Judaism & Christianity study guide summary

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Judaism & Christianity study guide summary

Judaism & Christianity

A. Hebrews

Israelites
- living in Canaan
practiced monotheism
- belief in one all – powerful God
- commands were revealed by prophets
- holy messengers
- believed that God (Yahweh) determined right and wrong
- expected people to deal justly with each other
- accept moral responsibility for their actions
- teachings of the Israelites exist today as the religion of Judaism
- shares many beliefs with two other monotheistic religions – Christianity and Islam

1. The Land of Canaan

Bible remains one of the main sources of ancient history in the Fertile Crescent
traces their origins to Abraham
- herder and trader who lived in the Mesopotamian city of Ur
Abraham and his household left Ur
- settled in Canaan
- at the command of Yahweh (God)
- c.190 BC
believed that God made a covenant with Abraham
- ‘I will make of you a great nation’
- God’s promise to bless Abraham and his descendants if they would remain faithful to God

2. The Exodus from Egypt

Abraham’s grandson Jacob
- also known as Israel
- raised 12 sons in Canaan
- each son led a separate family group or tribe
- became the 12 tribes of Israel
Israelites migrated to Egypt
- to escape a severe famine
- lived peacefully for several generations
- Egyptians decided to enslave them
Israelite prophet Moses
- led his people out of Egypt into the Sinai Desert
- 1200 BC
- God renewed the covenant made with Abraham
- God promised the Israelites a safe return to the land of Canaan
- Moses and the Israelites pledged to reject all gods other than the one true God
- to obey God’s laws
10 Commandments
I. You shall have no other gods beside Me.
II. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image.
III. You shall not sweat falsely by the name of the Lord your God.
IV. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
V. Honor your father and your mother.
VI. You shall not murder.
VII. You shall not commit adultery.
VIII. You shall not steal.
IX. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
X. You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s

3. Settling the Land

Moses died before reaching Canaan
successor was Joshua
- led the Israelites across the Jordan River into Canaan
Israelites fought the Philistines and the Canaanites
- now occupied the land
- for about 200 years

a) The Fighting Judges

lack of unity among the 12 tribes of Israel
- prolonged the campaign to acquire Canaan
judges
- leaders who ruled each tribe
- served as both judicial and military leaders
- some of the judges attempted to rally the Israelites
Deborah
- judge widely admired for her wisdom
- planned an attack on a Canaanite army camped near Mount Tabor
- Israelites believed that they could win with God’s help
- they won the battle

b) Saul, David & Solomon

continual warfare
- led most of the Israelite tribes to unite under one king
- Saul
- c. 1020 BC
- popular at first
- power decreased when he proved unable to defeat the Philistines
David
- once fought the Philistine Goliath on Saul’s behalf
- took the throne in 1012 BC
- ruled for the next 40 years
- moved capital from Hebron to Jerusalem
- made it the political and religious center of the Israelites
- organized a central government
- enlarged his kingdom’s borders
- enjoyed economic prosperity
- extended Israelite rule in the region
- by defeating the Philistines
Solomon
- succeeded his father in 961 BC
- traditional builder of the Temple at Jerusalem
- nation prospered
- high taxes and harsh labor requirements
death in 922 BC
- 10 northern tribes broke away from the 2 tribes in the south
- northern tribes continued to call their kingdom Israel
- southern tribes called their kingdom Judah led by Omri & his son Ahab
- kept Jerusalem as their capital
- Jew comes from the name Judah

4. Exile and Return

people of Israel and Judah continued to share one religion
southern tribes
- too weak to resist invasions by powerful neighbors.
Assyrians
- 722 BC
- swept in and conquered Israel
- scattering the people of the 10 northern tribes throughout the Assyrian Empire
Chaldeans
- gained control of Judah
- destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem
- 586 BC
- enslaved some of the city’s residents
- exile in the Chaldean capital city of Babylon

a) Exile in Babylon

Babylonian Captivity
- series of prophets arose among the Israelites
- called Jews after the Babylonian exile
- Jeremiah & other prophets
- condemned abuses in society
- blamed the exile on the Jews’ forgetting their duties to God and to one another
- also helped the Jews retain their religious culture during the exile
Jews no longer had a temple
- small groups of Jews began to meet on the Sabbath
- the holy day of rest
- for prayer and study
- rise of synagogues developed from these gatherings

b) Rebuilding Jerusalem

Jews hoped to return to Jerusalem
Persians conquered the Chaldeans
- 539 BC
- Cyrus II allowed Jews to return to Judah
- rebuild the Temple
Jewish holy writings were organized into the Torah
- 400s BC
- made up of the first five books of the Bible
- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
many Jews remained in Babylon
- some migrated to other areas in the Middle East
- communities of Jews have existed outside their homeland
- Diaspora a Greek word meaning ‘scattered’

