ИНОСТРАННЫЕ

The origins of a literature lie buried in the unconscious of a people’s infancy. Its ultimate roots coincide with that people’s very birth, a moment which can hardly be situated with historical accuracy. The same spiritual forces which brought a people into being and inspired its growth and development constitute the well- spring of its literature.

 

The earliest mention of the name ‘Israel’ in history is found in an inscription by Merenptah from about 1208 BCE (§6.3.4). We know, therefore, that an entity called Israel had its origins already in the second millennium BCE. If that entity in Merenptah’s inscription had anything to do with the historical kingdom of Israel - which most scholars accept - then Israel (in some form) originated probably as early as the mid-second millennium and perhaps even earlier. It is part of the purpose of the present study to explore these roots.

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ began His public ministry with a call to repentance, and immediately He told His hearers why they must give heed. They must reorient their whole life, He said, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John the Baptist had issued the same call and the same admonition. Jesus’ repetition of it at the very beginning unquestionably authenticates John’s work and confirms his relation to Jesus as His forerunner. The Lord’s prophet, the last and greatest, prophesies. Jesus Christ fulfills.

 

A little over an hour into Ron Howard’s cinematic adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, for the first time in a major Hollywood film we see a portrayal of the Council of Nicaea. The brief scene takes place in an expansive, ornately decorated basilica, ending in an apse whose vault is decorated with an anachronistic image of an enthroned Christ, who presides over the proceedings (figure 1.1).