Christianity and Judaism are similar, but they differ in some important ways.

#2.7 Christianity 1. Christianity Overview Christianity is a belief system that was founded by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth in Judea, a Roman province in the Middle East in the 1st century CE. Christianity s sacred text is called the Holy Bible and is made up of two parts. The first section is called the Old Testament, which is based on Judaism s sacred text, the Torah. The second section is called the New Testament which is made up of stories about the life of Jesus as written by his followers, letters between his followers, and other writings by Christians early in the religion. Christianity and Judaism are similar, but they differ in some important ways. Christians believe: Jesus Christ was the Son of God. God sent his Son to earth to save humanity from the consequences of its sins. Jesus gave his life on the Cross (the Crucifixion) and rose from the dead on the third day (the Resurrection). that there is only one God, so they are monotheistic, but they believe that there are three elements to this one God: (1) God the Father (2) God the Son (3) The Holy Spirit Christians believe that there is a life after earthly death. The Christian church believes in one baptism into the Christian church, whether this be as an infant or as an adult, as an outward sign of an inward commitment to the teachings of Jesus. 2. The Quest for the Historical Jesus We know so little about him: that he was born almost 2,000 years ago and that he lived in Palestine. We know he was baptized and became a preacher. And we know that he was publicly executed. READER: [Matthew 8:27] "What manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him?" NARRATOR: With so little evidence to go by, archeologists must sift the clues and scholars decode the stories told by the first followers of Jesus. UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 1

Prof. MICHAEL WHITE, University of Texas, Austin: The problem for any historian in trying to reconstruct the life of Jesus is simply that we don't have sources that come from the actual time of Jesus himself. HOLLAND L. HENDRIX, President, Union Theological Seminary: The historian's task in understanding Jesus and the Jesus movement and early Christianity is a lot like the archaeologist's task in excavating a tell. You peel back layer after layer after layer of interpretation, and what you always find is a plurality of Jesuses. Assoc. Prof. ALLEN CALLAHAN, Harvard Divinity School: History isn't made to record the deeds of a person like Jesus. Jesus is very much like most people, statistically speaking, who have ever existed in the world: poor, obscure, no pretensions to royalty or distinction of any kind. They live under less than desirable conditions and they die that way. There is nothing historically remarkable about that. Billions of people pass through this veil of tears in exactly that way. Prof. MICHAEL WHITE, University of Texas, Austin: We can tell the story by looking at the way the earliest Christians themselves thought about Jesus, by the way they kept his memory alive, by the way that they told the story. NARRATOR: Central to the story is the fact that Jesus was born a subject of the Roman empire. READER: [Luke 2:1] "And in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." Prof. JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN, DePaul University: Jesus was born during the reign of the Emperor Augustus, in the sort of a booming economy of the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. And on every coin that Augustus had were the words, Divi Filius, "Son of the Divine One," Julius Caesar, son of God. Prof. ALLEN CALLAHAN: This is on every billboard in the Mediterranean world. He is the savior of the world, and he brings the peace. Now, you may have scruples about how he brings the peace, but he brings peace to Rome and, as the saying goes in Latin, "Peace to the Rome and quiet to the provinces." READER: [Virgil, "The Aeneid"] "This is he, Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who shall restore the golden age and spread his empire." Questions: 1. What three things do historians believe they know for certain about Jesus? 2. The video says, With so little evidence to go by, archeologist must sift the clues and scholars must decode stories told by his [Jesus ] first followers. What makes understanding the history of Jesus and Christianity difficult? 3. According to the historian, why weren t the details of Jesus life written down during his time? UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 2

4. According to historians and archeologists, under which empire was he born? 3. Looking at the Historical Documents about Jesus Directions: Read the excerpts below and respond to the questions. Where do we find most of the information about Jesus? Much of what we know about Jesus and beginnings of Christianity comes from the Gospels, or the first four books of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Early Christians attributed the writings of the Gospels to four followers of Jesus - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Historians examine the New Testament as a source. They investigate how it was created, who wrote it, when they wrote it, and any bias the writers might have had. Components of the New Testament The New Testament is a collection of Christian works written in the common Greek language of the 1st century CE. The works were written at different times by various writers, who were early Jewish disciples of Jesus. The official New Testament consists of 27 books mostly written before 150 CE. Component Gospels: four narratives of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus History: a narrative of the Apostles' ministries in the early church, called the "Acts of the Apostles, stories of conversion Epistles: twenty-one letters consisting of Christian doctrine, counsel, instruction, and conflict resolution Prophecy: symbolic stories about the end of the world Author Four followers of Jesus - Matthew Mark, Luke and John probably written by the same write as the Gospel of Luke Paul and Various Authors Various Authors Directions: Read about each of the following sources and answer the questions that follow. What are the Gospels? The gospels are not biographies in the modern sense of the word. Rather, they are stories told in such a way as to evoke a certain image of Jesus for a particular audience. They're trying to convey a message UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 3

