1.1: A HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

Foundations: From Jerusalem to Rome

INQUIRY QUESTION

Who were the key figures in the establishment of the Jewish sect The Way which formed around the Galilean preacher Yeshua in the Roman province of the Land of Israel in the time of Emperor Tiberias?

IN THE BEGINNING... 31 BCE:

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Augustus) establishes the Roman Empire at the battle of Actium by defeating Mark Antony. The Empire will last until the abdication of the last of the Caesars in 476 CE.Augustus is mentioned in the Luke’s gospel as calling a census at the time of Jesus’ birth.Under Augustus, the known world experienced the “Pax Romana”- an extended period of peace and prosperity.The rapid expansion of the early Christian movement was aided by the network of safe transportation and roads across the Empire.

FOUNDATIONS 4-6 BCE

Yeshua ben Miriam is born in either Bethlehem in Judea, or Bethlehem in Galilee, or Nazareth in Galilee.

26 CE -27CEYeshua accepts the baptism of repentance of John the Baptist and experiences a Divine call to baptise as John did.

28-30CE Yeshua gathers followers and preaches that the reign of God is near from a base in Capernaum in Galilee. His disciples and followers include “The Twelve” and a number of women who underwrite the movement.

30 CEJesus of Nazareth, “King of the Jews” is crucified by Pontius Pilate

MALE AND FEMALE DISCIPLES Despite attempts to later discredit

and was women out of the tradition, it is certain that women played key roles in the Jesus movement from the start.

Luke tells us that women financed the Jesus Movement.

In John’s gospel, Mary of Magdala, later unjustly and inaccurately described as a reformed prostitute, remains the first disciple of the resurrection.

Mary the mother of Jesus, is portrayed as a key member of the movement.

The Gospels portray women as the only faithful disciples to accompany Jesus to his death- the men having fled.

There is an argument that Jesus, and Paul after him sent out disciples two by two- one male and one female.

FOUNDATIONS 30CE-62CE

While the Jesus in Mark’s Gospel names Peter as the “rock” on which the church would be built, it is James, “the Just”, brother of Yeshua, who heads the Jerusalem-based Jewish sect the Followers of the Way who believed that Yeshua was Israel’s Messiah.James is thrown from the Temple walls to his death in 62CE.

35CE Stephen, a Jewish convert, becomes the first known martyr for the new sect, stoned for challenging the Torah and the Temple.

FOUNDATIONS 35CE-64 CE

Paul (formally Saul) of Tarsus, Pharisee and persecutor of the new sect, undergoes conversion and brings the “Good News of Jesus Christ” by travel preaching and his letters to churches to much of the pan-Mediterranean world.

Paul works in “partnership” with women who often head the house churches, some who are deacons. They include Lydia in Philippi and Phoebe at Cenchreae.

Paul’s Roman citizenship and knowledge of Greek and Roman culture allows him to communicate with the non-Jewish world in a language they understood.

Under Paul, Yeshua the founder of the Jewish sect “The Way” becomes Jesus Christ, universal saviour of all humanity.

49CE Paul challenges the Jerusalem leadership of the Movement (James and Peter) to allow Gentiles to become Christians without observing Jewish dietary customs and initiation.

This was the big break with Judaism.

FOUNDATIONS 62CE

After the martyrdom of James in Jerusalem, Paul and possibly Peter moved to Rome. The seat of spiritual authority for “Christians” as they are now known, is no longer Jerusalem, but Rome, seat of secular power.

LEADERSHIP It would appear that by the 50’s, leadership of

church communities revolved around Elders/Bishops and Deacons and other “orders” such as apostles, teachers, prophets and prophetesses.

There is direct evidence in the Scriptures that house Churches formed the main meeting places for the Agape meals and memorial bread and wine meals (initially two separate meals).

House churches were led by both men and women. Women served as deaconesses, apostles, teachers, prophetesses and in an order called “widows”.

A PLURALITY OF MINISTRIES It is clear that by the close of the first century, there

were many different Christian communities, which, depending on membership, had men and women serving in many different types of ministries. The uniformity sometimes suggested in Acts is a reading back into history present models.

There was no clear designation of who should eucharistein (lead Eucharist), let alone which gender.

As Ignatius of Antioch made his way under arrest to martyrdom in Rome in 115CE, he urged uniformity of governance on Christian communities, naming Episkopoi (bishops) and diaconoi (deacons). While this structure existed, there were many other structures, many “gifts” as Paul called them and equality between males and females performing those roles.

ORAL AND WRITTEN TRADITIONS Soon after the death of Jesus, the faithful remnant of

his followers began to record his sayings and deeds from the preaching and testimony of the original disciples and their communities.

Paul’s letters are the earliest Christian writings in the Canon of Scripture, but we know that lists of the sayings and deeds of Jesus were also circulating in communities. These sources formed the basis of the first Gospels.

While Mark is the earliest Gospel in the Canon of Scripture, there is evidence that there were earlier versions of non-canonical gospels existing before Mark, such as the Gospels of Thomas and Peter.

Despite the time gap, new evidence is still emerging about the earliest writings about Jesus.

...IN THREE LANGUAGES The world of Yeshua of Nazareth and the

sect of Judaism that emerged out of his life and teachings were formed and framed by three languages and world views:

The lens of Hebrew religion The lens of Greek culture The lens of Roman Order

By 70 CE Christianity had spread rapidly and widely. Its success was due to its use of European languages and European customs.

A JEWISH SECT OR NEW RELIGION ? There is no doubt that the

earliest groups of Followers of the Way of Yeshua considered themselves the true Israel.

Peter, James and the Jerusalem community followed faithfully the Jewish laws and rituals and attended synagogue prayers.

Paul convinced the Judeo-centric followers that the sect of the Messiah need not require gentiles to become Jewish and adopt Jewish dietary and initiation laws before accepting Christ.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE marked another turning point for many Jews. The followers of Jesus were then expelled from synagogues.

A SEPARATE RELIGION Between 66-71 CE, the

Romans invaded and conquered Israel, destroying the temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, dissolving the Jewish state expelling Jews out of what they renamed Palestine.

The surviving Jewish groups met in synod at Jamnia to try to regroup and preserve what was left of Judaism.

This council sought to protect the “preserved” Judaism” by expelling the Jewish followers of Jesus the Christian sect, from Judaism.

Circa 85 CE the Pharisees established in synagogue worship a prayer against heretics, which included Christians by name.

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