EarlyJewish Christians referred to themselves as "The Way" (ἡ ὁδός), probably coming fromIsaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the LORD".[web 2][8][9][note 1] Other Jews also called them "theNazarenes".[8] According toActs 11:26, the termChristian (Greek:Χριστιανός), meaning "follower of Christ", was first used in reference to Jesus'sdisciples in the city ofAntioch.[11] The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" (Greek:Χριστιανισμός) was byIgnatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD.[12]
Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine"[21] in theHellenistic world of the first century AD, which was dominated byRoman law andGreek culture.[22] A major challenge for Jews during this time was how to respond toHellenization and remain faithful to their religious traditions.[23] During the early 1st century AD, there were many competing Jewish sects in theHoly Land, includingPharisees,Sadducees,Essenes, and other groups. Each group adopted different stances toward Hellenization.[24]
In this context of foreign domination,Jewish apocalypticism became widespread. Apocalypticism is the belief that God would soon destroy the cosmic forces of evil currently ruling the world and establish an eternal kingdom. To accomplish this, God would send a savior figure ormessiah.[25]Messiah (Hebrew:meshiach) means "anointed" and is used in the Bible to designateJewish kings and in some casespriests andprophets whose status was symbolized by being anointed withholy anointing oil. It can refer to people chosen by God for a specific task, such as the wholeIsraelite nation (1 Chronicles 16:22;Psalm 105:15) orCyrus the Great who ended the Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 45:1). The term is most associated with KingDavid, to whom God promised an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7:11–17). After the destruction of David's kingdom and lineage, this promise was reaffirmed by the prophetsIsaiah,Jeremiah, andEzekiel, who foresaw a futureDavidic king who would establish and reign over an idealized kingdom.[26]
In theSecond Temple period, there was no consensus on who the messiah would be or what he would do.[27] Most commonly, he was imagined to be an Endtimes son of David going about the business of "executing judgment, defeating the enemies of God, reigning over a restored Israel, establishing unending peace".[28] The messiah was often referred to as "King Messiah" (Hebrew:מלך משיח,romanized: melekh mashiach) ormalka meshiḥa in Aramaic.[web 7] Yet, there were other kinds of messianic figures proposed as well—the perfect priest or the celestialSon of Man who brings about the resurrection of the dead and thefinal judgment.[29][30] The concept has its root in theapocalyptic literature of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC.[web 8]
Christian sources, such as the fourcanonical gospels, thePauline epistles, and theNew Testament apocrypha,[web 9] include detailed stories about Jesus, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus.[31] The Gospels are theological documents, which "provide information the authors regarded as necessary for the religious development of the Christian communities in which they worked."[web 9] They consist of short passages,pericopes, which the Gospel-authors arranged in various ways as suited their aims.[web 9]
Non-Christian sources that are used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus include Jewish sources such asJosephus, and Roman sources such asTacitus. These sources are compared to Christian sources such as the Pauline epistles and theSynoptic Gospels. These sources are usually independent of each other (e.g. Jewish sources do not draw upon Roman sources), and similarities and differences between them are used in the authentication process.[32][33]
Biblical scholarGraham Stanton notes that "nearly all historians, whether Christian or not, accept that Jesus existed", and more is known about him than any other 1st or 2nd-century religious teacher with the exception ofPaul.[34] The two events of Jesus' life subject to "almost universal assent" are thatJesus was baptized byJohn the Baptist andwas crucified by the order ofPontius Pilate, theRoman prefect.[35][36][37] Biblical scholarAmy-Jill Levine summarizes the scholarly consensus on Jesus' life as follows:[38]
Most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John, debated with fellow Jews on how best to live according to God's will, engaged in healings and exorcisms, taught in parables, gathered male and female followers in Galilee, went to Jerusalem, and was crucified by Roman soldiers during the governorship of Pontius Pilate (26–36 CE). But, to use the old cliché, the devil is in the details.
