Christianity: Historical Background

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Christianity Historical Background

• Quest for the Historical Jesus
• Josephus, Pliny
• Jesus of Nazareth (5BC? -27 AD?)
• Jewish Rabbi
• Faith Healer
• Exorcist

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Christianity

• Began as a Jewish Sect in 1st Century
• Christ Greek Christos Hebrew Meshiah
• Jesus Christ Jesus the Messiah
• Jewish Sect ? Stand-alone Gentile Religion
• Also claimed to be the Son of God
• Virgin Birth stories in Matt. Luke (not in
  Mark, implied in John)
• Crucified and followers claimed resurrection

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Christianity Historical Background

• Main sects of Jews at the time of Jesus
• Zealots
• advocated a violent revolution against Rome
• Sadducees
• Advocated cooperation with Romans. Controlled
  the temple destroyed in 70 A.D
• Made selling sacrifices in flea market in
  temple court

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Christianity Historical Background

• Pharisees
• Controlled synagogues, grudging cooperation with
  Romans
• focused on the teaching the Torah and strict
  obedience to it

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The Shroud of Turin
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The Shroud of Turin
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The New Testament

• 4 Gospels (religious biographies) good news
  about Jesus the Messiah, Son of God
• The Acts of the Apostles (early Church history -
  Peter and Paul)
• Letters of Paul
• Other Letters
• The Revelation of John or Revelation (no s!)
  a.k.a. the Apocalypse of John

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Mark

• Earliest, shortest gospel, 60-65 A.D.
• No birth narratives
• Empty tomb, but no resurrection appearances (2
  endings tacked on later)
• Petrine tradition from John Mark
• Roman Audience

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Matthew

• 2nd Gospel - 65-70 A.D.
• Based on Mark
• Jewish audience
• Focuses on Jesus as Messiah, teachings on the Law

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Luke

• 3rd Gospel 70 - 85 A.D.
• Gentile physician
• Pauline tradition
• Gentile Audience
• Historical method, chronicler
• Also wrote Acts

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John

• Last Gospel - 90-100 A.D.
• Based on account from John, the beloved
  disciple
• Genile audience, Jesus enemies The Jews
• Non-synoptic gospel
• No parables
• No focus on immanent apocalypse
• Focus on eternal life now through Jesus

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Gospel of Mark

• Parables Cryptic sayings or stories
• Publicly given
• Privately explained
• Kept outsiders in the dark
• Taught the faithful

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• The Parable of the Sower (Ch. 4)
• A parable about parables
• Four types of soil four types of people
• Road (hard-hearted? Satanic victims)
• Rocky (shallow, fearful of persecution)
• Thistley (focused on everyday life, money)
• Fertile (receptive, have ears to hear)

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Jesus on the law
• Spirit over the letter
• Ethical over ceremonial
• Examples
• The Sabbath (The Sabbath was made for Man, not
  Man for the Sabbath).
• Unclean foods (Nothing that goes into a man
  makes him unclean, but what comes out of him
  does.)

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Jesus on wealth
• An obstacle to spirituality
• Contrast with OT view

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• The Messianic Secret
• Some scholars see as evidence Jesus didnt claim
  to be the Messiah
• The text implies more practical reasons
• To complete his ministry and not be taken
  prematurely
• Crowd control

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• The Parousia (Coming, a.k.a. Second Coming)
• Strong apocalyptic element in early
  Christianity--dies out as time goes on
• Jesus stressed his coming would be immanent
• Jesus said he would return in his disciples
  lifetimes--delay caused crisis in early Church
• Second coming tied to Temple destruction
• Modern Christians still expect a return
• Switch to emphasis on individual eternal life

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Why is the Parousia delayed? 2 Peter 33ff
• God experiences time differently
• God wants to give people more time to repent
• This generation wont pass away
• There are some of those here who wont taste
  death
• We who are alive at the coming of the Lord
• The coming of the Lord is at hand - He is at the
  door
• I am coming quickly

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Gospel of Mark

• Evangelical Response
• The Temple future rebuilt Temple, or big gap,
  try to segment passage
• This generation genos, Jews
• This generation some future generation
• Seeing Kingdom the transfiguration

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Gospel of Mark

• Charges against Jesus
• Blasphemy
• Claims to be Messiah and Son of God
• Jewish charge
• Sedition
• claims to be the Messiah, i.e. King of the Jews

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Gospel of Mark

• The Empty Tomb
• No resurrection appearances in original version
  of Mark
• An angel declares He is risen!

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Jesus on the law
• Spirit over the letter
• Ethical over ceremonial
• Examples
• The Sabbath (The Sabbath was made for Man, not
  Man for the Sabbath).
• Unclean foods (Nothing that goes into a man
  makes him unclean, but what comes out of him
  does.)

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Jesus on wealth
• An obstacle to spirituality
• Contrast with OT view
• Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
  needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven
• It would be a miracle if a rich man got into
  Heaven!

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• The Messianic Secret
• Some scholars see as evidence Jesus didnt claim
  to be the Messiah
• The text implies more practical reasons
• To complete his ministry and not be taken
  prematurely
• Crowd control

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• The Parousia (Coming, a.k.a. Second Coming)
• Strong apocalyptic element in early
  Christianity--dies out as time goes on
• Jesus stressed his coming would be immanent
• Jesus said he would return in his disciples
  lifetimes--delay caused crisis in early Church
• Second coming tied to Temple destruction
• Modern Christians still expect a return
• Switch to emphasis on individual eternal life

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Gospel of Mark Cont.

• Why is the Parousia delayed? 2 Peter 33ff
• God experiences time differently
• God wants to give people more time to repent
• This generation wont pass away
• There are some of those here who wont taste
  death
• We who are alive at the coming of the Lord
• The coming of the Lord is at hand - He is at the
  door
• I am coming quickly

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Gospel of Mark

• Evangelical Response
• The Temple future rebuilt Temple, or big gap,
  try to segment passage
• This generation genos, Jews
• This generation some future generation
• Seeing Kingdom the transfiguration

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Gospel of Mark

• Charges against Jesus
• Blasphemy
• Claims to be Messiah and Son of God
• Jewish charge
• Sedition
• claims to be the Messiah, i.e. King of the Jews

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Gospel of Mark

• The Empty Tomb
• No resurrection appearances in original version
  of Mark
• An angel declares He is risen!