engaged with the Jewish community in the city. One of the reasons we know little about Paul is due to our lack of knowledge regarding the Jewish community outside the land of Israel in the first century. Paul’s statement “to the Jew first” was not only a historical statement for him, but it framed his method for spreading the gospel. Traveling through Greece we can see how different Jewish communities responded to the polytheistic world around them and how Paul’s message of Jesus’ messiahship invigorated some and threatened others. Moreover, the issue faced by the followers of Jesus regarding non-Jews (see Acts 15), whether they had to fully convert to Judaism or could they remain non-Jews, becomes clear in light of the ancient Jewish Diaspora’s interaction with the non-Jews around them.
4. Discover How We Should Live in Our World. Understanding Paul within his world provides insights into what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus within a world facing social, political, economic, and religious challenges. By entering his world, understanding his words—what they meant—we find ourselves better equipped to apply them to our situations and our world. In our post-modern world of shifting truths and values, Paul provides a clear voice as to the essentials of faithfulness and the things that are not. Traveling to Greece, with the proper guide, enables the integration of the study of the Bible in its ancient world with our daily lives within our modern world. It answers the question: how we engage our world within the marketplace and meet our culture with biblical obedience?
5. Discover Greece. Greece is the cradle of Western civilization. Amidst the ancient ruins and museums lies a country of breathtaking beauty, from the mountains to the beaches to a vibrant modern culture. Traveling to the lands of the Bible is not only about encountering the past, it’s experiencing the present. There is no better way to encounter a culture than diving into its culinary opportunities. Food tells the history of a culture. So, whether your palate longs for lamb chops or souvlaki, calamari or shrimp, a Greek salad or moussaka, baklava or bougatsa, Greece has it all, and it’s best to sample these cuisines throughout the different regions of the country (each location is a bit different—I personally am on the lookout for the perfect lamb chops).
Traveling to the lands of the Bible can transform how you read the Bible and enable you to read it with greater enjoyment. It can empower and challenge your personal faith journey. Not all travel experiences are created equal. Who you go with is important. Consider joining us. We would love to show you how being in Greece can help you better read the Bible.
WEEKEND GETAWAY
DELPHI
HISTORY
The sacred city of Delphi is in the region of Phocis, in the Pleistos valley on the north shore of Corinth. The vale is shut in by Mt. Parnassus and Mt. Cirphis. Two large cliffs on the southern slope of Mr. Parnassus enclose the city; these are known as the Phaedriades and rise to a heigh of roughly 2300 feet. The Castalian stream flows through Delphi and empties into the Pleistos River and through the valley known by the same name, where it eventually empties into the Gulf of Corinth, though this stream is mostly dry during the summer seasons.
Delphi was settled as early as the Late Bronze Age (1600-1100 BC) where, according to Greek myths, it was a place of worship for the earth goddess, Gaea. [Destroyed by mudslide]. The site received its current name somewhere around the end of the ninth ca. BC, when the cult of Apollo Pythos was established. The name “Delphi” is mythically explained by the achievement of Apollo, who won the oracle by transforming into a Dolphin. It was one of four sacred sites in Greece (including Isthmea, Olympia, and Nemea), but its oracle was the most sought after in the ancient world. For the Greeks, Delphi was the center of the world. So intense was the religious devotion and patriotism attributed to the site, that four Sacred Wars were fought over it.
A common woman was chosen to serve as the oracle, or Pythia, usually for life. Her prophecies were generally enigmatic, an indication that the human’s access to gods and the future were limited. This, of course, gave rise to many stories in which the prophecy was ful lled in ironic and often tragic ways (Oedipus Rex who killed his own parents, despite fleeing what he thought was his birth place; Socrates who was the wisest man because he did not believe himself to be wise; and Croesus, the king of Lydia, who was told that he would destroy a great kingdom if he chose to go to war against the Persians—the great kingdom was his own).