There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings.[31] Concerning the accuracy of the accounts, viewpoints run the gamut from considering theminerrant descriptions of Jesus's life,[39] to doubting whether they are historically reliable on a number of points,[40] to considering them to provide very little historical information about his life beyond the basics.[41][42] According toBart Ehrman, the gospels are "filled with nonhistorical material, accounts of events that could not have happened", and contradictory accounts of the same events.[43] As historical sources, the gospels have to be "weighed and assessed critically".[34] Scholars often draw a distinction between theJesus of history and theChrist of faith, and two different accounts can be found in this regard.[44]
The Synoptics present different views on the Kingdom of God.[web 9] While the Kingdom is essentially described aseschatological (relating to the end of the world), becoming reality in the near future, some texts present the Kingdom as already being present, while other texts depict the Kingdom as a place in heaven that one enters after death, or as the presence of God on earth.[web 9][note 7]. Jesus talks as expecting the coming of the "Son of Man" from heaven, anapocalyptic figure who would initiate "the coming judgment and the redemption of Israel."[web 9] According to Davies, theSermon on the Mount presents Jesus as the new Moses who brings a New Law (a reference to theLaw of Moses, the Messianic Torah.[72]
Conservative Christian scholars (in addition toapologists andtheologians) generally present these as being descriptions of real appearances of a resurrected and transformed physical body.[83][84][85] According toN.T. Wright, there is substantial unanimity among the early Christian writers (first and second century) that Jesus had been bodily raised from the dead.[86]Craig L. Blomberg argues there are sufficient arguments for the historicity of the resurrection.[87] In secular andLiberal Christian scholarship, these appearances are argued to be descriptions ofvisionary post-mortem experiences of Jesus.[1][88][89] According to this view, Jesus' death was reinterpreted as an eschatological event, feeding ecstatic experiences of Jesus, and the sense of Jesus being alive "signalled for earliest believers that the days of eschatological fulfilment were at hand."[1][88][89][web 12]Gerd Lüdemann argues thatPeter had a vision of Jesus, induced by his feelings of guilt for betraying Jesus. The vision elevated this feeling of guilt, and Peter experienced it as a real appearance of Jesus, raised from dead.[web 13]
The belief in the resurrection of Jesus gave the impetus in certain Christian sects to theexaltation of Jesus to the status of divine Son and Lord ofGod's Kingdom[90][web 12] and the resumption of their missionary activity.[91][92] His followers expected Jesus to return within a generation[93] and begin the Kingdom of God.[web 9]
Traditionally, the period from the death of Jesus until the death of the last of theTwelve Apostles is called the Apostolic Age.[94] According to the Bible, the first Christians were men and women who had known Jesus and who witnessed to his resurrection.[95] They were a Jewish sect with anapocalyptic eschatology. They regarded Jesus asLord, resurrected messiah, and the eternally existingSon of God,[7][96][note 8] expecting thesecond coming of Jesus and the start ofGod's Kingdom. They pressed fellow Jews to prepare for these events and to follow "the way" of the Lord. They believedYahweh to be the only true God.[98]
TheNew Testament'sActs of the Apostles andEpistle to the Galatians record that an early Jewish Christian community[note 9]centered on Jerusalem, and that its leaders includedPeter,James, the brother of Jesus, andJohn the Apostle.[99]TheJerusalem community "held a central place among all the churches," as witnessed by Paul's writings.[100]Reportedly legitimised byJesus' appearance, Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalemekklēsia.[101][102]Peter was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord,"[103][104] which may explain why the early texts contain scant information about Peter.[104] According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about thestrictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, the more conservative faction of James the Just gained the upper hand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.[104] According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.[105] Therelatives of Jesus were generally accorded a special position within this community,[106] which also contributed to the ascendancy of James the Just in Jerusalem.[106]
The Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews," Jews speaking both Aramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists," Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem.[108] According to Dunn, Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude.[109] Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from the "Hebrews" and theirTabernacle observance.[109]
The sources for the beliefs of the apostolic community includeoral traditions (which included sayings attributed to Jesus, parables and teachings),[110][111] the Gospels, the New Testamentepistles and possibly lost texts such as theQ source[112][113][114] and the writings ofPapias.
[3] For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, [4] and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,[note 10] [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.[web 14]
Twofundamentally different Christologies developed in the early Church, namely a "low" oradoptionist Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology."[124] The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.[125][77][126][web 15]
The "low Christology" or "adoptionist Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead,"[127] thereby raising him to "divine status."[web 16] According to the "evolutionary model"[128] c.q. "evolutionary theories,"[129] the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time,[22][130][131] as witnessed in the Gospels,[77] with the earliest Christians believing that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q.adopted as God's Son,[132][133] when he was resurrected.[131][134] Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.[131] This evolutionary model was very influential, and the "low Christology" has long been regarded as the oldest Christology.[135][136][web 16][note 11]
The other early Christology is "high Christology," which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father's will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come,"[web 16][137] and from where heappeared on earth. According to Hurtado, a proponent of anEarly High Christology, the devotion to Jesus as divine originated in early Jewish Christianity, and not later or under the influence of pagan religions and Gentile converts.[138] The Pauline letters, which are the earliest Christian writings, already show "a well-developed pattern of Christian devotion [...] already conventionalized and apparently uncontroversial."[139]
