C
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,
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Christian Good Shepherd. Second century CE. Marble, ht. 39″. Vatican Museum.
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Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
6
Preview Questions
The Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks, and Romans made
1. What were the major
stages in the historical
development of ancient
Israel?
significant and enduring
C contributions to the unfolding Western tradition.
2. How do written and
material evidence
combine to reveal
the history of Israel?
3. What were the
central teachings
of Christianity?
4. How do written and
material evidence
reveal Christianity’s
relationship to classical
culture?
At the height of their
H power, they were often identified by their political
and governmental structures—kingdoms, city-states, or empires—and
R
I
ern tradition has also been shaped and enriched by peoples who did not
S
establish kingdoms or empires, but whose ideas and beliefs have survived
T
to the present day. The first of these people were the Hebrews, the second,
I
early Christians. Henceforth,
the Western humanities constitutes a blend of
A of the Judeo-Christian traditions.
the Greco-Roman and
N their surrounding neighbors, the Hebrews were, inIn comparison to
deed, small in number
, and exerted little political or economic dominance.
historians have described them in terms of their states. However, the West-
Yet they formulated and preserved a unique religious experience and tradition that has been
Jactive and influential for nearly three thousand years.
The early Christians emerged in a Jewish milieu, spread across the Roman
A
M
century CE.
I
Judaism, the religion of the Hebrews, was affected by nearby tribes and
E
kingdoms while Christianity, original in many ways, owed much to Judaworld, and came to be the single official faith of the empire in the fourth
ism and to its surrounding classical world. Their similarities and differ-
5
ences regarding depictions
of God can be seen in the image of the Good
5 were absolutely forbidden to depict their God. Early
Shepherd. Hebrews
6 this Jewish prohibition, but soon began to circumvent
Christians inherited
this aversion by adopting
symbolic images. The Good Shepherd clearly
7
represented ChristB
but certainly was not meant to be him. The image is a
metaphorical, not aUphysical, representation. The Hebrew scriptures often
refer to God as a shepherd, and the Christians, who retained those scriptures as the old Testament, frequently referred to Jesus Christ as a shepherd in their scriptures, the new Testament. The statue is of high quality.
Its patron is unknown but must have been a person of some standing and
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
Timeline 6.1
JEWISH CIVILIZATION
2000 BCE
1500
Hebrews in
Canaan
1250
Hebrews
in Egypt
1020
Hebrews
Return
to Canaan
926
United
Monarchy
586
Division of
Kingdom and
Wars with
Neighboring
Empires
Moses
substance to commission the work. The image is reminiscent of the works of Praxiteles, the renowned Greek
sculptor—in sum, a biblical image in classical form.
The Jews and the early Christians were also connected in their use of a common language—Greek.
The Jews adopted the Greek of the Hellenistic world
to communicate with one another after being scattered
by their political foes. Early Christians used Greek
from the start to disseminate their message across the
Roman Empire. Jewish and Christian writings reveal
evident borrowings of both words and ideas from their
surrounding world. Like the statue as a connection
of the two faiths, Judaism and Christianity speak old
words in a new world and new words in an old world.
JUDAISM
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world.
It originated in the third millennium BCE among a
tribal Middle Eastern people who placed themselves
at the center of world history and created sacred texts
for passing on their heritage. Unlike the history and
religion of other ancient peoples, the history and religion of the Jews are so inextricably connected that
they cannot be separated.
The People and Their Religion
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Around 2000 BCE, Akkadian rule collapsed and Babylonian power slowly emerged. Among many displaced tribes the Hebrews were the most significant
historically. Under their patriarch Abraham, the oldest
and most respected male leader, they migrated from
Sumer to the land of Canaan, which included parts of
what are now Israel and Lebanon. Abraham and his
people were primarily pastoralists but also engaged
in some trade (Timeline 6.1). The Hebrews considered
themselves unique, a belief based on the relationship
between Abraham and a supernatural being who
spoke to him and whom he obeyed. This deity made
a covenant, or solemn agreement (the outward sign of
which was the circumcision of all male children), with
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 130
722 BCE
Assyrians
destroy
Israel
538
Babylonian
Captivity
Babylonians
conquer
Judah
168
Postexilic Period,
Reestablishment
of Jewish State
332 BCE
Alexander the
Great conquers
Judah
63
70 CE
MaccaRoman
bean
Rule in
KingJudea
dom
Romans
destroy
Jerusalem
Pompey
conquers Judah
C
H Abraham to protect his family and bring prosperity
his offspring if they agreed to obey his divine comR to
mands. Although this Hebrew deity was associated
I with nature, he differed from other Mesopotamian
in his commitment to justice and righteousS deities
ness. He was an ethical god and sought to impose
T ethical principles on humans (Map 6.1).
I
Egypt, Exodus, and Moses The Hebrews prosA pered for decades in Canaan, but around 1500 BCE,
N in a time of famine, a group migrated south into the
more prosperous Egypt, which had recently been over, run by the Hyksos, a Semitic people with whom the
Hebrews shared language and cultural traits. The Hebrews thrived over the next few centuries, until the
J Egyptians overthrew the Hyksos and enslaved the
A Hebrews. In about 1250 BCE, the extraordinary leader
rallied the Hebrews and led them on the Exodus
MMoses
from Egypt—one of the most significant events in JewI ish history. As the Hebrews wandered in the desert on
Sinai peninsula, Moses molded his followers into a
E the
unified people under a set of ethical and societal laws,
which they believed were received from God. After
5 forty years of wandering, followed by Moses’s death,
the Hebrews finally returned to Canaan, the Promised
5 Land pledged by Yahweh to their forefathers.
6 The laws of Moses were unique among ancient
peoples because they were grounded in the covenant
7 between the Hebrews and God and because no disB tinction was made between religious and secular offenses. All crimes were seen as sins and all sins as
U crimes. Those who committed crimes could not simply make reparation to their victims; they also had to
seek forgiveness from God. There were some crimes,
such as murder, that were so offensive to God that
they could not be forgiven by human beings alone.
Furthermore, human life was seen as sacred because it
was given by God, who created and owned all things;
individual humans were precious because they were
made in God’s image.
The core of Mosaic law was the Ten Commandments, which set forth the proper behavior of human
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Judaism
Learning Through Maps
TABLE 6.1 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
ASIA MINOR
0
0
50
100 mi
200 km
100
CYPRUS
To Babylon
PHOENICIA
Mediterranean
Sea
Sidon
Damascus
Tyre
Sea of Galilee
ISRAEL
Samaria
Jordan River
Jericho
Jerusalem
JUDAH
Gaza
Dead Sea
Beer-sheba
To Egypt
EGYPT
SINAI
PENINSULA
The United Kingdom under David
and Solomon, ca. 1000 BCE
To Elath
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1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth. . . .
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your
God in vain. . . .
4. Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the
Lord your God commanded you. . . .
5. Honor your father and your mother. . . .
6. You shall not kill.
7. Neither shall you commit adultery.
8. Neither shall you steal.
9. Neither shall you bear false witness against
your neighbor.
10. Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife . . .
or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Source: The Bible, Revised Standard Version, Deuteronomy
5:6–21.
ARABIAN DESERT
Trade route
MHS636.1
123 ANCIENT ISRAEL
MAP
mat76620_m0501.eps
This
Firstmap
proofshows the Hebrews’ ancient kingdom, known as the United
Monarchy, forged by the rulers David and his son Solomon. The map
also shows the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the two Hebrew states
that emerged when the United Monarchy split on the death of Solomon,
in 926 BCE. 1. Locate the capitals of these two kingdoms. 2. How was
the cultural life and religious faith of the nation of Israel influenced by foreign
neighbors? 3. What impact did Israel’s size and location have on its history
and religious faith? 4. Notice the scale of the map and compare it to the
scale of Map 5.2, The Roman Empire under Hadrian.
beings (Table 6.1). The commandments became the basis of a renewed covenant. The Hebrew God tolerated
no rivals; he was seen as the sole, omnipotent creator
and ruler of the universe. If individuals followed his
laws and worshiped him alone, they would be rewarded, and if they strayed, they would be punished.
Likewise, if the people followed the divine commands,
they would prosper, and if they disobeyed, they would
meet with adversity. As the mediator of the covenant
between God and the Hebrew people, Moses played a
crucial role in shaping Judaism into a comprehensive
system of ethical monotheism, the belief that there is
only one God and that God demands a high standard
of personal and societal behavior.
