deebeedee

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The following is an excerpt from a letter written by a Pliny the Younger in the year 111 directed to Emperor Trajan regarding the proper way of handling Christians:

Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

…

They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you…

The letter in Latin with its direct translation can be found here.

The Boundless blog, The Line, has some thoughtful posts (that link to more thoughtful posts) on the Haggard affair.

Christianity Today’s blog on the other hand, has an entry called “The Non-Haggard News”, choosing to focus on other goings-on in Christendom (but of course, they also cover Haggard here).

Here’s one internet theologian’s snarky take on The Da Vinci Code book/film juggernaut in Q&A form. Quite Wittenburg Door-worthy!

Yup, it’s from the same guy who gave us the cheat sheet on modern Christianity.