Christmas Traditions – The First Ever Nativity Play
Even in modern, secular Britain there is one tradition that still holds sway at Christmas – The Christmas Nativity Play. In this article we look at the 800 year old origin of this Christmas institution.
Who was Mary Magdalene ?
Possibly one of the most maligned and mis-understood charaters in the Bible. Mary Magdalane has been variously described as a Prostitute, an Apostle and even the wife of Jesus. But who was she really?
Christmas Factoid : Jesus’ Mum didn’t call him Jesus
This is one of those things we all think we know until some bright spark pops up to say .. “that’s not true”. So here is the low-down on why Jesus’ Mum didn’t call him Jesus.
Was Jesus a Real Person ?
Should we regard the Jesus described in the New Testament as a myth. That is that Jesus either didn’t do the things he’s said to have done in the New Testament, or even that there was a real person on whom the Jesus legend was based ?
In this article we look at evidence OUTSIDE of the Bible.
The Day St George lost his head … literally
On the 23rd April 303 AD in Nicomedia, (near today’s Istanbul), St George of dragon fame was beheaded on the orders of the Roman emperor Diocletian. As you’re no doubt aware he went on to become the patron saint of Englend, and quite a few other places as well as it happens. The story of his life and death is no less fascinating.
The Death of a Saint and the Start of a Romantic Tradition – The Martyrdom of St Valentine
Monday 14th 270 AD was quite a day for Bishop Valentine of Interamna (now Terni in Umbria), for on that day, in Rome, he was stoned to death and then beheaded on the orders of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus.
Onward Christian Soldiers : When the Salvation Army took on the Nazis – In Guernsey
The German Occupation of the Channel Islands is a dark period of the islands history. A time when slave labourers were worked to death in the islands to help complete Hitlers Atlantic wall defence system. Practical resistance was virtually impossible. However one courageous member of the Salvation Army stands out – Major Marie Ozanne
New First-Hand Account of Jesus Miracle Found
An incredible first hand eye-witness account of Jesus performing a miracle has been unearthed in the Vatican archives.
The Meaning of 12 Days of Christmas Carol
There’s one particular Christmas Carol that continues to baffle people – “The Twleve days of Christmas”. What in the world do ‘leaping lords’, ‘French hens’,’swimming-swans’ and especially the partridge who won’t come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?
The Languages (& Translations) of the Bible – Linguistic Conundrums
Much of the Christian Bible was written in Greek so why don’t we read the Bible in Greek? How many languages has it been translated into? and Why does it matter? It turns out that the answer to the last question is very important indeed when you study the linguistic differences, subtle nuances and context in which writtings can appear within a passage of scripture.
Did the Romans invent Christmas?
The Romans were pagans for the first 300 years of Christianities existence.We’ll see in this article that Christianity has been very clever in subsuming pagan festivals and replacing them with their own, especially when the exact dates of some Christian festivals cannot be pin-pointed precicisely.
Pivotal Moments : November 27 1095 – The Pope orders Crusade
There are key moments in history when on the decisions and actions of men the course of human history is changed forever. November 27 1095 was such a day. It was the day on which Pope Urban II made perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages calling for crusade in the Holy land.
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Why is there something rather than nothing ? Or to put it another way why do we and for that matter the Universe exist ? These kinds of questions along with their proposed answers form a ‘set’ of philosophical conundrums known as The Cosmological arguments. The Cosmological Arguement Question : Why is there something rather than nothing? Answer : God Such are the beginning and end of the cosmological argument, and there...
Daily Life as a Medieval Monk
Let it not be said that we at guernseyDonkey.com ever short change you when it comes to answering some of those random questions that have a habit of flitting across our minds from time to time, or that we skimp on adding to that great body of knowledge that we like to call “Internet Fluff” so … “What did Medieval Monks get up to ?”, “What was the daily life as a monk like ?”
The Tipping Point – The Day Rome Embraced Christianity
Christianity has shaped Western society and the way we perceive the world. In this article we look at the event that propelled a dynamic new religion to official state sponsored religion.