5. A Lasting Legacy

events had a God – directed purpose
- Jews recorded their history
- examined it for meaning
Jewish Scriptures begin with the Torah
- states that God created the universe
- humans have infinite worth
- included the writings of the prophets
- prophetic teachings state that humans work in partnership with God
- strive to achieve a perfect world
- this link makes people accountable for what happens in the world
- took their sacred writings with them
- religious beliefs and ethical principles became an important part of the heritage of the West

B. Rise of Christianity

1. Judaism and the Empire

early Romans
- worshiped nature spirits
- spirits as deities
- Etruscan influence
Romans adopted much of Greek religion
- identifying Greek deities with their own
Augustus
- expect people to honor the emperor as Rome’s chief priest
- empire’s people were still allowed to worship freely
- variety of religions flourished

a) Jewish Uniqueness

several elements of Jewish religion
- unique in the Roman world
Jews were monotheists
- worship only one god
- Romans could probably have tolerated a peculiar attachment to a single ethnic god
Jews insisted that their god was the only one that existed at all
- gods of the Greeks, Romans, and all other peoples were demons or figments of the worshipers’ imaginations
Romans thought this was a laughable absurdity
- Romans had conquered the Jews
- Why would this all – powerful Jewish god have allowed the Romans to conquer his chosen people?
question many Jews found difficult to answer
Jewish response
- God’s kingdom was not of this world
- God sought victory over the souls of mankind, not over their armies

b) Jewish Rebellions

Emperor Augustus
- kingdom of Judah into the Roman province of Judea
- AD 6
- still allowed the Jews to practice their religion
- treated cruelly
- many Jews strengthened their hope that a messiah would help them regain their freedom
- deliverer chosen by God
- coming of a messiah had long been foretold by Jewish prophets
God would intervene on their behalf
- some Jews took matters into their own hands
Roman religious intolerance
- created a special set of laws
- allowed the Jews the right to worship their one God
- excused them from the necessity of sacrificing to the gods of Rome and the Roman emperors
- requirement imposed on all other peoples of the empire
Romans may have been willing to tolerate
- silly religious eccentricities of the Jews
- absolutely unwilling to tolerate the slightest semblance of political disloyalty
- many Jews were willing to submit to Rome
- return for a guarantee of religious & ethnic survival
inherent Jewish antagonism to Rome
- greatly intensified
- mismanagement, greed, incompetence, and corruption of Roman governors
- social, political and religious crisis developed in Judea
- culminating in the Jewish rebellions
rebelled against the Romans
- AD 66 – 70
- overpowered the small Roman army in Jerusalem
Romans retook Jerusalem
- AD 70
- destroying the Temple
- killing thousands of Jews
second rebellion
- AD 132 – 135
- ended with the expulsion of the Jews from Judea
- leveling of the city of Jerusalem
- scattered Jewish communities survived throughout the Roman world
Romans banned the Jews from living in Jerusalem
- Jews were forced to live in other parts of the Mediterranean and the Middle East
Jews continued to study the Torah
- entire body of Jewish religious law and learning
- set up special academies
- yeshivas
- promote its study
- rabbis – scholars trained in the yeshivas
- AD 200 - AD 500
- assembled their various interpretations of the Torah into a book
- Talmud

c) Denominations

Judaism was an extremely diverse religion movement
- time of Jesus
- numerous political and religious sects
Pharisees
- emphasized strict obedience to Jewish law and oral tradition
- opposed Hellenism
Essenes
- extremists
- rejected the authority of the Jewish establishment at Jerusalem
- had their own set of scriptures and interpretations
- Dead Sea Scrolls
Zealotts
- advocates of armed rebellion against Rome
new monotheistic religion
- Christianity
- began to be practiced by some of the Jews in the eastern Mediterranean
- both the Romans and the earliest Christians thought of the new religion as a sect within Judaism

