The antediluvian patriarch Enoch inspired several ancient pseudepigraphic texts. The Book of Enoch (generally known as “1st Enoch”) is part of the Biblical canon in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. “2nd Enoch” is an ancient text unrelated to 1st Enoch, which is sometimes called “The Secrets of Enoch.” Because the text was translated into Old Bulgarian and was widely used among the Medieval Bogomils, 2nd Enoch is sometimes known as Slavonic Enoch. The text claims to be Enoch’s record of his visit to the Ten Heavens with archangels as guides. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the text, consider its authorship, dating, and influence in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and today.

Christians talk about “the Church” as the universal body of Christ, made up of all Christians. However, in a more practical, institutional sense, Christians are actually divided into thousands of different denominations, many of which consider their rivals heretical and even non-Christian. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will trace a brief history of Christian schism, outlining the major branches of the movement historically and in the present.

As countries around the world legalized same-sex marriage, many opponents of ending discrimination argued that the change would undermine “traditional marriage.” What is traditional marriage? John Hamer of Toronto Centre place will trace the origins of marriage customs in the western world and how the institution came to be regarded as a sacrament in Christianity.

Resurrection and eternal life in heaven has often been cited as a reason for Christianity's success against Paganism. To consider this proposition, we need to look in more depth at how different pagan religions envisioned the afterlife.

The story of the Pharaoh that introduced the worship of one God before the time of Israel. Fourteen hundred years before Christ, the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV rejected the old gods of Egypt and introduced the worship of one God above all: Atun. Although he was able to promulgate a new henotheist (possibly even monotheist) religion during his lifetime, after his death the traditionalists won out, reversed his reforms, and deleted his name from the king lists. We'll look at this remarkably early innovation and its echoes in later monotheistic religion.

From nuclear war and super-plagues to asteroids and alien invasions, popular culture continues to obsess about the idea of the world's destruction. We're look at the first mythological predictions of the end and see how the popularity of apocalyptic writing influenced Judaism, Christianity, and the Western world ever since.

By the end of the third century, most Christian leaders adhered to the paradoxical belief that the Creator is God, Christ is God, and the Spirit is God, whiles also insisting that there is only one God. However, they continued to be bitterly divided about how to explain the paradox. While some insisted that the one God simply appeared in three different forms (Modalism), an Alexandrian theologian named Arius articulated a different formula, by which the Creator was the sole uncreated eternal God, and Christ (while divine and unique as God’s Son) was nevertheless subordinate to the Creator. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at Arius’ understanding of the Godhead and the legacy of Arianism.

Artistic expression and religion have been intertwined since prehistory. From Antiquity to the Modern era religion has provided both inspiration and patronage for artists. Paintings of animals and hunts in caves may have related to Animism: calling upon their spiritual power. Classical sculpture and painting were focussed on depicting the gods and the stories of Greek and Roman mythology. In much the same way that casting an actor for a role in a film adaptation of a book tends to overwrite a future reader’s picture of a character (e.g., try envisioning Gandalf without seeing Ian McKellen), having a statue or a picture of a god affects the way a worshipper envisions the divine. Perhaps for this reason, religious reformers at various points in history have objected to picturing the gods, or especially picturing God. Ancient Israelites forbid graven images of Yahweh, a prohibition that expanded to any depiction or even saying his name aloud. Likewise, Islam forbids depicting God (Allah) and the prohibition has expanded to depictions of God’s prophet, and in some interpretations any human or animal forms. Christians too have a complicated history with religious imagery from the Iconoclasm which divided the Byzantine Empire to the Protestant destruction of statues and imagery during the Reformation. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore why artwork has been such a charged issue within the religions of the West from Antiquity to the present.

Before coming to understand Yahweh as their only God, ancient Israelites worshiped a pantheon that included the great goddess Asherah. In Canaanite religion, Asherah often appears as the consort of the chief deity El. Later, archeology and about 40 mentions of her name in the Hebrew Bible suggest she was sometimes seen as Yahweh’s wife. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will reconstruct the history of the worship of the Divine Feminine in ancient Israel from the Biblical texts and the contemporary historical and archaeological records, tracing how Asherah’s attributes and cult, like those of El, were ultimately absorbed into the figure and worship of Yahweh.

In the first and second centuries, Jewish people engaged in a series of large-scale insurrections against the authority of the Roman Empire. The first of these engagements, fought between 66 and 73 CE, is the most famous and resulted in the final destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the end of Judaism’s “Second Temple Period.” This had enormous consequences for Judaism and for Christianity which was evolving from its origins as a Jewish sect into a new religion in its own right. A little more than half a century later in the year 132, Jews in Judea revolted against Roman authority one final time. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, who was acclaimed as a Messiah, the rebels temporarily established an independent Jewish Kingdom. The powerful Roman Emperor Hadrian sent between 60,000 and 120,000 Roman soldiers to the theatre, which mercilessly crushed the rebellion. The Romans destroyed nearly every village in Judea and many as 100,000 Jews were sold into slavery. The failure of the revolt had enormous consequences for the development of Rabbinic Judaism — the main branch of the religion that has come down to us today. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the causes, scope, and consequences of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, including its legacies today.

Before the God of Israel was understood to be the sole omnipotent God of the universe, Yahweh (or "Jehovah") was worshiped as part of a pantheon of gods that included Ba'al, El, and Asherah. Guest lecturer Leandro Palacios will present an introduction to ancient Canaanite mythology and its relationship to Israelite religion of the first temple period.

How does the Bible reconcile the stark contradiction between Ezra's exclusionary practices and Ruth's story of foreign inclusion? Not all Jews agreed with Ezra’s interpretation of the law and his strict policies against intermarriage. The author of the Book of Ruth presented the opposite perspective, showing that a foreigner, a Moabite woman, could not only become part of the Jewish community but also an ancestor in the lineage of King David, and ultimately, of the Messiah, according to Christian tradition.

The great Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas believed it was possible to prove that God exists by reason alone (i.e., without relying on scripture or revelation) and he assembled 5 arguments which he believed did just that. He was not alone. Christian theologians like Anselm of Bec and philosophers like René Descartes and Gottfried Leibniz have been similarly confident. Medieval Muslim theologians including Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd) came to similar conclusions as did the Medieval Jewish theologian Maimonides. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline some of the major arguments proposed by these figures and consider their merits.

Jesus of Nazareth famously advised “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” and taught his followers to “love your enemies.” In the first centuries AD, Christians frequently questioned whether the role of soldier was compatible with their faith. Although the Emperor Constantine converted after winning a battle under the symbol of the cross, he delayed his baptism until his deathbed to wipe away the sins incurred as head of the Roman army. By the Middle Ages, however, Popes called upon Christian knights to attack the enemies of the faith: Muslims, pagans, Cathars, and Christian heretics alike. In the modern era, European Empires brutally conquered and colonized much of the world hand-in-hand with Christian missionaries. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at how Christianity got from point A to B and C and ask where Christians find themselves today?

Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies and declared “blessed are the peacemakers.” Nevertheless, Christianity has had an inconsistent relationship with war and peace, at times going so far as to sanctify wars such as the crusades as holy. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the history of pacifism and nonviolence within the Christian tradition and contrast it with justifications of Christian militancy.

Queen of Egypt prior to its absorption by Rome, Cleopatra was an important power player in the civil wars that marked the end of the Roman Republic. Her alliance with Julius Caesar included an affair, which resulted in the birth of their son, Ptolemy Caesarion. After the fallout from Caesar’s assassination, Cleopatra began a new alliance and affair with his chief lieutenant, Mark Antony. Anthony and Cleopatra held sway together over the East, but were ultimately defeated by Caesar’s nephew Octavian, who became Caesar Augustus. Demonized by writers loyal to Augustus, Cleopatra’s memory became a cautionary tale against the wiles of female rulers. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place attempts to recover the real life and qualities of Egypt’s famous queen, the last of the Pharaohs.

