Origin - Christianity Exam 2 Review

Lectures

Plato (430 - 348 BC)

* Athens
* Lives 430-350
* Language of Christian theology
* Religious thinker as well
* His central contribution - the idea to know God is the thought of reason
* Believed that God is immaterial
* God is not human, He is transcendent
* His ideas will have impact on Acts, the Gospel of John - they were influenced by Plato
* Open society - challenged conventional beliefs about religion and morality
* Most influential/important philosopher (Greek)
* Polytheist - Pagan

Philo (20 BC - 58 AD)

* Jewish
* Died - 50 AD
* Born before Jesus - lives same time as Paul
* Speaks Greek, think Greeks, writes Greek
* Thinks the Jewish Bible is compatible with Platonist
* Sees the Jewish God as perfect, eternal, etc.
* Contemporary of both Jesus and Paul
* Alexandria (city) will have a great influence on Christianity
* Anti-semitic violence - Philo is sent to Rome to represent community
* Hellenistic (Greek) Judaism

Seleucid king tries to put a statue of Zeus into the temple

Plato > Philo > Christianity

True

Democracy

* Greek word
* First used in Athens
* Means “to rule”

Philosophy

to love wisdom

Who is Plato’s teacher?

Socrates

Socrates is a native what?

He is a native Athenian (Classical democracy)

When is Socrates sentenced to death?

399 BC

Plato created a school in Athens called what?

The Academy

How does Plato think?

Systematically

Republic

* Centerpiece of Plato’s philosophical system - nomos (greek law)

Physis

Growth or change in nature

Sophists

* Why do you believe in the gods?
* Why do you believe in right and wrong?

What were Plato’s arguments?

1. Humans have a body and a soul - the soul is immaterial, eternal and capable of reason - your soul has being and is the most real part of you yet doesn’t have physical existence


1. logos = reason
2. God is closely related to his idea of the soul


1. God exists and is the most fundamental piece of reality
2. The cosmos

What does Philo synthesize?

Judaism and Plato’s beliefs

Philo doesn’t invent but expands Allegorical Interepretation

* True
* To truly understand text, read it at different levels
* Philo takes old testament and reads it allegorically
* Philo believes that Plato got all of his ideas from Moses
* He believes he is already there in the Jewish Bible - you are supposed to read it to discover its deeper, hidden meanings

Who is Philo’s idea of God inspired by?

His idea of God is deeply inspired by Plato’s philosophy in the Republic

* God is perfect and good, but not physical

What books of the Bible give insight about Paul’s life?

Galatians and Romans

* Autobiographical

Galatians

Paul is in the midst of a fight with Peter

Romans

* Letters to the Romans - most important of Paul’s writings
* Included both Jews and Gentiles
* Introduce his vision of Gospel to a church
* Writing a letter to a church he didn’t find and a community of Christians he never visited
* He is helping to solve the problems of the Christian community
* Wants to heal relationships between Jews and Gentiles
* Paul was controversial because of his understanding of Christianity

What are the 3 layers of Paul’s identity?

1. Paul is a Roman citizen - a privilege of the world they are in
2. Paul is Greek - at least linguistically and to some extent cultural


1. His home town is Tarsus
2. 3rd or 4th generation immigrant, minority
3. Paul is Jewish - ethnically, tribe of Benjamin, follower of Mosaic Law (Torah)


1. Paul is a rabbi, he is a Pharisee
2. Bilingual
3. He never stops being Jewish, continued to follow Torah

Paul was never a disciple

True

The Conversion on the way to Damascus

* Paul is sent to Syria to stop people from spreading Christianity
* Has a vision of Christ appearing to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting”
* Saul - Jewish
* Paul - Greek
* Paul’s conversion - 32-33 AD

Gentile

Non-Jew who does not obey the Torah

Luke

A gentile, hears the gospel and becomes a follower of Christ and is converted by Paul

