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Section Thirteen: Jerusalem! Oh, Jerusalem!
Christians Begin to Move Beyond Jerusalem
•
A persecution of Hellenists by Herod Agrippa (@43 CE), especially Hellenist Jewish
Christians, forced many to flee from Jerusalem and to other regions such as Antioch
(Acts 8). Saul, himself among the persecutors, became a Christian during this time
•
Herod Agrippa was King of a reunited Jewish kingdom though still subservient to the
Roman Empire. Agrippa was beloved by those members of the Jewish nation who
remained faithful to the Torah. On the other hand, Agrippa was no friend to
Christians. His persecution of the young Christian community in Jerusalem ended the
life of James, the brother of John and put Peter in prison. Agrippa’s reign lasted only
three years. Some scholars believe that his popularity with the people caused the
Romans to worry about him. Herod Agrippa died while attending a Roman event
leading some to suspect that the Romans poisoned him. After his death, the
governance of all Judea, Samaria and the Galilee reverted to Roman procurators
•
Famine broke out in Judea around 46 CE. Paul visited Jerusalem to bring aid in 48 CE
•
In 49 CE, the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the city of Rome. This
was perhaps due to conflicts between Jewish Christians and Jews faithful to the
Torah. It was about this same time that Paul met with Peter and James in the Council
of Jerusalem. This may indicate that there was an active Church in Rome well before
the arrival of Peter and Paul ten to fifteen years later
•
Paul was accosted while visiting Jerusalem. He was arrested (to save his life) and, as
a Roman citizen, Paul appealed to Caesar @59 CE. He traveled to Rome for trial and
remained under house arrest until @62 CE. Nero then became Emperor in Rome. He
later blamed Christians for a fire in the city (@68 CE). Peter and Paul were killed in
the persecutions that followed
13.1
The Jewish People Begin to Suffer Under Roman Rule
•
Once the Romans again governed directly in Judea, they became increasingly
intolerant of Jewish law and religious practices. The Romans even began to take to
themselves the appointment of Jewish High Priests
•
The Jewish people had long been at odds with the Roman dominance of their
homeland. Unpopular procurators in Jerusalem were bad enough. When the Roman
Emperor Gaius (Caligula) declared himself to be a god and ordered that his likeness
must be set up in every temple in the Empire, including the Temple in Jerusalem,
(@ 39 CE), thinks got worse. Fortunately Gaius died before his threats became reality
•
During the three years of Agrippa’s rule, things quieted down somewhat but that
period of quiet did not last. In 66 CE, one of the Roman procurators of Judea that
came after Agrippa, , a man named Florus, stole treasure from the Temple. Local
Jewish citizens revolted and killed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem
•
Cestus Gallus, the governor in Syria, sent troops to Jerusalem to quell the rebellion.
They, too, were defeated. Gallus sent in more troops but this time starting with the
rebel forces in Galilee in the North rather than directly to Jerusalem. An estimated
100,000 Galilean Jews were either arrested or sold into slavery.
•
A number of Galilean Jews managed to escape and fled to Jerusalem to avoid the
wrath of the Romans. They began to quarrel with the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem
for what they saw as a failure to send help. They accused the leaders of Jerusalem
and all of Judea of betraying the cause
13.2
The End of the Second Temple Period
•
After their campaign in Galilee had been won, Roman troops then marched south to
Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and laid siege to the rebels within. One of the
Jewish Zealots in Jerusalem set fire to a supply of food in an attempt to force all the
citizens there to take an active part in the fight. The starvation that resulted from
this fire caused almost as many deaths in Jerusalem as were caused by actual
battle. (Josephus, The Jewish Wars, Book V, Chapter 1, paragraph 4)
•
In 70 CE, the Roman army breached the walls of Jerusalem. The Romans
slaughtered the population (Josephus estimated 1,100,000 dead a number that
could be close to accurate given the refugees that flooded the city) and then
destroyed the Second Temple
•
The Destruction of the Second Temple had a major impact on Judaism;
- Priests, including the High Priest, no longer had a place to offer sacrifice. The
Levitical priesthood faded from the scene
- The Sadducees, whose importance was tied closely to Temple worship also
faded from the scene.
