Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church

1. Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church

2. A Resurrection People • After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans, two Jewish groups remained. • Pharisees or Rabbinic Judaism • Christians • According to church tradition, the disciples went to different regions to witness the resurrection of Jesus. • Matthew to Ethiopia • James the Less to Egypt • Bartholomew to Armenia

3. Mary • Luke 1:46-55 has Mary’s Magnificat. The Gospel writers give a very high view of women and especially Mary. Jesus has brothers and sisters, presumably from Mary and Joseph (Mark 6:3). • The traditional Catholic Church and Protestant Reformed Church have Mary as differing figures. Rome gives her more veneration and supports the Immaculate Conception that Mary was born without sin, which was made dogma in 1854 but articulated by Bernard of Clairvaux (12th c.) and John Duns Scotus (13th c.). • The Orthodox Church has Mary as the Theotokos (God bearer) of Jesus. • Islam has Mary (Maryam) as giving birth to Jesus under a palm tree (Qur’an, Sura 19).

4. John the Baptist • The Baptist was a desert ascetic near the Dead Sea. He resembles the Essenes more than other Jewish sects through the practice of baptism and an apocalyptic expectation. • He was a cousin to Jesus, and both of their births had miraculous and angelic activity. • John is imprisoned and executed by Herod at the request of his wife Herodias for his preaching, both religious and political. • John is the expected Elijah forerunner to prepare the world for the Messiah (Luke 1:13-17).

5. Peter • Along with James and John, part of the inner circle of Jesus. His name (Cephas or Petros) and role in the early church is the “rock” on which Christ builds his church (Matt 16:18). • He had a wife and lived in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. • Peter is impetuous and daring, but he makes some of the most memorable claims and feats as he walks with Christ. • His restoration by Jesus in John 21 is just as memorable as his three denials in Matthew 26. • Roman Catholic tradition has Peter as the first “pope,” but biblical tradition only provides us with 1 and 2 Peter, which are possibly written from Rome (i.e., Babylon).

6. Paul • Born as Saul of Tarsus and trained as a Pharisee under Gamaliel in the rabbinic Hillel school. He is possibly the difficult student of Gamaliel (cf. b. Shabbat 30b). • After his Damascus Road experience (Acts 9), he is now known as Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. He is a Jewish educated tentmaker who helps Jews and Gentiles under the Law of Moses in light of Jesus’ messianic fulfillments. • Paul takes three missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean and a fourth as a prison of Rome. • He writes the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon), Hauptebriefe  or main letters (Romans, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians), 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and probably the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus). • Paul was probably beheaded, due to his being a Roman citizen, under Nero’s reign in AD 64.