Ehrman and other scholars believe that Jesus' early followers expected the immediate installment of the Kingdom of God, but that as time went on without this occurring, it led to a change in beliefs.[1][web 18] In time, the belief that Jesus' resurrection signaled the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God changed into a belief that the resurrection confirmed the Messianic status of Jesus, and the belief that Jesus would return at some indeterminate time in the future, theSecond Coming, heralding the expected endtime.[1][web 18] When the Kingdom of God did not arrive, Christians' beliefs gradually changed into the expectation of an immediate reward in heaven after death, rather than to a future divine kingdom on Earth,[141] despite the churches' continuing to use the major creeds' statements of belief in a coming resurrection day andworld to come.[citation needed]
Coming from a Jewish background, early Christians believed inangels (derived from the Greek word for "messengers").[142] Specifically, early Christians wrote in theNew Testament books that angels "heralded Jesus' birth, Resurrection, and Ascension; ministered to Him while He was on Earth; and sing the praises of God through all eternity."[142] Early Christians also believed thatprotecting angels—assigned to each nation and even to each individual—would herald theSecond Coming, lead the saints intoParadise, and cast the damned intoHell."[142]Satan ("the adversary"), similar to descriptions in the Old Testament, appears in the New Testament "to accuse men of sin and to test their fidelity, even to the point of tempting Jesus."[142]
Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings. It seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesus's disciples practised baptism.John the Baptist had baptized many people, before baptisms took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul likened baptism to being buried with Christ in his death.[note 12]
Early Christian rituals included communal meals known as theLovefeast (Agape feast).[145][146] TheEucharist was often a part of the Lovefeast, but between the latter part of the 1st century AD and 250 AD the two became separate rituals.[147][148][149] Thus, in modern times the Lovefeast refers to a Christian ritual meal distinct from the Lord's Supper.[150]
Instituted in the New Testament, in the early Church, "the verbal exchange of 'peace' with a kiss appears to be a Christian innovation, there being no clear example in pre-Christian literature."[151] TheHoly Kiss was thus followed as a Christian teaching, not a cultural practice.[151] The early Christian apologistTertullian wrote that before leaving a house, Christians are to give the Holy Kiss and say "peace to this house".[151] In early Christianity, "the kiss was shared in conjunction with the benedictions at the conclusion of worship services" though it soon "became associated with the Eucharist" and thus "its location during the worship service moved forward in time to the celebration of Communion."[151] The Holy Kiss was seen as an essential part of preparing to partaking in the Eucharist:[151]
Peace, reconciliation, and unity were the very essence of the church's life; without them communion would have been a sham. Bestowed by the Spirit and experienced in prayer, their liturgical expression—which pointed forward to the eucharist—was the holy kiss.[151]
For the early Christians, the Holy Kiss "was associated with the peace and unity given by the Holy Spirit to the congregation."[151] To guard against any abuse of this form of salutation, women and men were required to sit separately, and the kiss of peace was given only by women to women and by men to men, with closed mouths.[151]Apostolic Tradition specified with regard to catechumens: "When they have prayed they shall not give the kiss of peace for their kiss is not yet holy" (18:3).[151] As such, the Holy Kiss was distinguished as a ritual only to be partaken of bybaptized Christians, with catechumens and non-Christians not being greeted this way (18:4).[151]
Christianity in the 1st century continued the practice of femaleChristian headcovering (from the age of puberty onward), with early Christian apologistTertullian referencing1 Corinthians 11:2–10 and stating "So, too, did the Corinthians themselves understand [Paul]. In fact, at this day the Corinthians do veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, their disciples approve."[152]Hippolytus of Rome specified the type of veil: "And let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering."[153]
The early Christian apologistTertullian recorded thatfootwashing was a regular part of early Christian worship.[154] Footwashing was done with a basin "of water for the saints' feet" and a "linen towel".[151] Being commanded inJohn 13, footwashing done in theimitation of Jesus was arite encouraged byOrigen.[154] The early Church FatherClement of Alexandria linked the new sandals given by toProdigal Son with feetwashing, describing "non-perishable shoes that are only fit to be worn by those who have had their feet washed by Jesus, the Teacher and Lord."[151] The early Church thus saw footwashing to be connected torepentance, involving a spiritual cleansing byJesus.[151]
During the first three centuries of Christianity, theLiturgical ritual was rooted in the JewishPassover,Siddur,Seder, andsynagogue services, including the singing ofhymns (especially thePsalms) and reading from thescriptures.[web 20] Most early Christians did not own a copy of the works (some of which were still being written) that later became theChristian Bible or other church works accepted by some but not canonized, such as the writings of theApostolic Fathers, or other works today calledNew Testament apocrypha. Similar to Judaism, much of the original churchliturgical services functioned as a means of learning these scriptures, which initially centered around theSeptuagint and theTargums.[155]
At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus' death, Sunday (theLord's Day) was being regarded as theprimary day of worship.[156]
According to Fredriksen, when early Christians broadened their missionary efforts, they also came into contact with Gentiles attracted to the Jewish religion. Eventually, the Gentiles came to be included in the missionary effort of Hellenised Jews, bringing "all nations" into the house of God.[1] The "Hellenists," Greek-speaking diaspora Jews belonging to the early Jerusalem Jesus-movement, played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers."[157] From Antioch, the mission to the Gentiles started, including Paul's, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.[165] According to Dunn, within 10 years after Jesus' death, "the new messianic movement focused on Jesus began to modulate into something different ... it was at Antioch that we can begin to speak of the new movement as 'Christianity'."[166]
Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any otherNew Testament author.[169] According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the earlyJewish Christians, but thenconverted. He adopted the name Paul and startedproselytizing among theGentiles, calling himself "Apostle to the Gentiles."[170][171]
Paul was in contact with the early Christian community inJerusalem, led byJames the Just.[172] According to Mack, he may have been converted to another early strand of Christianity, with a High Christology.[173] Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.[172][note 16] Yet, Hurtado notes that Paul valued the linkage with "Jewish Christian circles in Roman Judea," which makes it likely that his Christology was in line with, and indebted to, their views.[175] Hurtado further notes that "[i]t is widely accepted that the tradition that Paul recites in 1 Corinthians 15:1–7 must go back to the Jerusalem Church."[176]
Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity toEphesus,Corinth,Philippi, andThessalonica.[177][better source needed] According toLarry Hurtado, "Paul saw Jesus' resurrection as ushering in the eschatological time foretold by biblical prophets in which the pagan 'Gentile' nations would turn from their idols and embrace the one true God of Israel (e.g.,Zechariah 8:20–23), and Paul saw himself as specially called by God to declare God's eschatological acceptance of the Gentiles and summon them to turn to God."[web 2]According toKrister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role and salvation by faith is not the individual conscience of human sinners and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the main concern is the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah-observers into God's covenant.[178][179][180][web 22]The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of some of the early Christians:[181][182][183] the new Gentile converts were not required to becircumcised nor to observe theMosaic Law.[184] Circumcision in particular was regarded as a token of the membership of theAbrahamic covenant, and the most traditionalist faction of Jewish Christians (i.e., convertedPharisees) insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised as well.[185][181][182][186][177]By contrast, the rite of circumcision was considered execrable and repulsive during the period ofHellenization of theEastern Mediterranean,[187][188][189][web 23]and was especially adversed inClassical civilization both fromancient Greeks andRomans, which instead valued theforeskin positively.[187][188][189][190]
Paul objected strongly to the insistence on keeping all of the Jewish commandments,[177] considering it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ.[182][191] According toPaula Fredriksen,Paul's opposition to male circumcison for Gentiles is in line with the Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g.,Zechariah 8:20–23), not as proselytes to Israel."[web 12] For Paul, Gentile male circumcision was therefore an affront to God's intentions.[web 12] According toLarry Hurtado, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right", who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the "fullness") of the nations (Romans 11:25)."[web 12]
These divergent interpretations have a prominent place in both Paul's writings and in Acts. According toGalatians 2:1–10 andActs chapter 15, fourteen years after his conversion Paul visited the "Pillars of Jerusalem", the leaders of the Jerusalemekklēsia. His purpose was to compare his Gospel[clarification needed] with theirs, an event known as theCouncil of Jerusalem. According to Paul, in his letter to the Galatians,[note 17] they agreed that his mission was to be among the Gentiles. According to Acts,[196] Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, vocally supported by Peter.[7][197][note 18]
While the Council of Jerusalem was described as resulting in an agreement to allow Gentile converts exemption from mostJewish commandments, in reality a stark opposition from "Hebrew" Jewish Christians remained,[200] as exemplified by theEbionites. The relaxing of requirements in Pauline Christianity opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. The inclusion of Gentiles is reflected inLuke-Acts, which is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because theJews rejected it.[201]
Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurred frequently over a period of over two centuries. For most of the first three hundred years of Christian history, Christians had to hide their faith and, practice their beliefs in secret and rise to positions of responsibility so they weren't killed.[202] Persecutions took place as the result of the state authorizing others in power to take action against the Christians in their midst, who were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods and challenge the infrastructure of an imperialist empire.[203]
Only for approximately ten out of the first three hundred years of the church's history were Christians executed due to orders from a Roman emperor.[202] The first persecution of Christians organised by the Roman government took place under the emperorNero in 64 AD after theGreat Fire of Rome.[203] There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign ofDecius in the third century.[web 26] TheEdict of Serdica was issued in 311 by the Roman emperorGalerius, officially ending theDiocletianic persecution ofChristianity in the East. With the passage in 313 AD of theEdict of Milan, in which theRoman EmperorsConstantine the Great andLicinius legalised theChristian religion, persecution of Christians by the Roman state ceased.[web 27]
In an ancient culture before theprinting press and the majority of the population illiterate, most early Christians likely did not own any Christian texts. Much of the original church liturgical services functioned as a means of learningChristian theology. A final uniformity of liturgical services may have become solidified after the church established aBiblical canon, possibly based on theApostolic Constitutions andClementine literature.Clement (d. 99) writes thatliturgies are "to be celebrated, and not carelessly nor in disorder" but the final uniformity of liturgical services only came later, though theLiturgy of St James is traditionally associated with James the Just.[204]
Books not accepted by Pauline Christianity are termedbiblical apocrypha, though the exact list varies from denomination to denomination.[citation needed]
Jerome (347–420) expressed his preference for adhering strictly to the Hebrew text and canon, but his view held little currency even in his own day.[208]
TheChurch Fathers are the early and influentialChristian theologians and writers, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The earliest Church Fathers, within two generations of the Twelve Apostles of Christ, are usually calledApostolic Fathers for reportedly knowing and studying under the apostles personally. Important Apostolic Fathers includeClement of Rome (d. AD 99),[210]Ignatius of Antioch (d. AD 98 to 117) andPolycarp of Smyrna (AD 69–155). The earliest Christian writings, other than those collected in the New Testament, are a group of letters credited to the Apostolic Fathers. Their writings include theEpistle of Barnabas and theEpistles of Clement. TheDidache andShepherd of Hermas are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, although their authors are unknown.[citation needed]
Taken as a whole, the collection is notable for its literary simplicity, religious zeal and lack of Hellenistic philosophy or rhetoric. They contain early thoughts on the organisation of the Christianekklēsia, and are historical sources for the development of an early Church structure.[citation needed]
In his letter1 Clement,Clement of Rome calls on the Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order.[210] Some see his epistle as an assertion of Rome's authority over the church in Corinth and, by implication, the beginnings ofpapal supremacy.[web 29] Clement refers to the leaders of the Corinthian church in his letter as bishops andpresbyters interchangeably, and likewise states that the bishops are to lead God's flock by virtue of the chief shepherd (presbyter), Jesus Christ.[citation needed]
