I am NOT a theologian, nor will I attend a seminary, nor do I find theology to be an acceptable academic discipline. The entire field is based on uncertainty and completely unprovable assertions and therefore, to me, pointless. If you disagree, fight me!!
:)
Friday, May 29, 2009
One more post before I call it a night...
I am going to be referencing a lot of professors and authors, and I'm going to try and give everyone full credit! I apologize in advance if I cite anything or anyone incorrectly, I am really going to try!!
Also, I know I'm bad with spelling and grammar -- be gentle please...
Finally, copying and pasting the 'note format' posts into Word and putting in some spaces make the posts MUCH easier to read
Also, I know I'm bad with spelling and grammar -- be gentle please...
Finally, copying and pasting the 'note format' posts into Word and putting in some spaces make the posts MUCH easier to read
Why I am doing this at all
I realized that I probably should put a sort of 'mission statement' out about why I'm making this blog. I believe that education about religion is vital. It is my belief that many of the horrible things done in the name of religion spring from ignorance. Therefore, I want to focus on the historical background of Christianity to allow people to make an informed decision(s) about the religion. I also believe in public education. I see many instances in which intelligent people who truly wish to learn are held back by their circumstances. I am lucky enough to attend the College of William and Mary (I'm a Religious Studies major) and I want to aid the education of those who want to learn but who do not have access to higher education. I hope to learn from anyone who wants to follow this blog. I have found that just because someone does not have formal education does not mean that you cannot learn from them. I hope through my postings, the comments of others and any debates that ensue will lead to greater education for all - so spread the word!!
:)
:)
E.P. Sanders -- Section 2
This post will summarize "Chapter 4. Judaism as a Religion" to give a religious context to Jesus' life. The format is the same as in the previous section.
Judaism as a religion
1. Similarities between Jews and Gentiles in the Mediterranean world
a. Belief in supernatural beings
b. Worship of God or gods via sacrificing animals along with various kinds of purification and rights
c. Ethical agreements
i. Against
1. Murder
2. Theft
3. Adultery
2. Distinguishing characteristics of Jews
a. Monotheism
i. Only one true God (the “true” here being very difficult to define)
ii. However, Jews still believed in:
1. Angles
2. Demons
iii. These other beings did not, in the ancient Jewish mind, go against monotheism
iv. Only the one true God was worthy of being worshipped
b. The Law and divine election
i. God chose Israel
ii. God created a covenant with the Jewish people
c. The three most important moments in the Hebrew Bible
i. Abraham’s call
ii. Exodus from Egypt
iii. Moses’ receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai
iv. These events gave Israel its unique character
d. Forgiveness, punishment and repentance
i. Transgression of the Law required reparations via repentance and sacrifice
ii. God always forgave repentant sinners
iii. The non-repentant were subject to punishment by God (e.g. sickness)
e. The thinking of Jews is not like modern Christians; while Christians focus on personal salvation, Jews were punished and rewarded as a group. The thinking was very community-centric
3. Distinguishing practices of Jews
a. Jews were supposed to serve or worship God, the most important form of this worship was worship at the Temple in Jerusalem
i. Jewish males were required to go to the Temple three times a year at the pilgrimage festivals
ii. Even if they could not come to the Temple, they still paid the Temple tax
iii. Jews also worshipped through daily recollection of the main commandments
iv. Reciting the Sh’ma
1. The Sh’ma is the most important prayer in Judaism, which states “Hear O Israel, the Lord (YHWY) is our God, the Lord (YHWY) is one” (Hebrew transliteration: “Sh’ma Yisrael YHWY eluhanu YHWY echad”)
v. Participation at synagogues
b. Circumcision of infant sons
c. Jews did not work on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week
i. This included not only Jews but foreigners living in Jewish towns, servants, the entire family and even the cattle
ii. Along this same line of thought, every seventh year the land was allowed to rest and Jewish farmers sowed no crops
