Dr. Constantinou continues her discussion of Galatians and some of its most famous passages. Galatians is the source of one of the most famous Orthodox hymns. St. Paul wrote the verses which became our baptismal hymn, and then he stated that there is neither male or female, slave nor free, Jew nor Greek. How did the Fathers of the Church explain that important passage?
Dr. Constantinou discusses the epistle to the Galatians. Although the epistle is short, it is very emotional. Paul was very upset with the Christians of Galatia. What had they done? This epistle is also famous for autobiographical information that St. Paul gives us about his life, including his famous confrontation with St. Peter.
Dr. Constantinou discusses the first controversy that the the Church faced; Do you have to be Jewish to be a member of the Church? Why would this even be an issue? What developments had taken place in the Jesus movement that led to the issue? What were the arguments on each side? Who finally decided and what was the decision? How did this decision impact the Church and how did it create a precedent which we still follow today?
Surprisingly enough, St. Paul was not considered an apostle by most people in the early Church. This is unthinkable today, but it was St. Paul's reality, which at times was a tremendous challenge for him. In 2 Corinthians, Paul painfully expresses his sorrow when the Corinthians reject him because they agree with Paul's critics that he is not an apostle. How did St. Paul defend his apostleship and win them back as his beloved community and spiritual children?
Dr. Constantinou continues her study of St. Paul and his writings. In this episode she shows us passages which are the earliest written accounts of two extremely important events in Christian history. What are they and what do we learn from them?
Dr. Constantinou begins by answering a listener question about teh book of Revelation and the canon of scripture. Then she gives her attention to the Apostle Paul's letters to the Corinthians.
We are continuing our crash course on St. Paul and his epistles. Tonight we focus on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Paul wrote these letters to explain the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ. What issues had arisen among the Christians of Thessalonika that led them to enquire about the Second Coming, and what does St.Paul say about it? Join us live tonight with Dr. Jeannie Constantinou to find out!
Dr. Constantinou begins her study of the specific letters by St. Paul, beginning with the oldest Christian document in existence: 1 Thessalonians. We will also discuss why some people dispute Paul's authorship of some of the letters and learn about how to recognize the basic structure of his letters.
What was daily life like as a Jew or Christian during the first century of the Roman Empire? St. Paul lived and interacted with the world around him, which was Roman in administration but culturally Greek. He was a Jew when the practice of Judaism was very different from the Judaism of today. Join us tonight as we seek to place and to understand St. Paul as a man immersed in the cultural and religious milieu of his time.
Paul is such an important apostle that he is referred to by the Fathers as "THE Apostle." But during his lifetime, most people did not consider him an apostle. Why not? St. Paul defended his apostleship in a very surprising way. What is the most important criteria to remember when reading Paul's epistles? How can we remember the order of his epistles? Why are they in that particular order in the Bible? Tonight we talk about these issues as well as take a peek into the world of first-century Juda...
Dr. Constantinou begins the brand New Year with a brand new series on Saint Paul, the most influential saint in the history of the church. Why was St. Paul so important? How much do we really know about his life, his mind, and his world? Most of our epistle readings are taken from St. Paul's writings. This series will introduce St. Paul: the man, his life, and his letters.
What are we to make of the star that shone in the east? And what about the Wise Men? Learn things you never knew before from Dr. Jeannie Constantinou on this episode of Search the Scripture Live!
Dr. Constantinou discusses St. Matthew's presentation of the Nativity of the Lord. Did you ever wonder why the genealogy which is given for Christ is the ancestry of Joseph, not Mary? Why would we even know the genealogy of Jesus anyhow if He was born to a poor and apparently insignificant family? What is the importance of the Virgin birth? How do we respond to people who say that the word in Hebrew is not "virgin" but "young woman"? We will also discuss the origin of the Feast of the Nativity a...
St Luke focuses on the Virgin Mary in his account of Christ's birth. How are Orthodox Christians to understand her role in salvation, her holiness, and her place in the Church? How does the Orthodox interpretation of these scriptures result in a different theology of Mary than is found among Western Christians, in particular Roman Catholics?
