- Most of what we know of Jesus comes from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
"Gospel" means "good news
- Jesus was a Jewish itinerant preacher in Judea who set himself apart from other "Messiahs"
- Jesus taught God’s personal relationship to each human being
- Message of love
- Jesus' followers believed he was the “Messiah” who had come to end the world and bring the truly faithful into the kingdom of God
- Jesus was believed to be both man and the son of God; both human and divine
- Jesus was deemed a threat to Roman rule and was crucified, though his followers believed he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven
The followers of Jesus who attempted to spread the word of his teachings were known as apostles
- Paul of Tarsus was a Jew who became a follower of Jesus after a miraculous vision on the road to Damascus
- Paul talked of “predestination” which meant that God chose who was to be saved and who was to be damned
- Paul was well-travelled, he helped found churches in many places, and he kept in touch with these new Christians by letters (Corinth, Thessalonia, Rome, Ephesus)
- Both Jews and Christians were monotheistic
- They refused to worship Roman gods
- Early in the Pax Romana, it was easy to travel and to spread ideas (Paul wasn’t the only one)
- Poor Romans were a receptive audience
- But Jews and Christians were sometimes persecuted by Roman authorities, since monotheism contradicted Roman law
- They could be exiled, imprisoned, executed, crucified, burned, or killed by wild animals
- This would happen as things began to go wrong for the Roman Empire, and scapegoats were “needed”
Scapegoat: Aaron confessed Israelites’ sins over a goat, then sent the goat to carry the sins away symbolically
No comments:
Post a Comment