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 131
131
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5Figure 6.1 Stone Menorah. Second century CE. Ht. 18″. Israel
Jerusalem. Although this particular menorah dates from the
5Museum,
second century CE, the seven-branched candelabrum had been in use
symbol for centuries. According to Jewish beliefs, God
6asgavea religious
Moses explicit instructions on how to craft the menorah, which was
7made for the tabernacle, or house of prayer. Later the menorah came
to symbolize knowledge and understanding as well as the light of God
Bprotecting the Jews.
U
As they wandered through the Sinai desert, the Hebrews carried with them a sacred decorated box called
the Ark of the Covenant. Within it were the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were carved.
Details of how to craft the Ark and all the other sacred
objects used in worship were dictated to Moses by God
(Figure 6.1). In the desert, the deity also revealed a new
name for himself—YHWH, a name so sacred that pious
Jews never speak or write it. In the Middle Ages, European scholars rendered YHWH as Jehovah, but today
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
TABLE 6.2 HISTORICAL STAGES OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
NAME
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
DATE DESTROYED
Solomon’s Temple. Also called
First Temple.
Completed under King Solomon,
957 BCE.
587/586 BCE, by the Babylonians.
Second Temple. Also called
Completed 515 BCE. Rebuilt at
Herod’s Temple after being
order of King Herod (d. 4 BCE)
rebuilt in 26 CE.
between 20 BCE and 26 CE.
70 CE, by the Romans. A section of the
Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall)
survived; it was incorporated into the wall
around the Muslim Dome of the Rock and
al-Aqsa mosque in 691 CE.
this term is generally considered a false reading of the
C sacred letters. In modern English, YHWH is usually
H rendered as Yahweh. In biblical times, Jewish priests
R called the deity Adonai, the Semitic term for Lord.
I The Kingdom of Israel In about 1000 BCE, the Heestablished a monarchy, and from the late elevS brews
enth century to the end of the tenth century BCE, the
T nation flourished under a series of kings—Saul, David,
I and Solomon. The people called themselves Hebrews to
distinguish themselves from others while others called
A them Israelites. The popular king David centralized the
N government and shifted the economy away from herding and toward commerce, trade, and farming.
, Solomon, David’s son, brought the Hebrew, or Israelite, kingdom to its pinnacle of power and prestige.
He signed treaties with other states, expanded Israel’s
J trade across the Middle East, and raised the standard
A of living for many of his subjects. He completed the
building of Jerusalem begun by David, which, with
Mits magnificent public structures and great temple,
I rivaled the glory of other Middle Eastern cities. The
of Solomon, also known as the First Temple,
E Temple
housed Israel’s holy relics, including the Ark of the
Covenant, and became the focal point of the nation’s
which required pilgrimages and rituals,
5 religion,
based on the religious calendar (Table 6.2; Figure 6.2).
5 The Hebrew religion required ritual offerings (sac6 rifices of animals on large altars and wine, incense,
and grain mixed with oil on small altars) twice daily.
7 These offerings were conducted by priests in the TemB ple in Jerusalem as a community ritual for the entire
Hebrew nation; individuals could also arrange for sacU rifices to be made on their own behalf.
Figure 6.2 Horned Altar. Tenth century BCE. Carved limestone,
ht. 261/2″. The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago. Middle
Eastern peoples made sacrifices to their deities on altars, but the small
horned altar, as pictured here, was unique to the Hebrews. Horned altars
are described in the Bible, especially as a ritual object in the Temple in
Jerusalem, built in the tenth century BCE. However, this horned altar was
discovered at Megiddo, one of the cities of the Hebrew kingdom. Originally,
then, sacrifices could be performed away from the Temple in Jerusalem.
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Judaism
133
northern and southern tribes. When Solomon died in
926 BCE, the tensions between the regions intensified
and the United Monarchy separated into two states:
Israel in the north, with its capital at Samaria, and Judah in the south, with its capital at Jerusalem.
During the period of the two Hebrew kingdoms,
a new type of religious leader, known as a prophet,
appeared. The prophets warned of the fatal consequences of breaking Yahweh’s commandments. They
also demanded social justice for the helpless and the
downtrodden. In the face of a widening gulf between
rich and poor, the prophets predicted that if the welloff did not aid the less fortunate, Yahweh would bring
down the evil rulers and, in the future, punish the
Cselfish and reward the sufferers. But the words of the
Hprophets, such as Hosea and Amos in Israel and Isaiah
and Jeremiah in Judah, seemed to go unheeded.
Figure 6.3
Torah Scroll of the Pentateuch. Nuremberg, 1700–1751.
Johann Conrad Weiss. Ink on vellum, staves, wood with silver, cast
and engraved. The Jewish Museum, New York. The ancient Hebrews
recorded their scriptures on parchment scrolls. The scroll of the Pentateuch
was wound on two staves. The scrolls were not decorated or illuminated
with designs, animals, or humans because the Bible forbade any likeness
of Yahweh and artistic expressions were not encouraged. However, some
sacred books were illustrated and ornamented at various stages of Hebrew
history. The carved staves on which the Pentateuch was wound were
often embellished. Evidence exists that by the fifth century CE, the scrolls
might have been encased in a container of precious metal, and by the
fifteenth century, they were enclosed in containers adorned with reliefs
and Hebrew lettering.
King Solomon was a patron of literature and the
arts, and under his rule Hebrew culture expanded,
notably in law, writing, music, and dance. As the Hebrews’ oral traditions gave way to written records,
Hebrew authors wrote down their laws and their earliest histories, which are preserved in the first books
of the Bible (Figure 6.3). These Hebrew works predate by five centuries the writings of the great Greek
historians Herodotus and Thucydides, but, unlike
the Greek writers, the Hebrew historians made God
the central force in human history and thus transformed the unfolding of earthly events into a moral
drama portraying God’s relationship with his chosen
people.
Solomon’s achievements came at a heavy price, for
they undermined his people’s religious foundations,
intensified class divisions, and tended to divide the
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 133
R
I The Babylonian Captivity and the Postexilic
Period In 722 BCE, the tiny nation of Israel was deSstroyed
by the Assyrians. Judah, to the south, endured
Tfor another one hundred fifty years, but in 586 BCE,
I the Babylonians conquered Judah, destroying Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and deporting most of the
AHebrews to Babylonia. The approximately forty years
Nof exile, known as the Babylonian Captivity, became
one of the major turning points in Jewish history.
, At the end of the sixth century, the Jews ( Jew
comes from Hebrew yehudi [yeh-HU-dee] meaning
“Judaean” via the Greek iudaios and Latin Judaeus; afJter the exile, Jew tended to displace both Israelite and
AHebrew) were freed by the triumphant Persians, who
were sweeping across the ancient world under Cyrus
M(see Chapter 2). Returning to Judah, the Jews rebuilt
I Jerusalem including their Temple, now known as the
Temple. Believing that God had rescued them,
ESecond
they established a theocratic state—a government ruled
by those who are recognized as having special divine
and approval—and dedicated themselves to
5guidance
the correct formulation and observation of their reli5gious beliefs. Many exiles remained outside the home6land and became known as Jews of the Diaspora, or
the Dispersion.
7 After their return from Babylon, the Jews expanded
Btheir views of Yahweh. Some of them at least came to
view their faith as universal and not restricted to the
UJews. The Hebrews’ earlier perception of themselves
as a chosen people under a universal deity was reinforced as they concluded that Yahweh had used the
Persians to free them. Furthermore, the Jews started
to incorporate two new features into their religion:
eschatology, or the concern with the end of the world,
and an interest in apocalypse, prophecies about the
coming of God and a day of judgment. This future
world would be led by a Messiah, or Anointed One,
who would bring peace and justice to all. Perhaps
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CHAPTER SIX: JUdAISM And THE RISE oF CHRISTIAnITY
influenced by the dualism of Persian Zoroastrianism,
Jews began to differentiate heaven and hell as places
of reward and punishment.
The Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Figure 6.4 Model of the Reconstructed Second Temple (Herod’s
Temple) in Jerusalem. This model of the Second Temple shows the
strong influence of Hellenistic-style architecture, particularly in the
colonnaded arcades, the decorative frieze, and the tall, slender Corinthian
columns flanking the main entryway. The Second Temple was destroyed
by Roman legions in 70 CE, but one wall was left standing.