- The Zealots ceased to be a factor when the last of that group died at Masada in
73 CE
- The Essenes were never heard from again.
- The Pharisees, those who were “set apart for the law” remained the only
organized group within Jewish society that seemed to survive
•
Roman procurators re-established their direct control over Judea and appointed a
Jewish patriarch or prince (Nasi)
13.3
The Beginning of Church and Synagogue (I)
Two stories illustrate how the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans led to the
beginning of two new faiths.
Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai
While the city of Jerusalem was being besieged by the Romans, Johanan ben Zakkai,
pleaded with the Jewish defenders of the city to surrender rather than cause a greater loss
of life and the possible destruction of the Temple. The leaders refused. Rabbi ben Zakkai
decided he would try to plead his case with the Roman commander, Vespasian. First
though he would have to find some way to safely exit the city. He recruited two of his
disciples to build a casket. He then had himself placed in the casket and the two disciples
carried him to the city gate. Jewish guards at all the gates were instructed not to allow
anyone to exit the city. So when the guards at the gate challenged their exit, the disciples
said that the law required that bodies had to be removed from the city before sunset.
Rabbi ben Zakkai then made his way to the Roman general Vespasian. When Vespasian
asked what the Rabbi wanted of him, the Rabbi, realizing that peace was no longer
possible, responded that all he wanted was Javneh (Jamnia) where he could teach his
disciples, establish a house of prayer and follow the commandments of the Law. With the
Temple destroyed, worship led by priests of the Temple gave way to worship led by
Rabbis in the synagogue
Rabbi ben Zakkai also predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor of Rome. Two
days later, Vespasian received the news that the ruling Emperor had died and that he was
named to replace him
13.4
The Beginning of Church and Synagogue (II)
Jewish Christians Flee to Pella
The Christian historian Eusebius tells the story of how the Hebrew Jewish Christian
community in Jerusalem (remember, Hellenist Jewish Christians had been driven out some
years earlier) had been warned by a prophecy to flee across the Jordan to the city of Pella
to avoid the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Some take this to be the warning found in
Matthew 24:16.
The Early Church Fathers Jerome and Epiphanius mention a group of Jewish Christians
whom they called Nazarenes living in that area during the fourth century CE. They had one
gospel (Matthew?) written in Hebrew but accepted all the basics of Christianity (virgin
birth, divinity of Jesus, etc.), accepted Paul’s mission to the Gentiles but themselves
continued to follow the Jewish traditions of circumcision and the keeping of the Sabbath.
This group were few in number by the fourth century CE and lived mostly in Northern
Israel and Syria*
•
This group should not be confused with the Ebionites who had no room for virgin birth, a divine
Jesus or a mission to the Gentiles whether by Paul or anyone else
The timely exit of the leaders of both Pharisaic and Christian Judaism ensured the survival
of both groups. The other sects of Judaism, the Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes were, as
mentioned earlier, not so lucky. Also as mentioned earlier, priests and Levites, who were
linked to Temple worship, found themselves displaced, no longer having a place to offer
their sacrifices.
13.5
The Beginning of Church and Synagogue (III)
•
After the destruction of the Second Temple, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, convened a
Sanhedrin at Javneh (Jamnia). Having learned a lesson from the Babylonian
Captivity, he encouraged the Jewish faithful to renew their study of the Torah at their
local synagogues.