The Torah

First 5 books of the Bible

Social Rules

The Ten Commandments

Rirual and Purity

Clean and Unclean

Cultural Symbolism

* Circumcision - marks males, practiced in ancient Judaism
* Don’t eat unclean animals

Message of Luke:

God transcends “old” social differences and events all people into salvation

Part 2 of Luke

Acts - the fulfillment of message above

Allegory

Deeper meaning beyond surface level

* Parables about the reconciliation of the gentiles (allegory)

“Love your neighbor”

* Sacrifice for others
* Good Samaritan

Prodigal Son

* Love that transcends justice
* Love of grace

Paul

* Most important figure after Jesus
* Extremely controversial in his own day, within the early Christian community
* His adversaries include Simon Peter and other disciples
* Destined to be the most important figure in the Christian movement
* His writings dominated the New Testament; his letters are now in the New testament

What tells of who Paul is?

His own writing and book of Acts tells us who Paul is

What does Luke do with Paul in his writings?

He weaves Paul into the story of the apostles

How does Luke see Paul?

* He sees him as a hero
* He is “pro-paul”

Who is the antagonist in the book of Acts?

Paul is the main antagonist

Where are Paul’s letters found?

* They are found in the early church - earlier than the Gospels
* Written around 50 AD
* He is the earliest surviving witness to early Christianity

Ministry of Christ, 29-32 AD

* Paul’s Letters - 50 AD
* The Gospels - 70-90 AD

The 14 Letters of Paul (Romans - Hebrews)

* Hebrews is not authentically of Paul
* The Pastoral Letters (80 years after Paul)
* 7 are truly authentic of Paul’s letters

The Book of Acts

* Describes 3 missionaries of Paul
* Takes 14 years to complete missionaries
* He builds relationships; preaching the gospel of Christ crucified
* He spends a lot of time converting the gentiles; responsible for preaching the gospel to non-Jews
* Undo the sin of Adam and bring all people into salvation
* Pillars of the Church
* Chapter 2
* Gallio - well known Roman senator - 52 AD
* Gentile Christianity

Platonism becomes synthesized with what?

Polytheism

Golden Ass

* Only Latin text we have studied
* Written by Isis follower
* Allegory about life: life is about slavery and solitude…we all want redemption
* Baptism and eternal life in the Isis mystery cult
* Comic novel and is aware of the romance novel 0 subverting them to uncover a philosophy of religion

Eros

* Agape
* Christian ideas on sex and marriage are distinct from Judaism, Greeks and Romans
* Sex and marriage become central
* They are two words for “love” in Greek
* A love that is natural, physical, sets the world in motion

Agape

* Implies the unconditional nature of Christian love
* Can be translated as “grace” - merciful and sacrificial
* Used widely in the New Testament
* Latin for charity
* Agape is a strange word that is rarely used before Christianity

Advice from the Bide and Groom by Plutarch (text)

* Tells us about the cultural norms of marriage in the Greco-Roman society
* Grounded on monogamy
* Ancient Judaism practices polygamy ( very normal in the ancient world)
* Monogamy is practiced by the Greeks and Romans - not for religious reasons
* Due to the social system that shapes and influences the culture

Ideas of Marriage in Ancient Religion

* Greek and Roman marriage is nuclear
* A woman enters the family of the man and romans think of marriage as a reproduction system “for the purpose of making babies”
* Usually arranged
* A relationship between a woman and man with the purpose of making an heir
* Women marry young - normal age is 15-18
* Marriage is universal
* Greek and Roman societies were high-fertility societies

Details of Greek and Roman life for Women

* Life expectancy was usually 22
* Mortality is very high - almost everyone dies because of infectious disease
* For a society to sustain itself needs high fertility because most of them are going to die
* The average was 6-7 in the Roman society - women have live-births
* Places an enormous burden on women

Men’s lives in Rome

* Men marry older: 25-30 years of age
* Remarriage is common
* Women stay close to their paternal families - take a dowry into the marriage where that money/property does not become your husbands
* Property does not become mixed
* Divorce is very easy

Different sexual expectations based on gender

* Women are expected to remain virgins until marriage whereas men are not
* Wives are expected to remain faithful, men are not
* Virgin: maiden in Greek
* Roman law punishes adultery meaning “having sex with another man’s wife?
* Creates tension
* Slaves and prostitutes are heavily exploited because of this
* Prostitution is legal and encouraged
* Different from Judaism and Greek and Roman values

Judaism

* Polygamist
* Marriage is good!