about Jesus and about his significance to the audience. Thus we have to think of them as a kind of preaching as well as storytelling. That's what the gospel, The Good News, is really all about. The four gospels that we find in the New Testament, are [...] Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. [...] Of these then, Mark is the earliest, probably written between 70 and 75. Matthew is next - written somewhere between 75 and about 85, maybe even a little later than that. Luke is a little later still, being written between 80 and maybe 90 or 95. And, John's gospel is the latest, usually dated around 95, although it may have been completed slightly later than that, as well. Questions: 1. What can historians learn from the Gospels? 2. What limits do the Gospels have as a historical source? 4. Jesus Begins Preaching Prof. JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN: The difference I see between John the Baptist and Jesus is, to use some fancy academic language, John is an apocalyptic eschatologist. An eschatologist is somebody who sees that the problem of the world is so radical that it's going to take some kind of divine radicality. God is going to descend, in some sort of a catastrophic event to solve the world. There is another type of eschatology, and that's what I think Jesus is talking. I'm going to call it ethical eschatology. That is the demand that God is making on us -- not us on God so much as God on us -- to do something about the evil in the world. NARRATOR: We don't know to what extent Jesus remained faithful to John's apocalyptic message, but at some point after his Baptism by John, Jesus seems to have embarked on his career as a preacher. READER: [Matthew 4:23] "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people." Prof. MICHAEL WHITE: Jesus' career apparently was centered mostly in the towns and villages and a few small cities in the area of the Galilee, his home region. Prof. ERIC M. MEYERS, Duke University: Jesus' ministry in the Galilee is rather complicated, but I think we can begin to get the real-- better understanding of it through archaeology and through higher literary studies of the Gospels today. UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 4

Those villages there were absolutely essential to his ministry. He's avoiding the big towns, or cities, probably because the elements who run those cities are of such a high class that they're probably not interested in Jesus' message. NARRATOR: Whether he was himself a simple man of the people or someone far more sophisticated, Jesus does seem to have pitched his message at ordinary people and to have impressed them with his healing powers. Prof. SHAYE J.D. COHEN: The healings seems to have been something of a specialty of his, for which he had a great reputation. People would bring from miles around, judging from the Gospels-- they'd bring their sick, the frail, to Jesus to be healed. HOLLAND L. HENDRIX, Pres. Union Theological Seminary: I love the story about Jesus reaching down and picking up the dust and mixing it with his own spit and forming a kind of healing balm that he applies to someone. And it's also interesting that in one healing case, Jesus sort of misses the mark a bit and has to refine the cure that he's applying. So one finds the intrusions of popular culture in these Jesus traditions that are being elaborated through natural processes of storytelling. Prof. MICHAEL WHITE, University of Texas, Austin: Now, we need to be aware that there are other miracle workers around at the time, so just the idea of performing miracles is not in itself unique. Prof. JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN, DePaul University: In the first century, in one sense, everyone, including later in the century, Vespasian, when he was becoming the Emperor, were miracle workers, if they were important enough. What really was unusual about Jesus was why would God work through a Jewish peasant? That sort of struck the Roman imagination as unbelievable-- not that there would be miracles, but that miracles might be performed by a Jewish peasant. Prof. ALLEN CALLAHAN: Jesus limited his circulation to the agrarian populace, and his teaching was characterized by metaphors that would be readily understood by agrarian populations. READER: [Matthew 14:16-18] "Jesus said to his apostles, Give them something to eat.' They replied, We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish' and he said, Bring them here to me.'" Assoc. Prof. ALLEN CALLAHAN, Harvard Divinity School: The feeding of the multitudes is one of the few stories that's told in all four Gospels. That's a story near and dear to many people's hearts. Jesus goes into the Galilean hillside. He takes about 5,000 people with him. And it's there they have a picnic, even though there are no provisions made for that. He multiplies five loaves and two fishes to feed this multitude of people. Well, I don't think it takes rocket science to figure out why that kind of story is so endearing to poor people. I mean, that's-- that's dinner and a show. NARRATOR: Behind the simple rustic imagery was the message of the coming kingdom of God, an enigma Jesus did not attempt to simplify. Prof. JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN: Jesus tells a parable about somebody who takes a mustard seed, plants it in the ground, and it grows up to be a great tree, or a bush, at least, a weed, though, in plain language. Now, imagine an audience reacting to that. Presumably, the kingdom is like this and you have to figure out, "What's it like? You mean, the kingdom is big? But you just said it's a big weed. So why don't you say a big UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 5