d. Jews avoided certain impure foods, such as carrion, birds of prey, rodents, shellfish and pork
e. Before entrance into the Temple was allowed, Jews were required to purify themselves
i. Impurity came from anything which represented life and death(semen, child birth, menstrual blood and corpses)
ii. This is because God is unchanging
f. Jewish Law brings the whole of life under God’s authority; therefore, all of life was elevated to the same level as worshipping God
4. Gentiles found some of these practices noteworthy and they at times ridiculed Jews for their practices
5. Leadership
a. A main qualification for leadership (when Jews were leading Jews) was a knowledge of the Law
b. Also, however, a leader was accepted even without great knowledge of the Law (e.g. Herod, the Idumean) as long as they did not publically and pointedly disobey the Law
c. Individual families (called in Hebrew the “bet-av”) actually had a fair amount of self-governing power
d. The main job for experts in the Law was to interpret the Law (e.g. what constitutes work on the Sabbath?) as well as interpretation of various traditions
i. Priests, at least since the end of the Babylonian exile, were the primary interpreting experts
ii. However, by the 1st century, the authority now rested with the Pharisees
e. The Priests of the Temple in the Jerusalem
i. constituted an actual class of people
ii. They were the only ones who could offer sacrifices at the Temple
iii. The Levites assisted them (The Levites were the tribe of Israel descended from Aaron who were assigned as priests and were thus only supported by the generosity of others)
iv. Numbered about 20,000 (Levites included)
v. Did not serve as priests year-round
vi. They, along with the Levites, were not allowed to farm the land
vii. Most priests and Levites did not belong to a particular party, like the Pharisees or Sadducees
viii. Most were not corrupt and tried to set a good example
ix. They governed during the time of Jesus
f. Non-priests were also leaders
i. When the party of the Pharisees emerged before 135 BCE and they
1. were mainly not priests
2. were fairly orthodox
3. developed their own body of non-Biblical traditions
4. mostly did not try and force their interpretations on others
5. were liked and respected by most Jews
6. often had no actual power after the Hasmonean period; however, they did command public attention
Judaism as a religion
1. Similarities between Jews and Gentiles in the Mediterranean world
a. Belief in supernatural beings
b. Worship of God or gods via sacrificing animals along with various kinds of purification and rights
c. Ethical agreements
i. Against
1. Murder
2. Theft
3. Adultery
2. Distinguishing characteristics of Jews
a. Monotheism
i. Only one true God (the “true” here being very difficult to define)
ii. However, Jews still believed in:
1. Angles
2. Demons
iii. These other beings did not, in the ancient Jewish mind, go against monotheism
iv. Only the one true God was worthy of being worshipped
b. The Law and divine election
i. God chose Israel
ii. God created a covenant with the Jewish people
c. The three most important moments in the Hebrew Bible
i. Abraham’s call
ii. Exodus from Egypt
iii. Moses’ receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai
iv. These events gave Israel its unique character
d. Forgiveness, punishment and repentance
i. Transgression of the Law required reparations via repentance and sacrifice
ii. God always forgave repentant sinners
iii. The non-repentant were subject to punishment by God (e.g. sickness)
e. The thinking of Jews is not like modern Christians; while Christians focus on personal salvation, Jews were punished and rewarded as a group. The thinking was very community-centric
3. Distinguishing practices of Jews
a. Jews were supposed to serve or worship God, the most important form of this worship was worship at the Temple in Jerusalem
i. Jewish males were required to go to the Temple three times a year at the pilgrimage festivals
ii. Even if they could not come to the Temple, they still paid the Temple tax
iii. Jews also worshipped through daily recollection of the main commandments
iv. Reciting the Sh’ma
1. The Sh’ma is the most important prayer in Judaism, which states “Hear O Israel, the Lord (YHWY) is our God, the Lord (YHWY) is one” (Hebrew transliteration: “Sh’ma Yisrael YHWY eluhanu YHWY echad”)
v. Participation at synagogues
b. Circumcision of infant sons
c. Jews did not work on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week