Alexander
the Great conquered Judah in 332 BCE, and after his
death the area became part of the Seleucid kingdom,
centered in Syria. Hellenistic culture and ideas proliferated and deeply affected Jewish life. Growing tensions
between the Jews and the Hellenistic leaders erupted
in 168 BCE when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV tried
to impose the worship of Greek gods on the Jews, placing a statue of Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Antiochus’s violation of the sacred place enraged the
C Maccabean clan, whose inspired leadership and bravH ery led to a successful revolt and the recapture of the
Temple. The Maccabean family ruled Judah
R Second
as an independent commonwealth for approximately
I one hundred years. Then, in 63 BCE, the Romans conmost of the Middle East. They subsequently inS quered
corporated Judah (in what was now called Palestine)
T into their empire as Judea and placed the Jewish lands
I under client kings (loyal, pliable dependents).
The Romans ruled through the Jewish Herodian
A dynasty. Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 to 4 BCE,
N rebuilt Jerusalem, including the Second Temple, and
promoted Hellenistic culture (Figure 6.4). But condi, tions under the Romans became unbearable to the
Jews, and in 66 CE a rebellion broke out. After the First
Jewish War (66–70), the Romans captured Jerusalem
J and destroyed the Second Temple. The Western Wall,
A or Wailing Wall, of the Second Temple in Jerusalem remained standing and came to symbolize the plight of
Mthe Jewish people (Figure 6.5). A revolutionary group
I known as Zealots held out until 73 at Masada, a sheersided mesa on the shores of the dead Sea (Figure 6.6).
E
5
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7
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U
Figure 6.5
The Western Wall today. The
Western Wall, sometimes called the Wailing
Wall, is the sole remaining structure of the
temple erected by Herod the Great. When
Muslims conquered Jerusalem in the seventh
century, the Western Wall became the buttress
of the former temple mount, the Haram
es-Sherif (the “Noble Sanctuary”), on which
two important mosques—Muslim houses of
worship—were constructed. Jews from all over
the world come to pray at the Western Wall.
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JUdAISM
135
SLICE OF LIFE
A Jewish Eyewitness to the Destruction of the Second Temple
Flavius Josephus
A JEWISH SOLDIER IN THE ROMAN ARMY
The Jewish historian Josephus (about 37–100 CE) was an
eyewitness to one of the darkest days in Jewish history: the
destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem on September 8, 70 CE. He became an admiring, though sometimes
reluctant, soldier in the Roman cause. Assigned to General
Titus, he was among the troops that sacked and burned the
temple on that fateful day. The following account is taken
from Josephus’s History of the Jewish War (75–79 CE).
At this moment one of the [Roman] soldiers, not waiting for orders and without any dread of such an act
but driven on by some frenzy, snatched a brand from
the blazing fire and, lifted up by a comrade, hurled
the torch through the golden door which gave access
to the buildings of the Temple Precinct from the north
side. As the flames surged up, a great cry to match
their feelings arose from the Jews, and they rushed
to the defence, reckless of their lives and prodigal of
their strength once they saw that the purpose of their
previous watch was gone. . . .
As the fire gained strength, Titus found that he could
not restrain the surge of his enthusiastic soldiers. . . .
Most were driven on by the hope of loot, for they
thought that the inside of the building must be full of
money if the outside, which they could see, was made
of gold. one of those who had got in forestalled the
attempts of Titus, who had rushed in to check them,
Cand hurled a brand against the hinges of the door.
Suddenly flames appeared from within, which forced
Hback Titus and his officers, leaving those outside to
the blaze unhindered. In this way, though
Rkindle
much against Titus’s will, the Temple was burnt. . . .
I Interpreting This Slice of Life
S1. What was the source of conflict between the RoT mans and the Jews?
2. Do you find Josephus’s account credible, given that
I he was both a Jew and a Roman soldier?
A3. What role does General Titus play in the assault?
N4. How are the Roman soldiers depicted?
5. How does Josephus depict the Jewish rebels?
,
J
A
M
Figure 6.6 Masada, Israel. This outcropping of rock in the forbidding terrainIoutside Jerusalem was a
natural fortress. King Herod had built one of his palace-fortresses here in the years just before the birth of
E after the end of the First
Christ. For three years the Zealots occupied its ruins, holding out against the Romans
Jewish War in 70 CE.
5
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
When their cause became hopeless, they committed
suicide rather than surrender to the Romans.
To make sure the Jews would no longer be a problem
for the Romans, the Roman government in the late first
century CE ordered the dispersal of the Jews throughout the empire. However, this second Diaspora did
not end the Jews’ cultural, intellectual, and religious
existence. On the contrary, the Jewish way of life continued, though it changed. With the fall of the Temple
in Jerusalem, Jews worshiped in synagogues, or congregations, which eventually were headed by rabbis,
or teachers. Over the centuries, the rabbis’ teachings
evolved into Rabbinic Judaism, based on the Torah and
the Talmud (from Hebrew, “learning”), a collection of
legal rulings and commentaries. Rabbinic Judaism established a mode of worship and moral code that Jews
worldwide have followed down to modern times.
Societal and Family Relationships To be a Jew
one had to be born of a Jewish mother, yet Hebrew
society was patriarchal. Of 1,426 people named in the
Hebrew Bible, 1,315 are male. Only males could bear
the sign of God’s covenant—circumcision. Women
could not own or inherit property, sue in court, or initiate a divorce. Women could not enter the temple; they
worshiped in a courtyard outside. The Hebrew religion
had no goddesses. Nevertheless, the Bible recounts stories of numerous brave, clever, and wise women. Men
were in principle equals but there is plenty of evidence
for wide divisions in wealth, status, and power. Generally, Hebrew society had much in common with that
of its neighbors. It was in religion where the Hebrews
were different.
The Bible
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The Jews enshrined their cultural developments in the
Bible, their collection of sacred writings, or scriptures.
Known as the Old Testament to Christians, the Hebrew Bible (from the Greek word for “book”) contains
history, law, poetry, songs, stories, prayers, and philosophical works. Evolving out of a rich and long oral
tradition, parts of the Bible probably began to assume
written form during the United Monarchy in the tenth
century BCE. By then the Hebrews had an alphabet,
which, like that of the Greeks, was probably derived
from the Phoenicians. Having acquired a written
language and a unified political state, the Hebrews
shared a consciousness of their past and desired to
preserve it. They assembled and recorded various historical accounts, songs, and stories, plus the sayings of
the prophets. Sometime in the fifth century BCE, Jewish scholars and religious leaders canonized (declared
official) parts of these writings as divinely inspired.
They became the first five books of the Bible, known
as the Torah or the Pentateuch. The Hebrew Bible’s ultimate form was reached in 90 CE when a council of
Jewish rabbis added a last set of writings to the canon.
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 136
Another important development in the transmission of the Hebrew scriptures was their translation
into other languages. In the third century BCE, after
many Jews had been influenced by Hellenistic culture,
a group of Alexandrian scholars collected all the authenticated Jewish writings and translated them into
Greek. This Hebrew Greek Bible was called the Septuagint, from the Latin word for “seventy,” so named
because of the legend that it was translated by seventy
scholars.
The final version of the Hebrew Bible is divided
into three parts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (Table 6.3). (Christians divide the Old Testament
into four parts.) The Law, also called the Torah (from
C Hebrew, “instruction”), recounts the story of God’s
H creation of the world and the early history of the HeMore important, it details the establishment
R brews.
of the covenant and the foundation of the moral and
I ritualistic codes of personal and societal behavior that
Judaism.
S underlie
The Prophets recount a good deal of historical
T material but above all are full of moral and spiritual
I instruction. They reflect constantly on the Torah and
reminded the Hebrews when they failed to keep their
A covenant with God and where they treated each other
N poorly. Disasters, the Prophets say, are divine rebukes.
The Writings reflect diverse viewpoints and contain
, many types of literature, including poetry, wise sayings, stories, and apocalyptic visions of the end of
time. Some of these books, such as Job, Ecclesiastes,
J and Proverbs, reflect in both style and content the inA fluence of other cultures on Jewish beliefs.
There is also a body of Jewish literature outside
Mthe canon. The Apocrypha are books written between
I 200 BCE and 100 CE that include wisdom, literature,
and history, including the history of the MacE stories,
cabees. Though not part of the Jewish canon, these
books were included in the Septuagint, the Greek
of the Hebrew Bible, and accepted by the
5 translation
Roman Catholic Church as part of the Christian Old
5 Testament.
6 Early Jewish Architecture and Art
7 The description of the Temple in 1 Kings makes it
B sound similar to the “long-house” temples found in
other civilizations of that time and probably indicated
U the influence of foreign neighbors. According to the
Bible, Solomon’s Temple was a rectangular building
comprising a porch; a sanctuary, or main hall; and an
inner sanctum that housed the Ark of the Covenant.