2. Jesus of Nazareth

a) Messianic Idea

Christianity derived many of its ideas and practices
- from Judaism
- Jewish concept of the messiah
- ‘anointed one’ or king
- referring specifically to the Near Eastern custom of anointing kings with olive oil at their coronations
most Jewish circles
- early Roman empire
- messiah was conceived of as a mighty warrior – king
- destined to bring political deliverance & supremacy to the Jews
numerous unsuccessful militant false messiahs
- 1st 100 years of Roman dominance In Judea

b) Life of Jesus

Jew named Jesus
- grew up in the town of Nazareth
traveled through Galilee and Judea
- AD 30 - AD 33
rejecting the traditional Jewish understanding of a militant messiah
- proclaimed that he was the Son of God
- mission was to bring spiritual salvation and eternal life to individuals
- not political or military salvation to the Jews
preaching a new message to his fellow Jews and winning disciples
- followers
- proclaiming that God’s rule was close at hand
- urged people to turn away from their sins
- practice deeds of kindness
- God was loving and forgiving toward all who repented
- no matter what evil they had done or how lowly they were
- often used parables
- symbolic stories
Jesus’ disciples believed that he was the messiah
- other Jews believed that the messiah had yet to come
- growing controversy over Jesus
- troubled Roman officials in Palestine
- believed that anyone who aroused such strong public feelings could endanger Roman rule in the region
Roman governor Pontius Pilate
- arrested Jesus
- AD 33
- political rebel
- ordered that he be crucified
- hung from a cross until dead
- typical Roman way of punishing criminals
followers were convinced that Jesus was resurrected from the dead
- apostles and disciples
- confirming his status as the Messiah and Son of God

c) The Apostles

after Jesus’ death
- followers began preaching that Jesus was the Son of God
- way of salvation
accept this message
- small groups in the Hellenistic cities
- eastern Mediterranean world
- Jews and non – Jews who accepted Jesus and his teachings
- Christians
- Christos was Greek for ‘messiah’
- formed churches
- communities for worship, fellowship and instruction
inspired his twelve closest companions to spread his message
- Apostles
- conviction that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead
- combined with the profundity of his moral teachings
- apostles were Christian missionaries
- spread Christianity throughout the Roman world
Peter
- leader of the group
- came to Rome
- helped found a church in that city
- other churches were set up in Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and later in Gaul and Spain
initially preaching
- story and teaching of Jesus
- limited to Jews
Christianity began to be preached to a wider gentile in the Roman empire
- non – Jewish audience
convert named Paul
- Saul of Tarsus
- missionary efforts among the Greeks and Romans
- most important Apostle
- laid the foundation of the transformation of Christianity from a minority sect among the Jews to a world religion in the Roman empire
- traveled widely
- wrote on behalf of the new religion
- discussion of the doctrines of Christianity in his letters
- letters to various churches were later combined with the Gospels
- stories about Jesus
- works form the New Testament of the Bible

3. Persecution & Competition

Christians
- taught that their religion was the only true faith
- refused to honor the emperor as a god
- rejected military service
- many Romans accused them of treason
initially
- Roman authorities paid very little attention to Christianity
- considering it a strange and eccentric sect of Judaism
- sporadic persecutions
- Romans for the most part left the early Christians alone
Christians increased in number
- Romans began to perceive Christianity as a threat
- both to society and the state
- organized persecutions broke out
- persecutions were ineffective
- Christianity continued to spread and flourish
win converts
- Christians had to overcome this obstacle
- Christianity also had to compete for followers
- with polytheistic religions, mystery religions & Judaism
Christianity flourished in the Mediterranean
- AD 200s - 300s
- along with these other religions
- Christianity was mainly a religion of the cities
- traditional Roman religions retained their hold in the countryside
- number of Christians was relatively small during this period
- strength in the cities of the Roman Empire gave Christianity an influence that was far beyond its size
Romans feared Christian rejection of their deities
- bring divine punishment
- might have the Christians killed
- if local officials thought Christians were causing trouble
- Romans frequently threw these Christians martyrs into the stadiums to be killed by wild beasts in front of cheering crowds
- people who chose to die rather than give up their beliefs
persecution lasted until the early AD 300s
- kept many people from becoming Christians

