Life of Jesus (1 janv. 4 av. J.-C. – 1 janv. 33)

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HOW DID CHRISTIANITY GROW INTO A MAJOR RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT?
“During the reign of the emperor Tiberius in the Roman province of Judaea, which had been created out of the Jewish kingdom of Judah, a Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth preached, attracted a following, and was executed on the order of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. At the time this was a minor event, but Christianity, the religion created by Jesus’s followers, came to have an enormous impact first in the Roman Empire and later throughout the world.”

FACTORS BEHIND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY
“The civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic left their mark on Judaea, where Jewish leaders had taken sides in the conflict. The turmoil created a climate of violence throughout the area, and among the Jews movements in opposition to the Romans spread.”

“Many Jews came to believe that a final struggle was near, and that it would lead to the coming of a Messiah, a word that means one who is anointed with holy oil, as King David was (see Chapter 2), and thus the legitimate King of the Jews. This Messiah, a descendant of King David, would destroy the Roman legions and inaugurate a period of peace, happiness, and prosperity for Jews.”

“Christianity was initially an urban religion, and those who lived in the countryside were less likely to be converts.”

THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS
“According to Christian Scripture, he was born to deeply religious Jewish parents and raised in Galilee, the stronghold of the Zealots and a trading center where Greeks and Romans interacted with Jews. His ministry began when he was about thirty, and he taught by preaching and telling stories.”

“The principal surviving evidence for his life and deeds are the four Gospels of the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), books that are part of what Christians later termed the New Testament.”

“The Gospels include certain details of Jesus’s life, but they were not meant to be biographies. Their authors had probably heard many different people talk about what Jesus said and did, and there are discrepancies among the four accounts. These differences indicate that early followers had a diversity of beliefs about Jesus’s nature and purpose, and historians today describe this period as one of “christianities” rather than a single “Christianity.””

“However, almost all the early sources agree on certain aspects of Jesus’s teachings: He preached of a heavenly kingdom of eternal happiness in a life after death, and of the importance of devotion to God and love of others. His teachings were based on Hebrew Scripture and reflected a conception of God and morality that came from Jewish tradition. Jesus’s orthodoxy enabled him to preach in the synagogue and the temple, but he deviated from orthodoxy in insisting that he taught in his own name, not in the name of Yahweh”

“Was Jesus the Messiah, the Christ? A small band of followers thought so, and Jesus claimed that he was. Yet Jesus had his own conception of the Messiah. He would establish a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one.”

“The Roman official Pontius Pilate, who had authority over much of Judaea, knew little about Jesus’s teachings. Like all Roman officials, he was concerned with maintaining peace and order, which was a difficult task in restive Judaea… The four Gospels differ somewhat on exactly what actions Jesus took in the city and what Jesus and Pilate said to each other after Jesus was arrested. They agree that Pilate condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion because he claimed to be the legitimate king of the Jews, a claim that was reportedly stated in Latin above Jesus’s head on the cross on which he was crucified. The only “king” the Jews had at this time was the Roman emperor Tiberius, so Jesus’s claim was a political crime.”

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
“The catalyst in the spread of Jesus’s teachings and the formation of the Christian Church was Paul of Tarsus, a well-educated Hellenized Jew who was comfortable in both the Roman and the Jewish worlds… Once converted, he traveled all over the Roman Empire and wrote letters of advice to many groups. These letters were copied and widely circulated, transforming Jesus’s ideas into more specific moral teachings. Recognizing that Christianity would not grow if it remained within Judaism, Paul connected it with the non-Jewish world. As a result of his efforts, he became the most important figure in changing Christianity from a Jewish sect into a separate religion”

“The breadth of the Roman Empire was another factor behind the spread of Christianity… Though most of the earliest converts seem to have been Jews, or Greeks and Romans who were already interested in Jewish moral teachings, Paul urged that Gentiles, or non-Jews, be accepted on an equal basis.”

“Christianity also offered rewards in this world to adherents. One of these was the possibility of forgiveness, for believers accepted that human nature is weak and that even the best Christians could fall into sin. But Jesus loved sinners and forgave those who repented… Christianity likewise gave its devotees a sense of community, which was very welcome in the often highly mobile world of the Roman Empire.”

THE GROWING ACCEPTANCE AND EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY
“Slowly some Roman officials and leaders came to oppose Christian practices and beliefs… Some Romans thought that Christianity was one of the worst of the mystery religions, with immoral and indecent rituals. For instance, they thought that the ritual of the Lord’s Supper, at which Christians said that they ate and drank the body and blood of Jesus, was an act of cannibalism involving the ritual murder of Roman boys… The Christian refusal to worship Roman gods, in their opinion, endangered Roman lives and society.”

“Responses to Christianity on the part of Roman emperors varied. Nero persecuted Christians, but Trajan forbade his governors to hunt them down. Though admitting that he considered Christianity an abomination, he decided it was better policy to leave Christians in peace. Later emperors increased persecutions again”

“By the second century C.E. Christianity was also changing. The belief that Jesus was soon coming again gradually waned, and as the number of converts increased, permanent institutions were established instead of simple house churches. These included buildings and a hierarchy of officials often modeled on those of the Roman Empire.”

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