Some scholars believe that it was during this time period that the synagogues of
Judea became more like the synagogues of the diaspora, less of a place of public
assembly and reading and debate concerning the law and more of a place of public
worship with prayer and preaching about the law so future generations would not
forget their relationship with God
•
As Jewish Christians became less welcome in synagogues, they began to establish
their own Churches. The Church in Jerusalem had already been established at least
two decades before the first revolt. As mentioned in the previous section, the
organization of this first Church included a Bishop (James), presbyters (elders,
priests) and deacons. That system may have been patterned after the organization of
the local Jewish assemblies (synagogues as they existed before the first revolt) led
by an archisynagogos (head of the assembly), aided by a gerousia (council of
elders) and assisted by hyperetes (assistants or helpers)
•
Interestingly, the spread of Christianity seemed to follow the spread of Judaism in the
diaspora. This seems to support the notion that Christianity was seen as a sect of
Judaism long after things changed in Judea
13.6
The Jewish Diaspora at the Height of the Roman Empire
13.7
Christian Communities Shortly Before the Edict of Milan
As the Acts of the Apostles described, early Christians first went to the synagogues in the
diaspora to preach. Having to defend their Jewish faith in a foreign environment, these
synagogues tended to be more evangelistic and to express their ideas in a language more
comfortable to Hellenism (e.g. Philo of Alexandria). These factors caused the synagogues
of the diaspora to be more tolerant of the first Christian evangelists, at least until the
decrees from Javneh worked their way around the various communities of the diaspora
13.8
The Split Widens: Javneh Speaks
The distrust in the synagogues of Judea of those Jews who believed that Jesus was the
Messiah likely worsened with their increasing insistence that Jesus was divine.
Sometime around 95 CE, that distrust became codified when the Sanhedrin at Javneh
issued the Birkat haMinim. This “blessing” declared that the minim (heretics) were no
longer to be welcomed in the synagogues.
For the slanderers let there be no hope, and may all evil ones perish in an instant. Let all
the enemies of the House of Israel, be speedily cut down; and may You swiftly uproot the
evil ones speedily in our days! Blessed are You, O Lord, who shatters His enemies and
humbles the arrogant.
Until recently, most scholars agreed that the Jewish Christians were the minim that the
Sanhedrin specifically had in mind. Recent scholarship has brought that conclusion
into question.
The Council of Javneh also began the process of codifying the canon of the Hebrew
Scriptures as we know them today. The Torah and the Books of the Prophets had been
almost completely discerned by this point but there was still disagreement about what
books would be included in the section called the Writings
13.9
Another Blow to Jerusalem: The Second Jewish Revolt
•
In the year 118 CE, the reigning Roman Emperor, Hadrian, seemed to have some
measure of sympathy for the Jewish nation. He allowed the planning for the
rebuilding of the Temple to begin. Those plans were never realized because Hadrian,
for some reason, changed his mind. At first, he simply required a new site for the
Temple. That change widened to the point that he wanted to create an entire new city
in Jerusalem to be called Aelia Capitolina. The final straw was Hadrian’s decision to
build a pagan shrine (dedicated to Jupiter) on the site of the Second Temple as a
central piece in his new city
•
Hadrian left the area in 132 CE to return to Rome and almost immediately after his
departure, a revolt broke out in Judea. Rebels led by Simon bar Kokhba captured 50
fortresses and over 900 unfortified towns and villages. A Roman counter-attack led
by Rufus, the procurator of Judea and Publius Marcellus, the governor of Syria was
also defeated. Hadrian then sent a more experienced general, Julius Severus, to lead
the Roman forces and the tide of the war turned.