Artists and craftspeople decorated the interior with
carvings of floral designs and cherubs, highlighting
these with gold. The building was made of ashlars,
and two large freestanding columns were placed at
the entryway. The Temple may have been raised on a
platform. A court surrounded the Temple, and a large
altar stood inside the court.
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Judaism
137
TABLE 6.3 BOOKS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
AND THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT
HEBREW BIBLE
CHRISTIAN BIBLE
OLD TESTAMENT
The Law (Torah)
The Pentateuch
Genesis Numbers
Exodus Deuteronomy
Leviticus
Genesis Numbers
Exodus Deuteronomy
Leviticus
The Prophets
The Historical Books
(Early Prophets)
Joshua
Judges
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
(Later Prophets)
Isaiah
Micah
Jeremiah Nahum
Ezekiel
Habakkuk
Hosea
Zephaniah
Joel
Haggai
Amos
Zechariah
Obadiah
Malachi
Jonah
The Writings
Psalms
Esther
Proverbs Daniel
Job
Ezra
Song of Songs Nehemiah
Ruth
1 Chronicles
Lamentations
2 Chronicles
Ecclesiastes
Joshua
2 Chronicles
Judges
Ezra
Ruth Nehemiah
1 Samuel
Tobit*
2 Samuel
Judith*
1 Kings
Esther
2 Kings
1 Maccabees*
1 Chronicles
2 Maccabees*
C
H
R
I
S
The Poetical or Wisdom Books
T
Job
I
Psalms
Proverbs
A
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon (Songs)
N
Wisdom*
,
Sirach*
The Prophetical Books
J
A
M
I
E
Isaiah Obadiah
Jeremiah
Jonah
Lamentations
Micah
Baruch* Nahum
Ezekiel
Habakkuk
Daniel
Zephaniah
Hosea
Haggai
Joel
Zechariah
Amos
Malachi
5
5
6
7
Bconstructed a fortress-palace at present-day Araq el
Emir in Jordan that shows this influence clearly. The faUcade of the palace blended Greek columns and oriental
*Roman Catholics include these books in the canon and refer to them as deutero
canonical (“secondary canon”); Protestants sometimes place them in an appendix
with other Apocrypha.
When the Jews were released from the Babylonian
Captivity by the Persians, they returned to their homeland and built the Second Temple in the late sixth century BCE. It exhibited a simpler design and decoration
scheme than did Solomon’s Temple. Meanwhile, the
Jews of the Diaspora gathered in Hellenistic cities to
read the Torah and to pray in buildings that became
synagogues, or houses of worship. No record survives
of how these synagogues looked or how they might
have been decorated until the third century CE.
Greek influences became apparent in Jewish architecture during Hellenistic times. One Maccabean
ruler, John Hyrcanus [hear-KAY-nuhs] (135–106 BCE),
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 137
carvings, typical of the Alexandrian architectural and
decorative style. The edifice and its carvings were probably similar to the Second Temple in Jerusalem. One of
the few decorations remaining from this palace is a lion
fountain (Figure 6.7). Carved in high relief, the lion is
well proportioned and conveys a sense of power with
its raised front paw and open mouth.
The lingering influence of late Greek architecture
on Jewish structures is also seen in a set of tombs dug
out of the soft limestone rocks east of Jerusalem in the
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
Figure 6.7
Lion Fountain at the Palace of John Hyrcanus. Second
century BCE. Araq el Emir, Jordan. This lion, Greco-Oriental in style,
was carved deeply into the stone’s surface to create a high-relief work.
The lion’s tail, wrapped around its right rear leg, is balanced by the raised
left front leg, creating a feeling of strength and agility.
Figure 6.8
Tomb of Bene Hezir. Early first century BCE. Kidron
Valley, Israel. The tomb of Bene Hezir (on the left) shows the influence
of Greek architecture in its post-and-lintel construction and its Doric
columns. Even though the area was subject to Roman impact at this
time, Roman influence is not apparent in the architecture. Priests from
the Hezir family, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 24, were buried in what has
been determined to be the oldest tomb in Israel’s Kidron Valley. Scholars
disagree over whether the structure in the center with the pyramidal roof
belonged to the tomb of Bene Hezir.
Kidron Valley. According to the inscription on them,
these tombs contain the remains of priests from the
Hezir family (Figure 6.8). The tomb on the left displays
Doric columns, and the one in the center fuses Greek
Ionic columns and an Egyptian pyramidal roof. Several other tombs in the vicinity reveal a similar melding of styles.
During the reign of King Herod the Great
(r. 37–4 BCE), architecture in Judea exhibited a further
mix of Greek styles with Jewish motifs. King Herod’s
magnificent fortress-palace at Masada may have been
a conscious blending of the two cultures in an effort to
bridge the gap between the Roman and Jewish worlds
(see Figure 6.6). The various buildings in Herod’s comC plex contained many representative Greco-Roman feaH tures, including fluted Corinthian columns and marble
(Figure 6.9).
R facings
The Second Commandment forbade graven images,
I which meant cult images that could be worshiped.
always observed this prohibition strictly. The
S Jews
commandment also forbade “likenesses”—a prohibiT tion that has been understood in different ways from
I antiquity to the present. Clearly, no cult images were
permitted in any circumstances. But as noted there
A were images in the Temple and, in several places in the
N Hebrew Bible, God commanded images to be made.
The surviving lion from John Hyrcanus’s palace can, not have been the only likeness in that place. Whatever
else there may have been has vanished along with
everything else from earlier centuries. The palace of
J Herod at Masada had beautiful geometric designs
A
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5
5
6
7
B
U
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Judaism
139
Figure 6.9 Hall of Herod’s North
Palace. Late first century BCE. Masada,
Israel. These Corinthian columns were
originally plastered over and painted. Carved
directly out of the hill’s rock, they formed a
natural corridor around the banqueting hall.
Herod built this and other splendid palaces
to impress the Jews and win their political
sympathy, but he failed to do either.
C
H
R
I
S
T
I
A
N
,
(Figure 6.10), but no likenesses of humans or animals
survive. From the middle of the third century, however, at Dura Europos in upper Mesopotamia, there
survive the ruins of a magnificent synagogue that had
beautiful figural images depicting many scenes from
the scriptures (Figures 6.11 and 6.12). A Jewish catacomb in Rome has images from the same period. By
the end of the fifth century CE, a floor mosaic from the
synagogue Hammam Lif in Tunisia shows in another
Jmedium the capacity of Jewish artists to create images
Athat were beautiful, inspiring, and related to the scriptures (Figure 6.13). The so-called “Exodus Prohibition”
Mmay have put a damper on Jewish figural art but did
I not completely prevent it.
E
5
5
6
7
B
U
Figure 6.10
Mosaic from
Herod’s Palace. Late first
century BCE. Masada, Israel.
The Greek practice of mosaic
making was adopted by both
the Romans and the Jews. The
patterned designs around the
borders of this mosaic from
Herod’s Palace are typically
Greek, and the organic image
in the center is typically Jewish.
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 139
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140
CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
Figure 6.12
C
H
R
I
S
T
I
A
N
, Syria. 240s CE. National
Scenes from the Western Wall, Synagogue of Dura Europos,
Figure 6.11 Moses Giving Water to
the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Fresco.
Synagogue. 240s CE. Dura Europos, Syria.
Reconstructed in the National Museum,
Damascus, Syria. This fresco is from a
house-synagogue (a place of worship set up
within a private residence) that was discovered
in the early twentieth century, after having
been filled with rubble in 256 CE, as part of
a defense plan for the city of Dura Europos.
Only sections of the walls survive. The room
featured benches running around the walls and
a niche for the Torah scrolls in the western wall.
The paintings depict various events from the
Hebrew Bible, most having to do with national
salvation, such as Samuel Anointing David, the
Ark Brought to Jerusalem, and the Exodus from
Egypt. Painted by anonymous artists, these
works were executed in tempera, a medium
made of pigments blended with egg yolks and
water, applied to dry plaster. This fresco was
part of the Exodus group and was based on
Numbers 2:2–12. It portrays Moses seated and
holding a staff, as he delivers life-giving water
(via “tubes”) to the tribes, symbolized by twelve
huts, each with a single figure. A menorah
stands in the center rear.
Museum, Damascus. In the center of the wall is the Torah shrine, the place where the Torah rolls were
kept, above which is a representation of the Temple—long since destroyed—and of a menorah (left) and the
sacrifice of Isaac (right). Spreading across the whole wall is a beautiful, and exceedingly well accomplished,
set of images representing key scenes from the Hebrew Bible.