TheDidache (late 1st century)[212] is an anonymous Jewish-Christian work. It is a pastoral manual dealing with Christian lessons, rituals, and Church organization, parts of which may have constituted the first writtencatechism, "that reveals more about how Jewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for Gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures."[213]
There was a slowly growing chasm between Gentile Christians, and Jews and Jewish Christians, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took a century for a complete break to manifest. Growing tensions led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time Jewish Christians refused to join in theBar Kokhba Jewish revolt of 132.[215] Certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism.[citation needed]
Thedestruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of Jews and Jewish Christians from the city (after theBar Kokhba revolt) ended any pre-eminence of the Jewish-Christian leadership in Jerusalem. Early Christianity grew further apart from Judaism to establish itself as a predominantly Gentile religion, andAntioch became the first Gentile Christian community with stature.[216]
The hypotheticalCouncil of Jamniac. 85 is often stated to have condemned all who claimed the Messiah had already come, and Christianity in particular, excluding them from attending synagogue.[217][218][219][need quotation to verify] However, the formulated prayer in question (birkat ha-minim) is considered by other scholars to be unremarkable in the history of Jewish and Christian relations.There is a scarcity of evidence for Jewish persecution of "heretics" in general, or Christians in particular, in the period between 70 and 135. It is probable that the condemnation of Jamnia included many groups, of which the Christians were but one, and did not necessarily mean excommunication. That some of the later church fathers only recommended againstsynagogue attendance makes it improbable that an anti-Christian prayer was a common part of the synagogue liturgy. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.[217][219]
During the late 1st century, Judaism was a legal religion with the protection ofRoman law, worked out in compromise with the Roman state over two centuries (seeAnti-Judaism in the Roman Empire for details). In contrast, Christianity was not legalized until the 313Edict of Milan. Observant Jews had special rights, including the privilege of abstaining from civic pagan rites. Christians were initially identified with the Jewish religion by the Romans, but as they became more distinct, Christianity became a problem for Roman rulers. Around the year 98, the emperorNerva decreed that Christians did not have to pay theannual tax upon the Jews, effectively recognizing them as distinct fromRabbinic Judaism. This opened the way to Christians being persecuted for disobedience to the emperor, as they refused to worship thestate pantheon.[220][221][222]
Jewish Christians constituted a separate community from thePauline Christians but maintained a similar faith. In Christian circles,Nazarene later came to be used as a label for those faithful to Jewish Law, in particular for a certain sect. These Jewish Christians, originally the central group in Christianity, generally holding the same beliefs except in their adherence to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance oforthodoxy in the4th century.[223] TheEbionites may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. They were considered by Gentile Christians to have unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and Gentile converts. After the condemnation of the Nazarenes,Ebionite was often used as a general pejorative for all related "heresies".[224][225]
There was a post-Nicene "double rejection" of the Jewish Christians by both Gentile Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The true end of ancient Jewish Christianity occurred only in the 5th century.[226] Gentile Christianity became the dominant strand of orthodoxy and imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the 5th century.[223][note 20]
30–36Jesus is crucified on order of Pontius Pilate. Christians believe herose from the dead 3 days later.Pentecost, a day in which 3000 Jews from a variety of Mediterranean-basin nations are converted to faith in Jesus Christ.
44?James the Great: According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, theVirgin Mary appeared to James on aPilar on the bank of the Ebro River atCaesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel inHispania (modern-daySpain). Following that apparition, James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by KingHerod Agrippa I in the year 44 during aPassover (Nisan 15) (Acts 12:1–3).
60 – Paul sent toRome under Roman guard, evangelizes on Malta after shipwreck[238]
60? Paul in Rome: greeted by many "brothers" (NRSV: "believers"), three days later called together the Jewish leaders, who had not received any word from Judea about him, but were curious about "this sect", which everywhere is spoken against; he tried to convince them from the "Law andProphets", with partial success, said the Gentiles would listen and spent two years proclaiming theKingdom of God and teaching the "Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28:15–31);Epistle to Philemon written?
62 James the Just stoned to death for law transgression byHigh Priest Ananus ben Artanus, popular opinion against act results in Ananus being deposed by new procuratorLucceius Albinus (JA20.9.1)
68–107?Ignatius, thirdBishop of Antioch, fed to the lions in theRoman Colosseum, advocated theBishop (Eph 6:1, Mag 2:1, 6:1, 7:1, 13:2, Tr 3:1, Smy 8:1, 9:1), rejectedSabbath on Saturday in favor of The Lord's Day (Sunday). (Mag 9.1), rejectedJudaizing (Mag 10.3), first recorded use of the term "catholic" (Smy 8:2).
100(+/−10)?Epistle of Jude written, probably by doubting relative of Jesus (Mark 6:3), rejected by some early Christians due to its reference to apocryphalBook of Enoch (v14),Epistle to the Hebrews written
^According to E. P. Sanders, Jesus's ideas on healing and forgiveness were in line with Second Temple Jewish thought and would not have been likely to provoke controversy among the Jewish authorities of his day."[51]
^In a review of the state of research,Amy-Jill Levine stated that "no single picture of Jesus has convinced all, or even most scholars" and that all portraits of Jesus are subject to criticism by some group of scholars.[52]
^Sanders and Pelikan: "Besides presenting a longer ministry than do the other Gospels, John also describes several trips to Jerusalem. Only one is mentioned in the Synoptics. Both outlines are plausible, but a ministry of more than two years leaves more questions unanswered than does one of a few months."[web 9]
^The Kingdom is described as both imminent (Mark 1:15) and already present in the ministry of Jesus (Luke 17:21) (Others interpret "Kingdom of God" to mean a way of living, or as a period of evangelization; no overall consensus among scholars has emerged on its meaning.[70][71]) Jesus promises inclusion in the Kingdom for those who accept his message (Mark 10:13–27)
^According toShaye J.D. Cohen, Jesus's failure to establish an independent Israel, and his death at the hands of the Romans, caused many Jews to reject him as the Messiah.[97] Jews at that time were expecting a military leader as a Messiah, such as Bar Kohhba.
