“The City of Ephesus” by Sandra Glahn

Today, the city of Ephesus may be mostly ruins investigated by archaeologists and tourists. But at one time, it was the chief city of what we call Asia Minor. Rome made it the capital of the province of Asia, and it was an important center of religious worship of the goddess Diana or Artemis.  

Ephesus was also a significant setting for the Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys. In the Book of Acts, it’s known for a riot caused by silversmiths angered by Paul’s healing of a possessed slave girl, for Paul’s letter to the church there, and his farewell discussion with the Ephesian elders, the one in which he warned about the wolves devouring the lambs. Timothy ministered there.

 

Dr. Sandra Glahn, who’s written more than 20 books and aims to make research accessible, has written The City of Ephesus: A Short History, a concise, well-written account of the story of Ephesus, focusing on the period from 100 B.C. to 100 A.D. 

 

Glahn details the importance of the temple of Artemis. The goddess was believed to protect the city, women in childbirth, and even a protector of wealth, serving as something like a depository. People came, she writes, from Europe, Asia, and Egypt to pay homage. When Paul cast the demon from the slave girl, it didn’t take much for the girl’s owner, resenting the loss of income, to transfer his anxiety to the silversmiths who profited from the Artemis cult.

 

She details the social, political, and religious contexts for the city during the 200 years between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D. And then she briefly describes what happened to Ephesus after the time of Paul. 

Sandra Glahn

 

Glahn has published a number of Bible studies on the books of Jonah, Ruth, Judges, Esther, Song of Solomon, Malachi, Luke, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians; the letters to the seven churches in Revelation and the Sermon on the Mount; several books on women’s issues; and even novels. She had a column on Substack and her own blog. Her podcast on Youtube is called The Chick Report with Dr. Sandra Glahn. She also conducts student tours or workshops in Italy, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Writing.

 

The City of Ephesus isn’t an exhaustive study of the city and the times in which it flourished. But succeeds, and succeeds well, in its aim to provide a detailed overview. 

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Murders for June – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House: A Redemptive, Modern Novel – Daniel Sundahl at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The 120^th Anniversary of Vauxhall Bridge – A London Inheritance.

 

The Stamp Act and the American Revolution – Kyler Burd at Journal of the American Revolution.

Your first love

After Revelation 2: 1-7 

The stranger enters,

startling and disturbing,

standing at the entrance

and casting his glance

around them. As he walks

to the front, slowly, all eyes

follow. Your reject evil,

he says; you reject false

leaders. You endure in

patience. But, and you 

know there’s a but, you

have turned away from

your love, your first love,

retaining the form but not

the substance. In you

passion for truth, you’ve

forgotten how to love. 

Know where you came 

from; know how far 

you’ve fallen. Repent,

and return, or I will 

remove your light, remove

your lampstand. He stands

before them, waiting.

 

Photograph by Jametiene Reskp via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Churchgoing,” poem by Marilyn Nelson – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“Give Me Jesus,” 19^th century African American spiritual – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Siloam – poem by Joel Kurz at Mere Orthodoxy,

 

This is just to say – poem by Sarah Crowley Chestnut at The Rabbit Room.

 

In a cell, daily

After Ephesians 1:15-23

What is it to sit in a cell,

day after day, waiting

for some movement,

some progress, some

anything on your case,

but hearing only 

the silence of the night,

the scurrying of the rats,

the groaning and nearby

whimpering, punctuated

only by occasional 

shouts of guards and

slamming of doors?

It is endless waiting,

an existence of gray, 

until news is heard,

news from a thousand

miles away, news that

serves to remind that

a work once done

bears fruit and returns

as many more works

still being done, that

a visit years ago has

left growth and

flourishing behind it,

tangible expressions

of faith and love,

and you’re sitting

in that cell, desolation

crowding your soul,

and you hear of that

good thing, that life,

and you know that

your life is not in vain,

that this waiting, too, 

has its purpose and is

itself another good work.

Photograph by Michael Jasmund via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Logical progression

After Ephesians 1:15-22

He was nothing if not

logical, speaking and

arguing with that razor

sharp mind of his, and

the logic continues,

even though it’s not

an argument or

discussion, but a report,

some welcome news,

so he gives thanks,

he prays for them,

he prays very generally

and very specifically,

for them to receive

a spirit of wisdom 

and revelation, so that

hearts are enlightened,

hearts know the hope,

the hope that is calling,

the riches of inheritance,

the power extended,

the power of a death and

resurrection extending

above all other power

and authority for all time,

and all that in one breathless

this-follows-that sentence.

Photograph by Jeff Frenette via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The plan

After Ephesians 1:1-14

It was a plan,

it is a plan

for the fullness

of time. Envisioned

and created before

time, it had an aim,

a purpose, a means

and an end: unity,

oneness, union

of all things,

things in heaven,

things on earth.