Did Jesus appear first to Mary Magdalene alone—or to a group of women? Was it at the tomb, on a road, or behind locked doors? And were the disciples sent to Galilee or told to stay in Jerusalem? The Easter stories in the four gospels don’t agree—and these contradictions raise deep questions about how the resurrection was remembered and recorded. Of the four canonical gospels, three (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) follow roughly the same narrative for Jesus’ ministry and teachings, while the fourth (John) tells a rather different story. However, when all four gospels get to the passion narrative, there is considerably more overlap in events between the three synoptics and John. Nevertheless, each account is unique and each evangelist provides different (sometimes conflicting) details. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline the differences in the Easter stories both among the four gospels and also in accounts from “lost gospels” that were not included in the New Testament.

In John’s gospel, Jesus dies before the Passover meal; in Mark, it happens after. Judas ends his life by hanging in Matthew, but falls and bursts open in Acts. Only Mark includes a mysterious young man who runs away naked during the arrest. The Passion narratives in the New Testament offer conflicting details about the final days of Jesus—from the timing of events, to who was present, to what was said and done. In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores contradictions across the four canonical gospels and considers alternative perspectives found in early Christian texts like the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Judas, and the Gospel of Mary. These differences reveal how early communities shaped the story of Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial.

Why do the months have different lengths and why is a week seven days long? Why do Ramadan and Easter move around? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place takes a look at the Roman origins of our own calendar and compares it with systems developed by peoples as diverse as the Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, and Mayans.

Pharaoh Akhenaten promoted the exclusive worship of the Aten in ancient Egypt, rejecting all other gods centuries before monotheism developed in Israel. Was monotheism first invented during the Amarna period?

Jesus of Nazareth was hardly the only person in the ancient world who was said to be son of God (or a god), to perform miracles, and to have ascended into heaven. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the lives figures including Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander of Abonoteichus, Pythagoras, and others and consider the implications for how the earliest Christians may have understood Jesus as divine.

Although the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Pentateuch or Torah) are traditionally attributed to Moses, they were actually written centuries after the character of Moses is said to have lived. Since the 19th century, Biblical scholars have identified distinct authorial voices within the text, which they have worked to identify to determine who wrote each portion and how they came together. In the early 20th century, a consensus emerged around the “Documentary Hypothesis” — which posits that ancient redactors (or editors) combined together multiple distinct texts to create the Torah. However, by the end of the 20th century, the consensus began to break down as new scholarship proposed an alternate model: a core text supplemented by a series of writers who expanded the original, the “Supplementary Hypothesis.” John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will lay out the arguments for and against the Documentary and Supplementary Hypotheses for the Torah’s origins.

Are some sins unforgivable? In the late stages of the pagan Roman Empire, Christians were often persecuted for failing to support the state religion. However, after being arrested, most Christians at any time could escape punishment by performing a brief pagan ritual, offering incense to the genius of the emperors. Many took this option and were released. Others refused and were thrown to the lions. After the persecutions ended, the Christians whose family members and leaders had been martyred, refused to forgive those who had conveniently renounced their faith. In North Africa, the issue led to a substantial division in the church, where the purist party, the Donatists, refused to recognize sacraments performed by priests and bishops who had failed the faith. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at this history of this ancient version of “cancel culture,” including its institutional and theological implications for Christians today.

The Epic of Gilgamesh pre-dates the book of Genesis by thousands of years. In this early Toronto Centre Place lecture, John Hamer looks at the many ways themes from the ancient Sumerian epic are echoed in the later Biblical account.

Is pleasure good? Shouldn't pain be avoided? We'll explore the ancient Greek philosophy of Epicurus, caricatured in antiquity and today as “eat, drink, and be merry.” Following up on our lectures on the Greco-Roman moral philosophy — Platonism, Stoicism, Cynicism — we'll consider the great rival of these more accepted schools: Epicureanism. Epicureans were connected with atomist theory and atheism, both of which were reviled in antiquity but have been revived and reconsidered in modern times. We'll sweep past some modern misconceptions and take a deeper look at the teachings of Epicurus and his successors.

The Republic is one of the most influential works of philosophy and political theory. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at the ideal state Plato outlines in its context and consider its ongoing relevance for understanding society and individuals today.

At the earliest stages of Christianity, the community was remarkable in the ancient world for the prominence of women in the movement, including in positions of leadership. New Testament texts have women acting as apostles and prophets — the two most important roles in the movement’s first generations. Extrabiblical sources confirmed that women served in the important position of “deacon” in the first and second centuries. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the evidence for women in leadership in early Christianity and how these roles were phased out as leadership passed to a hierarchy of bishops drawn from an all-male priesthood.

The 3rd millennium BCE Levantine civilizations that rivaled the greatness of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Historians have long considered the Levant, also known as Syria-Palestine, a land bridge connecting the older and more important civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. We'll look at the recent archaeological finds which suggest the inhabitants of this region ---known as Natufians--- developed pre-neolithic permanent settlements that may be the earliest in the world. Overtime, these sites grew into great cities at the centre of great civilizations, most notably Ebla, considered by some the first recorded world power, and its rival Mari.

How did a Jewish movement led by a Jewish man with only Jewish followers quite quickly become a movement of non-Jews? In this lecture, Brian Carwana, director of the Encounter World Religions Centre, will show us how this transition in early Christianity is unique when we compare it to other religions. We will look at who Jesus was, and we will explore how and why the shift from Jerusalem to Rome occurred and how this transformation has shaped what Christianity is today.

In the first centuries after Jesus, many Christian movements flourished, each with their own scriptures, beliefs, and practices. Over time, the “proto-Orthodox” Christians succeeded in defining their teachings as correct and establishing authority, while rival groups were suppressed or forgotten.

The Roman Empire a military, political, economic, social, and spiritual crisis in the 3rd century, which led to significant transformations (which historians mark as the end of the Classical period and the transition to Late Antiquity). Although many had earlier roots, mystery religions flourished in Late Antiquity. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review various cults including the mysteries of Eleusis, Samothrace, Mithras, and Isis. Should Christianity be considered a mystery religion and/or did it absorb practices from its ancient rivals?

Stoicism was perhaps the most popular school of Greek philosophy in the Roman Empire, as exemplified by Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who lived his life as an actual Stoic philosopher-king. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at the ethics and world-view of the Stoics and consider Stoicisms' value for individuals and its possible impact on later Roman society, as well as the degree to which Stoic virtues continue to be admired today.

Socrates, his student Plato, and Plato's student Aristotle are often credited with founding Western philosophy. Nevertheless, even great thinkers do not emerge ex nihilo, but rather are born into an existing context and paradigm that the build from, respond to, and react against. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at the Pre-Socratic philosophers and how their ideas created the ground from which Socrates' own thought emerged.

Roman, Germanic, Celtic, and Norse paganism was deeply rooted in European customs, including holiday festivals. In honor of Halloween we're considering how our present-day customs echo practices in the Medieval Celtic holiday of Samhain. On Tuesday, October 30 2018 at 7:30PM EDT, our history, philosophy, & theology group explored the pagan legacies that were Christianized and ultimately secularized to form our contemporary calendar of holidays in North America.

