Early Christianity

From its origin to 200 CE

Overview

• The World of Jesus of Nazareth• Christianity in the first century

– The conversion of the gentiles: St. Paul

• The unification of Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries– Irenaeus and the Gnostics

• Imperial Policy and Christianity• Why did Christianity Spread?

The World of Jesus of Nazareth

• Jesus lived in Galilee and practiced Judaism throughout his life

• The Jews had a reputation in the ancient world as an extremely religious people

• Religion permeated every aspect of their culture• They dedicated all of their victories to Yahweh• Key aspect of their religion was the notion of a

chosen people; this doctrine essentially separated them from all other nations or tribes

The World of Jesus of Nazareth• Judea was almost constantly in a state of unrest from

1000 BCE to 135 CE; prophesies of an apocalypse were fairly common

• Christianity would assume and emphasize the apocalyptic strands of ancient Judaism

• Because the Jews came into contact with the many other cultures that attacked and sometimes conquered them, they began to assimilate ideas on the immortality of the soul, particularly from the Persian Zoroastrian religion– Daniel 12:2, written around 163 BCE refers to ideas of

heaven, hell, and purgatory

The World of Jesus of Nazareth

• Belief in the coming of a messiah was a fundamental aspect of the ancient Jewish faith; there were essentially two varieties of messiah envisioned– A great human leader, descendant of David, would unite the

tribes of Israel and usher in a golden age

– A supernatural leader, the Son of Man (c.f. Daniel), would destroy the enemies of Israel and conduct last judgement

• The Essenes were an ascetic community of Jews who lived in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah; they were critical of King Herod and the Sadducees (the rabbis who maintained the Temple)

The World of Jesus of Nazareth

• Our knowledge of the Essene community improved dramatically after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s

• It is highly likely that Jesus was influenced by the Essenes through his relationship with John the Baptist, who may have been a member of their community for a brief time

• Christianity would adopt the ascetic tone of Essene life

The Life of Jesus• Probably born around 4 BC• May have learned carpentry trade from his father• A man from a rural society comes to the city and instructs

rabbis– Last four years of his life comprise his ministry– Baptized around 28 CE by John– Probably antagonistic toward the wealthy and powerful

• Crucified by his enemies around 32 CE– Combination of Roman and Jewish enemies but the act

of crucifixion was almost certainly completed by the Romans

Jesus Relationship to his Contemporaries

• Clearly had core followers: the apostles• Alienated several groups of Jews

– Sadducees, who denied immortality of the soul– Pharisees, who emphasized strict adherence to

dietary laws and other Jewish customs– Zealots, who advocated armed struggle against

Rome• Emphasized

– Love of fellow man– The infinite mercy of God

Disputed Events

• Virgin birth– Mentioned in Matthew and Luke– Never mentioned by Paul in his letters

• The trial and execution of Jesus– Who executed Jesus

• The resurrection

Evaluating Our Sources

• Gospels are our main sources– No attempt at unbiased reporting

– Difficult to accept several episodes based on common experience

• Gospels– The first Gospel (Mark) was written around 70 CE after the

sack of Jerusalem by the Romans

– The other gospels were written during the next forty years

– Written for the purpose of sustaining communities of believers

– Influenced heavily by oral traditions

The Synoptic Gospels

• Significant agreement• Common Sources

– Mark: 661 verses• 606 of them are in Matthew• 350 of them appear in Luke virtually verbatim• only 31 verses in Mark have no parallel in the other two• reputed to be from interviews with St. Peter and argued to

be the oldest of the synoptic accounts– Matthew contains 1068 verses and Luke contains

1149 verses• they share 250 verses not found in Mark• They contain sayings of Jesus, which Biblical scholars

believe were contained in a lost text now referred to as Q

Christianity in the first centurySt. Peter

• Denies his association with Jesus during trial

• Jesus identifies him as the rock of his church

• Remained in Jerusalem for at least two decades after death of Jesus– A member of the Church headed by James

• Was married

• Eventually executed in Rome

St. Paul

• Born as Saul of Tarsus, a Jew, in Asia Minor town of Tarsus

• Never married• Originally an opponent of Christianity, Paul was a

Pharisee before he converted to Christianity• Took advantage of the ease of travel afforded by

Roman roads and Pax Romana• First person to write parts of what is later to be

called the New Testament– Letters to Christian communities

St. Paul• Originally focused efforts among the Jews – “the lost

sheep”– Jewish communities of the eastern mediterranean– Temples were meeting places, community centers,

that welcomed both Jew and gentile– Antioch was one of Paul first areas of conversion

• Early Christian communities were extremely inclusive– Gatherings focused on a meal that recollected Last

Supper– Gatherings often took place in houses

The Empire During the Pax Romana

Judea at the time of the

Incarnation of Christ

Joseph the carpenter

• Georges de La Tour

Garret Van HanHorst, 1620

Preaching in the TempleLuke 2:40-52

Paolo Veronese,

Baptism of ChristAndrea Verrocchio

c. 1470Matt 3:13Mark 1:9

Qumransite of Dead Sea

Scrollsand

likely site of Essene

Community in Eastern Judea

Giottoc. 1300

Sermon on the Mount Cosimo Roselli, c. 1480, Matthew 5:1

Raising of Lazarus

by Sebastiano del Piomboc. 1530

Travels in year three of his

ministry – 29 – 30 CE

Leonardo’s Last Supper

Duccio di Buoninsegna

Siena, c. 1310

Peter Brueghel, 1617

Pieta, Giovanni Bellini c. 1470

RaphaelTransfiguration of

Jesusearly 1500s

Sermon on the Mount Cosimo Roselli, c. 1480, Matthew 5:1

Why did the emperors persecute Christians?