After completing her discussion of Mary's remarkable statements in the Magnificat, Dr. Constantinou turns her attention to St. Luke's description of the birth of Christ. What is the evangelist trying to convey to us about Christ's identity and purpose by describing his birth as Luke does?
Dr. Constantinou continues her exploration of the gospel accounts of the nativity of Christ and focuses on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary and her visit to Elizabeth. What elements in the account echo the prophetic promises of the Old Testament? Why isn't Mary punished for asking a question, but Zecharias was? Why do the Fathers say that Mary prophesied?
Dr. Constantinou begins a study of the infancy narratives of Christ with a close look at the Annunciation of the birth of the Forerunner John. Why does Luke begin his gospel this way? Why was John so important? What valuable lessons does this story have for us? How does it reflect and anticipate the birth of Christ?
Dr. Constantinou finishes her discussion of the titles that were applied to Christ during His lifetime. Did people really call Him "Lord"? Jesus was certainly recognized by many people as the Messiah, but what did they expect the Messiah to be? How well or how poorly did He meet their expectations? Did you know that there was a Jewish tradition of a suffering Messiah? How did that idea fit in with a glorious conquering king like David?
We continue our look at the titles of Christ in the gospels as we anticipate our study of the infancy narratives. What did the term Son of Man mean? Why did Jesus use it and why wasn't it used later by the Church? Did Jesus actually refer to himself as the Son of God, or was that simply a title that was given to him by the Church later? In some Bibles, people address Jesus as "Lord," but in other translations, people address him as "sir." Why? Did anyone actually call Jesus "Lord" during his lif...
Dr. Constantinou finishes the Crash Course on the Gospels and begins discussing key titles which we see used to describe Jesus in the gospels. What does "Son of Man" mean? Were people calling Jesus "Lord" during his lifetime? Did Jesus call himself the Son of God or was that a title which the church applied to him later?
Dr. Constantinou continues her dive into the remarkable gospel of St. Luke as part of our Crash Course on the Gospels. The third gospel contains many stories which are not found in any other gospel. What are they and why does Luke include them? How has his gospel impacted our view of who Jesus is?
Dr. Constantinou continues her side-by-side comparison of the same stories as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. How and why do they differ? Luke's Gospel will also be introduced as she continues her Crash Course on the Gospels in preparation for a detailed study of the Infancy Narratives of Christ.
Dr. Constantinou compares the Gospels of Matthew and Mark side by side to illustrate the unique characteristics and style of each. She then turns her attention to some interesting listener questions.
Dr. Constantinou delves into the particular characteristics of St. Matthew and his gospel. What motivated him? What concerns and challenges did his early Christian community face? What was Saint Matthew trying to convey to us about the person of Jesus Christ? Matthew's presentation is quite different from that of St. Mark. How is it different and why?
Matthew and Mark's gospels are very different in tone, style, and purpose, even though they often present the same stories and sayings of Christ. What accounts for these differences?
Dr. Constantinou continues her investigation of the origins of the Gospels. What theories have been proposed to explain the similarities and differences between them?
Dr. Constantinou starts a brand new series: A Crash Course on the Gospels. She explains the traditions and origin of the gospels, as well as the themes, interests, styles, and peculiar characteristics of each gospel. She teaches us how to remember the content, themes, and style of each gospel as well as the personalities and motivation of each Evangelist in a concise and easily understandable way. After she finishes her introduction to the gospels, Dr. Jeannie will begin a special series on the ...
Dr. Constantinou concludes her discussion of the Gospel of John and takes some final questions on the book from her listeners. Fr. Costas joins her to discuss the various Greek words for "love," as well as the importance of Greek to an understanding of the Bible. Please note that Dr. Constantinou is taking a brief hiatus from her show and will return on Monday, September 9.
Dr. Constantinou discusses the conclusion of John 20, paying particular attention to Christ's appearance to St. Thomas.
Dr. Constantinou finishes up John 19 and also takes a call asking if The Theotokos was resurrected.