The Hebrew Bible limits offering sacrifice to a single location: a Temple or “house for the Lord” built in Jerusalem. The original temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 bce and the second temple, built under Persian rule and greatly enlarged by Herod was destroyed by the Romans in 70 ce. The centrality of the Temple for ancient Judaism is illustrated by the names historians give to the era: “The First Temple Period” and the “Second Temple Period.” Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity developed along diverging paths in the wake of the Second Temple’s destruction. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what we can know about the historic temples and trace the history of the contested sacred site from Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the present.

Although Judaism is a monotheist religion, the Biblical book of Proverbs contains a long speech by a divine being who identifies herself as “Wisdom.” Wisdom states that “the Lord brought me forth as the first of his works” and that as he was engaging in the world’s creation, “I was constantly at his side” (Proverbs 8:22-30). In addition, the first century CE Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria identified God’s “Word” (Logos) as a separate hypostasis of God. These and other ideas about the nature of God were part of the immediate context with which early Christians understood the relationship between the ineffable Creator, God the Father, and his “only begotten Son,” Jesus Christ. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look that the understanding of divine beings like Holy Wisdom and God’s Logos within the context of Second Temple Judaism generally and will track specific ideas about these figures among the diverse factions of early Christians, including the Gnostics, Ebionites, and Proto-Orthodox communities.

A look of what the Bible does and doesn’t have to say about homosexuality. In contrast to the claims of many Evangelical Christians, the component texts of the Bible do not condemn same-sex orientation. John Hamer, Pastor of the Community of Christ Toronto Congregation looks at how verses from Sodom and Gomorrah to Leviticus to Paul are routinely misread. This lecture is part of a series of events celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month 2021.

Dumuzi descends to the underworld, Baal is struck down by Mot, Osiris is dismembered, and Persephone is kidnapped by Hades—each myth cycles through death and return tied to the rhythms of nature. The Easter tradition shares this symbolic landscape, yet it also departs from it in key ways. In this lecture, Leandro Palacios of Toronto Centre Place examines how the Passion and Resurrection accounts of Jesus draw on ancient motifs of dying and rising gods, while reinterpreting them within a new theological and historical framework. We will also consider why modern scholars have questioned the old category of “dying and rising gods” and how the Easter proclamation offered something distinct that resonated with early Christian communities.

In its first three centuries, Christianity spread rapidly, but at the time of Constantine’s conversion, less than 10% of the population of the Roman Empire was Christian. Three centuries later, the overwhelming majority of the Roman and post-Roman world were Christian, and adherents of the old gods (paganism) had declined to 10% or less of the population. Imperial patronage clearly changed Western history decisively. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the life of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, and the many ways his conversion changed the Roman Empire and transformed his adopted religion, Christianity.

Justinian I, who reigned in Constantinople from 527 to 565, was probably the last Roman Emperor to natively speak Latin. He is remembered as one of the greatest emperors in history, who constructed Hagia Sophia and codified Roman law into the Corpus Juris Civilis, which became one of the most influential documents in the foundation of the Western legal tradition today. Leading the Eastern Empire in the century after the West had fallen to Germanic invaders, Justinian’s most famous legacy was his attempt to restore the glory of the Roman Empire by conquering the lost Western provinces. His generals successfully destroyed the Vandal and Ostrogothic kingdoms, reclaiming North Africa and Italy for Constantinople. But the wars were especially devastating to Italy, which returned to Roman rule not as part of its rich core, but as a poor frontier province. Ironically, much of the way of life for Romans in Italy that had been preserved under the rule of the Ostrogoths was now destroyed by Justinian. And this great cost for Rome and Italy was accompanied by no lasting gain for Constantinople, which needed to recall its troops for wars in the East, leaving the Romans in Italy to deal with a new Germanic invader, the Lombards, on their own. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the ideas of identity, continuity, and innovation in the context of the post-Roman transition in Late Antiquity, to consider whether Justinian actually destroyed Rome while trying to save it.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time and many people, including Christians, imagine that its authors were writing with a single voice with the final canon in mind. But, of course, the Bible is actually a library of texts written in different languages over the course of centuries, that reflect the diverse contexts of its authors, most of whom never imagined that their individual book would eventually be part of a “Bible.” While it’s often assumed that the final canon was approved at the Council of Nicaea, this is not the case. In fact, canonization was a slow and haphazard process, which resulted in different lists for different branches of Christianity (Catholic, Protestant/Anglican, Orthodox, and others). John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at criteria used to create the canon and the historical development of the Bible.

Did Zoroastrianism shape the way we think about good and evil, the afterlife, and the end of the world? How much of modern Judaism and Christianity can be traced back to this tradition? The reforms of the ancient Iranian religion by the prophet Zarathustra led to the foundation of Zoroastrianism, which many religious studies scholars identify as the first “world religion.” Zarathustra focused the faith on the worship of the supreme God known in the Avestan language as Ahura Mazda (“Lord Wisdom”). Ahura Mazda is nevertheless opposed by a cosmic devil named Angra Mainyu (“Evil Spirit”), which accounts for the existence of evil in the world. This struggle is predicted to continue until the end of the world, when a savior will appear, resurrect the dead for final judgment, and establish a new world where evil has no place. While ideas like a cosmic devil, resurrection of the dead, the Apocalypse, final judgment, and an afterlife in heaven and hell were absent in Judaism in the First Temple Period, they became central to many sects of Judaism in the Second Temple Period—after the Persian conquest of Babylon allowed the Judean exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple under Persian rule. Nevertheless, dating Zoroastrian practices remains difficult due to limitations in historical sources. In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place surveys the available evidence to assess the extent to which Zoroastrian beliefs and practices influenced the development of Jewish and Christian traditions.

Have you ever heard that Joseph was an elderly widower, and that Jesus’ siblings were actually half-brothers and sisters that were children of Joseph and his first wife? Did you know that Mary’s parents’ names were Joachim and Anna? Have you seen pictures of the nativity taking place at a stable housed inside a cave? Have you heard that after Mary gave birth to Jesus, her midwife affirmed that she was still a virgin? None of these details is in the Bible, which gives us two different (and contradictory) nativity stories in Matthew and Luke’s gospels. Instead significant sources of Christian tradition regarding Jesus’ birth along with the life of his mother Mary come from a pseudepigraphic text that ancient Christians excluded from the New Testament. During this Christmas season, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look that this non-canonical gospel, usually known as the “Protoevangelium of James” (or Pseudo-James), its contents, authorship, and influence.

Of the books left out of the Bible, the First Book of Enoch is among the most fascinating. Purporting to tell the story of Noah’s great-grandfather — the antediluvian patriarch that God took up into heaven — the text includes elaborate visions of the celestial realms and angelic hierarchies. In a past lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looked at 1st Enoch’s context, including its acceptance within the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In this lecture, we dive deep into text, investigating its obscure and esoteric content.

Early Christianity included a wide diversity of beliefs on ideas as central as who Christ is and what is Jesus’ relationship with the Father to whom he prayed. Gnostic Christians focused their attention on personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) which they developed through elaborate philosophical mythologies. By the end of the Second Christian Century, bishops of the proto-orthodox establishment, increasingly identified Gnosticism as a deadly “heresy,” which they sought to purge from Christianity. One of the figures leading the fight was Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon from 177 until his death in 202, who wrote a book entitled “Against Heresies” that was largely focused on combating Gnosticism. In a presentation given from Lyon, France, John Hamer will look at the history and beliefs of the ancient Gnostics and consider why attacks by leaders like Irenaeus proved so effective.