Letters of Paul - 1 Corinthians

* Written in the mid 50 AD that comes to define the boundaries of Christian views of sex, love, and marriage
* Paul is responding to a church about divisions about sex and marriage
* People in Corinth write to Paul wondering “how do we live in this world'“

Encratite

* Sex is a no even if you are married
* All sex is bad under every circumstance

libertine:

?

Paul says “People have to free fornication” (main message)

True

* Gracious, sacrificial love

Porneia

* Fornication is a made-up word in Latin
* Porneia - prostitute

Paul spends over 3 decades on missionary

True

When does Paul die?

64 AD

What is Paul’s work as both a missionary and theologian deeply rooted in?

It is deeply rooted in his sense of calling to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews, heathens, people outside of the Torah)

The whole New Testament has the argument that the Gentiles don’t have to follow ALL of the rules of the Torah

True

49 AD dispute is resolved

True

Gospel of Luke

* Synoptic Gospels
* L Material - the only material in Luke
* Only Gospel that contains the census account (heavy on the temple and Jerusalem)
* Offers genealogy - distinctive
* Luke is the only author who was a gentile
* Luke’s identity is central to the conception of this Gospel
* Written for Gentiles
* Contains Q material

How is Luke’s Gospel written for Gentiles

* Written in polished Greek
* Greco-Roman framework
* Chronological framework - used Roman history mainly and a little bit of Jewish History
* Geography is set within Greco-Roman sign posts

The L Material

* The only material in Luke
* Luke is a good writer, best writer of the four Gospels
* Memorable material 
* Includes poems and songs, inspiration for music 
* Most important text of the New Testament
* Rich material on Mary the mother of God
* Rich parables 
* Tells us about Luke’s purpose and to some extent who Luke is

What is the Q material?

Shared material between Matthew and Luke

The Gospel of Luke has the most illustrious ideas about the annunciation

* True
* Angels announce the birth of John the Baptist and Christ

What does Luke do with the genealogy?

* Distinctive
* Jesus Christ is the ultimate descendant of God’s promise 
* Jesus Christ in His humanity is a son of Adam just like everyone else

Gentile

* Means non-Jew
* Comes from the Latin word “nation”
* Anglo Saxon word - heathens (Germanic) are the nations
* They worship lots of gods, eat certain things you shouldn’t eat, etc.

Heathen

* Someone who doesn’t follow the law, the law of God. The person outside the law of God
* Germanic

All the people around Jesus are Jewish 

* True
* None of them stop being Jewish
* Paul says he is extremely Jewish
* However, Luke is different he is never Jewish, he is Greek

How was Luke raised?

* Raised as a Gentile - someone outside of the Torah
* Probable to assume that Paul converted Luke because it is the only one of the four gospels that was written with a sequel in mind (the sequel is Acts of the Apostles)

Is the Acts of the Apostles a part of Luke

* True
* This is part of the Gospel of Luke
* They go together
* Some people call it Luke-Acts because the story threads together

The L material speaks to this theme…

Christ is reconciling everyone (Jews AND Gentiles) to have a relationship with God

* This Gospel is for Gentiles - God wants to save the Gentiles too

What is the main symbol of Luke-Acts?

Geography

Luke’s themes are enriched with what?

Geography

In the Gospel of Luke, Jerusalem is seen as what?

* City of the old Israel
* Begins and ends in Jerusalem

In the Gospel of Luke, Rome is seen as what?