i. This included not only Jews but foreigners living in Jewish towns, servants, the entire family and even the cattle
ii. Along this same line of thought, every seventh year the land was allowed to rest and Jewish farmers sowed no crops
d. Jews avoided certain impure foods, such as carrion, birds of prey, rodents, shellfish and pork
e. Before entrance into the Temple was allowed, Jews were required to purify themselves
i. Impurity came from anything which represented life and death(semen, child birth, menstrual blood and corpses)
ii. This is because God is unchanging
f. Jewish Law brings the whole of life under God’s authority; therefore, all of life was elevated to the same level as worshipping God
4. Gentiles found some of these practices noteworthy and they at times ridiculed Jews for their practices
5. Leadership
a. A main qualification for leadership (when Jews were leading Jews) was a knowledge of the Law
b. Also, however, a leader was accepted even without great knowledge of the Law (e.g. Herod, the Idumean) as long as they did not publically and pointedly disobey the Law
c. Individual families (called in Hebrew the “bet-av”) actually had a fair amount of self-governing power
d. The main job for experts in the Law was to interpret the Law (e.g. what constitutes work on the Sabbath?) as well as interpretation of various traditions
i. Priests, at least since the end of the Babylonian exile, were the primary interpreting experts
ii. However, by the 1st century, the authority now rested with the Pharisees
e. The Priests of the Temple in the Jerusalem
i. constituted an actual class of people
ii. They were the only ones who could offer sacrifices at the Temple
iii. The Levites assisted them (The Levites were the tribe of Israel descended from Aaron who were assigned as priests and were thus only supported by the generosity of others)
iv. Numbered about 20,000 (Levites included)
v. Did not serve as priests year-round
vi. They, along with the Levites, were not allowed to farm the land
vii. Most priests and Levites did not belong to a particular party, like the Pharisees or Sadducees
viii. Most were not corrupt and tried to set a good example
ix. They governed during the time of Jesus
f. Non-priests were also leaders
i. When the party of the Pharisees emerged before 135 BCE and they
1. were mainly not priests
2. were fairly orthodox
3. developed their own body of non-Biblical traditions
4. mostly did not try and force their interpretations on others
5. were liked and respected by most Jews
6. often had no actual power after the Hasmonean period; however, they did command public attention
E.P. Sanders -- Section 1
For the next roughly 14 blog posts I will be focusing each post around a chapter of the book by E.P.Sanders, "The Historical Figure of Jesus" (The Penguin Press, 1993. What I am going to start with today is the political situation at Jesus' time. I have summarized the chapter ("Chapter 3. Political Setting") in the form of a list.
Political Setting
1. The most important thing to know is that in Jesus’ time, Rome was the supreme power over the Eastern Mediterranean, though as I said above, Rome was usually not directly involved in day-to-day life
2. There were three main divisions of power in Jesus lifetime
a. Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee (or THE Galilee as Fredrickson calls it…you pick) and Peraea
b. Pilate was prefect of Judea
c. Caiaphas was the high priest in Jerusalem
3. Generally, most subject powers were content to live under Roman rule; subjects paid tribute and Rome protected them. This is not to say everyone was content to live under Roman rule
4. The Jews in Palestine were pretty insignificant in relation to other groups within the empire
5. Antiochus Epiphanies was the emperor of the Seleucid empire starting in 175 BCE and was important because:
a. He contributed to the Hellenization of Jewish areas (helped along by Jerusalem’s aristocratic priests)
b. Hellenization refers basically to the act of adding Greek culture and facets of Greek life into the lives of people of another culture/area
c. The main Greek institution that pushed the Jews to reaction that Epiphanies added was a Greek educational institution known as a gymnasion (pronounced something like gim-nauseam, not gymnasium). Here boys were educated
i. The big problem with this was the fact that the boys exercised naked, making obvious the Jewish marker of the covenant: circumcision, while Greeks did not practice this custom, seeing it as mutilation.
