Books, books, and more books ?

Who doesn’t enjoy reading a book that is engaging and filled with new ideas? I’ve only met a few people who don’t.

This evening I came across a score of books by an author I’ve never read before. Wanting to know more about him, I scoured the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia and found that Joseph B. Lumpkin was somehow connected with the Gospel of Thomas, and decided to have a look around U-Tube and found a very interesting and engaging eight-part interview.

As I gathered up the playlist, Kim (the interviewer) asked Joseph a particularly pointed question:

‘Is there anything in your view that has to do with God’s favour? Do you think that the expression of God’s favour, the favour of Jesus, the favour of Yeshua? Does that cosmology or paradigm exist for you’?

Listen to Joseph’s full reply: ( about 0.28 secs )

I decided to respond in the comments with the following:

‘….Jesus believed that the sparks left the flame and will return to the flame to make the flame whole. We will in the end, be one with God.’ I hear you Joseph. I think that JWR Stott ( The Cross of Christ) and DA Carson (The Gagging of God) cover this subject, without surrendering to the inclusive gospel. I’d have a closer look at the Greek with regard to the idea of Jesus going to preach to the spirits etcetera. Peace, Blue.

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The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party:

1. Book Review & Analysis: “Faith Comes By Hearing: A Response to Inclusivism”

2. The Gagging of God by Dr. DA Carson:

3. The Cross of Christ by JWR Stott (forward by Alister McGrath:

4. Thomas the Apostle @ Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia

Of particular interest (to me ) is the subsection titled: Thomas and India. Here’s the introductory paragraph, plus a link to further reading about Christianity in India.

‘St. Thomas is traditionally believed to have sailed to India in 52AD to spread the Christian faith among the Cochin Jews, the Jewish diaspora present in Kerala at the time. He is supposed to have landed at the ancient port of Muziris (which became extinct in 1341 AD due to a massive flood which realigned the coasts) near Kodungalloor. He then went to Palayoor (near present-day Guruvayoor), which was a Hindu priestly community at that time. He left Palayoor in AD 52 for the southern part of what is now Kerala State, where he established the Ezharappallikal, or “Seven and Half Churches”. These churches are at Kodungallur, Kollam, Niranam (Niranam St.Marys Orthodox Church, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkayal (Paravoor), Palayoor (Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithancode Arappally – the half church. [T.K. Joseph (1955). Six St. Thomases Of South India. University of California. p. 27]["Nasrani Syrian Christians". Kuzhippallil.com. Retrieved 2010-01-17.]

Oh yeah, and this entry under ‘Return of Relics’ was even more interesting ( to me, hey this is my blog. right? ):

Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller and author of Description of the World, popularly known as Il Milione, is reputed to have visited South India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is accepted by many historians. He is believed to have stopped in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where he documented the tomb of Adam, and Quilon (Kollam) on the western Malabar coast of India, where he met Syrian Christians and recorded their legends of St. Thomas and his miraculous tomb on the eastern Coromandel coast of the country. Il Milione, the book he dictated on his return to Europe, was on its publication condemned as a collection of impious and improbable traveller’s tales but it became very popular reading in medieval Europe and inspired Spanish and Portuguese sailors to seek out the fabulous, and possibly Christian, India described in it.

Near Chennai (formerly Madras) in India stands a small hillock called St. Thomas Mount, where the Apostle is said to have been killed in AD 72 (exact year not established). Also to be found in Chennai is the Dioceses of Saint Thomas of Mylapore to which his mortal remains were transferred.

5. Christianity in India @ W.O.E

My final ‘Late for the Mad Hatter’s tea party entry is from an earlier blog post by Dr. Ben Witherington, where he’s discussing the Gospel of Judas:

6. Gospel of Judas etal — Part One — Gospel of Judas — Part 2

Back to School, means back to books to.
Spot yer,
Blue.