Photograph: Nubian Christian painting of the three Hebrew men in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, saved by the angel (Daniel 3). Photo credit: Ibrahim Omer, edited by Sven-Steffen Arndt | Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. Daniel was a popular image in Nubian Christian art. The story of Nubian Christianity is remarkable. At around 540 AD, the warring kings and kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia (all now Northern Sudan) became Christian at roughly the same time. They reconciled their differences and merged their kingdoms, which led to a flourishing literary and artistic culture in the Upper Nile region. The artwork of the Kingdom of Makuria is in the Faras Cathedral: Mary and Infant Jesus, the Cross and Four Living Creatures, and Madonna and Child with Bishop Marianos. The Nubians resisted and/or survived Arab Islamic military advances until around 1500 AD. Here are other Nubian Christian frescoes.
Below are messages, small group leader notes, and exegetical notes on the Book of Daniel.
Messages
Daniel 7:1 - 14 Christ vs. Empire, Part 1: Jesus Above the Empires (Daniel 7:1 - 14) Video of a message given at Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, Jul 26, 2020. Scripture saw Empires as one result of the Fall. The prophet Daniel saw Empires as misshapen and mixed beasts. In Daniel 7:13 - 14, he saw how the Jewish king would triumph over the beasts. Jesus drew on this Scripture. This message also explains why the U.S. is an Empire in the biblical sense. See also text in pdf format. See the full series on the Church & Empire page.
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The Heir of David: A Thematic and Canonical Analysis of the Writings
Essay exploring how the Writings — the third group of the Hebrew Bible according to the Jewish tradition — are arranged. There is a garden-to-exile-to-restoration theme that can be discerned in the orderings of the books in the Writings. The Writings develop the readers’ hope in the Heir of David as the one who will bring about the restoration from exile, and return to the garden land.
Bible Studies and Messages from The Anástasis Center: Writings:
Bible Studies and Messages from The Anástasis Center:
