CULTURE: JESUS, CHRISTIANS AND CULTURES PRESENTATION ( LECTURE ) NOTES john m. dettoni, ph.d.

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1 Page 1 of 5 CULTURE: JESUS, CHRISTIANS AND CULTURES PRESENTATION ( LECTURE ) NOTES john m. dettoni, ph.d. HOW GOD CHANGED the FIRST CHRISTIANS VIEW of CULTURE Basic Question the First Christians faced: Who can be a follower of Jesus? Jews? Converts to Judaism? Pagans? Are there any ethnic and/or cultural requirements (and age, sex)? Any qualifications? What are the restrictions about who can be a follower of Jesus? First Church in Jerusalem: Background -two groups of people in world: Jews = God s chosen - good guys Others, Gentiles, Heathen = bad guys Gospel was for Jews - Jesus came to Israel. To become follower of Jesus, must become a Jew Perspective: all wrong. See Acts 1:8 (Jerusalem, Judea, Samariah, to ends of the earth); Mt. 28:19 (all nations) How did the God help orchestrate the movement from ethnic, Jewish Christians to world wide Christians? God had to change the perspectives by the Early Church: from a Jewish Church to an international Church of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of ethnicity, age, sex, status! Read the following: I. Acts 2:5-12 Who were these first people to hear post-resurrection Gospel? First - appeal to Jews and Jewish people from the mid-east, Rome, Greece, and North Africa. The first introduction to the Gospel/Good News was to an international, multi-lingual group in Jerusalem at which time everyone heard the message from the Apostles in their own

2 Page 2 of 5 languages, but most if not all were Jews in the Near East Jews from diaspora, enculturated in their own countries, and used their countries languages as their native language. Religiously - Jews; Nationally - citizens of foreign countries Parthians, Medes Elamites - i.e., residents of Mesopotamia ALL ARE PEOPLES FROM THE CASPIAN SEA WESTWARDS Judea Israel, Palestine Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia ASIA MINOR or TURKEY, namely CAPPADOCIA (EAST), PONTUS (NORTH), AND ASIA (WEST) PHRYGIA and PAMPHYLIA (SOUTH) Egypt parts of Libya near Cyrene - NORTH AFRICA Visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism) - ROME/ITALY II. Acts 6:1-7 WHO are these people? Christians - Hebrew speakers and Greek speakers; widows All Jews, Language groups, NOT ethnic group THIS IS the FIRST CULTURE CLASH of CHRISTIANS ISSUE: 1. Jews and Greek speaking cultures in Jerusalem had problem of clash of ethnicity: responsibilities for Greek speaking Jewish widows two different cultures: another culture! 2. too few leaders doing too many things! RESOLUTION: Culture/societies are not the issue. Community, fellowship are the focus, not ethnicity. Take care of both!

3 Page 3 of 5 and Get organized! III. Acts 4: Church as the First Christian Community oneness of heart and mind - shared freely b/c Christians no needy person (not mean necessarily all equally wealthy or poor, but no one in need!) IV. ACTS 10:1-43 RADICAL SHIFT at the early stages of Christianity regarding who is acceptable! Open or closed community? Faced issue of open/closed with Jewish/Greek widows Now Jew/Gentile: Exclude Gentile dogs? No one is excluded: no prejudice, no closed community Christianity - open to Jew and Gentile Good news, Gospel for everyone! V. Acts 11:1-30 Christians finally realized that their new faith was an open one, not exclusive, restricted! Total Paradigm shift from closed to open community - common unity! Necessary to have common unity in order to fulfill commandment of Jesus. Wonder why the Christians did not recognize the common unity? VI. Acts 11: Again: Common unity recognized Solve problem together Why? B/c brothers and sisters living in Judea = family! VII. Acts 15:1-40 Jerusalem council Exclusive or inclusive? Gentiles All follow the Law, circumcise? Or NOT?

4 Page 4 of 5 Issue finally resolved!! 15: 6-11, 19 Cross-cultural communication from Acts 15 perpective: Gospel is for everyone without preconditions; vv 9, 11 salvation comes grace of God and faith, not works v. 10 Holy Spirit is given to believers regardless of culture, ethnicity, age, sex VIII. Acts 19:1-41 At Ephesus...Radical results of Christianity attack on embedded cultural values Issue: Is Christian message limited to one or two cultures or open to all? If open to all, can each socio-cultural group just add Christianity to their pantheon of religious practices? QUESTIONS BASED on ABOVE PORTIONS of ACTS How did God change the Early Christian Church from being part of Judiasm to being transcultural? Early Christianity was counter-culture and trans-cultural Definitely NOT culture bound Christianity not developed from within a social-cultural context other than the major multifaceted context of the Greco - Roman - Jewish world which was NOT conducive to Christianity Not arising out of Mediterranean cultures but separate from, challenging and replacing the religious heart of those cultures. Radical departure from all the cultures of Mediterranean area Christianity challenged:

5 Page 5 of 5 assumptions and operational philosophies of the social-cultural entities of the Roman-Greco-Jewish world. Christianity seen as counter-cultural - Christians called atheists by Roman authorities Christianity threat to all: Roman and Jewish authorities Jewish- Mosaic Religious Law Pagan religions of Roman-Greco-Jewish world SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOUTH CULTURE? Is today s Christianity culture bound: certain way to do church? Our way of doing church is superior to others age discrimination to be leaders (elders, not younger?) sex discrimination - men = leaders, women not to be Christian is to do what we do, use our language, dress the way we dress - i.e., conform to our way of doing church and being Christian