A. You tell me

B. I do not know

C. Let me look that up

D. I’ll get back to you on that

St. PaulMissionary to the

Gentiles c. 50 CE

as rendered by Massacio c. 1425 CE

Paul’s Missionsc. 48-67 CE

The Four

Evangelists

Gospel of Matthew

• Painting by Rembrandt: c. 1740

• According to Augustinian hypothesis, the first gospel but most modern biblical scholars recognize it as the second

• Some believe it was originally written in Aramaic

IrenaeusBishop of

Lyons c. 180

Constantine The Great

272 – 337 CE

Imperial Coins mid 300s

St. Jerome c. 347-420

St. Paul• Gradually came to the conclusion that

gentiles should be recruited– Need to drop requirements to become a Jew

• Replacement of circumcision by baptism

• Removal of strict dietary laws

• Seeks accommodation with Jerusalem leadership on conversion of gentiles– Temporary agreement based on remuneration to

Jerusalem and party of James– Paul begins to convert gentiles

St. Paul

• Showdown in Antioch 50 AD• Paul begins his 15 year mission throughout the

eastern Mediterranean and eventually Rome• Focuses efforts on urban areas

– Ephesus– Corinth– Rome

• Strong reception among upwardly mobile members of the middle class

St. Paul• Letters used to manage long-term relationships with

congregations throughout the Mediterranean• Emphasized the immanent arrival of God's kingdom

on earth– This rhetoric disturbed political elite– Coincided with the unsettling of political order in

Jerusalem– Paul decides to return to Jerusalem c. 61 CE– Arrested as revolutionary– Executed in 67 CE, a few years after Peter and

James: 64 CE

Christianity in the First Century

• During the early 60s CE the leaders of the Jesus movement (James, Peter, Paul) were executed by Romans

• Between 66 and 70 CE, the Romans fought a war against several rival groups of Jewish revolutionaries; at the end of this period a huge exodus occurred often associated with the term diaspora

• Biblical scholars believe that the Jerusalem uprising and the execution of the generation of Jesus’s contemporaries prompted the writing of the gospel of Mark (c. 70), Matthew (c. 85), and Luke (c. 100)

The Consolidation of Authority During the Second Century

• The establishment of the New Testament Canon– More than four dozen gospels recounted the life of Jesus of

Nazareth during the late second century

– Many of these contradicted one another and led to the splintering of Christianity into various sects

– Several bishops sought to limit the proliferation of gospels

– Irenaeus of Lyons argued that the canonical gospels had a single author: God

– His opinion became the orthodox position of the ecclesiastical hierarchy by the Council of Nicaea, 325 CE

The Consolidation of Authority

• The Institutionalization of the episcopal office– Bishops clearly established in the early second

century– Elections followed by laying on of hands by another

bishop or apostle– Emergence of metropolitans and patriarchs

established a hierarchy of episcopal authority• 4 in the east (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria,

Constantinople)

• 1 in the west (Rome)

Gnosticism

• A form of Christianity that arose during the second century

• Gnostic beliefs varied widely; however, they agreed that Christianity had within its various gospels secret knowledge that one could not obtain through the normal channels of the church governed by bishops

• Gnostics encouraged their followers to interpret the gospels on a figurative rather than a purely literal level; in this way gnostic interpretations varied dramatically from the ideas of the ecclesiastical hierarchy

Imperial Policy Toward Christianity in the First Century

• Nature of Early Christianity– A proliferation of sects– Easily seen as a group of Jews

• Prior to 100 CE, Christians appear to fall under the protections afforded Jews– Exception under Nero

• As more Gentiles convert, dislike of Christians intensifies– failure to do civic duty: to perform emperor

worship and attend temples of local deities

Early Encounters with Imperial Policy

• Pliny – Governor in Syria– Letter to the Emperor in early 2nd century– Doesn't know what to make of Christians

• The martyrdom of Perpetua– A young woman dies for the Christian cause in

Carthage– Early 3rd century– She described the events in her diary– Refusal do pay homage to the emperor– Joyful coming to Christ

Why did Christianity Spread?

• Book religion with a rich tradition attracted the disillusioned and literate elite of Rome

• Evangelization was inherent in the Christian culture from the beginning

• Martyrs impressed contemporaries with their courage• Christianity contained rituals and traditions that became

increasingly familiar to those who had experienced Neo-Platonism and Mithraism

• The hierarchical structure of the Church and the ritual meal of the Eucharist solidified Christian communities

Summary

• Between the life of Jesus and the end of the second century, Christianity transformed from a sect of Judaism to one of several mystery religions spreading throughout the Empire

• Increasingly persecuted for their failure to worship the Emperor, Christians found faith in their communities, which often embraced a wide array of beliefs

• Gradually during the second century, leaders of the Church, such as Irenaeus, sought to limit the heterodoxy of various Christian communities