The rise of atheism in modern Western societies is often treated as a rejection of religion—but what if this cultural trend is more accurately understood as part of Protestantism itself? In this live lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores how Protestant reforms—especially the rejection of Catholic tradition, the doctrine of sola scriptura, the emphasis on rational inquiry, and the rise of literalist interpretations of scripture—created fertile ground for natural religion and Enlightenment-era deism, and ultimately for an ethical framework devoid of spiritual or supernatural elements. We will also consider how modern atheism continues to engage in dialogue with Evangelicalism—another modern expression of Protestantism—echoing the way theologically opposing movements have remained in conversation throughout Christian history.

The Rise and Fall of the Ostrogoths - Gothic barbarians took over Rome after the Empire’s fall. The story of what happened next. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths ruled a “barbarian” kingdom of Italy from 493 to 553, when their kingdom was conquered by the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire. We’ll look at the continuity of the Roman state under the Ostrogoths and ask whether their fall wasn’t the true end of the Western Empire.

In this live lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place examines how the Bible has been misread, mistranslated, and weaponized—often in direct contradiction to its original intent. We'll explore the real meaning behind the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, take a closer look at Leviticus and Paul, and highlight biblical stories that suggest deep, loving same-sex relationships, including David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, and Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.

The historical Jesus and his disciples were all Jewish. In his lifetime and for decades after, the followers of Jesus did not see themselves as part of a religion separate from Judaism, at most they were a sect within Judaism, like other contemporary sects including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. That changed in the second half of the 1st century, as individuals and communities who continued to testify of Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, were expelled from synagogues. The groups, now calling themselves “Christians,” began to emerge as a new religion, which sought to separate itself from their former co-religionists. The New Testament’s gospels, written toward the end of the 1st century reflect this historical context (and not the context of Jesus’ lifetime). This is especially true in the Gospel of John where Jesus speaks of “the Jews” as if they were a separate group that he is not a part of. Unfortunately, the negative portrayal of Jews in the Gospel of John has informed attitudes among some Christians to this day, serving as a precedent for and a cause of Antisemitism. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the portrayal of Jews in the Gospel of John and its unfortunate legacies.

The Cynics were an ancient Greek philosophical school that rejected property and all social conventions to proclaim the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and idealistic way of life. Popularized by Diogenes (c. 412-323 BC), by the first century AD the practice had spread, and cynic philosophers were a common sight in cities across the Greco-Roman world. Several scholars of the historical Jesus have noted similarities between Jesus’ philosophy and movement and that of contemporary cynics. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the case they make as he compares ancient cynicism with the pre-Christian Jesus movement.

Between 1946 and 1956, a remarkable set of ancient scrolls was found buried in caves at Qumran, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank of Palestine. These scrolls proved to be the remains of the library of a Jewish community of the Second Temple Period, which most scholars identify with the sect of the Essenes. In addition to providing scholars access to the oldest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, the scrolls included texts relating to the Essene community, including their apocalyptic beliefs as they anticipated the world’s end and their expectations of the Messiah. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will survey what the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about the Essenes, and consider their relationship with the followers of Jesus and John the Baptist.

The authors of Matthew and Luke seem to have composed their gospels independently, using a text that compiled sayings of Jesus — a lost gospel scholars have dubbed “Q”. If Q existed, it was among the earliest gospels and potentially gives us our best glimpse of the historical Jesus and the movement he led. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what we can learn about the community that produced Q from the reconstructed text of the lost sayings gospel.

Jesus and his original followers were Jews, but because the first Christians quickly went into schism with their former co-religionists, Jesus’ Jewish roots have often been obscured. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the historical Jesus and the earliest Christian groups within the context of Second Temple Judaism and contemporary Jewish sects, teachings, and practices.

We examine archaeological and historiographical evidence to understand why the biblical tradition preserves these two conflicting accounts. What really happened at Jericho? What is the significance of the ritual in Joshua that brings down the walls? And why did this story matter to ancient Israel?

Simeon Stylites spent 37 years of his life on top of a pillar near the city of Aleppo, Syria, during the 5th century AD. In a lecture from 2017, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at why anyone would do such a thing in its historical context. What was the appeal of the extreme ascetic life and how did it yield the impressive "spiritual power" that allowed Simeon and his fellow ascetics to overturn and destroy reverence for the old pagan gods, whose traditions and shrines had existed for centuries and millennia?

Written sometime between the mid-1st century and early 2nd-century AD, the Didache (or “Teachings of the Twelve Apostles”) is one of the most important early Christian writings to have been left out of the New Testament Canon. The text includes some of the earliest practical rules for the emerging institution of the church but describes a decidedly primitive stage in Christian development. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the text and consider the community that produced it. Why was it left out of the Bible and does it have anything to teach Christians today?

As early Christians were deciding which books belonged in the New Testament of the Bible, a long, enigmatic text called “The Shepherd of Hermas,” was on many of their lists. The text is included in the Codex Sinaiticus (one of the most important early Bible manuscripts) and Irenaeus considered it to be scripture. Dating from the beginning of the Second Century, the text was written in Rome and includes a series of visions granted to Hermas, a former slave and brother of Pope Pius I, followed by a list of twelve commandments, and a series of ten parables. The text appears pre-Trinitarian and may reflect a Binitarian or Adoptionist Christology. Moreover, the author seems to argue that Christians should follow Jewish law, that works and faith are both necessary for salvation, and may be our earliest source for the idea of “the Rapture” in Christianity. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline this fascinating lost book of the Bible and what it adds to our understanding of the diversity among early Christians.

All modern Christian sects are descended from the early "proto-Orthodox" Christians who successfully defined their doctrines and practices as correct. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place reviews the many early Christianities that lost out, including Jewish Christians who argued for the continued relevance of Mosaic Law and Gnostic Christians who rejected the Hebrew Bible altogether.

The Testaments of Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (the sons of Israel), the Testaments of Moses, of Solomon, and of Adam are among the many ancient texts that were left out of the Bible. Although written by different authors in different languages over many centuries, these texts share some common traits, usually taking the form of the final words of the ancient patriarch prior to his death. In reviewing these texts, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will consider who wrote them and when, what information they contain, why testaments were a popular form, and why they were left out of the canon.

Although the Book of Genesis is generally thought of as the time of the patriarchs, in many stories it is the Biblical matriarchs who win the day. Certainly, Rebekah pulls the wool over her husband Isaac’s eyes to make sure that his blessing would pass to her favorite son Jacob over Isaac’s favorite, Esau. Similarly, Eve is far more active than Adam, Sarah laughs at God, Rachel saves Jacob from her father’s wrath, Tamar outwits Judah, Hagar is visited by an angel, and in less edifying examples, Lot’s daughters have their way with him and Potiphar’s wife gets her revenge on Joseph. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place reviews the strong female characters in the Book of Genesis and their implications.

The coronation of Charles III, King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth Realms, has reminded people around the world of the ancient institution of monarchy. Why do some of the world’s leading democracies continue to have monarchs? What separates democracy from autocracy, monarchy from republic, and monarchs from dictators? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at monarchies past and present to answer these questions and more.

Christianity began as a small Jewish sect among the common people in the Galilean countryside. The religion’s first writers lacked the education and sophistication of contemporary thinkers in the much larger pagan Greco-Roman world. Around the year 170, the pagan philosopher Celsus wrote a devastating polemic against Christianity. For 70 years, Christians were silent in response, in part, as a strategy (hoping Celsus’ book would be forgotten), but also because they lacked a theologian with sufficient training to respond. That changed with the coming of Origen of Alexandria, arguably Christianity’s first native genius. Having composed Christianity’s first systematic theology in the 220s, Origen went on to write a point-by-point rebuttal of Celsus in 248. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at Origen’s background, life, thought, and influence, including his posthumous condemnation as a heretic.

