Rebekah’s Reviews > Wisdom from the Ancients: 30 Forgotten Lessons from the Early Church > Status Update

I'm feeling like this book is a draft more than a finished work. It has potential for sure, but I feel like it needs some revision and edits first. Or am accompanying text or set of lectures that expands on and deepens what is present here. These feel like bite sized openers to lessons, not full lessons. This book as a textbook to start conversation in a post-secondary setting though I think would be rich.

Prayer and posturing: interesting. Deeper study is needed on every topic in this book. I've been given enough to start a thought provoking conversation, but not enough to see said conversation through to completion. Much is left unexplored in this book, and I only wish it went deeper! But I am thankful as well that it forces the reader to study deeper on their own, rather than having the answers handed to them.

Lesson 7: Honour your Pastor. Hold him in high regard, whether he holds the title or not.

Honestly, I feel like the focus here was divided between historical church structure and honouring your Pastor. I think it would have been stronger if it focused more on the latter than the former.

BUT

Now I definitely want to read a book about the structure of the Historical Church, and how it's changed over the centuries.

Lesson #6: There's no way around it. Christianity is for misfits.

The question I'm left wanting to explore deeper after this chapter is this: where is the line between being bold in faith when we know it will result in ridicule and scorn, potentially broken relationships and anger, and living out faith in a way that is attractive, loving, and inviting? When do each side of this practice of faith become necessary?

Chapter Five: my favourite chapter so far, by far.

-both "communion" and the "saints" are discussed in this chapter. Now I want to dig deeper into this
-origin of Roman Catholic belief of praying to the saints discussed
-I am moved by the importance of the saints in both uses of the term (ie. all Christians and exemplary Christians) and the sleep metaphor.
-why don't we use the sleep metaphor anymore?

What we need to learn from the ancient church #3: Heresies are still real today, and we shouldn't be afraid to label them as such. "To be a Christian doesn't just mean practicing a moral lifestyle, quoting from the Bible, and throwing around the name of Jesus as a respectable figure." (PG 30)