Rome, Jews, and Christians

1. Rome, Jews, and Christians Presented by:Andrew Drenas, M.A.

2. Rome, Jews, and Christians

3. Our Agenda • The Jews • Their Historical Identity • The First-Century Jews • The Christians • Jesus of Nazareth and the “Messianic Jewish” Community • The Fury of Rome • Dealing with the Jews • The Persecutions of Christians • The Gnostics • What did they believe, anyway? • The “Orthodox/Proto-Orthodox” Response • In Recent Scholarship

4. The Roman World

5. The Jews – Their Historical Identity • Ancient Israel • 13th or 12th Cent. BCE – 586 BCE • The Exodus from Egypt • Moses • YHWH and the Shema • “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4) • The “Golden Age” • United kingdom under David and Solomon; the First Temple • “Not-so-Golden Age” • The Kingdom divided (Israel vs. Judah) • The Babylonian Exile Moses and the Ten Commandments

6. The Jews – Their Historical Identity • Second-Temple Judaism • Return to the Promised Land under the Persians (539 BCE) • The Ptolemies and Seleucids (323-167 BCE) • Hellenization – importation of Greek culture • Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the “abomination of desolation” • The Maccabean Revolt (167 BCE) • 1 and 2 Maccabees • Judas Maccabeus and Family • Hanukkah (164 BCE) • Jewish Independence Mattathias Slaying the Apostate

7. The Jews – Their Historical Identity • Second-Temple Judaism • The Hasmoneans (167-63 BCE) • Family of priest-kings • Dynasty ends in power struggle; Rome asked to intervene • Enter the Romans • Pompey the Great (63 BCE) • Palestine now occupied by Rome

8. The Jews under Roman Occupation • The Jewish religion tolerated • Religio licita (legal religion - exemption from pagan sacrifices) • Antiquity appreciated…but… • An “obstinate” and “rebellious” people • Rigidly monotheistic (recall the Shema!) • Romans very tolerant; Jews = exceedingly intolerant – only one God, all others are false • Nationalistic, even racist at times… • Revolts crushed • Client-kings installed • The Herods

9. Broadly speaking, who were the Jews of the first century?

10. The First-Century Jews • “The Big Four” • The Pharisees • Prominent laymen, focus on the synagogue and practical application of Torah • Opposed to Roman presence, but taught obedience to God’s law would result in deliverance • The Saducees • Aristocratic, high-priestly, focus on the Temple • Supported Roman status quo • Seen as corrupt • No resurrection of the dead or angels • The Essenes • Apocalyptic (the end is near!) • Withdraw from corrupt society and the corrupt Temple system • Qumran • The Zealots • Get Rome out by force!

11. The First-Century Jews The Second Temple

12. The First-Century Jews • The Vast Majority of Jews (95%) • Farmers, fishermen, merchants, tradesmen = struggling to make ends meet • Sought to obey major commandments of the Torah and make the appropriate pilgrimages and sacrifices their faith required • Hebraic Jews vs. Hellenistic (Diaspora) Jews • Major Jewish centers = Jerusalem (Hebraic) and Alexandria (Hellenistic)

13. The First-Century Jews John the Baptist(c. 6 BCE – c. 30 CE) • “Messianic Expectation” • One Messiah…or two…or none? • Messiah = “anointed one,” a kingly title • Jewish “renewal movements” • The Essenes • John the Baptist • “Messiah figures” crushed by the Romans, per Flavius Josephus • Jewish Antiquities and Jewish War Josephus(c. 37 CE – 100)

14. The Christians “And when the day of Pentecost had come…there came from heaven aa noise like a violent rushing wind…and there appeared to them tonguesof fire…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:1-4)

15. The Christians • Yeshua (Jesus) dmen Nazareth (c. 6 BCE – c. 30 CE) • Itinerant preacher/healer/prophet of the coming “Kingdom of God” • Twelve apostles, other disciples (Mary Magdalene, et al.) • Made messianic claims? (Palm Sunday, etc.) • Executed by Pontius Pilate by crucifixion (“This is the King of the Jews…”) • Rose from the dead? • Earliest sources = Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John (c. 70-90 CE)

16. The Christians • The “Messianic Jewish” Community/Christians • Source = Acts of the Apostles (c. 70-90 CE) • Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) • Preaches “Gospel” • Paul of Tarsus and the “Gentile Mission” • Christians at odds with “the Jews” • Stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) • Disturbance in Rome (Suetonius, Claudius 25.4) Paul of Tarsus preaching at the Areopagus, Mars Hill, Athens (Acts 17:16-34)