•
The final battle took place in 135 CE in the town of Bethar where Simon bar Kokhba,
the Sanhedrin and the Nasi had relocated. At the end of the battle, every Jew in
Bethar was killed
•
After the second revolt, Aelia Capitolina was built. No Jew was allowed to live in the
city. A prominent Rabbi, Rabbi Akiva, was also martyred
13.10
The Impact of the Second Revolt on the Synagogue
•
During the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish priesthood in Babylon codified the
Torah and put it in writing. They encouraged the people of the captive nation to
learn the Law and to teach it to the next generation in anticipation of a return to
Jerusalem and to Temple worship
It is not clear if the work begun at Javneh (Jamnia) also anticipated a day when
Jerusalem would be free from Roman domination and a third Temple might
be built. Certainly, the original plans of the Roman Emperor Hadrian at least
allowed the Jewish leadership of that time to hope for a the construction of a new
Temple and a resumption of the Temple sacrifices
•
Though all such hopes were ultimately dashed, it is clear that the work begun at
Javneh did have a very beneficial effect . It can be argued that the Sanhedrin of
Javneh laid a foundation that allowed Judaism to remain a largely united and vital
faith in regions throughout the Diaspora and across many centuries of time
•
The synagogue that evolved from this time period continues to be the center of
Jewish worship to this day
13.11
The Impact of the Second Revolt on the Church (I)
•
Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina) remained an important legacy city in Christianity
though, over time, Hellenist Christians replaced Jewish Christians as Bishops there
•
Many Jewish Christians who heeded the signs of the time leading up to the first
revolt and fled to Pella remained there and managed to maintain themselves there
as an organized Church community yet still managed to retain their Jewish roots.
The Christian community that existed in Jerusalem became increasingly Hellenist
•
Despite the double blow by the Romans against Jerusalem, that city remained a
major patriarchate of Christianity but lost its position as the prime patriarchate.
Christianity flourished in Antioch of Syria and Alexandria in Egypt. Both cities
became important centers of Christianity and each city developed its own school of
Christian thought. By the time of the Edict of Milan, Christian bishops in Antioch of
Syria, Alexandria and Jerusalem were considered Patriarchs of the Church. The
Bishop of Rome was the Patriarch of the West. The Bishop of Constantinople was
also considered a patriarch after Constantine moved his capital there
•
With Peter and Paul both traveling to Rome and with both being martyred there,
Rome managed to replace Jerusalem as the center of Christianity sometime in the
early to middle portion of the second century CE. Keep in mind that this was
decades before Christianity became legal in the Empire and more than a century
before it became mandatory. As the centers of Christianity moved away from
Jerusalem, the Christian Church increasingly grew away from its Jewish roots. The
community that was first made up of Jewish believers with its center in Jerusalem
wound up as a largely gentile community with its center in Rome
13.12
The Impact of the Second Revolt on the Church (II)
•
When Peter and Paul arrived in Rome in the early 60s CE, they found a city that had a
large Jewish population and a growing Christian population made up of both gentile
and Jewish Christians
As was the case in most cities where the Apostles taught, the two men likely
appointed local leaders but did not themselves serve in that role. There is some
reason to believe that Paul may have even taken his long-desired missionary trip to
the West (Spain) before returning to Rome one final time. In any case, both Peter
and Paul were martyred in Rome during Nero’s persecutions (@66-68 CE)
•
After the death of the two Apostles, Rome began to assert her role in Christianity
In 95 CE, Clement, a presbyter-bishop in Rome, wrote an epistle to
the Church at Corinth urging them to respect those who were placed
in authority over them.
Around 150 CE, Justin wrote his famous defense of Christianity in
Rome
@ 40 years later, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (Lyons in
modern France), spoke of the Christian community in Rome in the
following way, “For it is a matter of necessity that every Church (ecclesia)
should agree with this Church (the Roman Church) on account of its preeminent authority” (Contra Haireiseis, Book 3)
In 313 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and
issued the Edict of Milan making Christianity a religio licita. In 380 CE the
Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the only religio licita in the Empire.
