HST 121 - Early Christianity

I. Judaism in the 1st century BCE [Maps: Roman Empire, Palestine]
        A. 4 major social-religious groups
                1. Sadducees: conservative, upper-stratum of society
                2. Pharisees: most popular group; more flexible attitude
                3. Essenes: semi-monastic group; thought end of 
                        the world was near
                4. Zealots: patriotic separatists
        B. idea of the afterlife
        C. idea of a messiah: person chosen by the Jewish God to liberate 
                Israel from foreign control
        D. the hopes of Jesus' followers were based on all of these ideas
II. Jesus
        A. Began to preach around the age of 30
        B. Preached about the coming of God's kingdom and that 
                people had to repent to get into this new kingdom
        C. But this idea wasn't new. How did Jesus differ from other
                people who were saying the same thing?
                1. Jesus was dissatisfied with the emphasis on obeying rules
                        and prohibitions about the smallest details of daily life
                2. Jesus wanted moral transformation of human character
                        through a direct encounter between
                        the individual and God
        D. Jesus seen as a troublemaker by Jewish leaders
                and Roman authorities
        E. both groups were responsible for his death
        F. Christianity was only a small Jewish sect after Jesus' death
        G. What gave it strength was the belief that Jesus was raised from
                the dead on the third day after his burial
                - this made it possible to believe Jesus was a divine
                        savior-god who came to earth to show people
                        the way to heaven
III. St. Paul (5-67 CE)
        A. at first, he persecuted Christians
        B. then converted to Christianity and spent years traveling
                throughout the empire trying to convert people
        C. Why successful? He broke with Judaism in 2 significant ways:
                1. He taught that God had revealed himself to ALL people
                        (Jews and non-Jews) through Jesus and that this took
                        precedence over God's earlier revelation to the Jews
                2. Because of this, Mosaic regulations were obsolete
IV. The Spread and Endurance of Christianity
        A. Religious toleration of classical culture
                1. polytheism
                2. Romans incorporated gods of the people they conquered
        B. Pax Romana
                1. large size of empire
                2. Roman cities and roads throughout empire
                3. peace and stability
        C. The fall of Jerusalem and the Diaspora
                1. the Jews launched a war of liberation against 
                        the Romans in 66
                2. the Romans defeated the Jews, captured Jerusalem and
                        destroyed the main Jewish temple in 70
                3. this sent Jews and Christians fleeing to other parts
                        of the empire
        D. Age of Faith
                1. spiritual paralysis in the Roman Empire
                        during the Pax Romana
                2. reason was no longer a satisfying guide to life
                3. people remained attracted to ritual, magic and mystery
                4. because of this, people were becoming devotees of many
                        Near Eastern religious cults that promised personal 
                        salvation, such as Christianity
                5. and because of this, people were willing to believe
                        that Jesus was raised from the dead and the miracles
                        performed by the apostles of Jesus
                   - example: Acts of the Apostles
                        a. Describe the miracle performed by Peter.
                        b. How did the people perceive what had happened?
                        c. How did Peter explain the miracle to the people?
                        d. How did Simon perceive the actions of the Apostles
                                laying hands on people so they could receive
                                the holy spirit?
        E. Vocabulary of Christianity comprehensible to pagan public
                1. the Christian ideas about the birth of a person being a new
                        beginning for the world and this person being the bearer
                        of good news and a personal savior were not new ideas
                2. they conformed to an existing set of messages that
                        had already been used by Augustus
        F. Christianity offered individual redemption to all people
        G. Constantine
                1. emperor from 306-337
                2. Battle at the Milvian Bridge (312)
                3. Edict of Milan (313)
                4. eventually converts to Christianity