* City of the new Israel
* Acts begins and ends in Rome

When does Luke say Christ is born?

* His birth happens during the reign of Augustus Caesar
* Roman empire comes to Judea at the same time Christ is born
* Rome had been a client kingship since pompey 
* Reign of Tiberius - 29

When was the reign of Tiberius

29

Luke says where is Jesus’ face facing

Jerusalem

The Apostle Paul

* Takes the Gospel to heathens mainly to the Greeks
* Tries to convert people like Luke

Acts of the Apostles

The author of Acts (Luke) says “we” meaning “Paul and I” or it is a literary pose

Where is the L material in Luke?

* The very first chapter of Luke
* The Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Prodigal Son - parables are allegories

Prologue of Luke

* Prologue - good classical way of starting a text (Greeks and Romans start their texts like this) and even has a dedication for who it is specifically written for - Most excellent Theophilus 
* He wanted to give a correct account of Jesus Christ 
* Luke is drawing from sources in order to write his Gospel
* Theophilus - means lover of God in Greek 
* Somebody who was in the government and high ranking
* Most excellent - rank for a mid level governor

Allegory

* Greek word, literally means “speaking otherwise”
* Both of these parables (Prodigal son and good Samaritan) are allegories 
* Text or story that speaks at different levels simultaneously
* A story that means something at a surface level and then at a deeper level

Good Samaritan

* Someone who is just nice but its second level of meaning that God is rescuing everyone (everyone is now your neighbor despite differences)
* Lawyers back then are the same now 
* Judea is the heartland of Judaism 
* Samaritans and Jews hated each other
* This guy takes him to an inn and pays for his stay 
* Saying that the neighbor is everybody

Prodigal Son

* Younger son wants his inheritance early while his father is still living
* Gambles, etc. blows all the money 
* He has sinned, he is ashamed 
* He has to work in conditions that were worse than farming\\
* There is no one there to love him
* Cleaning up after the pigs 
* Finally gets so dejected about his condition that it will overpower his sense of shame - so desperate that he will crawl back to his father
* Anything is better than what he has now 


* Father sees the son coming home and instead of being angry and punishing the son - he is joyous and overwhelmed because his son is back 
* “What is lost has been found”
* Love vs. Justice
* Mercy vs. Fairness
* Younger son doesn’t want justice or fairness, he isn’t trying to defend himself…he only wants a little bit of mercy
* Older one has a strong sense of justice 
* He is upset and wants justice

What is the deeper meaning of the Prodigal Son, even though it works at surface level?

* Older son - Old Israel, followed the Torah
* Younger son - Heathens, Gentiles, have been unclean, now they are being forgiven

Luke says Pilate crucified Jesus because of what?

because He told people not to pay their taxes 

How does Luke end?

Luke ends in Jerusalem with Jesus in the temple with His disciples

What does the destruction of the temple do?

* Destroys Jersualem
* Changes everything 
* They lead to a new dynasty, a new family
* Big event of Roman History
* Seminole event in Jewish History 
* Moment of change in Judaism 
* Before and after
* Shapes the development of Christianity 

Religion was integrated into the temple

True

When was the temple destroyed

* 70 AD
* The revenic period 

How does the destruction of the temple develop Christianity?

* Really sharpens that Christ is the Lamb of God 
* With the temple, destroyed, the altar gone, the Christian eucharist, the remembrance of the crucifixion, this sacrifice is a way that the sacrifices can continue

Jews

* Monotheistic
* YAHWEH
* God dwells with the people of Israel 
* As Israel grows, a rise of kings have

King Solomon - 100 BC

* Builds the first temple
* The House of the ONE GOD 
* 587 Jews are conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem is destroyed (so it has been destroyed before)
* For 50-60 years there was no temple 
* Persians throw over Babylonians, then Jews created another temple
* 515 BC the second temple was built
* Stands from 515 BC - the summer of the year 70 AD
* Maccabees to the late second temple - late second temple history

Who walks into the temple like no big deal?

pompi