cedar of Lebanon? Why a big weed? And besides, this mustard-- we're not certain we like this mustard. It's very dangerous in our fields. We try to control it. We try to contain it. Why do you mean the kingdom is something that the people try to control and contain?" Every reaction in the audience -- the audience fighting with themselves, as it were, answering back to Jesus - - is doing exactly what he wants. It's making them think not about mustard, of course, but about the kingdom. But the trap is that this is a very provocative, even a weird image for the kingdom. To say the kingdom is like a cedar of Lebanon, everyone would yawn, say, "Of course." "It's like a mustard seed? What's going on here?" Questions: 1. According to the gospels, Jesus begins to preach his new ideas about ethics, morals and his Jewish faith after he is baptised by John the Baptist. When Jesus traveled to synagogues in Galilee, what are two things that he did? 2. Why does Jesus avoid the big towns and cities during his preaching? 3. To whom was Jesus preaching instead? 4. According to the Holy Bible, Jesus begins to perform healings. There were many healers during Jesus time. What made Jesus healing significant? 5. Core Beliefs: What kinds of ideas did Jesus preach? Directions: Read the excerpt below and respond to the questions. The Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the early stage of Jesus ministry. He delivers The Sermon on the Mount after he was baptized by John the Baptist in chapter 3 of Matthew and has gathered his first disciples or followers. Before he delivers The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had been traveling and preaching. According to Matthew 4:23, Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 6

across the Jordan followed him. According to Matthew 5:1-2, Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: Think not that I am come to destroy the law [The Ten Commandments], or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil... Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment[...] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite [strike] thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you [...] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Source: Matthew 5: 17-48, King James Version of the Holy Bible 1. In what ways was Jesus in support of the Ten Commandments? 2. In what ways did Jesus extend the Ten Commandments? 3. How did Jesus encourage his followers to treat their neighbors? UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 7

6. Jesus is Crucified Prof. ERIC M. MEYERS: Death by crucifixion was certainly an awful, awful experience for the persecuted individual. It was slow, it was painful and it was public terror. Prof. MICHAEL WHITE: It's not from bleeding. It's not from the wounds themselves that the death occurs. It's rather a suffocation because one can't hold oneself up enough to breath properly. And so over time, really, it's really the exposure to the elements and the gradual loss of breath that produces death. Prof. PAULA FREDRIKSEN: We don't have that much detail about the actual crucifixion of Jesus. What we have are the stories in the Gospels. And they're-- interestingly and appropriately, the Gospel writers are drawing on Psalms, Psalms that in the Jewish canon are often cries to God. And that's-- they're grabbing onto that literature to shape their narrative presentation of the crucifixion. Those are cries of terror and loneliness. They're really appeals to God for meaning. The words that are put in Jesus' mouth in Mark, "Why have you forsaken me?"-- it's the religious power of the Psalms that is really one of those wonderful moments of concrete continuity between what this very passionately religious 1st century Jew might have been thinking as he was dying this horrible death on the cross as the finale to this week of passionate religious excitement and commitment, and asking God what happened. Prof. MICHAEL WHITE: The plaque that was nailed to the cross is one of the few clear pieces of historical evidence that we have. READER: [plaque] "Iesus Nazereno Rex Iudorum." Prof. MICHAEL WHITE: The plaque, which names him as Jesus, the king of the Jews, suggests that the charge on which he was executed was one of political insurrection, a threat to the Pax Romana. But he's also now a victim of the Pax Romana. Directions: Read the excerpt below and respond to the questions. Jesus' crucifixion is described in the four gospels as well as the epistles. It has also been established as a historical event confirmed by non-christian sources. However, there has yet to be a consensus on the details of the crucifixion. Jesus stood accused of sedition [conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch], not blasphemy a civil crime, not a religious one. Rome s punishment was a painful, and visible, death by crucifixion. In the age of Roman domination, only Rome crucified. And they did it often. The two men who were killed along with Jesus are identified in some translations as thieves, but the word can also mean insurgents, supporting the idea that crucifixion was a political weapon used to send a message to those still living: Do not stir dissent [disagreement] or this will be the result. UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 8

It was a popular method of dispatching threats to the empire. Romans practiced both random and intentional violence against populations they had conquered, killing tens of thousands by crucifixion, says New Testament scholar Hal Taussig, who is with the Union Theological Seminary in New York. [...] Jesus would then have been part of this show of power by the Roman Empire. [...] Clear evidence of the political nature of Jesus s execution that Pilate and the high priest were ridding themselves of a messiah who might disrupt society is the sign Pilate demanded be affixed to Jesus s cross: a scornful signal to the crowds that this death awaits any man the pilgrims might proclaim the king of the Jews. According to the excerpt above, why was Jesus crucified? Question: 1. Why was death by crucifixion an awful experience? 2. Where do historians find most information about the crucifixion of Jesus? 3. Why was the crucifixion public? 4. What piece of material evidence exists to demonstrate that Jesus was crucified for political reasons? UNIT 2 Major Belief Systems Christianity 9