J
A
M
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5
5
6
7
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U
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Christianity
Figure 6.13
Mosaic of a Duck Enclosed in a Vine Scroll. Fourth
to fifth century CE. 341/2 × 331/16″. From the Floor of a Synagogue
at Hammam Lif, Tunisia. Brooklyn Museum. Ducks could symbolize
wealth, good fortune, or a clever person. This image represents one panel
from a floor mosaic that had numerous images of plants, birds, other
animals, and Jewish symbols, such as a menorah.
CHRISTIANITY
The rise of Christianity was as surprising in the short
term as it was important in the long term. The wandering teacher Jesus Christ was neither rich nor powerful, but he attracted followers who eventually took
his teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond. Originally a sect within Judaism, Christianity
gradually emerged as a distinct religion. One measure
of the historical impact of Christianity lies in the way
dates have been marked in the Western world.
The period before Jesus’s birth is known as BC, or
“before Christ,” and the era after his birth is termed AD,
or anno Domini, Latin words meaning “in the year of the
Lord,” the title of respect given to Jesus by Christians.
Although Christianity and the church have declined
from their zenith in the Middle Ages, the Christian
calendar remains in effect throughout the West as well
as in many other parts of the world—a symbol of the
continuing power of this creed. In this textbook, reflecting today’s multicultural world, the term BCE, “before
common era,” replaces BC, and the term CE, “common
era,” replaces AD.
The Life of Jesus Christ
and the New Testament
The surviving primary sources for the origin of Christianity are writings in Greek by early believers who
were openly partisan. According to them, Christianity
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 141
141
began within the Jewish faith among the followers of
Jesus, a deeply pious and charismatic Jew who ended
up founding a dynamic new religion instead of renewing Judaism.
Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph in Judea in about
4 BCE (a date that reflects errors in early Christian timereckoning). After narrating the events surrounding his
birth, the accounts of Jesus’s life are almost silent until
he reaches the age of about thirty, when he commenced
a teaching mission that placed him squarely in conflict
with prevailing Jewish beliefs and authorities. Jews of
various social classes heard Jesus’s message, and he
soon had a small group of followers who believed that
he was the Messiah, the Anointed One who would deCliver the Jews, promised by God to the prophets. He
Hwas also termed the Christ, taken from the Greek for
anointed one.” Performing miracles and healing
R“the
the sick, he preached that the Kingdom of God was at
I hand. Neither then nor now has it been easy to say just
Jesus meant by “Kingdom of God,” but to preSwhat
pare for it he urged his followers to practice a demandTing and loving ethic.
I Growing discord between the Jewish establishment
and this messianic band caused Roman leaders to clasAsify Jesus as a political rebel. In about 33 CE, he was
Ncrucified by the Romans (Timeline 6.2). Three days
later, some of his followers reported that Jesus had
, risen from the dead and reappeared among them. His
resurrection became the ultimate miracle associated
with his teachings, the sign that immortal life awaited
Jthose who believed in him as the son of God and as the
AMessiah. After forty days, Jesus ascended into heaven,
though not before pledging to return when the world
Mcame to an end.
I The outline of Jesus’s life is set forth in the first three
called Gospels, of the Christian scriptures. The
Ebooks,
early Christian community believed that the writers,
known as Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were witnesses to
Jesus’s message; hence they were called evangelists af5ter
the Greek word evangelion—for those who preached
5the gospel, or the good news. The Gospels, although
6providing evidence for the historical Jesus, were not intended as histories in the Greco-Roman sense because
7they were addressed to Christian converts. Mark’s GosBpel was the earliest, dating from about 70; the Gospels
of Matthew and Luke are dated a little later. They
Umade use of Mark’s narrative and added the logoi, the
“sayings” of Jesus. These three works are known as
the synoptic Gospels (from the Greek words syn, for
“together,” and opsis, for “view”) because they take essentially the same point of view toward their subject.
Between 90 and 100, a fourth, and somewhat different,
Gospel appeared—that of John—which treats Jesus as
a wisdom teacher, a revealer of cosmic truths. The author of the Fourth Gospel has Jesus teach the possibility of being born again to eternal life.
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
142
Timeline 6.2
CHRISTIANITY TO 284 CE
30 CE
4 BCE
Life of
Jesus
70
Age of
Apostles
100
Scriptures
Written
38 – 65
Paul’s missionary
travels and letters
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Despite their similarities, the synoptic Gospels reflect a schism, or split, in the early Christian church.
Peter, one of Jesus’s original disciples, headed a Judaizing group that stressed the necessity of first becoming a Jew before becoming a Christian. Paul, a Jew
who converted to Christianity after the death of Jesus, led a group that welcomed gentile, or non-Jewish,
members. Mark’s Gospel was written in part to support Paul’s gentile faction and therefore takes a negative tone toward Jews. Matthew was written in part
as a corrective to Mark and made Peter, according to
Roman Catholic doctrine, the “rock” on which the
church was founded—the biblical source for the belief
that Peter was the first pope.
Luke’s Gospel was an effort by the early Roman
church to deny, after the fact, that a schism had ever
existed. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, the
earliest account of the fledgling Christian community. This work records the activities of Jesus’s followers immediately after his resurrection and defines
some of the church’s first rituals and beliefs, including a rejection of Jewish dietary laws and the practice
of circumcision. The Acts also affirmed the opening
of Christianity to gentiles, a policy that in the future
would aid in the spread of Christianity. At the time
the Acts was written, however, Paul and other missionaries were preaching mainly to Greek-speaking
Jews and Jewish converts scattered across the Roman
Empire. Paul’s Roman citizenship enabled him to
move about freely.
The meaning of Jesus’s life and teachings was further clarified by Paul, who had persecuted the Christians of Judea before joining the new faith. Between
50 and 62, Paul, who was familiar with Greek philosophy, addressed both local issues and broader theological concerns in epistles, or letters, the earliest writings
among the Christian scriptures, although only seven
of the fourteen so-called Pauline epistles are generally recognized as having been written by him. These
epistles constitute Christianity’s first theology, or
presentation of religious teachings in a reasonably
organized fashion. Paul directed his letters to communities he either founded or visited across the Roman Empire: Ephesus and Colossae (Galatia), Philippi
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 142
284
Age of the Church Fathers
(to 476)
200
Tertullian
flourished
250
Persecutions
by Decius;
Origen flourished
and Thessalonica (Macedonia), Corinth (Greece), and
C Rome (Map 6.2).
H Paul’s interpretation of the life of Jesus was based
the “Suffering Servant” section of the book of Isaiah
R on
in the Old Testament. The Suffering Servant was deI scribed as noble and guiltless, but misunderstood and
on behalf of others. Paul set forth the docS suffering
trine of the Atonement, whereby a blameless Christ
T suffered on the cross to pay for the sins of humankind.
I Christ’s life and death initiated a new moral order by
offering salvation to sinful human beings who otherA wise were doomed to eternal death and punishment
N by Adam’s first sin. But, according to Paul, human
redemption was not automatically given, for a sinner
, must have faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.
Paul’s teachings also stressed that Christ’s resurrection, which guaranteed everlasting life for others, was
J the heart of Christian beliefs, an argument echoed
A in the synoptic Gospels. Pauline Christianity made a
radical break with Judaism by nullifying the old law’s
Mauthority and claiming that the true heirs of Abraham
I were not the Jews but the followers of Christ. Paul also
that obedience to Christ led to righteousness,
E affirmed
which demanded ascetic living, with particular stress
on sexual chastity.
The final section of the Christian scriptures was the
5 book
of Revelation, dating from about 95. This apoca5 lyptic scripture projected the end of the world and the
6 institution of a new moral order on the occasion of Jesus’s return and final judgment. Revelation’s picture
7 of Rome as a corrupt Babylon destined for destrucB tion reflected the early church’s hatred of the existing political and social order. But the book, filled with
U enigmatic sayings and symbols, proved controversial,
and not all ancient church communities accepted its
authority.
By the mid–second century, the four Gospels, the
Acts of the Apostles, the fourteen Pauline epistles, the
seven non-Pauline epistles, and Revelation were accepted as the canon of Christian scriptures, or the New
Testament (Table 6.4). Believing themselves to be the
new Israel, the early Christians also retained the Hebrew scriptures, called the Old Testament. Although the
spoken language of the Jews in Palestine was Aramaic,
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Learning Through Maps
Milan
Pisa
A
Black Sea
dr
tic
ia
Rome
Se
a
Puteoli
MACEDONIA
Thessalonica Philippi
Constantinople
Beroea
Carthage
SICILY
Syracuse
Tripoli
Corinth
125
MAP
6.2
MHS63
138THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD
mat76620_m0502.eps
This
map shows the spread of Christianity after the death of Jesus.