The prophets of ancient Israel often condemn their own people, kings, and queens for worshiping gods other than Yahweh, even at the Jerusalem temple. We will look at indications in the Old Testament that the dominant religion of the elites and commoners was predominantly pagan during the First Temple Period. Bible commentators continue to struggle to make sense of passages of the Hebrew Bible that don't seem to fit within the context of monotheism. We will set aside 3 unfounded assumptions: Pre-exhilic Israel was a monotheistic society, Ancient Israelites and Canaanites were different peoples, polytheism in Ancient Israel was the product of Syncretism. We will then analyze this material hoping to defog our understanding of the evolution of the concepts of divinity and humanity in Western Society.

Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome, is today the unchallenged, supreme head of the Catholic Church, which includes about 1.3 billion baptized adherents, which is about half of the world’s Christians. But while Francis and his predecessors claim an unbroken line extending all the way back to St. Peter, Jesus’ leading apostle, the bishops of Rome have not always enjoyed unchallenged control of Christendom. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore the development of the institution of the Papacy, how the bishops of Rome extended their authority over their fellow bishops through ideology and political savvy, and how the Papacy ultimately defeated alternatives heads of the church: Emperors, ecumenical councils, and ultimately the political leaders of modern nation states.

Philo of Alexandria was a Hellenistic Jewish theologian and a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. Building on the works of Heraclitus and Plato, Philo interpreted the Bible allegorically and proposed that God’s Word (“Logos” in Greek) existed as an independent being—the demiurge. His writings share much in common with the Gospel of John’s portrayal of the Messiah or Christ as the Logos, an idea that prefigured the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Philo’s Alexandria—home to the great Museum and Library—was the center of Hellenistic philosophy in the Greco-Roman world. The city housed a large Jewish diaspora community, where the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, and Hellenism and Judaism were synthesized. In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place examines the works of Philo of Alexandria in the broader context of Alexandria’s history, the Jewish diaspora, and the Greek philosophical developments of his time, as well as his possible influence on early Christianity.

Many Christians view the Bible as the source of their religion. But to interpret any text, it has always been necessary to have an intellectual framework. While Christianity was founded many centuries after Plato, Christian thinkers built upon Plato and Neoplatonism to craft their theology.

In recounting his version of the story of Jesus’ birth, the author of the gospel of Matthew tells readers “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.” But how well do the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke align with prophecies about the coming Messiah in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament)? In this live streamed lecture John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline the prophecies cited by the evangelists and the insight they give into the creative and non-literalistic way the earliest Christians understood scripture. A Q&A will follow the lecture. Participants are encouraged to ask questions about this topic on the live chat. Tuesday, December 14, at 7 pm EST.

Among the philosophers who most influenced Medieval Christian theology whose work provided the inspiration for stained glass windows in churches is an ancient thinker who was not the person he pretended to be. Dionysius the Areopagite was a minor character in the Book of Acts. In the 5th century, a Christian Neoplatonist impersonated Dionysius as a way to give his philosophical writings the aura of apostolic authority. He was further confused with the patron saint of Paris, a completely different Dionysius or “Denis,” who had been bishop of Paris in the 3rd century. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will untangle the histories of the different Dionysiuses and explain the scope and influence of Pseudo-Dionysius’ works.

For 2,000 years prior to Copernicus, astronomers believed that the Earth was at the center of a cosmos, surrounded by a series of celestial spheres. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline how the Ptolemaic system worked (and did not work), why it proved so durable, and why the Catholic Church remained invested in the system even after scientists like Galileo began to argue in favor of heliocentrism.

The world’s religions have complex and often troubling relationships with the institution of slavery. Although some Christians fought for abolition of the slave trade based on their faith, others used the Bible to justify keeping other humans as property. The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam arose in an era of slave societies. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at their long, complex, and often unfortunate relationships with the institution.

How did faith healing and reported miracles work in Antiquity and the Middle Ages? Modern Western medicine has become very effective at healing injury and curing illness, but its history of effectiveness is very recent. Previously, those with chronic conditions had little alternative than hope of miracles (and physical magic). John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at the history of belief in miracle healing in Ancient and Medieval times, the role it played in society, and its legacies today.

The Hebrew Bible is made up of books drawn from many competing traditions: the priests with their focus on the Law of Moses, the prophets who felt the call to channel the Divine word directly, and the sages, whose teachings looked to divine Wisdom for authority. Although the traditions were separate when these books were composed in the First and Second Temple Periods of Judaism, bringing them together into the Biblical library has led to a sense that they share the same perspective, when in fact they are often expressing opinions that are diametrically opposed. In this presentation, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will examine the Bible’s Wisdom tradition (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and other texts) to explore how the sages saw themselves in relation to the priests and prophets in ancient Judea.

The Romans believed their ancestor Aeneas fled the doomed city of Troy after the Trojan War. The Emperor Augustus’ great poet Virgil retold the tale in his epic, The Aeneid. What does the myth of Aeneas’ flight say about how the Romans viewed their character and identity and what is their true origin?

The Cynics were an ancient Greek philosophical school that rejected all conventions and proclaimed the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and idealistic way of life. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will also discuss how and when the term "cynic" accrued the negative connotation that it carries today (i.e., disbelief in the sincerity of human motives and actions).

Between 140 and 37 BCE, the Hellenistic kingdoms led by the successors of Alexander the Great declined, a Jewish dynasty known as the Hasmoneans (also sometimes called the Maccabees) led a revolution and successfully ruled an autonomous and later independent Kingdom of Judea from their capital of Jerusalem. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the history of the Hasmonean revolt and Kingdom and review how it is portrayed in the Bible by two Apocryphal books, 1st and 2nd Maccabees.

The New Testament’s fourth gospel, attributed to John, differs in themes, tone, theology, and essential details from the other three synoptic gospels. However, many of its themes are found in the Bible’s three epistles of John and the Book of Revelation (which was composed by an author named John). Together these books are called “Johannine literature” because of their association with the name John. While modern scholars have rejected the traditional idea that all these texts were written by the same figure, the historical apostle John, many propose that they emerged out of an early Christian “Johannine community.” John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what is known about the historical John, survey the Johannine literature, and sketch out what the Johannine community might have looked like.

The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 587 bce ended the First Temple Period of ancient Israelite religion. The prophet Jeremiah and remnants of the army fled to Egypt, while the royal family and members of the nobility were taken captive in Babylon. That enforced exile continued until the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonians in 539 bce and allowed the exiles to return to rebuild Jerusalem (under Persian rule). John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore this period, which saw the beginnings of diaspora Judaism and its many lasting legacies including its impact on the development of the Bible.

Jericho's Wall - From Rubble to Epic: Reading the violent conquest of Canaan described in the Bible not as a historical account but as Ancient Israel's national epic. Combining different traditions, this story gave meaning to the difficult circumstances Israel faced from the last decades before the exile to Babylon to the resettling of the Holy Land under Persian rule.

Of books included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, the Book of Daniel was the last to be written. By putting visions into the words of characters who lived centuries earlier, the book's authors were able to "predict" events that had already occurred in order to give credibility to additional predictions about the immediate future. Will look at the consequences of the inclusion of this kind of literary prophecy for adherents of Abrahamic faiths who have read such predictions literally.