^Hurtado: "She refrains from referring to this earliest stage of the "Jesus-community" as early "Christianity" and comprisedof "churches," as the terms carry baggage of later developments of "organized institutions, and of a religion separate from, different from, and hostile to Judaism" (185). So, instead, she renders ekklēsia as "assembly" (quite appropriately in my view, reflecting the quasi-official connotation of the term, often both in the LXX and in wider usage)."[web 12]
"Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him."
See also2 Kings 20:8:"Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?'"
^Ehrman: * "The earliest Christians held exaltation Christologies in which the human being Jesus was made the Son of God—for example, at his resurrection or at his baptism—as we examined in the previous chapter."[136] * Here I'll say something about the oldest Christology, as I understand it. This was what I earlier called a "low" Christology. I may end up in the book describing it as a "Christology from below" or possibly an "exaltation" Christology. Or maybe I'll call it all three things [...] Along with lots of other scholars, I think this was indeed the earliest Christology.[web 17]
^Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte: "The English term "proselyte" occurs only in the New Testament where it signifies a convert to the Jewish religion (Matthew 23:15;Acts 2:11;6:5; etc.), though the same Greek word is commonly used in theSeptuagint to designate a foreigner living inJudea. The term seems to have passed from an original local and chiefly political sense, in which it was used as early as 300 BC, to a technical and religious meaning in the Judaism of the New Testament epoch."
^Ecclesiastical historianHenry Hart Milman writes that in much of the first three centuries, even in the Latin-dominated western empire: "the Church of Rome, and most, if not all the Churches of the West, were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies [seeGreek colonies for the background]. Their language was Greek, their organization Greek, their writers Greek, their scriptures Greek; and many vestiges and traditions show that their ritual, their Liturgy, was Greek."[web 21]
^Despite its mention of bishops, there is no clear evidence in the New Testament that supports the concepts of dioceses and monepiscopacy, i.e. the rule that all the churches in a geographic area should be ruled by a single bishop. According toRonald Y. K. Fung, scholars point to evidence that Christian communities such as Rome had many bishops, and that the concept of monepiscopacy was still emerging when Ignatius was urging his tri-partite structure on other churches.[168]
^According to Mack, "Paul was converted to a Hellenized form of some Jesus movement that had already developed into a Christ cult. [...] Thus his letters serve as documentation for the Christ cult as well."[174]
^Four years after the Council of Jerusalem, Paul wrote to the Galatians about the issue, which had become a serious controversy in their region. There was a burgeoning movement ofJudaizers in the area that advocated adherence to the Mosaic Law, including circumcision. According to McGrath, Paul identifiedJames the Just as the motivating force behind the Judaizing movement. Paul considered it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith and addressed the issue with great detail inGalatians 3.[186]
^According to 19th-century German theologianF. C. Baur early Christianity was dominated by the conflict betweenPeter who waslaw-observant, andPaul who advocated partial or even completefreedom from the Law.[citation needed] ScholarJames D. G. Dunn has proposed that Peter was the "bridge-man" between the two other prominent leaders: Paul and James the Just. Paul and James were both heavily identified with their own "brands" of Christianity. Peter showed a desire to hold on to his Jewish identity, in contrast with Paul. He simultaneously showed a flexibility towards the desires of the broader Christian community, in contrast to James.Marcion and his followers stated that the polemic against false apostles inGalatians was aimed at Peter,James andJohn, the "Pillars of the Church", as well as the "false" gospels circulating through the churches at the time.Irenaeus andTertullian argued against Marcionism's elevation of Paul and stated that Peter and Paul were equals among the apostles. Passages from Galatians were used to show that Paul respected Peter's office and acknowledged a shared faith.[198][199]
^Three forms are postulated, fromGamble, Harry Y, "18",The Canon Debate, p. 300, note 21,(1) Marcion's collection that begins with Galatians and ends with Philemon; (2) Papyrus 46, dated about 200, that follows the order that became established except for reversing Ephesians and Galatians; and (3) the letters to seven churches, treating those to the same church as one letter and basing the order on length, so that Corinthians is first and Colossians (perhaps including Philemon) is last.
^Jewish Virtual Library: "A major difficulty in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as aJewish messianic sect, and its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and theteaching ofPaul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, the Jewish Christian groups were pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as theNazarenes,Ebionites,Elchasaites, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them seem to have endured for several centuries. Some sects saw in Jesus mainly aprophet and not the "Christ," others seem to have believed in him as the Messiah, but did not draw thechristological and other conclusions that subsequently became fundamental in the teaching of the Church (the divinity of the Christ,trinitarian conception of the Godhead,abrogation of the Law). After the disappearance of the early Jewish Christian sects and the triumph of gentile Christianity, to become a Christian meant, for a Jew, toapostatize and to leave the Jewish community.[web 30]
^Chilton, Bruce; Evans, Craig A. (1998).Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research. BRILL. pp. 460–70.ISBN978-9004111424.