ii. As such, many young males were wishing to reverse or disguise their circumcised penises (peni? Lol)
iii. This partial removal of circumcision, along with other aspects of forced Hellenization lead to the Maccabean revolt (also known as the Hasmonean revolt)
iv. With this revolt, the Hasmoneans established a new dynasty, ruling Jewish Palestine as high priests/kings
6. The Hasmoneans:
i. Enlarged the Jewish state
ii. Caused the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BCE (making the Jewish state only partially independent) by the Roman general Pompey when two brothers (Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II) battled for power and asked Pompey for support
iii. Pompey:
1. chose Hyrcanus II and made him high priest and ethnarch
2. made Antipater, an Idumean as military governor (Antipater being important because he was the father of Herod the Great)
b. These events led Aristobulus II revolted and caused Antigonus to become king and high priest
7. Herod was then declared king of Judea by the Roman Senate, later winning the civil war caused by Aristobulus II with Roman troops
a. Herod then eliminated the rest of the Hasmoneans, fearing revolt because he was Idumean, not fully Jewish
b. When Herod died, his land was divided among his 3 sons,
Arhelaus, Anitpas and Philip
8. Jesus’ Galilee
a. Antipas governed Galilee, cooperating with Rome
b. Antipas was fairly observant of the Law (* note – anytime law is written as “Law,” it is in reference to the Jewish law)
c. Overall, the Jewish population was ok with Antipas
d. John the Baptist was executed by Antipas
9. Jesus’ Judea
a. Judea was Samaria, Judea (which included Jerusalem) and Idumea
b. Archelaus, Herod’s successor, had to do damage control after Herod had appointed an unpopular high priest and executed two popular teachers; however, he could not manage this, so the Romans eventually dismissed him
c. After Archelaus was dismissed, Augustus appointed a governor in 6 CE
d. This governor served as prefect (which was his post in Jesus’ day) and procurator at different times during his term in office
e. During his term, as usual, everyday governance was done by a small group of elders – the way it had been for a long time
f. Any Gentile that came into the Temple than a set point was subject to an immediate execution
g. The prefect had a great deal of power
h. In Jerusalem, governing power was up to the high priest along with his council
i. The high priest was a good choice for ruler because:
1. It was traditional
2. The office was revered by Jews
3. He was, to the Roman prefect, the spokesman for Jerusalem’s population
4. However, not all priests were respected or liked, and not everyone liked this system of governance
ii. Priesthood was hereditary
iii. However, this system had occasional upsets
i. Gentiles were not a significant presence in Jewish cities
j. Rome did not try and ‘Romanize’ their governed populations
k. There was defiantly a hope for a Messiah (literally the “anointed one” in Hebrew, with Christ (Christos) meaning the same thing in Greek)to come and bring divine intervention on behalf of the Jews
i. There were certainly other Messianic figures besides Jesus, such as
Theudas
ii. For example, in the 66 revolt, many people probably joined because they though God would deliver them – this hope for deliverance not necessarily include the expectation of a divine deliverer, a messiah
Political Setting
1. The most important thing to know is that in Jesus’ time, Rome was the supreme power over the Eastern Mediterranean, though as I said above, Rome was usually not directly involved in day-to-day life
2. There were three main divisions of power in Jesus lifetime
a. Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee (or THE Galilee as Fredrickson calls it…you pick) and Peraea
b. Pilate was prefect of Judea
c. Caiaphas was the high priest in Jerusalem
3. Generally, most subject powers were content to live under Roman rule; subjects paid tribute and Rome protected them. This is not to say everyone was content to live under Roman rule
4. The Jews in Palestine were pretty insignificant in relation to other groups within the empire
5. Antiochus Epiphanies was the emperor of the Seleucid empire starting in 175 BCE and was important because:
a. He contributed to the Hellenization of Jewish areas (helped along by Jerusalem’s aristocratic priests)
b. Hellenization refers basically to the act of adding Greek culture and facets of Greek life into the lives of people of another culture/area
c. The main Greek institution that pushed the Jews to reaction that Epiphanies added was a Greek educational institution known as a gymnasion (pronounced something like gim-nauseam, not gymnasium). Here boys were educated
i. The big problem with this was the fact that the boys exercised naked, making obvious the Jewish marker of the covenant: circumcision, while Greeks did not practice this custom, seeing it as mutilation.