The Book of Daniel is the source of some of the Old Testament’s most lasting prophetic visions: A statue with a head made of gold, breast and arms made of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay that is toppled by a stone cut without hands. A vision of successive beasts that appear from the sea. The vision of one like a “son of man” appearing in the clouds. The book’s protagonist Daniel, a Jewish noble living in exile at the royal court at Babylon in the 6th century bce, interprets the visions to predict the future. These predictions are uncannily accurate up until the year 167 bce, when they suddenly become wildly inaccurate. As scholars have now show, this is because the text was not written by Daniel or anyone who knew him, but by an apocalyptic prophet writing between 167 and 164 bce, whose accurate “predictions” recount events of the past and whose proved a complete failure at predicting the actual future. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the Book of Daniel as a textbook example of what happens in religion when prophecy fails.

An ancient expansion and revision of the book of Genesis, the Book of Jubilees divides the world’s primordial mythic history into a series of eras (49 years long each) known as “Jubilees.” Multiple manuscript fragments were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the popular book was viewed as scripture by many ancient Jews and Christians. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the date, authorship, content, and legacy of this lost Bible text.

A look at the portrait of Socrates and the critical stereotype of ancient philosophers presented in Aristophanes' comic masterpiece, The Clouds. First staged in 423 bc in Socrates' own lifetime, the play is regarded as the first extant "comedy of ideas." It's critique of philosophers is scathing and best of all, the play remains funny today.

Did powerful female deities rule prehistoric Greece before the rise of Zeus? Powerful female deities exist in the mythologies of almost every ancient society, including that of Greece. Gaia, Rhea, Demeter, Aphrodite and other powerful Greek goddesses may offer us a window to look into the Divine Feminine before the Iliad and the Odyssey. Are all these goddesses aspects of a forgotten prehistoric motherly deity? Did their prominence decline with the establishment of the patriarchal Zeus-centered Olympian pantheon? We'll look at the evidence for this hypothesis and also consider whether the presence of strong female divinities necessarily equates with social status of women in society.

Why did paganism lose out to Christianity in ancient Rome and what pagan practices survived? Only a tiny fraction of Romans were Christian when the Emperor Constantine converted. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at why the old religions failed to meet the challenge of the new faith.

Who were the Gnostics? What secret knowledge did they keep? Why did they die out? In Christianity’s first centuries, a powerful challenge to leaders of the emerging orthodoxy came from the Gnostics. “Gnostic” means “having knowledge” and these groups believed they had secret, esoteric information about life’s meaning. What were the secrets kept by the Gnostics and why did their sect eventually die out?

Many religious fundamentalists read the Bible literally, insisting that its stories occurred historically as written. While some take this to the logical extreme forcing them to reject science in favor of alternative theories like young Earth creationism others look for naturalistic explanations to preserve a literalistic historicist reading of the text. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the modern development of these interpretative lenses and will consider how such readings radically distort the original stories and rob them of any meaning.

Noah’s Ark is one of the best known stories of the Bible and many other cultures have flood stories that predate Genesis by centuries and millennia. While some people still read the story literally and imagine it is history, others look for a kernel of historic truth around which these legends grew. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will examine some of these theories and the likelihood that the idea of a universal Flood is entirely mythic.

An early Christian group believed that Jesus had revealed secret knowledge about the meaning of life, the nature of God, and the universe. They became known as the Gnostics (meaning "having knowledge.) Gnosticism posed a powerful challenge to what would eventually become Christian orthodoxy. In this lecture, we will explore how the Gnostics imagined Jesus and what set their beliefs apart.

In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores how Mary Magdalene was portrayed by Gnostic and other early Christian communities outside the emerging orthodoxy. In texts like the Gospel of Mary, the Dialogue of the Savior, and the Gospel of Thomas, Mary is depicted as a bearer of secret knowledge and a spiritual interlocutor who challenges the authority of male apostles. These writings reflect alternative theological frameworks in which salvation came through inner revelation rather than institutional authority.

After the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke, the canonical gospels have precious little to say about the life of Jesus between his birth and the beginning of his public ministry as an adult. The infancy gospel of James and the infancy gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the more important sayings gospel of Thomas) attempted to fill in some of the details with mixed results. Although both texts were left out of the New Testament, their narratives have had a significant influence on Christian tradition and doctrine and episodes from these apocryphal sources even found their way into the Quran. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review both texts in light of our sources for these “lost years” of Jesus’ life.

What can we know about the historical apostles? How have historians separated Christian traditions about Jesus’ apostles from the actual historical figures? For example, what actual evidence exists to back up the tradition that Simon Peter eventually moved to Rome where he became the city’s first bishop (and first pope)? What is an “apostle”? If there were only Twelve apostles, why is Paul called an apostle, when he was never one of the Twelve? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the legends and traditions later Christians shared about the apostles and will outline what can be known about the actual historical figures.

What can we know about the historical Jesus of Nazareth? How and why does the life of the historic figure differ from competing (and contradictory) accounts in the New Testament? What can other sources tell us, including non-Christian accounts as well as gospels left out of the canon? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline an overview of what can and cannot be known about the historical Jesus and will talk about the difference between the portrait painted by academic history, the portraits painted by scripture, and the experience of the divine Christ as understood by Christians.

What is history and how should we approach ancient stories written before its invention? What are the circumstances that led Herodotus and Thucydides to develop the discipline of history in the Western tradition? What made their accounts of events different from previous ancient stories like those found in the Iliad or the Odyssey? Many stories in the Bible and other ancient works may look like history to us, but they were composed before history existed as a discipline. How should modern readers approach these stories and what value, if any, can we find in non-historical narratives?

John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores how modern nationalism contrasts with ancient kin group and homeland traditional identities. He traces the origins of nationalism in the modern era and considers how this ideology — artificially constructed group identity based on language, religion, ethnicity, and race — led to the devastating wars and genocides of the 20th centuries.

Christianity’s rise to become the world’s most populous religion largely hinges on a pivotal moment in history: the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Had Constantine’s imperial heirs not patronized the church, co-opting it as Rome’s state religion, history would have been very different. One last pagan Emperor did attempt to reverse the trend, stripping the church of imperial patronage, while promoting the worship of the old gods: Julian, the nephew of Constantine. In this live lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the reign of Julian (remembered by Christians as “the Apostate”) and the reasons why he failed in his attempt to defeat Christianity.

The “Life of Adam and Eve” is an ancient expansion of the Genesis story after the first man and woman were driven out of Eden. Although the original (likely written in Hebrew) is lost, variations of the text survive in Latin, Greek, Armenian, and Slavonic --- showing its wide popularity. The biblical story of the Fall of the first humans and its effect has intrigued Jews, Christians, and Muslims from Antiquity to the present. Although it was not included in the Bible, the “Life of Adam and Eve” added biographical details and influenced later literary works as diverse as the Quran and Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will give an overview of the text, consider its provenance and date, and look at its role in literature and theology related to the Adam and Eve story.

According to the Bible, as of the 8th century bc, the twelve tribes of Israel were divided into two, unequal kingdoms: the southern Kingdom of Judah, consisting of just two tribes (Judah and Benjamin), and the much more powerful, northern Kingdom of Israel, consisting of ten tribes (Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and most of Levi). When the northern kingdom was conquered around the year 722 bc by the Assyrian Empire, much of its nobility and propertied classes were deported to the Assyrian heartland, never to return. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the history of the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” as well as many of the claims, legends, and fantasies about their whereabouts today.

The Biblical account describes David ruling over a united Israelite kingdom that included not only his native Judah, but also the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Bible further claims that David and his successor Solomon built a vast empire stretching from the Sinai to the Euphrates. Archaeological research since the 20th century has shown that this empire’s capital, Jerusalem, was merely a small hill village at the time these events purportedly occurred. Nevertheless, discoveries like the Tel Dan Stele provide extra-Biblical evidence for the historical existence of a “House of David” dynasty shortly after this period.