It’s all rather

stunning, when

you consider it:

a plan for all time,

created before time

began, a plan 

to unify all things.

Photograph by Eleventh Wave via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Inheritance

After Ephesians 1:1-14

The will and testament

is written and read,

the inheritance obtained,

executed exactly as

he planned.

The first to hope

become the praise.

The ones who hear

and believe the word

are sealed for eternity.

And an eternal warranty

is given, a guarantee

of permanence, a promise

of forever.

Photograph by Alvaro Serrano via Unsplash. Used with permission.

From a cell

After Ephesians 1:1-14

From a cell he writes

his letter to the faithful

in the city of Artemis,

twelve hundred miles 

of separation but still

together as one. He 

writes of being chosen

together, predestined

together, sharing 

an adoption,

a redemption, sharing

forgiveness. Distance

is of no consequence

because of what they 

share in common,

their sharing surpassing

the wealth of their cities,

the culture of their societies,

the strength of their empire.

And he calls them saints.

And he calls them faithful.

Photograph by Michael Jasmund via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Thinking with the Heart and the Brain

It’s about 60 A.D. The Apostle Paul is in Rome, a prisoner, awaiting his audience with the emperor as is his right as a Roman citizen. The waits could be long, and Paul likely waited about two years.

In the meantime, he writes letters to the churches he helped to found, in what is now present-day Turkey and Greece. He was particularly close to one church, that of Ephesus, located on the coast of what was then the province of Asia (present-day western Turkey). Ephesus faced the Aegean Sea.

Ephesus was the provincial capital, famous for its temple of Diana or Artemis. The city’s amphitheater could hold between 25,000 and 30,000 people. It had a stadium like all important cities of the empire. Paul had founded the church there, and had stayed in Ephesus for three years. He knew the city, he knew the people, and he knew the church.

His letter to the Ephesians is primarily a letter of encouragement (other churches, like the one at Corinth, received reprimands). And early in the letter, he uses a curious expression: the eyes of the heart. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,” he writes, “in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (Eph. 1:18).

We associate the heart with feelings, and particularly love. We associate the brain with thinking and with the processing of what the senses absorb. But as Christa Black Gifford points out in

Heart Made Whole: Turning Your Unhealed Pain into Your Greatest Strength, the heart and the brain are intimately connected.

“But when you ask people to turn on all of their heart to experience God,” she says, “some get very nervous that you’re asking them to turn off their brains. …In fact, the condition of your heart is most affected by the three-pound organ sitting inside your skull.”

And that is the connection Paul is making with “the eyes of the heart.” He’s telling the Ephesians to fully experience God by opening the eyes of their heart.

To feel, the heart must understand; to understand, it must see; and for the heart to see, the brain must be operating. Experiencing God is an all-sensory experience. The heart is involved, but so is the brain.

And no, you don’t check your brain at the church door. If fact, the brain is vitally necessary for faith. It’s vital for both the expression of faith and the deepening and maturing of faith. Faith is not an all-emotional experience.

We hear what Paul says. We bring our brains to bear on what we believe. And we open the eyes of our heart.

Led by Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter, we’re reading Heart Made Whole. Consider reading along and join in the discussion. To see what others are saying about this chapter, “Your Heart-Brain Connection,” please visit Jason at Connecting to Impact.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Heraclitus asks a question

Heraclitus went to the river,

pondering what he called

the logos. He dipped his toe

in the river, and withdrew it,

to wonder if the river he dipped

his toe into was the same as

the river before, and the river after,

or if, perhaps, his toe defined

what the river was. He argued

with himself for a lifetime,

not answering his own question,

never once asking if his toe

was wet.

Painting: Heraclitus of Ephesus, oil on canvas by Hendrick ter Brugghen (1628); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Why go

After Acts 21

Pleas, entreaties, warnings,

tears fall on blocked ears

and open mind. I will listen to

but not heed the words breaking

my heart; I know their source,

their origin, their why. But I will

set theses precious stones aside;

I have no choice. I will go on

to what is feared:

inevitable arrest,

inevitable trial,

by the same minds and sentiments

that condemned and executed

the innocence of the word,

I will go on, risking

the likely repetition.

Illustration: 19^th century woodcut.

Am I a wolf

After Acts 20

The man we love

the man who gave us

the word, who spoke of life,

to life, now sits with us

a last time. We will never see

his face again, we will never hear

his voice again, we will never know

his countenance among us again.

And now he warns us of wolves

arising from among our own number,

wolves to devour the sheep and lambs.

Am I a wolf?

Photograph by Karen Arnold via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.