www.public4you.fora.pl

greenlity · Wysłany: Czw 3:18, 17 Mar 2011 Temat postu: Going on faith - chicagotribune.com

ATHENSPMA , Greece

It was hard to keep my footing on Mars Hill. Its earthquake-battered surface is by turns either too jagged or worn slick by pilgrim feet. I hadn't expected that.
On this outcropping, the Apostle Paul addressed the Areopagus, a sort of intellectual town council that gave its name to this spot and to the building,Lebron James, now long gone, in which it met.
Even now, the view from its two-story summit is one of the best in Athens. The panorama takes in the entire ancient city from the dainty Temple of Athena Nike atop the Acropolis, back across the old agora, all the way to the well-preserved Temple of Hephaestus at the nether end. Those landmarks were a good 400 years old when B.C. changed to A.D.
Anyone standing here almost 2,000 years ago would have been hemmed in by pagan shrines. He would've needed a lot of chutzpah to tell the Athenians, as Paul did, that "the God who made the world and everything in it...does not live in temples built by hands." (Acts 17:24 NIV) His message drew a mixed reaction at the time: Some were converted, some took offense and some equivocated with what I interpret as an ancient form of "don't call us, we'll call you."

Need basic training in SEO and social media? Sign up for 435 Digital seminars at Tribune Tower >>

But in the weeks since I myself stood on Mars Hill, something else has occurred to me. Of all the arguments and speeches the Areopagus must have entertained on this spot over the ages, only Paul's is engraved on a bronze plaque bolted to the bedrock. That's a connection I may never have made if I hadn't been there on the front wave of an emerging trend in Christian tourism.
There's nothing new about religious travel. But there is something different: The niche has gone mass market.
With the entrance of mega-operator Globus into the religious sector three years ago, and the offerings from other secular companies such as Ya'lla Tours USA, Gate 1 Travel and Isram World, individuals can book escorted religious itineraries with a choice of guaranteed departure dates, just as they would a general-interest tour.
Now, people like me who either don't have a church affiliation or whose schedules don't mesh with whatever trips their congregation might plan can just sign up for a tour like this.
As you can see, I already did.
Following Paul
I traveled Sept. 26-Oct. 5 on Globus' most popular religious itinerary, the nine-night "Footsteps of Apostle Paul," based around the saint's activities as recorded in the Book of Acts, chapters 16-21 -- though the logistics of the trip didn't always allow us to visit places in the same order Paul did.
We went first to ancient Corinth, famed in classical times for its temple prostitutes and black-figure pottery, destroyed when Rome defeated Greece in 146 B.C. added: andand rebuilt by Julius Caesar a hundred years later as a sort of Del Webb for old soldiers. They're pretty sure that Paul arrived in 51 or 52 A.D.
One of Corinth's more intriguing attractions is the public toilets, whose line of keyhole-shaped stone "seats" were not at all private. On the contrary, they were positioned around a rectangular courtyard and, by all accounts, quite the place for socializing in Roman times. They sit just off a wide street whose original stone paving slabs lead to the central agora, or marketplace, and the Bema of Paul. The bema (meaning step or steps, our guide said) is just a stone platform, roped off and vacant except for the weight of the words Paul spoke from it.
Standing there, he would have been facing the general direction of the ancient Temple of Apollo -- today a half-dozen or so brownish pillars reaching for a roof that isn't there.
When we got back to Athens, we made the stop at Mars Hill before tackling the Acropolis -- a must on any Greece itinerary, but relevant to a Christian tour for an understanding of the ancient Athenians.
The Acropolis poses a challenging ascent: countless steep, slick steps and no hand railings. Some in our group of 37 were fit enough to backpack for miles. Others brought canes. Still,cheap nike dunks, most of us made it to the top for a detailed explanation of classical architecture and descriptions of various pagan beliefs and practices.
Aegean cruising
The next morning we transferred from our Athens hotel and were checked in aboard the 364-cabin Orient Queen by 9:30 a.m. -- plenty of time to sun, swim, eat lunch and schedule a massage before an afternoon arrival at Mykonos, the island with those iconic white windmills. This picturesque stop had no connection to Paul. But on a trip where the guides would make time for four captive-shopping experiences -- two pottery studios, a carpet showroom and an icon workshop -- the boutiques of Mykonos' whitewashed lanes would prove to be one of the tour's few opportunities for window shopping.
Next day at the island of Rhodes, our Rhodian guide permitted a five-minute photo stop at the Bay of St. Paul, where Paul and Silas once made port. It was sandwiched between an ascent to the medieval Castle of the Knights of St. John at Lindos and a walk through the medieval heart of the city of Rhodes -- all crowded into a fast-paced half-day excursion.

var afterLoginLocation = '';
var defaultLocation = $('articlePromoLink').href;
var wasClicked = false;
if (!!window.carnival) {
new memberNav(
'#articlePromoLink',
function() { //user is logged in
if(,Tony Parker!!afterLoginLocation && afterLoginLocation != '' && afterLoginLocation != 'default'){
$('articlePromoLink').onclick = function(){ carnival.utils.listener.fire('_carnival_'+afterLoginLocation); wasClicked = true; return false; }
}
},
function(){ //user is not logged in
if(!!afterLoginLocation && afterLoginLocation != ''){
$('articlePromoLink').onclick = function(){
carnival.modal.popit(location.protocol+'//'+carnival.configuration('currentDomain')+'/'+signon.folder+'/site/registration/modal.signon');
wasClicked = true;
carnival.user.afterLogin(
function(){
if(!!afterLoginLocation && afterLoginLocation != '' && afterLoginLocation != 'default'){
carnival.utils.listener.fire('_carnival_'+afterLoginLocation);
} else if(wasClicked){
window.location = defaultLocation;
}
}
);
return false;
}
}//if
}
).writeNav();

}//if

textSize()

1

2

3

4

next

| single page