Religious Studies

strategic position of palestine

main trade corridor between asia and africa

has a central geographical position

has a good strategic position

three main phases of rule in palestine

greeks → jews → romans (63BC)

a site important to jews

wailing wall / western wall - after being released from egypt, jews built a movable temple. once king david took over israel and built a permanent temple. the temple was destroyed 70AD and there was only one wall left standing

a site important to muslims

dome on the rock mosque - muslims believe that it is part of solomon’s temple, where abraham prepared to sacrifice ishmael and where muhammad ascended to heaven on his night journey

sites important to christians

the church of the nativity - place of jesus’ birth

the garden of gethsemane - place of jesus’ betrayal

golgatha - place of jesus’ crucifixion

caesar augustus

• in 31BC the roman empire was established under him
• introduced the pax romana to rome
• was roman emperor from 23BC to 14AD
• the month august was named after him

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pontious pilate

• the main who is said to have presided over jesus’ trial and ordered his crucifixion

• famous for this action : ‘washing my hands’

• famously said in john 18:8 ‘what is truth?’

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herod the great

• known for the massacre of the innocents in christian scripture
• given the title ‘king of the jews’
• only half jewish and was considered a puppet king

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roman punishments

arson → burning

murder → crucifixion (beheading for Roman citizen)

treason → crucifixion

bearing false witness → being thrown form the Tarpein Rock

disobeying a parent → strangulation

debt → enslavement

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crucifixion - cruel from of death, nailed to a cross, after a while soldiers broke their legs, then they couldn’t breathe and would die

tattoo - given to slaves and criminals, mark of disgrace, ‘stop me, i’m a runaway’

cat of nine tails - leather thongs with bones, nails and stones at the end

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advantages of the roman rule

• less crime
• safety / peace
• economy
• public health
• aquaduct
• sanitation
• roads
• medicine
• education
• wine
• irrigation
• public baths
• public order

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disadvantages of the roman rule

• harsh punishments
• taxes
• occupied by foreign army
• puppet king - herod
• census
• stole property
• destroyed temple

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main religious groupings

sadducees - kept a good relationship with the romans, didn’t believe in a messiah and the oral law

pharisees - lived by the oral law, were jesus’ enemies, believed in a messiah

high priest - only person allowed in the holy of holies, was in charge of the sanhedrin

zealots - hated the romans, didn’t pay taxes, used violence against the romans

the essenes - believed the world was corrupt, cut themselves off, devoted their lives to god

scribes - in charge of copying the scriptures

the messiah

superhero - would have special abilities and free them of the romans

warrior - would lead the jews in battle against the romans and drive them out of israel

jesus - messiah

king - king of the jews, rules the kingdom of heaven

warrior - fighting sin in a sense

superhero - preformed miracles as a sign of god

teacher - spoke about god, used parables to explain

parable

earthly story with a heavenly meaning

why jesus used parables

to illustrate stories, drive home an important message, information was passed by word of mouth, information had to be easy to remember

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oral tradition

people could not write down things that were said so information was passed by word of mouth

the parable of the unforgiving servant

a man owed the king money that he could not pay, so the king cancelled his debt. later the man met with a fellow servant that owed him money. the servant could not pay so the man has him sent to jail. the king found out and said to him, “shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as i had on you?” then sent him to be tortured

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jesus said “this is how god will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart”

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forgiveness should be without a limit