This cemented Rome’s status
13.13
What They Didn’t Tell You
Yet less than a century after catholic Christianity became mandatory in the Roman
Empire, (380 CE), everything changed in the West. Even before the Goths had invaded,
the political capital of the West moved from Rome to Ravenna. The city of Rome began
to deteriorate even before the Gothic invasions. When the Gothic invasions actually
began, the invaders were Arian Christians (the heresy discussed at Nicaea that claimed
that Jesus was not fully divine). Soon after, almost all of the catholic Western Empire
became Arian. It was only the tolerance of the Gothic ruler Odoacer that allowed the
Pope to continue to maintain his status among the catholics that remained faithful. The
Visigoths and the Vandals were far less tolerant in parts of France, Spain and North
Africa. Between 500 and 700 CE missionaries from England and Ireland reconverted
Western Christianity to the Nicene catholic faith. Spain and North Africa were soon lost
to Islam. When Charles Martel stopped the Islamic tide at Poitiers in 732 CE, the
Carolingians dominated the Western lands and preserved Nicene catholic Christianity in
that region. The Eastern Empire remained in the Nicene faith
13.14
Final Items
•
From the destruction of the Temple, two new forms of Judaism developed.
•
Pharisaic Judaism grew into Rabbinic Judaism and continued prayer and the study
of the Law in Jewish centers around the world. Interestingly, since Jews were not
allowed in Jerusalem for a number of years after the second revolt, the Jewish
community in Babylon played a major role in the distribution of the Hebrew
Scriptures and in commentaries regarding those scriptures
•
Judaism that believed that Christ was the Messiah foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures
evolved into Christianity. The Christian beliefs such as the resurrection of the
dead, the immortality of the soul and the existence of angels could be reconciled with
Pharisaic/Rabbinic Judaism which held somewhat similar beliefs. The idea that Jesus
was divine, however, was a barrier that proved too hard to get past. Granted, there
were some ideas in the Jewish diaspora that might have found a way to accommodate
such notions (Philo). In the end those ideas fell too far out of the mainstream of
Rabbinic Judaism to be in any way accepted
•
As Christianity developed its own explanations of what it believed, it grew away
from its Jewish roots but could never completely abandon them. Despite severe
pressure from some heretical Christian groups, the Hebrew Scriptures remained part
of the Christian Bible. The Christian Eucharist remained, at its heart, a celebration of
the Jewish Passover meal and the sacrifice of the Temple. Christian worship retained
both the Book (the Synagogue) and the Altar (the Temple) of Judaism
•
While each group has gone its own way over the centuries and the connection
between them lost in so many disputes, it seemed to be a connection too real for
Christianity ever to forget
13.15
Summary Points (I)
Over the past 13 weeks, we have examined both the Hebrew and the Christians
scriptures. We discussed a number of controversial subjects;
I used the word myth to describe the beginning chapters of Genesis but then explained
how my understanding of myth differed from the traditional understanding
Similarly, I labeled the Flood of Noah and The Tower of Babel as pre-history, referencing
events probably had some historical basis
In discussing the Jewish Patriarchs, I raised the question asked by some modern
scholars questioning if these Patriarchs ever really existed and a question raised by
other scholars questioning if the Patriarchs had a common lineage or perhaps were
actually leaders of three separate clans that united to form a common people, which
people could use a common ancestry to maintain unity
I set forth the proposition of scholars that Moses either never existed or, if he did
actually exist, was more likely an Egyptian, perhaps a priest of Aten who was banished
after the worship of the monotheistic sun god was banned
If the authenticity of Moses could be questioned then it would not be much of a reach to
question the reality of the Exodus event.
