Download Persons of the Roman Empire

Read:
-Jeremiah 31:31-33
-Galatians 4
What is Paul saying in Galatians 4?
Synoptic Gospels:
Matthew, Mark, Luke
Synoptikos: “seen together”
They have much in common and differ significantly from the
Gospel of John.
Goals for Today:
-Assyrian & Babylonian Legacies.
-Persian Legacy
-Alexander the Great
-Israel and Hellenism
-The order and peace of Rome in Palestine (Julius
Caesar, Octavius, Tiberius & Catigula, Claudius & Nero).
-Social Settings & Stratification
-Jewish Groups (Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots)
Assyria:
Elimination of northern Israel as part of Israel
(replacement of the northern tribes with “halfbreeds”: Assyrians mixed with Jews =
Samaritans)
Babylonia:
A captivity reminiscent of Egypt
Exposure to urban life and new ideas
Persian legacy:
-An enduring notion that Persia was different from the
other empires (including “Cyrus, my Messiah”)
-A well-governed and organized empire that respected
individual tribes (like the Jews)
-Often portrayed as the bad guys but they were the ones
who sent the Jews back after conquering the
Babylonians.
Alexander’s Legacy
-“Hellenism”
-Expansion throughout the former Persian Empire of
Greek language, ways of thinking (even the Judaism of
the time of Jesus was very Hellenized Judaism).
-Acceptance of local religious practice, tried to create a
synthesis of all the religions into each sector of the
empire.
Israel during the Hellenistic Period
-Israel again becomes the “pawn” of warring Empires
-Seleucids and Ptolemies
-Seleucid king: Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC)
Israelite groups
Tobiads (Jewish high-priestly family allied with the
Ptolemies)
Maccabees / Hasmoneans: War: 167-132 BC
Hasideans (“the pious”) – 1 Macc 2:42
“Those seeking righteousness and justice” – 1 Macc
2:29-38 ( initial group of “Pharisees”?)
Persons of the Roman Empire
Pompey the Great (63 BC enters Temple)
Julius Caesar (44 BC assassinated)
Julio-Claudian Emperors
Octavian (Augustus Caesar, after 31 BC Actium and 27 BC
Senate decree – AD 14)
▪ Herod the Great (until 4 BC)
▪ Quirinius (governor of Syria)
Tiberius (AD 14-37)
▪ Pontius Pilate: magistrate in Judaea
Caligula (AD 37-41)
Claudius (AD 41-54)
Nero (AD 54-68)
Persons of the Roman Empire
Flavian Emperors
Vespasian
Titus
Domitian (AD 81-96)
Nervan-Antonine Emperors
Trajan (AD 98-117)
Hadrian (AD 117-138)
Social Settings of 1c Palestine
Countryside
-Not generally inhabited; used for cultivation, grazing,
or infertile.
Villages
-Main population base; found every few kilometers.
Cities
-Very few – Jerusalem, Caesarea, Tiberias, etc. – and
essentially elite or Roman, along with working class and slaves
to supply the city’s services.
Social Stratification (by control of the food supply)
-Land-owners (patrons), usually live in the city
-Managers (brokers)
-Land-workers (‘farmers’, ‘peasants’)
-Day labourers / Artisans (craftsmen)
-Beggars (infirm), Widows, Orphans: all of these lack any
social support (i.e., “poor”)
Jewish Ideological Groupings:
Essenes
Zealots
Pharisees
Sadducees
OT:
Library of books sacred to Judaism in the
period of Roman occupation
Hundred or thousands of years before
the Romans, reflecting broad ranges of
the Ancient Near Eastern World
Almost entirely written in Hebrew
Testament=covenant
“OT’ = the record of the covenant of
God with His people
Old covenant or testament: the texts that
document how Jews were guardians of
God’s world until the Messiah
NT:
Library of earliest texts/books of
Christianity
From a very narrow period of time
and culture, the Roman provinces of
the Levant during the middle and
final years of the Roman Empire’s
Julio-Claudian dynasty (and possibly
from the earliest years of the Flavian
dynasty).
Almost entirely in Greek
In both cases, texts were read aloud
to people (most people could not
read.)
New Testament is not a category but
rather a testament to a new
relationship of God with all people.
Textual criticism is the discipline that attempts to
ascertain:
 What was in the original text?
 What changes have been made to the original text
and why?
Ex: Mark 1:1
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God.”
Translation of Greek found in late but very good MSS
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Translation of the Greek found in the earliest MSS
Social (Generalized human behavior) vs.
Cultural (local social practices)
-Culture is all about the distinctive, shared meanings and
feelings characteristic of a given group at a certain time and
place
-Meaningful human behavior shares cultural patterns and is
performed in ways that are culturally meaningful
-Texts (words) reflect these patterns
-Language is about more than just extracting literal meaning.
-Cultural norms that make up a culture=cultural cues for
knowing how to behave in a particular culture
Honor (Shame)
vs.
Dishonor (Shamelessness)
Honor = a claim to worth that is socially acknowledged
for males. Can be ascribed or acquired
Shame = a claim to worth for females
Example Mark 15:27-32
25 It
was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified
him. 26 The inscription of the charge against him read, “The
King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two bandits,
one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by
derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who
would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save
yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way
the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking
him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he
cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel,
come down from the cross now, so that we may see and
believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted
him.
Mark 15:27-32
Limited good vs. abundance
-Everything is in limited supply.
Envy
-The situation that arises when equals or superiors are losing
limited good, as a means of survival
-When honour that you seek to acquire is beyond you. To gain
back by force what is lost or unable to be gained
Evidence of envy
-Ostracism, Gossip, Homicide, & Evil eye
-Mark 12:13-17, 14:1, 15:10
Kinship:
-Relationships derived from birth and marriage (a network of
culturally defined family relationships)
-Marriage (exogamous/endogamous)
-Patrilocal
Corporate personality (dyadic)
vs.
individual personality
If Jesus didn’t go to Rabbinic school where did he get his
knowledge? Very suspect of someone who individually trained.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now
there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for
twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and
had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew
worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the
crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his
clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage
stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her
disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him,
Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my
clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd
pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’”32 He
looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman,
knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell
down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her,
“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed
of your disease.”
Mark 5:21
Traditionally, Matthew was believed to be the first Gospel
written.
However, later biblical scholarship led most to believe that
Mark was written first.
Matthew and Luke “improve” difficult passages in Mark.
 Gospel: “Good News”
 The very life of Jesus Christ is the Good News of God’s
love and Salvation for all.
 Preaching about Jesus
 Four written versions of the Good News; each evangelist
proclaims in their own unique way the “Good News”