The Papal monarchy is an institution with ancient roots. Presently the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican City State, prior to the Protestant Reformation, the Papacy was previously the head of the entire Western (Latin) church and ruled directly over a much larger Papal State. Prior to the Eastern Orthodox schism, the Papacy often made good its claim to be the head of the entire Christian world — claims with historic precedents dating back to at least the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The Papacy claims roots that go back even further to authority given by the historic Jesus to the historic Peter. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review the basis for these claims and the historical evidence for the earliest Christian communities in Rome.

What do decorated trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, mistletoe, and eggnog have do with the birth of Jesus? Nowhere in the Bible is Jesus’ birthday given as December 25th. However, the Romans did celebrate that date, not as the birthday of the Son of God, but as the birthday of their sun god. We’ll look at the pagan origins of common Christmas traditions. The Pagan Roots of Christmas.

Popularized by the Medieval philosopher and theologian William of Occam, the idea that simplest solution is better than more complex explanations (the principle of parsimony) has become an important tool in the scientific method, leading to great advances in the physical sciences. However, the simplest explanation is not always the most accurate explanation in fields like the humanities and history. In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place considers the philosophical basis for Occam's Razor as well as some of its consequences in the development of Western philosophy and theology.

Can two objects be the same color? Is it possible for both a t-shirt and a car to be red? If you agree that both objects can share the same redness, then this color red has an existence that is repeatable, it is what philosophers call a “universal.” But in what way can “redness” be said to exist other than in the particular objects that seem to be the same color? Isn’t the red of the t-shirt actually a different red than that of the car? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline the philosophical problem of universals, how it was understood in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and why the question remains open today.

The United States is often compared with ancient Rome. Washington DC's monumental architecture was modeled on Rome's and the architects of the US Constitution looked to the constitution of the Roman Republic for inspiration. How did ancient Rome's constitution work and why did the Republic ultimately fall under the sway of Roman Emperors?

Transubstantiation is the doctrine of the Catholic Church which teaches that the substance of the bread in the sacrament of communion is changed into the substance of the Body of Christ (and the substance of the wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ). Nevertheless the “outward characteristics” of the bread and the wine (the “eucharistic species”) remain unaltered --- which means that “transubstantiation” is not the same as “transmaterializion.” The theological term “substance” is also critical to the Christian idea of the Trinity, where three distinct “persons” of God are said to be “consubstantial” as the One. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the development of these theological terms and propositions and consider what Catholics and other Christians mean when they talk about the “Body of Christ.

The development of the gods and legends of Ancient Rome before and after the incorporation of Greek myths. The traditional pagan religion of ancient Rome is often equated with its Greek counterpart, leading us to think of Jupiter and Zeus as the same god with the same attributes and associated myths. However, the native Roman practices and myths were not abandoned, but incorporated into the elaborate stories of Greek mythology which are more familiar to us. In this presentation we will attempt to untangle the two pantheons: gods and goddesses, stories, and cultic practices. What are the differences? What elements of each religion were later absorbed into Christianity?

The Bible is a complex library of books filled with famous protagonists and also antagonists, many of whom are sometimes equally famous. Many Biblical stories are black-and-white morality tales with villains that are almost cartoonishly evil, like Haman the official at the Persian court who plots to have every Jew in the Empire killed in revenge for a minor slight. But other villains are depicted with more complexity. After each plague against his people, it is the Lord who is said to harden the heart of the Pharoah of the Exodus. And even the first murderer and fratricide, Cain, and his descendants who go on to invent much of civilization. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will consider some of the Bible’s most famous villains in their context and also from the character’s own perspective.

The term "saint" carries varied meanings across Christian traditions, from martyrs and miracle workers formally canonized by the Catholic Church to ordinary believers living holy lives in Protestant contexts. But where did the idea of saints originate, and how has it evolved? Saints are not unique to Christianity—Jewish traditions celebrate tzaddikim (righteous ones), Greco-Roman cultures honored heroic figures, and Buddhism envisions Bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who guide others on the spiritual path. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore the concept of sainthood in Christian tradition, its relationship to these broader religious and cultural frameworks, and its enduring significance in the modern world. In this lecture, we’ll consider what it means to be a saint and how these figures continue to inspire faith and devotion across cultures.

When the earliest Biblical texts were being composed at the end of the First Temple Period, the Ark of the Covenant was a sacred relic housed in the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple. The Ark played a central role in the Biblical narrative beginning with the Exodus story where it was housed in the tent, or tabernacle, that functioned as a mobile temple that the Israelites carried with them as they wandered in the wilderness. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, nothing more is heard about the Ark. The exiles returned and built the Second Temple in the Persian Period, but the new structure had no Ark. What happened to the Ark and why was it important? Is there any chance it still exists? If the stories of the Exodus and of David and Solomon are myths, what is the actual history of the Ark? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore these questions and more.

Since the Council of Nicaea, 1700 years ago this year, the overwhelming majority of Christians have understood God through the lens of the Trinity: the doctrine that this is only One God, but that God consists of three “Persons.” And while each of the Persons is God, the persons are not the same as each other. Thus, when Jesus prays to the Heavenly Father, these are distinct Persons communicating: Jesus is not the Heavenly Father, even though the Heavenly Father is God and Jesus is also God. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the development of the concept of the Trinity, and will attempt to explain its paradox without falling into heresies like Modalism.

Many fundamentalist Christians anticipate that the world will end in their lifetime and they look for particular signs listed in the Book of Revelation. And it turns out that this has been true for almost a thousand years. As each generation’s belief has been proved false, the next generation simply updates the calculus and reads the signs in their own times. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will outline the actual context of the Book of Revelation, how it was meant to be understood by the generation for whom it was written, and how apocalypticists have come to so thoroughly misunderstand the text.

The northern Kingdom of Israel, centered on its capital Samaria, was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 720 bce. Many members of the nobility were deported to Mesopotamia where they eventually assimilated, the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.” However, the overwhelming majority of the northern Israelite people continued to live under Assyrian rule in the provinces of Samaria, Megiddo, and Gilead. When Assyrian rule was replaced by Babylonian and finally Persian rule, the people of Samaria (the Samaritans) continued to maintain their Israelite identity and even offered to help the returning Judean exiles (the Jews) rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. This offer was refused and over time, Jews and Samaritans became bitter rivals. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at Samaritan history from antiquity to the present.

The Bible credits the wise King Solomon with building the temple in Jerusalem, but extra-biblical sources are lacking Solomon is one of the most important figures in the Bible, credited with writing Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, as well as building the original Jerusalem temple (destroyed 587 bc). But for all his fame, why is there no contemporary mention of Solomon in historical sources outside the Bible?

In the Hebrew Bible, Baal is portrayed as the great rival of Yahweh. In the Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah famously challenges the prophets of Baal to a sacrificial offerings contest that ultimately leads to their doom. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will put these Biblical narratives in the context of what is known about Canaanite and Ancient Semitic religion, and the gods worshipped with the honorific title “Ba’al” (which means “Lord”).

After Jesus’ crucifixion, his movement in Jerusalem was led for many decades by his brother James the Just. His historicity is confirmed by the Jewish Roman historian Josephus who records a version of James’ execution at the hands of local Jewish authorities. The Apostle Paul met James (and came into conflict with him) as the two presented different visions for the emerging Christian church. Although historians largely agree that the Epistle of James was not written by the historical James, it shares the perspective of James’ community. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what we can know about the historical brother of Jesus and the communities that looked to him for leadership.

