âChristianityâ without âChristâ is a meaningless word; and without Jesus Christ, there would be no Christianity about which we could write a history. âChristâ is a Greek word, translating the Hebrew participle, âMessiahâ, both of which simply mean âsomeone who has been anointedâ. The very first Christians applied this title to Jesus of Nazareth so quickly that, by the time of the letters of the apostle Paul a generation later, it functioned almost like a surname, Jesus Christ; thus it is hardly surprising that the early disciples were soon given the nickname, âChristiansâ, for those who belong to Christ (see Acts 11:27). It is a curious quirk of history that, while Jesus himself seems never to have had a proper education, was not formally trained or ordained, never held any rank or high office or earned much money, probably never walked further than a hundred miles from his home, during a brief period of wandering and preaching, and finally suffered a humiliating execution at a relatively young age, yet arguably his brief life, ministry, death, and its consequences have had a greater effect on human history than anyone else.
DID JESUS OF NAZARETH EXIST?
No serious historian really doubts that Jesus actually lived and died in the first-century Roman Empire, as evidenced by the major ancient historians. Tacitus (Annals 15.44.3) tells us that the early Christians, who were wrongly blamed by Nero for the fire in Rome in AD 64, took their name from Christ who was executed under Pontius Pilate in Judaea, while Suetonius says that debates about Christ led to such unrest that the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome in AD 49 (Claudius, 25.4). Pliny writes to the Emperor Trajan around AD 111 for advice about what to do with people in his province in Asia Minor who worship âChrist as a godâ (Letters, 10.96). In addition, later Rabbinic traditions say that âJesus of Nazarethâ was executed âbecause he practised sorcery and led Israel astrayâ (bSanhedrin 43.a). Such historical evidence from Romans and Jewish opponents alike is very significant and provides the core for research in what is often called the âQuest for the Historical Jesusâ: the first phase of which started with German scholars such as Albert Schweitzer around the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth century; the ânew Questâ began with Ernst Käsemann in 1953; while recent work by scholars such as E. P. Sanders and N. T. Wright is usually seen as the âThird Questâ, in which biblical and other sources are scrutinized to see what can be determined about the historical life and death of Jesus.
The Roman Empire in AD 14.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN SOURCES?
Beyond these historical mentions of Jesus in Roman and Jewish writers, the main sources about Jesus are the four Gospels âaccording toâ (rather than âbyâ) Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John found in the Bible. There are other texts also called âgospelsâ not found in the canon of the Christian scriptures; these ânon-canonicalâ works are mostly less narrative or historical in form, being sayings, discourses, revelations of Jesus, and are probably written a couple of generations later than the canonical Gospels. These four have a similar structure, describing the life and ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist, with an extended concentration on his final week in Jerusalem, his arrest, trial, and execution â and what happened afterwards. This means that their form and literary genre is very similar to ancient biographies of famous people, which concentrated on their public lives, exemplified in their deeds and words, culminating in their death. It is important to recognize that even ancient history writing is not like what we call history today, and nor are the Gospels like video-diaries, simply recording what was done or said. Like other ancient âlivesâ, they seek to interpret eyewitness and other material to explain the importance of their subject â Jesus â after years of prayer and meditation through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit â to bring out the truth about Jesusâ deeds and words, life and ministry, death, and resurrection. Most New Testament scholars think that Mark was written first, and his account is followed by Matthew and Luke, who also have access to collections of Jesusâ teachings; these three Gospels are often called the âSynopticsâ, because they can be âlooked atâ together, while John is probably composed independently of them, although he too includes some very early traditions.
Judaism in the Time of Christ.
WHERE DID JESUS COME FROM?
Ancient biographies usually begin with the personâs public debut, with perhaps a brief story about their birth or childhood, and sometimes a note about the family history, genealogy, or ancestral city. Mark begins with the adult Jesus arriving to be baptized by John (Mark 1:2â11). Matthew takes it back to the story of Jesusâ birth in Bethlehem, told from Josephâs viewpoint, with wise men coming to pay homage, and a genealogy that goes back to David and Abraham (Matthew 1â2). Luke begins with the birth of the fore-runner, John the Baptist, the journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and Jesusâ birth in an inn, narrated from perspective of Mary and the women, with humble poor shepherds coming to the manger; there is a brief story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple, and his baptism concludes with a more universal genealogy going right back to Adam (Luke 1â3). On the other hand, rather than human stories, John is clear that Jesusâ origin is truly cosmic: âin the beginning was the Wordâ, who not only was âwith Godâ, but who is also God, yet who took on human flesh and dwelt among us to reveal what God is like (John 1:1â18).
| THE THOUGHT-WORLD OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY Twenty-first century students are familiar with terms such as cultural diversity and globalization. Christianity was born in a cultural setting that experienced its own forms of intellectual and religious diversity, brought into conversation with each other thanks to the global expansion of the Roman Empire. The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles display the three distinctive threads in this tapestry: Jewish, Greek, and Roman. Jesus was born into a world of pious Jews, devoted to their traditions and to the Jerusalem Temple. At the same time, many first-century Jews imagined a day when God would raise up a new anointed one (messiah) to right the wrongs of injustice and liberate Israel from foreign rule. They found the religious vocabulary for these hopes in passages from the Hebrew prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. So Lukeâs Gospel has the adult Jesus begin his public career by announcing that Godâs Spirit now rests on him. The time of fulfilment is at hand (Luke 4:14â21). Though Jesus, himself, would have known those scriptures in Hebrew, and their translations into the Aramaic spoken in Palestine, Luke and the other New Testament authors employ the Greek translations used by diaspora Jews since the third century bc. Called âthe Septuagintâ (LXX), these Greek versions sometimes create new meanings for Greek words to translate Hebrew concepts, or substitute a familiar Greek concept for the Hebrew. For example, the Greek word diathe-ke- ordinarily means a will or testament, but in the LXX it translates the Hebrew berĂŽth, âcovenantâ. Alexander the Greatâs Eastern conquests in the fourth century bc had spread Greek language, civic organization, and culture throughout the region. Attempts by his successors to create a thoroughly âGreek city-stateâ and religious culture in Jerusalem resulted in persecution and rebellion in the mid-first century bc (1 Maccabees 1:1â15). Important religious concepts emerge among Jews opposed to the world being created by Alexanderâs successors, illustrated in Danie... |