17. The Fury of Rome • The Jews • Jewish War (66-70 CE) • Revocation of Jewish rights by Nero and raiding of Temple treasury = war! • Christians refused to be involved • Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus in 70 CE • Bar Kochba Revolt (132-35 CE) = Jewish last stand, a failure… • Banned from Jerusalem = Aeolia Capitolina • Formation of Rabbinic Judaism • Disappearance of Jewish Christianity Titus (39-81 CE)

18. The Fury of Rome A testimony to the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple may still be found in Rome, in the Forum

19. The Fury of Rome Arch of Titus, c. 81 CE, Forum Romanum

20. The Fury of Rome The Spoils of Jerusalem, Arch of Titus, c. 81 CE

21. The Fury of Rome Triumph of Titus, Arch of Titus, c. 81 CE

22. The Fury of Rome The Western Wall,“Wailing Wall,”Jerusalem

23. The Fury of Rome • The Christians • Not initially persecuted, but… • Became more and more distinct from Judaism • Why persecute them? • Seen as a “novelty,” to which Romans were opposed • Christians met “secretly” • Christians cannibals and incestuous? • They obstinately refused to worship the emperor • Persecuted intermittently from the reign of Nero (r. 54-68 CE) until Diocletian (r. 284-305 CE); thereafter granted toleration by Constantine the Great (r. 306-37)

24. The Fury of Rome • Martyrdom • Martyr = witness • The Martyrdom of Blandina (d. 177 CE) • Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea, V, chapter 1 • Suspended on a stake as if on a cross – left to be eaten by wild beasts • Imprisoned • Forced to watch her Christian companions be martyred • Attempted to make her swear to idols • Scourged • Sent to the roasting seat • Enmeshed in a net and gored to death by a bull • Remains burned; ashes tossed into the Rhone Blandina

25. The Fury of Rome • Any questions, comments, or concerns so far? • Changing gears…

26. The Gnostics • “Gnosticism,” an alternative form of Christianity, was in full force within the Roman Empire in the second century… • Broadly speaking, who were the Gnostics, who have captured our imagination as a culture? • Why did “orthodox” Christians respond to hostilely to them? • What are the current interpretations of Gnosticism out there in academia?

27. The Gnostics • Major sources for Gnosticism: • Nag Hammadi scriptures, discovered in Egypt in 1945 • Gospels of Thomas, Mary, the Egyptians, etc. • “Orthodox heresiologists” • Gospel of Judas The Nag Hammadi Codices

28. The Gnostics • Broadly, what did Gnostics (gnosis = knowledge) believe? • Creation • Result of a defect, an accident • Matter and physicality are inherently corrupt and evil • God • Creator god or Demiurge of the Hebrew Scriptures = a rebel, fool, arrogant, ignorant – a lesser god • The Father is un-knowable, ineffable, but good; not the creator

29. The Gnostics • Christ • Divine being, brings revelation of the Father and salvation • May be distinct from historical Jesus (Docetism) • Granted secret knowledge to special, chosen disciples

30. The Gnostics • Salvation • Gnosis – mystical illumination of the divine spark within the self; self-knowledge • Salvation of the soul only, to return to the Pleroma • Salvation from the body, the “prison,” and matter

31. The Gnostics • Did you notice any of these themes in the reading for today?

32. The Gnostics • Their “Orthodox” Opponents • Ignatius, Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Epiphanius • Responses: • Creation is inherently good • One God = the Father, creator of all things • One Lord, Jesus Christ, who was incarnate and crucified under Pontius Pilate to save humanity from its sins • Salvation of the body/resurrection of the dead • Gnostic “heresy” is to be fervently rejected and refuted • Irenaeus’s Against Heresies Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 120/40 – 200-03 CE

33. The Gnostics • So what about in academia? • Spectrum of interpretations… • Simplistic = “New School” and “Conservatives”

34. The Gnostics • The “New School” • Proponents: • Elaine Pagels (Princeton), Karen King (Harvard), Bart Ehrman (North Carolina – Chapel Hill), et al. • Claims: • Gnostic Christianity and “Orthodox/Proto-Orthodox” Christianity two equally valid, alternative claims to authority • Diversity! • Anti-hierarchical Gnosticism suppressed by intolerant orthodox bishops for political and gender-related reasons, besides theological • Thomas = early

35. The Gnostics • The “Conservatives” • Proponents: • N.T. Wright (Cambridge/Oxford, Bishop of Durham), Darrell L. Bock (Dallas Theological Seminary), et al. • Claims: • 4 “Orthodox” Gospels = first and more historically accurate • Gnostic Gospels = later, not connected to “authentic” Jesus tradition • “Orthodox” leaders not craving power and control, but seeking to hold their communities together in the face of intense persecution • Thomas = later • Quest for “historical Jesus” has become quest for an “alternative Jesus,” one more fitting to our postmodern zeitgeist

36. Any questions, thoughts, comments, or observations?