ii. As such, many young males were wishing to reverse or disguise their circumcised penises (peni? Lol)
iii. This partial removal of circumcision, along with other aspects of forced Hellenization lead to the Maccabean revolt (also known as the Hasmonean revolt)
iv. With this revolt, the Hasmoneans established a new dynasty, ruling Jewish Palestine as high priests/kings
6. The Hasmoneans:
i. Enlarged the Jewish state
ii. Caused the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BCE (making the Jewish state only partially independent) by the Roman general Pompey when two brothers (Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II) battled for power and asked Pompey for support
iii. Pompey:
1. chose Hyrcanus II and made him high priest and ethnarch
2. made Antipater, an Idumean as military governor (Antipater being important because he was the father of Herod the Great)
b. These events led Aristobulus II revolted and caused Antigonus to become king and high priest
7. Herod was then declared king of Judea by the Roman Senate, later winning the civil war caused by Aristobulus II with Roman troops
a. Herod then eliminated the rest of the Hasmoneans, fearing revolt because he was Idumean, not fully Jewish
b. When Herod died, his land was divided among his 3 sons,
Arhelaus, Anitpas and Philip
8. Jesus’ Galilee
a. Antipas governed Galilee, cooperating with Rome
b. Antipas was fairly observant of the Law (* note – anytime law is written as “Law,” it is in reference to the Jewish law)
c. Overall, the Jewish population was ok with Antipas
d. John the Baptist was executed by Antipas
9. Jesus’ Judea
a. Judea was Samaria, Judea (which included Jerusalem) and Idumea
b. Archelaus, Herod’s successor, had to do damage control after Herod had appointed an unpopular high priest and executed two popular teachers; however, he could not manage this, so the Romans eventually dismissed him
c. After Archelaus was dismissed, Augustus appointed a governor in 6 CE
d. This governor served as prefect (which was his post in Jesus’ day) and procurator at different times during his term in office
e. During his term, as usual, everyday governance was done by a small group of elders – the way it had been for a long time
f. Any Gentile that came into the Temple than a set point was subject to an immediate execution
g. The prefect had a great deal of power
h. In Jerusalem, governing power was up to the high priest along with his council
i. The high priest was a good choice for ruler because:
1. It was traditional
2. The office was revered by Jews
3. He was, to the Roman prefect, the spokesman for Jerusalem’s population
4. However, not all priests were respected or liked, and not everyone liked this system of governance
ii. Priesthood was hereditary
iii. However, this system had occasional upsets
i. Gentiles were not a significant presence in Jewish cities
j. Rome did not try and ‘Romanize’ their governed populations
k. There was defiantly a hope for a Messiah (literally the “anointed one” in Hebrew, with Christ (Christos) meaning the same thing in Greek)to come and bring divine intervention on behalf of the Jews
i. There were certainly other Messianic figures besides Jesus, such as
Theudas
ii. For example, in the 66 revolt, many people probably joined because they though God would deliver them – this hope for deliverance not necessarily include the expectation of a divine deliverer, a messiah
A word on "God"
First off, I would like to go over a short lesson about the name of what most Christians in America call “God.” God is called many names in the Hebrew Bible, among these being “El” or the plural of El, “elohim.” The plural in Hebrew is used to show respect, though it literally means “gods.” “El” was the name which you can think of as the name of Abraham's god. However, in this early time in the history of the Abrahamic religions, "El" and "elohim" was also confused with the name “Baal,” literally meaning something like “master.” “Baal,” in the modern sense of the word is often used as a synonym for something like the word “devil.” However, this was not the form in which the word was originally used. As time progressed, “Baal” was used less in association with “El” and more with false gods. Also, the name “Asherah” was used in association with “El.” Though this term often refers to wooden poles used in worship, it was also the name of the female consort of “El” (remember, at the time in which “El” was still the name for “God,” monotheism for the followers of Abraham’s god was not established, so goddess worship was not out of the question). However, once Moses has contact with the divine, the god of Abraham becomes know as “I Am” in the Hebrew Bible. This self-identification by “I Am” later gets roughly translated into Hebrew, becoming known currently as the Tetragrammaton. This new name for “God” becomes the four Hebrew letters yod-heh-vav-hey, or in English now commonly called YHWY (pronounced “Yahweh”). However, note that because the Hebrew of that time did not use vowel markers, the exact pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is lost. "LORD" in most Christian Bibles today is what is put in in place of YHWY and "God" for other references to the same divine being.
Thanks to Aubrey Watkins (visiting professor in the College of William and Mary’s Religious Studies department) and the authors of the book “The Hebrew Bible: A Thematic Approach,” Sandra L. Gravett, Karla G. Bohmback, F. V. Greifenhagen and Donald C. Polaski
Thanks to Aubrey Watkins (visiting professor in the College of William and Mary’s Religious Studies department) and the authors of the book “The Hebrew Bible: A Thematic Approach,” Sandra L. Gravett, Karla G. Bohmback, F. V. Greifenhagen and Donald C. Polaski
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