4. Romans Adopt Christianity

legend
- AD 312
- Roman general Constantine
- led his army into battle
- flaming cross appeared in the sky
- beneath it in fiery letters
- appeared the Latin words In hoc signo vinces
- ‘With this as your standard you will have victory.’
- Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint the Christian symbol of the cross on their shields
- army won the battle
- Constantine credited the victory to the Christian God
Constantine
- named emperor of Rome
- AD 312
- became a protector of Christianity
issued the Edict of Milan
- AD 313
- decreed that all religious groups in the empire were free to worship as they pleased
- including Christians
Constantine attended meetings of Christian leaders
- ordered churches to be built in Rome and Jerusalem
conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine
- major impact on the development of Christianity
- state patronage of Christianity allowed the religion to spread more rapidly among the Romans
- many Romans were transformed into nominal Christians
- when the emperor became a Christian
- accustomed to worshiping the state gods
- others joined because they saw Christianity as a mechanism for promotion and power
establishment of religious orthodoxy as a state issue
- not sufficient to be a Christian
- one had to be a member of the political correct branch of Christianity
- elimination of religious diversity within the Christian movement
old decaying Roman empire was revitalized
- reunified by the new imperial ideology
- Christianity would remain the ideology of the Byzantine empire
- over one thousand years
under Theodosius
- AD 392
- Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
- banned the old Hellenistic and Roman religions
- non – Christian religions were outlawed, and slowly disappeared

5. Early Church

a) Church Fathers

Christians recognized the need for organization
- prosper only if it was united
Christian teachings had to be stated clearly
- avoid differences of opinion
- might divide the Church
- Christians turned to important religious thinkers
- attempted to explain many Christian beliefs
Church Fathers
- various scholars
- AD 100 - AD 500
- wrote books
- in Greek and Latin
- explaining Christian teachings
- laid the foundation for subsequent theology
- greatly influenced later Christian thinkers
- both Greek Orthodox & Roman Catholic traditions
Eusebius
- d. 340
- councilor to Constantine
- wrote a history of early Christianity
- celebrating its victory through the conversion of Constantine
Jerome
- d. 420
- translation of the Bible
- Vulgate
- most important cultural & religious book of the next thousand years in western Europe
prominent leaders of the Church
attempted to achieve a number of goals
- (1) clearly define Christian doctrine
- (2) intellectually defend Christianity against attacks by pagan scholars
- (3) make Christianity intellectually understandable and acceptable to pagan Romans
- (4) create a synthesis of Christian ideas with Hellenistic philosophy and culture

b) Teachings of Augustine

Augustine
- born in North Africa
- AD 354
- d. 430
Augustine’s powerful influence
- leading church official in North Africa
- wrote books, letters, and sermons
- shaped Christian thought
writings
- laid the foundation for the theology of medieval Roman Catholicism
- greatly influenced the ideas of the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther
- 16th century
Confessions
- conversion from Manichaeism
- form of Zoroastrianism
- one of the world’s first great autobiographies
The City of God
- attempts to explain why God preserved a pagan Roman empire for nearly a thousand years
- only to let the Christian Roman empire be destroyed by the barbarians
- first history of humanity from the Christian viewpoint

c) Church Structure

Christina leaders had organized the Church as a hierarchy
- levels of authority
- each level more powerful than the level below it.
parishes
- local gatherings of Christians
- led by priests
- priests conducted worship services
- supervised perish activities
diocese
- several parishes
- each overseen by a bishop
- bishops interpreted Christian beliefs
- administered regional church affairs
bishops met in councils
- discuss questions and disputes about Christian beliefs
- decisions they reached at these councils came to be accepted as doctrine
- official teachings
- points of view the council did not accept were considered heresy
- false doctrine
most powerful bishops governed Christians in the empire’s larger cities
- bishops of the five leading cities – Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem – were called patriarchs
patriarchs
- four of these patriarchs became the leaders of independent Christian churches and ethnic groups.
patriarch of Jerusalem
- received his prestige from his association with the Holy Land
patriarch of Alexandria
- intellectual center of early Christianity
- governed Egyptian Christians
two of the major branches of Eastern Christianity
- centered on these ancient patriarchates
- Alexandria
- seat of the patriarch of the Coptic Christian Church
- Antioch
- traditional center of the Syrian Jacobite Church
patriarch of Constantinople
- when the capital of the empire was transferred there in 325
- leader of the Greek Orthodox Church
patriarch of Rome
- derived his prestige from his authority over the capital of the Roman empire
- becoming the pope
- leader of the Latin Roman Catholic Church

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