First proof
1. Identify the major churches in existence by the end of Paul’s ministry.
2. Which of these churches did Paul found or visit? 3. Which church
was best positioned to become the mother church of Christianity? Why?
4. Consider the impact of geography on the location of these churches.
5. Is there a connection between the major cities on Map 5.2, the Roman
Empire under Hadrian, and the location of the Christian churches on
this map?
a Semitic tongue, the Christian canon was composed in
Koiné Greek, like the Hebrew Septuagint. The use of
Greek reflected the triumph of Paul and the gentiles as
well as the pervasive Hellenistic culture.
Christians and Jews
Despite the distinctive features of early Christianity,
many Jewish ideas and rituals contributed to the new
religion. The Christian vision of Yahweh was rooted in
Judaism: a single, creating, universal God who spoke
through sacred texts (the canon) and who demanded
moral behavior from all humans. Both Jewish and
Christian ethical standards required social justice
for individuals and for the community. Likewise, the
Christian image of Jesus as Messiah was framed within
the context of Jewish prophetic literature. Christian
GALATIA
Smyrna
Ephesus
Athens
C
H
R
CRETE
Medi
terranea
n SI e a
Cyrene S
T
I
A
N
250 mi ,
0
125
0
Pergamum
Colossae
Antioch
SYRIA
CYPRUS
Knossos
Damascus
Tyre
Caesarea
Nazareth
Samaria
PALESTINE
Joppa
Jerusalem
Bethlehem
Alexandria
Dead
Sea
EGYPT
Memphis
250 km
J
A
M
I
E
Tarsus
ile
N
Major church at the end of
Paul’s ministry, ca. 62
BITHYNIA
Aegean
Sea
CORCYRA
R.
Red
Sea
TABLE 6.4 BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Gospels
Matthew
Luke
Mark
John
Acts of the Apostles
5
5
6
7
B
U
Acts
Epistles
Romans
Titus
1 Corinthians
Philemon
2 Corinthians
Hebrews
Galatians
James
Ephesians
1 Peter
Philippians
2 Peter
Colossians
1 John
1 Thessalonians
2 John
2 Thessalonians
3 John
1 Timothy
Jude
2 Timothy
Apocalypse
Revelation
143
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CHAPTER SIX: Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
apocalyptic writing, such as Revelation, also shared a
common literary form with Jewish models such as the
book of Daniel.
Even when Christians rejected specific Jewish ideas,
such as the sanctity of the Mosaic law, the early church
continued discussions on human righteousness and
sin in terms familiar to Jews. The Christians probably
adapted their rite of baptism from a ceremony similar to that of the Jews of the Diaspora. Christians also
kept the idea of the Sabbath but changed it from Saturday to Sunday, and they transformed the festival of
Passover (a celebration of the Hebrews’ escape from
Egypt) to Easter (a festival celebrating Jesus’s resurrection). The church sanctuary as a focal point for prayer
and learning evolved out of the Jewish synagogue, as
did Christian priests from the Jewish elders. And the
Christian liturgy, or the service of public worship, borrowed heavily from the Jewish service with its hymns,
prayers, and Bible reading.
Judaism also influenced Christian thought by transmitting certain ideas from Zoroastrianism, including
such dualistic concepts as Satan as the personification
of evil, heaven and hell as the two destinies of humankind, and a divine savior who would appear at the end
of time.
Despite the common heritage of Christians and
Jews, relations between them were stormy. After the
Council at Jamnia in Judea in 90, when the Jews established the final version of their sacred canon, there
was no place in Judaism for the Christian message.
As revealed in Paul’s letters, the Jews viewed the followers of Jesus Christ as apostates, people who had
abandoned or renounced their true religion. Accordingly, the Jews tried to deny the Christians the protection that Jewish leaders had negotiated with Roman
authorities regarding their distinctive religious beliefs. For example, Jews were not required to worship
the emperor as a god. Until the end of the second century, Jews and Christians occasionally engaged in violent clashes.
Christianity and Greco-Roman
Religions and Philosophies
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Christianity also benefited from its contacts with GrecoRoman mystery cults and philosophies. Whether or not
the rituals of the cults of Cybele, Isis, or Mithra directly
influenced Christianity, they did share religious ideas—
for example, salvation through the sacrifice of a savior,
sacred meals, and hymns. Christianity, as a monotheistic religion, paralleled movements within the cults of
the second and third centuries that were blending all
deities into the worship of a single divinity. Among the
Greco-Roman philosophies, both Stoicism and Neo
platonism influenced Christianity as the church shifted
from its Jewish roots and became hellenized; the Stoics
mat76655_Ch06_128-149.indd 144
taught the kinship of humanity, and the Neoplatonists
praised the spiritual realm at the expense of the physical world.
Christians in the Roman Empire
The Romans initially regarded the Christians as a
Jewish sect, but during the First Jewish War, the Christians evidently held themselves aloof. The Christian
attitude seemed to be that the Jews had brought calamity upon themselves through their rejection of
Christ. Similarly, Christians remained untouched during later persecutions of Jews by Romans in 115–117
and in 132–135. As their faith expanded during the
C first century, individual Christians encountered spoH radic persecution, though there was no state policy of
Christianity.
R persecuting
As the empire descended into chaos in the third
I century, Christians were sometimes blamed for its
The emperor Decius [DEE-see-us] (r. 249–251)
S troubles.
mounted a wide-ranging political test that required all
T citizens (men, women, and children) to make a token
I sacrifice to him. When the Christians refused to honor
the emperor in this manner, hundreds of them were
A killed, including several of their local leaders, or bishN ops. Decius’s sudden death ended this assault, but in
257 Valerian (r. 253–260) renewed it, which resulted in
, the martyrdom of the bishop of Rome and the leading
intellectual, Cyprian. The killings eventually ceased,
but for the rest of the century the survival of the ChrisJ tian church was uncertain and depended on a muted
A existence.
Despite persecutions by the authorities, the Christian
Mchurch drew much sustenance from Roman culture.
I The language of the church in the western provinces
Latin, and in the eastern provinces the religious
E became
leaders adopted Greek. The canon law that governed
the church was based on the Roman civil law. Most imthe church modeled itself on the Roman state:
5 portant,
bishops, the chief Christian officers in cities, had juris5 diction over territories called dioceses just as the secu6 lar governors controlled administrative dioceses.
In addition, the church was moving toward a mo7 narchical form of government. Because the authority
B of the officeholders was believed to descend from Jesus’s faithful supporters, those bishoprics (territories
U ruled by bishops) established by apostles—such as the
one in Rome that tradition claimed was founded by
both Peter and Paul—emerged as the most powerful.
From an insignificant number of followers at the end
of the first century, the church had attained a membership of perhaps five million, or about a tenth of the population of the empire, by the end of the third century.
The smallest communities were scattered along the
frontiers, and the largest congregations were in Rome
and the older eastern cities. Social composition of the
11/26/12 2:25 PM
Christianity
church came to include progressively higher classes.
By the late second century, the middle classes, especially merchants and traders, were joining the church.
Aristocratic women sought membership, but men of
the highest classes tended to remain unconverted.
Christianity’s appeal to women was complex, though
all seemed to respond to its promise of salvation and
the apostle Paul’s egalitarian vision (Galatians 3:28):
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus.” Female converts also found the
Christian community to be a refuge from the anonymity and cruelty of Roman society; the church formed a
secret underworld of close relationships among people
drawn together by an ascetic but loving way of life.
Christianity offered power by allowing them to influence others by their faith; it widened their horizons
through intimate contacts with spiritual leaders; it gave
them new identities through foreign travel and involvement in a cause that was life sustaining; and, for those
who chose lives of chastity, it could serve as a means of
birth control and freedom from the constraints of marriage and family life.
Early Christian Literature
By the late second century, the status of the church
had attracted the attention of leading Roman intellectuals, such as the philosopher Celsus [KEL-suhs] and
the physician Galen [GAY-len]. Celsus ridiculed the
Christian notion of the resurrection of the body and
the new religion’s appeal to women and slaves. On the
other hand, Galen found merit in Christianity because
of its philosophical approach to life and its emphasis
on strict self-discipline (see Chapter 7).