I not only pointed out a number of inconsistencies in the Book of Genesis but also some
between the books of Joshua and Judges where Joshua claimed to have put to the ban
all of the Canaanite opposition to the Israelites while Judges were constantly struggling
with those same peoples
13.16
Summary Points (II)
We discussed the rise of the Kingdom of Israel followed by its breakup and conquest by
Assyria (of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and by Babylon (of the Southern Kingdom of
Judah)
We looked at the creation of the Hebrew Scriptures and discussed some of the different
viewpoints on how and when it was compiled
We discussed how the Persians restored Judah to its land and the Temple to Jerusalem,
its ancient capital city
We saw how Alexander the Great totally threw the region into turmoil first by his
conquest and later by his sudden death. We also looked at how Judah was governed
first by the descendants of one of Alexander’s generals (Ptolemy) in Egypt and then by
the descendants of another general (Seleucus) in Syria
We ended our discussion of the era of the Hebrew Scriptures with the telling of one of
the most amazing events in history. Tiny Judah, by smartly playing one side against
another of claimants to the throne of the great Seleucid Empire managed to regain its
independence. We also told how a Jewish king once again ruled in Jerusalem
13.17
Summary Points (III)
We transitioned from the time of the Hebrew Scriptures to the time of the Christian
scriptures by discussing how Judah managed to lose its independence because of its
own internal family squabbles for power and how that squabble led to a takeover by a
Roman general and an Idumean ruling in Jerusalem who would be their puppet king
We delved into the Christian scriptures discussing how that Idumean, Herod, impacted
the birth of Jesus. I raised questions about how reliable the story was about Herod and
the Slaughter of the Innocents
I raised issues about the date of Jesus’ birth and its miraculous nature, the different
stories of that birth and different lineages as found in Matthew and Luke. I raised the
question of just who were Jesus’ brethren and how did that issue impact the notion that
his mother Mary was ever-virgin
I discussed the Christian gospels (and the Book of Acts) and pointed out the
controversies about who actually wrote them, when they were written and in what order.
I discussed the same issues regarding the Christian epistles, especially the Epistle to
the Hebrews
I explained how some scholars saw a division in the early Christian communities
concerning the Jewish Law and dealt with questions that scholars raised about whether
Paul and James considered each other to be heretical. I then discussed two groups that
did actually separate themselves from traditional Christianity by taking the ideas of Paul
and James to their extremes. I showed how both heresies led to Gnosticism and then
mentioned how, at its heart, Gnosticism had no time for the Judaeo-Christian
understanding that God created a material universe that was good
13.18
Summary Points (IV)
Several times during the last thirteen weeks, I have made it a point to stress both the
difference as well as the interdependence of facts and context
Facts are hard and fast, objective things. You should be able to go find them and see
them for yourselves. To that end, I have tried throughout this course to cite the sources
for many of the things that I have discussed.
Context, on the other hand, is a method by which someone may take a set of facts and
explain how they might be related, how they can best be understood. Context then is a
far more subjective thing and therefore open to a certain amount of healthy skepticism
There is a certain amount of interdependence between facts and context. Facts depend
on some kind of context to make them useful to us while context can’t exist without
facts. So, when we look at any theory, any means by which we can make some sense of
life, at least half of that process is subjective by its very nature
Science uses this process. Scientists look at a set of facts and try to provide a context
that explains them. This is called a theory. Scientists then take this theory and use it to
predict outcomes. They create a test to see if the predicted outcomes are produced. If
so, the theory is considered to come closer to truth. Scientific truth, however, is always
subject to future discoveries that might prove troublesome to the theory and, if future
discoveries punch holes in the theory, the theory has to be revised. This is the scientific
method and it works remarkably well, especially when it is honestly followed
The scientific method is more at home in the hard sciences like physics and chemistry.
It is also used by the softer sciences like archaeology where the facts available to test
theories are fewer and more randomly available
13.19
Summary Points (V)
In science, facts are solid truths established by observation. Or are they? The whacky
world of quantum mechanics is beginning to show how the observer is never really
apart from what is being observed so, even facts, which have always been thought to be
100% objective things, now have at least some measure of subjectivity attached to them
In science, facts are solid truths established by observation. Or are they? The whacky
world of quantum mechanics is beginning to show how the observer is never really
apart from what is being observed so, even facts, which have always been thought to be
100% objective things, now have at least some measure of subjectivity attached to them
Faith is a different thing. While science deals largely with things seen, either by humans
directly or with the help of instruments, faith, as the Book of Hebrews tells us “is the
realization of what is hoped for and evidence* of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1)
Paul speaks a lot about faith but James reminds us that faith, real faith, must provide at
least some observable results in the lives of people who claim to have it. The remainder
of Chapter 11 of Hebrews lists the many results produced for the Jewish people in their
history. Christianity simply took that faith as expressed in the things of the here and
now and extended it out into what is to come based on the resurrection of Jesus
Although many people don’t believe it, science and faith have long gotten along with
each other since both are searching for truth, each in its own way. Many universities in
the Western World, especially the older ones in Europe, were founded by church
organizations. Many famous scientists were men of faith (Newton, Kepler, Volta,
Faraday, Mendel, LeMaitre and many others) and, as I indicated earlier in the class, three
scientific polls taken over the last century indicated that a consistent 40% of Western
scientists believed in the basic Judeo-Christian concept of God
13.20
Summary Points VI: How Real Is Our Reality?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x60xZe0Si0
13.21
Summary Points (VII): Craziness??
