Biography of St. Anthony

Saint Anthony the Great also know as the Father of All Monks was as his name suggests one of the first great desert fathers of Christianity. Anthony was born in 251 to rich parents who died when he was 18. At 34, Anthony decided to become a monk, and so gave away everything he had, gave his sister into the care of what was in essence an early monastery, and went into the desert. There he lived for 71 years until his death at the age of 105. Most of what we have on his life comes from Athanasius who lived around the same time and wrote a biography of him. Attributed to St. Anthony are 38 sayings which have been said to contain all the instructions and lessons necessary for a Christian.

Balloons for Space

JP Aerospace is more of a garage science project than a company, but seems to hold some potential. A company of four, John Powell and his compatriots are helped by 40 volunteers and $760,000. They’re concept is to cut the cost of a conventional rocket launch by floating an entire miniature rocket launch pad up to 33 km. Once that’s done they will blast a rocket through the remaining atmosphere to deliver a 10 kg payload into orbit. The advantage of JP’s setup is not the height given by the balloons, but the lack of atmosphere. Without it, the rocket doesn’t have to stand as much stress and can be lighter. In addition, the thinner atmosphere takes much less fuel to push through. The rocket platform itself is reusable increasing the rate at which satellites can be launched.

Animals and Reason

Mostly through Aristotle's influence many Christian sects today renounce animals as soulless beings. Aristotle in his books described animals as being without a rational soul, and therefore below and subject to humans. Christians took this to mean that animals had no soul and were therefore intrinsically evil, and would never reach "Heaven." Strangely enough though, animals fell with the rest of creation due to the folly of man, and it is because of man that all of creation is fallen. Free will is something that God according to the Bible only gave man, and man abused this gift and disobeyed God. It is man's fault that the world has fallen. We are not above animals, plants, or the rest of the creation. In this sense, it is a show of humanity's extreme stupidity compared to the rest of creation that Jesus was a human. We were given responsibility and abused it while the rest of creation was not and are now dependent on us to rectify our mistake.

Local gods and the Supreme Gods

Celsus was a pagan who became at least partially informed of the beliefs and situation of the early Christian community. He wrote a critique. Origen responded in several volumes to the arguments that Celsus made. In one of these arguments Celsus assumes that it is only natural that the many different communities and nations that were at that time under the Roman Empire should keep their own local customs. the reasons for this were that local deities ruled over various areas and each had their own demands and expectations. The traditions in each place had been established in antiquity and were meant to keep the local deity complacent. Because of this each locality was expected to keep their own traditions, even if those same beliefs and customs would be considered forbidden in the neighboring countries. The results of this was a split of morality and ethics. Some believed that crocodiles were to be worships while others thought of them as food.

In Christian thought and in most modern religious beliefs, there is only one God. A being that is supreme and rules over the entire world. Once this is accepted, the arguments of Celsus break down. Once the vast number of gods are exiled, so to must the relativistic beliefs of each community be exiled. With one deity there can only be one set of rules or rather beliefs that are right. This truth is strangely different from our modern views. Religious tolerance and the idea of each to his own are prevalent in our modern society. Yet almost all of us believe in a universal God. If this is so, then it follow that everyone should be subject to that God and his morality.

Greek Philosophy

For many influential Christian Fathers and scholars the Greek philosophers held in their grasp volumes of inspiration. Origen, Clement, Augustine, and many others believed that the philosophies of the Greeks could be reconfigured and fit to their beliefs to the benefit of Christians. On the other side of the matter, many of the Church Fathers realized that many of the greatest heresies and problems in the church stemmed from the overuse and what they deemed too liberal translation of these philosophies. For them, it must always be remembered that it was Philosophy which was the tool and servant of Christianity not the other way around.

The Good of Evils

In talking of the meanings of good and evil Origen gets himself if a tight spot. On the one hand, he doesn't want to say that things such as famine, pain, and death are good things, but on the other he will say that these things cannot be wholly evil. For men have through the evils of torture and death become martyrs, and through fasting and self mortification many have been said to improve on their souls. In addition, things such as wealth and prosperity which most would say are good things can lead to evil. For Origen, God creates evils and temptations in order to strengthen those that follow him. Good things such as wealth and worldly fortunes when they are prioritized over things such as virtue and goodness become evil and must be renounced.