^Dunn 2003, p. 339 states that baptism and crucifixion are "two facts in the life of Jesus [which] command almost universal assent".
^Crossan 1995, p. 145: "That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus ... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact."
^abPaul L. Maier "The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus" inChronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi 1989ISBN0-931464-50-1 pp. 113–29
^Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, Panarion 29,7,7–8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see:Bourgel, Jonathan (2010)."The Jewish Christians' Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice". InDan Jaffe (ed.).Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Leyden: Brill. pp. 107–138.doi:10.1163/EJ.9789004184107.I-248.33.ISBN978-90-04-19062-7.; P. H. R. van Houwelingen, "Fleeing forward: The departure of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella," Westminster Theological Journal 65 (2003), 181–200.
^Coveney, John (2006).Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasure and Anxiety of Eating. Routledge. p. 74.ISBN978-1134184484.For the early Christians, theagape signified the importance of fellowship. It was a ritual to celebrate the joy of eating, pleasure and company.
^Burns, Jim (2012).Uncommon Youth Parties. Gospel Light Publications. p. 37.ISBN978-0830762132.During the days of the Early Church, the believers would all gather together to share what was known as an agape feast, or "love feast." Those who could afford to bring food brought it to the feast and shared it with the other believers.
^Walls, Jerry L.; Collins, Kenneth J. (2010).Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation.Baker Academic. p. 169.ISBN978-1493411740.So strong were the overtones of the Eucharist as a meal of fellowship that in its earliest practice it often took place in concert with the Agape feast. By the latter part of the first century, however, as Andrew McGowan points out, this conjoined communal banquet was separated into "a morning sacramental ritual [and a] prosaic communal supper."
^Davies, Horton (1999).Bread of Life and Cup of Joy: Newer Ecumenical Perspectives on the Eucharist.Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 18.ISBN978-1579102098.Agape (love feast), which ultimately became separate from the Eucharist...
^Daughrity, Dyron (2016).Roots: Uncovering Why We Do What We Do in Church. ACU Press. p. 77.ISBN978-0891126010.Around AD 250 the lovefeast and Eucharist seem to separate, leaving the Eucharist to develop outside the context of a shared meal.
^"agape".Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.ISBN978-0-19-280290-3.
^abcdefghijklmStutzman, Paul Fike (1 January 2011).Recovering the Love Feast: Broadening Our Eucharistic Celebrations. Wipf and Stock Publishers.ISBN978-1-4982-7317-6.
^"The Head Covering or Prayer Veil: 1 Corinthians 11:1–16".Scroll Publishing Company. Retrieved2022-04-05.Around the year 200, at Carthage, North Africa, Tertullian wrote a tract entitled, "The Veiling of Virgins." Tertullian makes the argument that the passage applies to all females of age—not just to married women. … Earlier in his tract, Tertullian testified that the churches that were founded by the apostles did insist that both their married women and their virgins be veiled: Throughout Greece, and certain of its barbaric provinces, the majority of churches keep their virgins covered. In fact, this practice is followed in certain places beneath this African sky. So let no one ascribe this custom merely to the Gentile customs of the Greeks and barbarians. Moreover, I will put forth as models those churches that were founded by either apostles or apostolic men. … The Corinthians themselves understood him to speak in this manner. For to this very day the Corinthians veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, the disciples of the apostles confirmed. [Tertullian, The Veiling of Virgins The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 4 pp. 27–29,33] … In summary, the early Christians practiced exactly what 1 Cor. 11 says: Men prayed with their heads uncovered. Women prayed with their heads veiled. Nobody disputed this—regardless of where they lived—Europe, Mid-East, North Africa, or the Far East. This written evidence of the course of performance of the early Christians is corroborated by the archaeological record. The pictures we have from the second and third centuries from the catacombs and other places depict Christian women praying with a cloth veil on their heads. Some of those pictures are shown below. So the historical record is crystal clear. It reveals that the early generation of believers understood the head covering to be a cloth veil—not long hair. As Tertullian indicated, even the women who did not wish to follow Paul's teaching were not claiming that Paul was talking about long hair. Rather, they simply wore a small cloth in minimal obedience to his teaching.Nobody in the early Church claimed that Paul's instructions were merely a concession to Greek culture.Nobody claimed that they had anything to do with prostitutes or pagan priestesses.
^Bercot, David W. (1992).Common Sense: A New Approach to Understanding Scripture. Scroll Publishing Co. p. 68.ISBN978-0-924722-06-6.The historical evidence is strikingly clear. The record reveals that the early churches all understood Paul to be talking about a cloth veil, not long hair. … Hippolytus, a leader in the church in Rome around the year 200, compiled a record of the various customs and practices in that church from the generations that preceded him. HisApostolic Tradition contains this statement: "And let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering." This written evidence of the course of performance of the early Christians is corroborated by the archaeological record. The pictures we have from the second and third centuries from the catacombs and other places depict Christian women praying with a cloth veil on their heads. So the historical record is crystal clear. It reveals that the early generation of believers understood the head covering to be a cloth veil—not long hair.
^abFahlbusch, Erwin; Lochman, Jan Milic; Bromiley, Geoffrey William; Mbiti, John S.; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Barrett, David B.; Vischer, Lukas (1999).The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 322.ISBN978-90-04-11695-5.
^Salvesen, Alison G; Law, Timothy Michael, eds. (2021).The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 22.ISBN978-0199665716.
^Neusner, Jacob (1993).Approaches to Ancient Judaism, New Series: Religious and Theological Studies.Scholars Press. p. 149.Circumcisedbarbarians, along with any others who revealed theglans penis, were the butt of ribaldhumor. ForGreek art portrays the foreskin, often drawn in meticulous detail, as an emblem of male beauty; and children with congenitally short foreskins were sometimes subjected to a treatment, known asepispasm, that was aimed at elongation.
^Bart D. Ehrman (1997).The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Oxford University Press. p. 8.ISBN978-0-19-508481-8.The New Testament contains twenty-seven books, written in Greek, by fifteen or sixteen different authors, who were addressing other Christian individuals or communities between the years 50 and 120 (see box 1.4). As we will see, it is difficult to know whether any of these books was written by Jesus' own disciples.
^abDurant, Will.Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972
Bird, Michael F. (2017),Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology, Wim. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Blomberg, Craig L. (1987), The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, ISBN 9780877849926, OCLC 15415029, 2nd ed. 2007
Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro; Gargola, Daniel J.; Talbert, Richard John Alexander (2004),The Romans: From Village to Empire, Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-511875-8
Eddy, Paul Rhodes; Boyd, Gregory A. (2007),The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition, Baker Academic,ISBN978-0-8010-3114-4
Ehrman, Bart (2014),How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, Harper Collins
Elwell, Walter; Comfort, Philip Wesley (2001),Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale House Publishers,ISBN0-8423-7089-7
Esler, Philip F. (2004),The Early Christian World, Routledge,ISBN0-415-33312-1
Finlan, Stephen (2004),The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors, Society of Biblical Literature
Franzen, August (1969). Dolan, John P. (ed.).A History of the Church. Translated by Becker, Peter (revised and edited ed.). New York: Herder and Herder.
Köstenberger, Andreas J.; Kellum, L. Scott (2009).The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament. B&H Publishing. pp. 124–125.ISBN978-0-8054-4365-3.
Kremer, Jakob (1977),Die Osterevangelien – Geschichten um Geschichte, Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk
Lawrence, Arren Bennet (2017),Comparative Characterization in the Sermon on the Mount: Characterization of the Ideal Disciple, Wipf and Stock Publishers
Ludemann, Gerd,What Really Happened to Jesus? trans. J. Bowden, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995
Lüdemann, Gerd; Özen, Alf (1996),De opstanding van Jezus. Een historische benadering (Was mit Jesus wirklich geschah. Die Auferstehung historisch betrachtet), The Have/Averbode
Lynch, Joseph H. (2010).Early Christianity: A Brief History. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780195138559.
Mack, Burton L. (1997) [1995],Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven. (Who Wrote the New Testament? The Making of the Christian Myth), Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes bv
Maier, P. L. (1975), "The Empty Tomb as History",Christianity Today
McDonald, L. M.; Sanders, J. A., eds. (2002),The Canon Debate, Hendrickson
Talbert, Charles H. (2011),The Development of Christology during the First Hundred Years: and Other Essays on Early Christian Christology. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 140., Leiden: Brill Publishers
Taylor, Joan E. (1993),Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins, Oxford University Press,ISBN0198147856
^Kohler, Kaufmann;Hirsch, Emil G.;Jacobs, Joseph; Friedenwald, Aaron;Broydé, Isaac."Circumcision: In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature".Jewish Encyclopedia.Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved2020-01-03.Contact with Grecian life, especially at the games of the arena [which involvednudity], made this distinction obnoxious to the Hellenists, or antinationalists; and the consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks byepispasm ("making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18; Tosef., Shab. xv. 9; Yeb. 72a, b; Yer. Peah i. 16b; Yeb. viii. 9a). All the more did the law-observing Jews defy the edict ofAntiochus Epiphanes prohibiting circumcision (I Macc. i. 48, 60; ii. 46); and the Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons.
Bockmuehl, Markus N.A. (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to Jesus. Cambridge University Press (2001).ISBN0-521-79678-4.
Bourgel, Jonathan,From One Identity to Another: The Mother Church of Jerusalem Between the Two Jewish Revolts Against Rome (66–135/6 EC). Paris: Éditions du Cerf, collection Judaïsme ancien et Christianisme primitive, (French).ISBN978-2-204-10068-7
Conzelmann, H. and Lindemann A.,Interpreting the New Testament. An Introduction to the Principles and Methods of N.T. Exegesis, translated by S.S. Schatzmann, Hendrickson Publishers. Peabody 1988.
Dormeyer, Detlev.The New Testament among the Writings of Antiquity (English translation), Sheffield 1998
Dunn, James D.G. (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to St. Paul. Cambridge University Press (2003).ISBN0-521-78694-0.
Dunn, James D.G.Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity. SCM Press (2006).ISBN0-334-02998-8.
Christianity
Bible
_fol._142r_-_2_Corinthians_11%2c33-12%2c9.jpg)