On a lighter note, science is now beginning to extend its research into areas that extend
beyond the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time.
https://home.cern/about/
physics/extra-dimensionsgravitons-and-tiny-blackholes
The use of human reason to come to a greater understanding of God has a longstanding history in Judaism, mainstream Christianity and Islam. The Jewish Talmud
tracks that tradition as do the writings of the Early Church Fathers in Christianity. Islam
saved many of the works of Classical literature but Islam began to move away from the
importance of human reason when by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali published The Incoherence
of Philosophy in the late ninth or early tenth century. That was followed by the sacking
of the Athens of Islam (Baghdad) by Mongol invaders some years later. A movement
within Western Christianity called Nominalism started some branches of Christianity to
become suspicious of reason first in matters of faith and later in other matters
13.22
Summary Points (VIII)
Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Fides et Ratio
(Faith and Reason) reminds us that both faith and reason are doing
their best to discover truth. He reminds us of a very important thing;
Truth cannot contradict truth.
While celebrity Bill Maher may claim (and not without some validity)
that conflicts over religious belief has been the cause of the deaths
of millions over the centuries, an honest man must also admit that
the “scientific” atheism as practiced by communist governments in
Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s China and Pol Pot’s Cambodia led to
the death of even more millions just within one century
Faith, whether it be in a personal god (theism) or faith in human
reason alone (atheism) are often the excuse for human corruption
rather than the cause of it
13.23
Summary Points (IX) : Credo Ut Intelligam
These words were the motto of Saint Augustine, perhaps the first
serious theologian in Western Christianity. He believed that faith
(credo) precedes reason. But he also believed that faith leads to the
desire to better understand (intelligam) what is believed.
A millennium later, Thomas Aquinas wrote what may have been the
most outstanding example of how faith and reason could combine
in trying to understand how humans should relate to God when he
wrote the Summa Theologiae
No one, whether religious or atheist, should ever be afraid of truth
and anyone who honestly pursues the truth is always well-served
by that effort. Such a person is also well served if that pursuit of
truth includes a healthy dose of humility while undertaking the
effort
13.24
Summary Points (X) : Everything is Grace!
As I have mentioned in this course, I have a great deal of fondness and
reverence for Judaism and I have committed myself to Roman Catholic
Christianity
What attracts me to both of those belief systems is that the basis of their faith
leaves room for both the human heart and the human mind. The Shema of
Israel and the Sermon on the Mount of Christianity stress that faith includes
both head and heart
But we must also accept that, in the end, the existence of God and the
revelation of God either by the word of God given to Moses or the Word of God
incarnated in Jesus, is not something that can be fully understood by either
head or heart. Believers must believe and belief requires a decision to leap
into the unknown and the unprovable
The words at the top of this slide are those of Ste. Thérèse de Lisieux.