In the second century, postbiblical Christian literature, generally unremarked by the secular world, took
two forms. Apologists, vigorous, principled defenders
of Christianity, offered arguments that Christians were
loyal, dependable subjects of Rome; that Christianity
and Judaism were different; and that living a Christian life in a pagan world was difficult, but possible.
Theologians—for example, Tertullian [tehr-TULL-eeun] (about 160–230) and Origen [OHR-uh-juhn] of Alexandria (about 185–254)—began to define basic Christian
teachings, to create a distinctive Christian vocabulary,
and to relate Christian thought to classical learning.
Tertullian’s life and writings showed the uncompromising nature of Christianity. Trained in Stoic
philosophy in Roman Carthage, Tertullian later converted to the new faith after he witnessed the serenity
of Christians dying for their religion. The strength of
his beliefs made him a spokesperson for North Africa,
where a cult of martyrs made the area the “Bible belt”
of the Roman world. Writing in Latin, he helped to
shape the western church’s voice in that language. His
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diatribes against the pleasures of the theaters and arenas and his intense denunciation of women as sexual
temptresses became legendary. In the severest terms,
Tertullian rejected the Greco-Roman humanistic heritage, preferring the culture of Christianity.
Origen of Alexandria shared Tertullian’s puritanical zeal, but he did not repudiate humanistic learning.
In his mature writings, composed in Greek, Origen
brought Christian thought into harmony with Platonism and Stoicism. Origen’s Jesus was not the redeemer of the Gospels but, rather, the logos of Stoicism
(see Chapter 4). The logos, or reason, liberated the human soul so that it might move through different levels of reality to reach God. Origen’s Platonism led him
Cto reject the notion of the resurrection of the body as
Hdescribed in the Gospels and Paul’s letters and to asinstead that the soul is eternal. Although some
Rsert
of Origen’s ideas were later condemned, his philoI sophic writings, which were read secretly, helped free
from its Jewish framework and appealed
SChristianity
to intellectuals. Origen also initiated the allegorical
Tmethod of reading the scriptures. Behind the plain
I words on the page, Origen taught, there were layers
upon layers of deeper meaning.
A Christian women writers in this earliest period were
Nvery rare, because intellectual discourse was dominated by men. Women did play important roles in the
, new faith—such as Mary Magdalene, who waited at Jesus’s empty tomb, and Lydia and Priscilla, whom Paul
met on his travels—but their voices are almost always
Jheard indirectly. In their theoretical writings, men ofAten addressed women’s issues, such as Tertullian’s “The
Apparel of Women.” Nevertheless, the voice of one
MChristian woman from this period has come down to
I us: that of Vibia Perpetua (about 181–203 CE) of Carin North Africa, one of the first female saints. An
Ethage
anonymous account of the Christian martyrs’ struggles
includes a verbatim reproduction of Perpetua’s writings
prison. Filled with heartbreaking detail, the account
5in
describes her prison ordeal as she awaited death while
5nursing her child. The sentence was imposed because
6she refused to renounce her faith (see Slice of Life).
7
BEarly Christian Art
Although some early Christian writers, including TerUtullian and Origen, condemned the depiction of religious subjects as blasphemous, pious Christians,
attracted by the pull of humanism, commissioned frescoes for underground burial chambers and sculptures
for their sarcophagi, or marble tombs. Christian painters and sculptors slowly fused their religious vision
with the Greco-Roman tradition, a style that would
dominate the art of the late empire. Religious values
and themes were central to Western art for more than
a thousand years, until the Italian Renaissance.
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CHAPTER SIX: JUdAISM And THE RISE oF CHRISTIAnITY
SLICE OF LIFE
A Christian Mother Faces Death from Roman Authorities
Vibia Perpetua
A MARTYR IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Vibia Perpetua, an educated young woman from a wealthy
Carthaginian family and a convert to Christianity, defied
an edict against proselytizing issued by the non-Christian
emperor in 202. She was jailed and died in the arena of
Carthage in 203. This excerpt is part of her personal account of her last days before martyrdom.
A few days later we were moved to a prison [in Carthage]. I was frightened, because I had never been in
such a dark place. A sad day! The large number of prisoners made the place stifling. The soldiers tried to extort money from us. I was also tormented by worry for
my child. Finally, Tertius and Pomponius, the blessed
deacons responsible for taking care of us, bribed the
guards to allow us a few hours in a better part of the
prison to regain our strength. All the prisoners were
released from the dungeon and allowed to do as they
wished. I gave suck to my starving child. . . . I was
permitted to keep my child with me in prison. His
strength came back quickly, which alleviated my pain
and anguish. The prison was suddenly like a palace; I
felt more comfortable there than anywhere else.
C Interpreting This Slice of Life
H 1. Why was Vibia Perpetua being held captive by the
R Romans?
2. Since the Roman guards were eager for bribes,
I what does this reveal about their attitude toward
S Christians?
3. How does Vibia Perpetua’s faith sustain her in
T prison?
I 4. Compare and contrast the religious conflict depicted
here with religious conflicts in modern times.
A
N
,
J In imperial Rome, citizens had the legal right to bury
A their dead in catacombs (underground passageways
and chambers) alongside the roads leading out of Rome
M(Figure 6.14). Many catacombs had arcosoliums, square
I or rectangular arched rooms cut into the rock to serve
chapels or burial vaults. By the late second century,
E as
some of the tombs displayed Christian symbols and
subjects. Some images were purely symbolic, for excrosses, chi-rho’s, evangelist symbols, and fish
5 ample,
(ichthus, the Greek word for fish, makes an anagram
5 interpreted as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”) (Fig6 ure 6.15). In the catacomb of Priscilla, a third-century
fresco depicts a shepherd as a symbol of Jesus (see In7 terpreting Art). This depiction, one of the most popuB lar figural image in early Christian art, is based on the
idea of Jesus as the shepherd of his flock of followers.
U Even though the shepherd and sheep convey a Christian message, the image adapts a familiar Greco-Roman
Figure 6.14
The Roman Catacombs: A Narrow Corridor with Niches
for Burials. Because of their belief in a bodily resurrection, proper burial
loomed large in the minds of early Christians. Roman Christians joined
with other citizens in burying their dead along subterranean passages
underneath the city. In 400, when Christianity triumphed in Rome, the
custom of catacomb burial ceased. Knowledge of the catacombs passed
into oblivion until 1578, when they were rediscovered and became subjects
of study and veneration.
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Interpreting Art
Context Priscilla was a
Roman woman of senatorial rank
who donated the land where the
catacomb that bears her name
is located. She may have been
Christian.
Literary Source
The Bible
refers to shepherds many times, but
Luke 15: 4–5 is almost certainly the
source here: “Who among you, if he
has a hundred sheep and loses one
of them, does not leave the ninetynine in the wasteland and follow
the lost one until he finds it? And
when he finds it, he puts it on his
shoulders in jubilation.”
Religious Perspective
Shepherds are mentioned often in
both the Jewish and Christian Bibles
and stand for the loving care of God
for his people. It is a metaphor that
spawned not only art but also poetry
and song.
Composition
A very simple
image comprising a shepherd, two
sheep, two trees or bushes, and
two birds.
Cultural Perspective
C
The shepherd image was originally
Style A limited color scheme,
secular and symbolized either a king
H
and faint, almost fuzzy, illusionistic
and his people or a teacher and his
figures float in space. This style was
pupils. Christianity took over the
R
common in late Hellenistic times.
image. Tombs in antiquity had often
been decorated, but in Egypt the
I
images were intended to delight the
dead person in the next life whereas
S
Christian images were meant to
inspire and comfort the living.
T
I
Christ as the Good Shepherd. Third century CE. Fresco. Catacomb of Priscilla,
Rome. This fresco was painted on the ceiling
Aof an arcosolium in the catacomb beside
the Via Salaria.
N
1. Literary Source What is the source for the Good Shepherd
, 4. Context Define catacomb and arcosolium.
image?
2. Composition Where is this image located and why is it there?
3. Style What are the chief stylistic features of this image?
theme—known in both art and literature—that identified such diverse figures as the philosopher Pythagoras
and the orphic cult leader orpheus with shepherds.
The pose of the youth carrying an animal on his shoulders appeared in Archaic Greek sculpture as early as
the sixth century BCE (Figure 6.16). The painter of the
Good Shepherd ceiling fresco portrays the shepherd as
a beardless youth without distinctive, godlike traits.
The second-century statue of a shepherd depicted as
5. Religious Perspective What is the significance of a shepherd’s image?
J
A
M
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E
5
5
6
7
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U
Figure 6.15 Symbolism and Early Christian Art. Christ monogram
in a wreath. Central panel of a sarcophagus, marble bas relief, Early
Christian, 4th century CE. Museo Pio Cristiano, Vatican Museums.
Early Christians had some aversion to figural representations and used
symbols, such as chi-rho and alpha-omega. Chi and rho are the first two
letters of “Christ” in Greek. Alpha and omega are the first and last letters
of the Greek alphabet, signifying God as the beginning and the end. The
evangelist symbols—man, lion, bull, and eagle—were derived from the
book of Revelation; however, the four symbols have numerous antecedents,
for example, in Assyrian iconography.
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C Figure 6.17 Scenes from Chamber (Arcosolium) of the Velata,
of Priscilla, Rome. Ca. 250–300. The deceased woman is
H Catacomb
depicted in the center in an orans (“praying”) position. Presumably she
R is ascending to heaven. This would be a standard image in Christian art
until modern times. At the figure’s right (the viewer’s left), a bishop is
I blessing the woman’s wedding. The bride holds a scroll, the Roman tabula
a document that spelled out the wife’s duties. A youth presents
S nuptialis,
the wedding veil. To the figure’s left (the viewer’s right), the woman is
with an infant child. Such depictions of mother and child would
T depicted
soon be appropriated by Christian artists for the standard depiction of Mary
I and Jesus. In fact, the oldest surviving image of Mary and the baby Jesus
stands on another wall of this same arcosolium.
A
N the chapter-opening image (see page 128) attests to the
, widespread use of this image. By such representations
as these, the artists in effect declared the limits of their
art in penetrating the mystery of Jesus as both God
J and man. That is, they confined themselves to symimages.
A bolic
In the catacomb of Priscilla, in the same arcosolium
Mwhose ceiling is graced by the Good Shepherd, a late
image reveals scenes from the life of a
I third-century
Figure 6.16 Calf Bearer. Ca. 570 BCE. Marble, ht. 65″. Acropolis
dead woman buried there (Figure 6.17). Christian art
Museum, Athens. This sixth-century BCE Greek statue shows a young
E was beginning to gain some narrative sophistication
man carrying a calf probably intended for a ritual sacrifice. The statue is
and its production values were getting higher and
executed in the kouros style, popular in the Archaic Age, as indicated by the
higher. This may point to greater wealth in the Chrisfrontality, stiffness, and stylized beard. The shepherd image later became
5 tian community.
associated with Jesus in the early Christian period.
SUMMARY
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The historical experience of the Hebrews was relentlessly difficult. They were always surrounded by more
powerful peoples who attacked and conquered them.
They lived in a tiny land from which it was hard to
scratch a bare existence. However challenging their
lives may have been, the Hebrews clung tenaciously
to their covenant with Yahweh that obliged them to
believe in only one God, to worship him in specifically defined ways, and to promote justice among
themselves. Viewing God as just and righteous, the
Hebrews believed that their calamities resulted from
5
6
7
B
U their own failures. The Hebrews wrote down a vast
library of religious literature, some of which was essentially historical and spelled out the formulation of
the covenant and God’s ongoing relationship with his
people. Some of it was prophetic and constantly called
people to believe and to behave. Some of it was beautiful literature, such as the Psalms. And some of it was
homey, practical advice for daily living.
during Augustus’s reign over the Roman world, a
young Jew, Jesus, arose and began calling on people
to repent and hear the good news, the gospel, that he
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was professing. Jesus attracted a band of loyal followers and taught them by means of inspiring stories. His
message was simple, and in a Jewish context, ancient:
love God and love your neighbor. But Jesus, who called
himself the son of God, also relaxed the requirements
of the countless rules under which Jews had always
lived. The Romans saw Jesus as a troublemaker and
executed him. His dispirited followers rallied and a
Jewish convert, Paul, joined their number. Gradually,
they spelled out the Christian message in a body of
writings that they called the new Testament, to differentiate those writings from the Hebrew Scriptures,
thereafter called by Christians the old Testament.
Christianity spread throughout the Roman world
despite occasional persecution. Christians began to
develop a church with regular officials and to write
works of theology, books that sought to interpret and
explain the Christian message. And, finally, Christianity began to adapt the arts of antiquity to its own
purposes.
The Legacy of Judaism and Early Christianity
not a day goes by when Israel is not in the news. Surrounded by hostile people, the Jews in that country
maintain confidence in their right to the land God
promised Abraham. In antiquity, Jews were disparaged because they got in the way of imperialists or
because they were a small minority practicing what
seemed to others strange religious rituals. Eventually,
anti-Jewish prejudices turned into malevolent antiSemitism, the hatred of Jews as a people. In Hitler’s
Germany an attempt was made to eliminate the Jews
as a people. But alongside prejudice and persecution,
there are other stories. To be inclusive, people today
speak of the “Abrahamic faiths”: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is crucial to remember that Judaism
was the source for the other two. From both Judaism
and Christianity, the West has inherited a moral and
an ethical code. Pick up an American coin and see
stamped on it “In God we trust.” The prodigious learning of the ancient rabbis has been retained and revived
down through the centuries. Since the eighteenth century, Jews have made fundamental contributions to the
western humanities in almost every area of life. The
modern world would be inconceivable without Itzhak
Perlman or George Gershwin, Albert Einstein or Betty
Friedan. Readers of this book probably grew up reading books by Judy Blume and Shel Silverstein.
For centuries Christianity had a privileged place in
the West. The Romans made Christianity the state religion of the empire, and during the Middle Ages the
culture was fundamentally Christian. The church was
the great patron of builders, artists, and musicians
into the modern world. The Protestant Reformation
sundered Christendom but hardly diminished Christianity’s cultural influence. Modern secularization has
weakened Christianity’s influence but has by
Cindeed
no means eradicated it. The “Religious Right” and the
HCatholic Church remain major players in American
although religious influences in European
Rpolitics,
society are increasingly weak; for example, topics like
I abortion and evolution are prominent in America. But
Sreligious schools continue to educate numerous pupils, and the Vienna Boys’ Choir still attracts packed
Thouses eager to listen to stirring renditions of Latin
I chants from the Middle Ages. The bishop of Rome—
the pope—remains the most visible and in many
Aways the most respected religious leader in the world.
NAnd a recent pope, John Paul II (1978–2005), initiated
a long-overdue process of healing relations between
, Jews and Christians.
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5
5
6
7
Pope John Paul II visiting the chief rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, on April 13,
B1986. This marked the first time a pope had ever visited a synagogue or
a rabbi. John Paul would go on to visit synagogues in Poland and
Uembraced
Israel.
KEY CULTURAL TERMS
covenant
monotheism
diaspora
eschatology
apocalypse
Messiah
scripture
canon
Gospels
evangelists
theology
liturgy
apologists
catacomb
arcosolium
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INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES, UNIT 5
Discussion:
In this, our final Unit, we encounter the Hebrews, Judaism, and Christianity. These groups bore one primary
thing in common: Monotheism, The Belief in One God: YHWH.
These groups' spiritual beliefs were codified in The Holy Bible, first through a covenant based upon lawkeeping [The Old Testament] and then through a new covenant [The New Testament] based upon faith in
a messiah.
Based upon what you can tell (from the text and from at least one additional resource), describe in two
paragraphs at least one primary difference and at least one similarity between these two systems of belief
/covenants.
Let's spend our final discussion critically assessing the messages of the early Christians and what ideas and
beliefs they represented.
Begin by imagining that you are one of the following people alive in c. 100 CE in Greece and you have just
heard your first sermon from a Christian convert; this could be a wealthy merchant, a woman married to a
shop keeper or farmer, an impoverished solider or a student at the Lyceum.
What do you think about the sermon? Share your response in one paragraph.
In another paragraph, pretend that you are a skeptic, that is, someone who holds a different view from that
expressed in the sermon. How would this individual respond critically or unfavorably to the sermon?
In other words, you are offering TWO different points of view in this discussion in response to the sermon.
REMEMBER: the more you can support your ideas with details and examples and quoted passages from
both our text and secondary sources, the stronger your response.
Minimum of 250 words and two scholarly sources.
Reference:
Matthews, R. T., Noble, T. F., & Platt, F. D. (2014). Experience humanities (8th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill.
Complete:
Complete Section: a minimum of 350 words per question and three scholarly sources per question
including the book reference.
Questions:
1.) What were the major stages in the historical development of ancient Israel?
2.) How do written and material evidence combine to reveal the history of Israel?
3.) What were the central teachings of Christianity?
4.) How do written and material evidence reveal Christianity’s relationship to classical culture?
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