When the patrons had purified themselves and offered the correct sacrifice, they could enter the temple and seek their prophecy. After purifying herself in the Castalian waters, the oracle entered the adytum of Apollo’s temple and sat upon a tripod over a deep fissure in the earth. The patron would seek his answer either for the sake of himself or on behalf of his polis. When the oracle had been given, prophets helped to interpret divine but enigmatic message. Though it has been doubted in the past, the description in classical sources
of trance inducing vapors, rising from a fissure in the earth, appears to be reliable; in the 1990s two intersecting fault-lines were found under the temple.
Early in its establishment, the oracle was sought once a year on the seventh day of the month of Bysios (February-March); at an unknown date, circumstances changed, and the oracle was sought more frequently. As the mouthpiece Apollo, the oracle was highly respected; though the oracle’s powers decreased over time (likely with the decrease in emanations from the fissure), she was still respected and sought for less political reasons until the Christian Emperor Theodosius closed the temple ca. 385 AD.
Following the route of the third century traveler, Pausanias, we approach the site via the eastern road leading from Boeotia. Four temples existed at the entrance of city, one to goddess Athena Pronea, and offerings to her often preceded one’s entrance into the sanctuary of Apollo. A short distance further, on left side of road, was the gymnasium (currently occupied by a monastery). From there one continues to walk up the road and past the Castilian spring, now known as the fountain of St. John. Here patrons would purify themselves before entering the temple.
Passing through a Roman marketplace, the road leads into the sanctuary of Apollo. At this point one begins their ascent up the rough “z” shaped road known as the Sacred Way. The sanctuary was filled with sculptures, treasuries, and other offerings to Apollo, commemoration of victories and the founding of cities. Just up from the city’s bouletarian and boarding the outer court of the temple was the Stoa of Athenians. The Athenian treasury has been rebuilt from its original stones. On the wall surrounding the temple itself is Temple of Pythian Apollo, which is surrounded by a trapezoidal enclosure dating from sixth century BC.
At the center of the sanctuary stood the temple of Apollo Pythos and the oracle of Delphi. The name “Pythos” derives from Python, the Dragon, whom Apollo is said to have slain to acquire the sacred space. The Temple was of the Doric order and surrounded by columns (6 x 15). Evidence shows that a temple had existed on the site before the cult of Apollo was established there. The temple to Apollo went through several stages; it first succumbed to a fire in 548 BC and was rebuilt; an earthquake in 373 BC destroyed this temple, and a third phase of construction began. The last temple lasted until the 4th century AD. Today all that remains of the temple is its foundation, steps, and a few adjacent columns dating from that 4th century BC reconstruction. Just up the hill and past the temple was a 5,000-seat theater dating from the third second centuries BC. Outside of the sanctuary was a stadium, which could seat 7,000 spectators.
SITES
· Temple of Apollo: the current temple dates from the 4th century BC but is built on the remains of an early temples that date from the seventh to sixth centuries BC (the structure had been rebuilt and redesigned several times due to fires and earthquakes).
· Treasury of the Athenians: the Athenians at the end of the sixth century BC built this small structure in order to house offering to Apollo. The style is Doric.
· Altar of the Chains: in front of the temple of Apollo lies the altar built by the people of Chios in the fifth centuries BC.
· Stoa of the Athenians: an inscription on the stylobate tells us that the stoa of seven Ionic columns was built to house the Athenian spoils won in their naval battles during the Peloponnesian War.
· Theater: dating from the 4th cent, visible destruction can be seen from the time of the Roman period. The theater could hold 5,000 people and would have been used mostly for performances during the festivals.
· Stadium: this structure, where the Panhellenic Pythian games were held, dates from the fifth century BC; remodeling took place in the second century AD by the support of Herodes Atticus, when the stone seats and archway were added. Its capacity was 7,000.
· Tholos: contains 13 Doric columns and dates from ca. 380 BC. Its function is unknown.
· Polygonal Wall: this wall was built in the latter 6th century BC in order to support the newly reconstructed temple of Apollo. The wall contains many inscriptions, many of which are declarations of freed slaves.