Christians believe that grace is God’s free gift to human kind to enter into
God’s life of selfless love. For that reason, we may just as well say that
everything is love but with the stress on selfless love. Judaism stresses the
need for that kind of love in action during our time on earth. Christianity
stresses that what begins in time extends into eternity. Faith is our “yes” to
God’s prompting of love and grace
13.25
The Final Conclusion
The goal of this course was to take you through the experiences that ordinary people
had with what they perceived to be extraordinary things
They have told us about these experiences initially in stories most likely told
orally and then, later, put in writing to preserve the accuracy of the telling as
much as humanly possible
We have encountered different peoples from different cultures who speak different
languages and say things in different ways (some by song, some by prayers and some
by simple narratives)
In this telling, they propose a series of encounters with a transcendent being that they
call God. They used words like God and others word that, at best, may describe one
or two percent of what they experienced. But human words can only go so far in
describing the transcendent
The sum of their experience is that there exists a being who created us as well as the
universe in which we live. This being is a being of selfless love. This being wants to
share his existence of selfless love with his creation but only if his creatures so choose
to accept. Love is something that cannot be forced. It must be freely given. Love is
also a response that involves a person’s entirety, body and soul, faith and reason
So, we covered the various contexts, historical, geographical and political, just to help
explain the story a little bit better. This has been proposed, not imposed, for your
consideration
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Th.. Th.. That’s All Folks!
Thank you for your participation in the class. This semester has proven to be just as
educational for me on my end of the desk as I hope it has been for you on your end. One
of the nice things about Osher is that it provides a unique learning opportunity
regardless of which side of the desk one might be on.
I have tried to present a balanced approach to a number of controversial issues. I have
cited my sources in many of my examples. I have encouraged you to check these and
other sources on your own. If I have recommended a certain level of skepticism to you,
it should perhaps most especially apply to me. I have mentioned before my fondness for
my restatement of Psalm 51, “The many things that I don’t know are ever before me.”
I appreciate the honesty and the passion of the views that you brought with you to the
class as well as your willingness to express them in public. Thoughts so deeply and
so personally held are not always so easy to express in a public forum
Where I have disagreed with you, I hope I have done so in a respectful way. I learned
a long time ago that beliefs contrary to my own can act as a whetstone that allows me
to hone my own beliefs more precisely
I hope you enjoy the upcoming holidays and thank you again for giving me the
opportunity to get to know you and to interact with you. It has been educational for me
and it has been fun.
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Bibliography
Books
NIV Worship Bible
Christianity: The First Three Thousand
Years
New Jerome Biblical Commentary
The Quest for the Historical Israel
Gabriel’s Revelation
Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus
Frank Moore Cross; Conversations
With a Biblical Scholar
The Works of Flavius Josephus
Introduction to the New Testament
Antioch and Rome
From Synagogue to Church
From Apostles to Bishops
In the Shadow of the Temple
Diarmaid MacCullough
Zondervan Publishing, 1984
Viking Penguin Books, 2010
Raymond Brown
Joseph Fitzmeyer
Roland E. Murphy
Israel Finkelstein
Amihai Mazar
Israel Knohl, Ada Yardeni
Margaret Warker,
Jerome K. Hoffmeier
Abraham Malamat
Hershel Shanks
Hershel Shanks
Prentice Hall, 1990
William Whiston (transl.)
Raymond Brown
Raymond Brown
John Meier
James T. Burtchaell
Francis A. Sullivan
Oskar Skarsaune
Hendrickson Publishers, 1987
Yale University Press, 1990
Paulist Press, 2004
Brill, Leiden 2007
Biblical Archaeology Review
Biblical Archaeology Review, 2012
Biblical Archaeology Society, 1994
Cambridge University Press, 1992
The Newman Press, 2001
Inter Varsity Press, 2002
Regularly Consulted Web Sites
http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/main.html
http://www.cob-net.org/compare.htm#TextType
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.toc.html
http://www.biblehub.com
Self-explanatory
Various versions of New Testament Manuscripts
Hebrew-English Interlinear translation of the Hebrew Scriptures
Writings of the early Christian church before the Council of Nicaea
Multi-language (Hebrew, English, Greek) concordance and word
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study tool for the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures