We started 2010 well back on our schedule. We had not completed the quiz on December 13, the December 20 class was canceled by snow, and Dec 27 had never been scheduled.

A review of the final quiz on Clement's letter to Corinth reminded us of Clement's emphasis on obedience in the early church. Clement's letter (though the second, possibly forged, letter) has always been popular with the church, and is contained in many collections of early writings, though not in the definitive Canon of the New Testament prepared by the Council of Carthage in 397. We noted Clement, like Paul, described secular powers as having derivbed from God; we wondered whether someone writing after the state-run persecutions would write this way, and discussed whether this implied that the letter is earlier than usually accepted, or whether the persecutions had less impact than we assume. Clement's reference to his messengers having grown old in the faith may possibly suggest a later date.

We opened the series of Ignatius' letters with his letter to Ephesus. His letters appear to have been written during his journey from Antioch to Rome, under armed guard, to face execution in the Colesseum. It is striking in these letters how much he seems to be looking forward to his execution and to gaining the status of martyr.

Ignatius' imagery is often unexpected; in this letter he compares the Holy Spirit to a rope, and the Eucharist as medicine -- not current images. He compares the ideal state of the church to that of a choir.

The letter to Ephesus contains the evocative account of the nativity in Chapter 51. We reviewed the accounts of the nativity in Matthew and Luke, and discussed their differences, together with the non-evangelical view that Matthew was inventing, or at least selecting, stories to fit existing prophecies -- the ex eventu approach. With its emphasis on the cosmological significance of the incarnation, this ection is also reminiscent of the kenotic passage in Philippians 2.