Comments on: Lava Mid the Ruins http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/ Mike Aquilina's Blog Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:36:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Maureen http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/comment-page-1/#comment-884156 Maureen Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:16:24 +0000 http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/#comment-884156 It wouldn't even have to be a Christian, necessarily. Admittedly Christians had to be careful, but before persecution started, a collector of curiosities or religious works, or a searcher, or even an occultist, might well have been able to acquire or copy works by an obscure but interestingly odd Jewish sect. I seem to have acquired information about all sorts of religious groups that don't even interest me, for example, simply by bumping into people who are interested in them. There were a lot of searchers in Roman society, both at the top and the bottom. So I suspect that a certain amount of information would have been in circulation. But a Christian cache would be coolest, of course! :) It wouldn’t even have to be a Christian, necessarily. Admittedly Christians had to be careful, but before persecution started, a collector of curiosities or religious works, or a searcher, or even an occultist, might well have been able to acquire or copy works by an obscure but interestingly odd Jewish sect.

I seem to have acquired information about all sorts of religious groups that don’t even interest me, for example, simply by bumping into people who are interested in them. There were a lot of searchers in Roman society, both at the top and the bottom. So I suspect that a certain amount of information would have been in circulation.

But a Christian cache would be coolest, of course! :)

]]> By: Mike Aquilina http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/comment-page-1/#comment-883572 Mike Aquilina Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:28:27 +0000 http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/#comment-883572 I discuss the Herculaneum cross in my book <a title="View product details at Amazon" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=1592764509%26tag=wayofthefathers-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/Signs-Mysteries-Revealing-Ancient-Christian/dp/1592764509%253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82" rel="nofollow">Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols</a>, due out on August 1. I discuss the Herculaneum cross in my book Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols, due out on August 1.

]]> By: Carl Sommer http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/comment-page-1/#comment-883565 Carl Sommer Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:02:39 +0000 http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2008/07/10/lava-mid-the-ruins/#comment-883565 I have long speculated on the same subject. There is a house in Herculaenum with a cruciform indentation in the wall, as if some cross-shaped object had been hung from the wall. Scholars have rejected the notion that this is a Christian symbol, since they have long ago decided that before the age of Constantine Christians did not use crosses as objects of veneration. (We have, on several occasions, noted the circualrity of the reasoning involved.) So it would be wonderful to find another line of evidence that there were Christians in Herculaneum before its destruction. It is, of course, as you noted, a long shot... I have long speculated on the same subject. There is a house in Herculaenum with a cruciform indentation in the wall, as if some cross-shaped object had been hung from the wall. Scholars have rejected the notion that this is a Christian symbol, since they have long ago decided that before the age of Constantine Christians did not use crosses as objects of veneration. (We have, on several occasions, noted the circualrity of the reasoning involved.) So it would be wonderful to find another line of evidence that there were Christians in Herculaneum before its destruction. It is, of course, as you noted, a long shot…

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