Avondale Research Publications

This book starts with a careful examination of the text of 1 and 2 Peter, and then teases out the implications that the words of Peter have for the everyday life of a Christian. It has many of the characteristics of a commentary. For example, it considers the historical, social and literary background of the passages under consideration, and it comments at the meaning of many of the key words and others features of the Greek text of the epistles. From time to time it does what Peter himself does in his letters, it considers the practical application of the theology expressed in the letters to the every-day life of Christians.

While there are significant commentaries and articles written on 1 and 2 Peter which I have been able to consult while writing this book, much less is written on the two epistles than on the letters of Paul, any of the Four Gospels, and the Apocalypse of John, even when you take into consideration 1 and 2 Peter are short in length. In some respects, the relative neglect of 1 and 2 Peter can be understood. The Gospels record the deeds and sayings of the founder of Christianity. The letters of Paul carry within them profound ideas that have shaped much of Christian theology, and which played a significant role in the extraordinary upheaval in Christianity associated with the emergence of Protestantism. 1 and 2 Peter, on the other hand, are quite small letters tucked away towards the back of the New Testament, and written to address situations that can seem a little alien to the modern reader.

Yet there is much to commend 1 and 2 Peter to our attention. Sure, they are written to people very different in culture and circumstances than those living today. Even so, Peter addresses their concerns with carefully reasoned answers, rich in theology and practical advice. The resultant letters have many interesting features. We discover something of the stressful circumstances that the early Christian believers in Asia Minor were facing, and how Peter addresses their real concerns. We find out that there are false teachers troubling these very churches, and discover the consequences of their teaching in the lives of those who they influence. The theology that Peter shares has been formed to meet very practical needs. Because of that, they have a relevance to contemporary believers that is quite remarkable.

This book explore the concerns that Peter has with regard to the Christian communities he addresses, and his response to their circumstances. The first chapter looks at Peter himself, to discover the stature of the one from whom these letters originated. The next 11 chapters deal with the leading ideas covered in the two letters, more or less in the order in which they are found in the letters. The final chapter looks at some of the larger themes that have emerged as we have studied the details of the letters.

The purpose of this study was to produce a devotional commentary on 2 Samuel to be put online by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for the public.

The purpose of this study was to produce a devotional commentary on 2 Samuel to be put online by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for the public.

As an Australian musician and educator I consider it a privilege to have been given the opportunity to study choral conducting and music pedagogy in Hungary at the International Kodály Institute for two academic years (2002-04). What began simply as reflective diary entries during this time eventually evolved into a Master of Music Studies thesis entitled Australians at the Kodály Institute: Reflections on the Journey held at the ARMUS library, School of Music, University of Queensland. This paper is based on an excerpt of the thesis.

The small works art prize at the Gosford Art Studios stipulates works must be
200mm x 200mm. The size of the canvas suggested to me that of old vinyl 45
rpm. Records. I recollected with nostalgia and detail, the aesthetic and
emotion associated with such discs of my youth. I produced two gouache on
canvas images. One which shows snippets of the cheap paper sleeves in
which 45s were packages – the logos and colours of the labels,; the second
shows snippets of the actual labels themselves. To anyone who lived through
the period (50s,60s in particular) and remembers these things with great
affection, the snippets are clues and triggers, a cue to the true ‘fan’, the tip-of the
iceberg of many fond stories from youth.
The two images trigger these emotions.

The year 538 A.D. became the turning point in the history of the Roman Empire since so many aspects on political, administrative and economical levels were already switched off that when Justinian declared himself to be a theologian from this year and no longer a soldier, he crossed the barrier of his mandate between what is purely civil obligation and what is religious obligation, similarly to Constantine before, and entered in competition with the papal function and this role is evidence of Justinian’s ongoing caesaro-papism. The quest for unification of the empire by unification of the church, the fever for church-building projects with his wife Theodora, the persecution of enemies of the church and heretics, his disdain with the Sabbath although his second name was Sabbatini, his support for suppressing any eschatological fever in line with the church fathers and Oecumenius and yet trying to build the ‘Kingdom of God’ on earth, all this indicate the problem 538 was for the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. Archaeological and historical original sources of Justinian and contemporaries of popes, biographer of Justinian and a commentator on Revelation (Oecumenius) are very revealing of these times and the shift or transition of what belonged to the Roman Empire handed over since 538 A.D. to the church and the papal function. The Code of Justinian was a persecuting instrument. Justinian upheld the supremacy of the papacy. He permitted through the Council of Orleans actions to be done on Sunday that Constantine prohibited like travel and preparation of food and cleaning the house. In Novellae CXLIV Justinian instituted a Seventh-day Sabbath persecution. He changed the times and laws ad hoc as his Novellae XLVI and coins of 538 A.D. (XII year) indicate. Private gatherings were persecuted. He had church-manual laws. Justinian studied Systematic Theology on the nature of Christ and wrote homiletical rules for preachers. He gave textcritical advice to Jews and condemned their doctrinal deviations. This theological hobby of the ruler of the once mighty Roman Empire was to be taken over by a more theological competent power that would eventually lead to papal-caesarism until the unsettling of this new aggrandizing paradigm in 1798 by Napoleon. The prophetic embedding of the 1260 days as “years” prophecies in both Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 definitely started in 538 A.D. contrary to W. Spicer’s (1918) suggestion of 533 or 538 as two alternative dates or any other dates suggested by other scholars in the history of interpretation in historicism. It is also not just a case of history of interpretation hermeneutics but data solidly supported by archaeology, iconography and original historical sources that coincides with the parameters provided by exegesis of the rest of the Books of Daniel and Revelation added with the exegesis of the detail of the passages under consideration. A necessary ingredient for the historical researcher remains to be the faith that God can predict the future and He did and that the data as well as the prophecies of the Biblical Text are evidence of that.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The "7 Dimensions of Wellness" is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life.

The story is about a therapy dog and his use in an after-school reading improvement program called BaRK (Building Reading Confidence for Kids).