Christianity Notes
Summary:
It is based on Jewish Messianic expectations.
Christianity has struggled with a consistent message from the beginning. This timeline represents a view of the early attempts to unify the message of Christianity.
• It is believed that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and resurrected from the dead as a final sacrifice for humanity.
• With at least co-founder status, Paul of Tarsus was important in explaining the message of Christianity and expanding the faith beyond Judaism.
• Although there have been repeated attempts, there is no unified message today.
Founding:
In Jesus’ time, there was the Roman Religion. They worshiped their emperor and allowed religions to exist even though they already conquered that religion’s area. This explains why Jews and the Jewish religion were in Judea. Back then, it was illegal to be Christian because it was started AFTER they conquered Judea.
The Jews were looking for a Messiah (Anointed One). Some Jews were looking for the Messiah to be their “lawyer” and deal with the Romans; others were looking for the messiah to explain their 613 commandments, and others were searching for him to overthrow the Romans.
These type of cults were going on during Jesus’ birth which explains why the Jews went against him during his lifetime.
Mystery Cults: rites in secret - people looking for personal imortality
Mystery cults flourished across the Roman Empire after the time of Jesus because traditional civic religion felt cold, public, and disconnected from individual inner life.
Mithraism:
Story of a guy who was half man half god, who comes back a ressurects. When you join them they ritually wash you (like baptizm), and have a meal with you (bread and wine).
Was the chief rival to Christianity, and was only allowed for men to join.
All the women went to the cult of Isis -
Cult of Isis:
Based on Osiris being a beloved king and everytime he comes in town they hold a party, and Seth was a jealous brother who planned to kill his brother with a coffin. Osiris gets locked in the coffin and thrown in the nile river. Isis is upset and refused to become Seth's queen. She spent several years searching for Osiris and eventually found his coffin. This woman basically had a “virgin birth” and raised her son Horus to conquer Seth.
When Christianity was illegal, they used Iconography
- visual symbols that convey concepts or ideas
This art was multilayered and could be decoded to reveal hidden meanings
272 - 400 CE:
In 312, preparing for battle against Maxentius, Constantine beholds the sign of the cross and hears a voice say, “By this sign you will conquer.”
After he is victorious, Emperor Constantine reunites the empire. The religion engages in Syncretism; (the combining or merging of different beliefs, cultures, or schools of thought into a new, unified system) as a means of converting others.
Texts, Scriptures and Symbols:
Nicene Creed:
Was written to resolve theological divisions in the early church—specifically to combat Arianism and formally affirm that Jesus Christ is fully divine, eternal, and of the same substance as God the Father
Fish Symbol: During times of intense persecution in the Roman Empire, practicing Christianity was dangerous or illegal.
Safe Communication: Believers used the simple two-arc fish drawing as a covert signal. According to tradition, one person would draw half the fish in the dirt; if the stranger completed the other half, they knew they were speaking with a fellow Christian.
Terms:
Christ” means “Anointed One” in Greek.
• 4 BCE – 30 CE
• Began ministry at 30
• Baptized by John the Baptist
• Crucified after 3 years
After the life of Jesus, many divergent opinions and versions of Christian belief arose The New Testament Apocrypha (“hidden”)
Gospel -means “good news”
Synoptic - “see together”
The 4 books chosen in the New Testament to explain Christianity
• Matthew (made to convert the Jewish people), Mark, Luke, and John ( about the divinity of Jesus)
• Quelle (Q) “source”