In the gospel accounts, Jesus’ ministry begins with his baptism by a figure named John the Baptist, whose own disciples continued to revere him after his execution. Many historians have argued that the historical Jesus was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what is known about the historical John, his practice of baptism, and his legacy in both Christianity and also Mandaeism (a small, ancient religion which may trace its origin to John’s disciples).

Many scholars argue that the ancient Israelite King David is the first character in the Bible who can be confirmed as a historical person. The Bible includes a wide variety of stories about David, from the young shepherd boy who defeats the giant Philistine Goliath, to a Robin-Hood-type leader of a group of righteous bandits, to the king who brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and makes the “City of David” his capital, to a king who loses his way in old age falling prey to court intrigues. Numerous poems from the “Book of Psalms” are traditionally attributed to David. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at what we can know about the historical David and reviews the Biblical and legendary material about him.

According to the gospels, Jesus of Nazareth was born during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea. Herod was a great builder who reconstructed the Jerusalem Temple where Jesus taught as well as fortresses including Masada. Who was Herod and how did he acquire his throne? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the history Herodian dynasty and its predecessor, the Hasmoneans and their short-lived, independent Jewish kingdom, placing them into the context of the larger Hellenistic and Roman worlds.

In one of the most dramatic miracles performed in the scriptures, Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead four days after his entombment. However, the story occurs only in the gospel of John (11:1-44), where Lazarus is presented as the brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany. The gospel of Luke (10:38-42) tells a famous story about Mary and Martha but does not mention their connection to Lazarus. Instead, Jesus tells a parable about a beggar named Lazarus and a rich man experiencing rewards and punishment in the afterlife (Luke 16:19-31). Indeed, nowhere else is Lazarus or his miraculous resurrection mentioned in the New Testament. Who was Lazarus? What happened to him after his resurrection? Why does such an important figure fall out of John’s narrative? Why is it not mentioned in any other source? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will survey the many theories about the Lazarus narrative.

The gospels cite Mary Magdalene as either the first of Jesus’ followers to testify of his resurrection or as part of a group of women followers who were the first. The gospel of Luke lists her among the wealthy women who provided material support to Jesus and his disciples and states that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. In the gospel of John, she is among the women who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. Several Christian communities, including the Gnostics, looked to Mary Magdalene as an authority greater than many of Jesus’ male apostles. She is included in several apocryphal texts including the Gospel of Thomas, the Dialogue of the Savior, and her own Gospel of Mary. Already in Antiquity, she was conflated with other gospel characters, including the unnamed “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36-50, given rise to the false tradition that she had been a prostitute. More recently, because of fictional accounts like The DaVinci Code and modern frauds like the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, the completely baseless idea that she was Jesus’ wife has become popular. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will revisit the various accounts of Jesus’ most famous female follower, to discern what can be known about the historical Mary Magdalene and will survey her many, diverse legacies.

Jesus’ mother is present in all four of the canonical gospels and legends about her life were elaborated in apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works. Venerated as a saint, over time her cult evolved to fill the gap left by the Christian understanding of God for the divine feminine. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will consider what we can know about the historical Mary and will review the evolution of her mythology.

One of the few details of the life of the historical Jesus that nearly all historians agree on is that he was crucified during the administration of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Who was Pilate and what do we know of his administration? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will cover the sources and details of Pilate’s life within the context of contemporary Roman government and history.

The Philistines serve as major foils of the Israelites in the early books of the Bible, including Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. “Philistine” has come down to us in English as a slur for someone who is uncouth and hostile to culture and the arts. Two Philistine characters Goliath and Delilah of “David & Goliath” and “Samson & Delilah” fame continue to be household names. What can we know about the historical Philistines? John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the Biblical depiction of the Philistines and will contrast that portrayal with information that can be gleaned from the rest of the historical and archeological record.

Genesis contains two creation stories, two entwined versions of the Flood story, two alternate lists of "begats", and three versions of the story of a patriarch and his wife staying with a foreign king during a time of famine. We'll look at how the "Documentary Hypothesis" seeks to explain clear seams in the Biblical text, and what we can know about the Bible's underlying authors and editors.

Scholars have concluded Moses didn't write the Five Books of Moses. Who did? The “Documentary Hypothesis” is the most widely accepted explanation of the Bible's authorship among modern scholars. Although Moses was traditionally considered the author of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Torah, or Pentateuch,) in this lecture we look at historical, archaeological, mythological, and literary evidence that suggests many different sources were compiled primarily during the Babylonian exile, many centuries after Moses would have lived, if he was a historical figure at all.

Christian tradition assigned the name of “John” to the New Testament’s fourth gospel, but the text itself does not claim to be written by him. Obvious seams in the text between the end of chapter 20 (an original ending to the gospel) and chapter 21 (which was added on) show that the text is the product of multiple authors. One of those authors claims that a source for the gospel is the testimony of one of Jesus’ beloved disciples. But although the “beloved disciple” is a significant character in the gospel, the authors deliberately do not give his name. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore the fourth gospel to determine what the text can tell us about its authors and the community that produced it. What else can we know about the Johannine community and how do they relate to the historical John (Jesus’ disciple) and other early Christians who share the name John?

The four canonical gospels are attributed to Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Matthew and John are among the Twelve Apostles. Mark was a companion of Peter and Luke a companion of Paul. Nevertheless, none of the texts gives any indication that these characters are their actual authors. In fact, the texts originally circulated anonymously and were only assigned their present names by later copyists. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the origins of the traditional designations, why none is likely to be an accurate identification, and what we can know from the texts themselves about the anonymous evangelists.

The Jewish Roman historian and military commander Flavius Josephus was a prolific author, who wrote accounts of the First Roman-Jewish War alongside a larger history of Judaism. Born Yosef Ben Matityahu in the Roman province of Judea at Jerusalem, he was initially a general in the Jewish revolt before switching sides and serving the Roman military commander Vespasian. Yosef claimed that Jewish messianic prophecies predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor. And when Vespasian seized the throne, he patronized Yosef who took the name Flavius Josephus (after Vespasian’s clan name). Josephus is our single most important source for the history of Judea in the First Century AD (the time of Jesus), but his own bias and agenda require his works to be read with care. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review Josephus’ works and will highlight some of the most important takeaways.

Although Paul of Tarsus never met the historical Jesus, his vision of the risen Christ convinced him to change his life’s course, become an apostle, and devote the rest of his life preaching the “good news” of the resurrection. Not everyone in the growing movement was pleased by this development and Paul records coming into serious conflict with Jesus’ actual disciples, Peter, James, and John. Paul’s insistence that Christians should not follow Jewish law was at the center of the argument and during the conflict, Paul’s opponents questioned whether he had authority to plant churches. At the end of his career, Paul despaired that many of his own churches in the Eastern Mediterranean seemed to have converted to follow the interpretation of his opponents, causing him to plan a retreat to Spain to start anew. Despite these setbacks, only a few decades later, Paul’s teachings on the law became doctrine for a majority of Christians and his writings were revered as scripture. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will trace the conflict among early Christians and consider why Paul’s churches ultimately won.

Christians look to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah or the Christ, the anointed one foretold by Jewish scripture as the universal savior. Although two of the gospels tell stories of his birth in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, one of the details of his life that upon which historians agree is that Jesus was from the village of Nazareth in the district of Galilee. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the history of Galilee and how it differed from Judea in the 1st century AD, considering how Jesus’ context as a Galilean informed his ministry and the movement he founded.

The Epic of Gilgamesh preserves some of the oldest stories in human history—and many of its themes resurface in the Bible. In this lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place examines how myths of creation, the fall, the flood, and humanity’s quest for eternal life were reimagined by the authors of the Bible. We’ll explore how these retellings differ from the original Mesopotamian accounts and why.