Recently a popular blogger — let's call him Rabbi Ben — zinged the scholarship of a man we shall call Rabbi Rob. R. Ben claimed R. Rob did not "understand the difference between Judaism prior to the two Jewish wars in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. and later Mishnaic and Talmudic Judaism." He helpfully provided a syllabus.
Actually, neither man is a rabbi. (Sorry.) Ben Witherington is a Methodist New Testament scholar, and Rob Bell a rising Michigan megapastor. Yet each regards sources like the Mishnah and Rabbi Akiva as vital to understanding history's best-known Jew: Jesus.
This is seismic. For centuries, the discipline of Christian "Hebraics" consisted primarily of Christians cherry-picking Jewish texts to support the traditionally assumed contradiction between the Jews — whose alleged dry legalism contributed to their fumbling their ancient tribal covenant with God — and Jesus, who personally embodied God's new covenant of love. But today seminaries across the Christian spectrum teach, as Vanderbilt University New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine says, that "if you get the [Jewish] context wrong, you will certainly get Jesus wrong."
The shift came in stages: first a brute acceptance that Jesus was born a Jew and did Jewish things; then admission that he and his interpreter Paul saw themselves as Jews even while founding what became another faith; and today, recognition of what the Rev. Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus, calls Jesus' passionate dedication "to Jewish ideas of his day" on everything from ritual purity to the ideal of the kingdom of God — ideas he rewove but did not abandon.
What does this mean, practically? At times the resulting adjustment seems simple. For example, Bell thinks he knows the mysterious words Jesus wrote in the dust while defending the adulteress ("He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone," etc.). By Bell's calculation, that showdown occurred at the same time as religious Jews' yearly reading of the prophet Jeremiah's warning that "those who turn from [God] will be written in the dust because they have forsaken [him]." Thus Jesus wrote the crowd's names to warn that their lack of compassion alienated their (and his) God.
A trickier revision for readers involves Paul's Letter to the Romans, forever a key Christian text on sin and Christ's salvific grace. Yet this reading necessitates skipping over what seems like extraneous material in Chapters 9 through 11, which are about the Jews. Increasingly, says Jason Byassee, an editor at the Christian Century,, scholars now read Romans through those chapters, as a musing by a lifelong Jew on how God can fulfill his biblical covenant with Israel even if it does not accept His son. Byassee the theologian agrees. But as a Methodist pastor, he frets that Romans "is no longer really about Gentile Christians. How do you preach it?"
That's not a frivolous query. Ideally, the reassessment should increase both Jewish-Christian amity and gospel clarity, things that won't happen if regular Christians feel that in rediscovering Jesus the Jew, they have lost Christ. Yet Bell finds this particular genie so logically powerful that he has no wish to rebottle it. Once in, he says, "you're in deep. You're hooked. 'Cause you can't ever read it the same way again."
The Wolf and the Lamb: The Rise of Anti-Semitism
An Antropological Approach to the Events of the First Century that gave rise to the development of western culture as we know it. From the Roman conquest of the middle East to the embrace of Jewish theological concepts and their distortion to oppress the masses and hold the empire together.
Excerpt from the Wolf and the Lamb:
During the first century of the Common Era Judaism existed in various forms; the Perushim, Zadukim, Essekim, the rebels known as 'Kanaim' or Zealots and in the coast land a group of Galileans and Nazarites became the sect of 'the Way.' These followers of the Nazarean rabbi, Yehoshua Ha Natzri known as 'Jesus,' were Jews faithful to what is known as Biblical Judaism of that time. Dr. Laurence Schiffman of New York University feels that out of the many Jewish groups of the First Century, 'some of them fed into Rabbinical Judaism and others to Christianity, while the rest died off' (PBS Frontline-From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians, 1998).
To study the rise of antisemitism an anthropological approach must be pursued, it is necessary forus to learn about the cultural diversity of Ancient Israel, before and after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. As theories of how antisemitism came about are developed by many authors claim that the Gospel writers were Antisemetic, others that editors of the same were Antisemetic, or that even Jesus (who was raised under phareseical influence) was antisemetic himself. These theories come as historians asess original Christianity according to modern day Jewish standards. On the other hand recently scholars have uncovered that Jesus and his disciples were part of the Jewish civilization, and never separated from Israel as a nation. As Jews they were subjugated and persecuted by the Roman Empire in the same way than the rest of their countrymen. It is undeniable that this community of Jews has had an strong historic impact in the values and beliefs of millions of people of many nations throughout the centuries...
Roots of Anti-Semetism
Anti-Semitism is defined as a hostility or hatred toward the Jews (Stein 67). To understand the rise of this prejudice; the biblical Judaisms of the "Second Temple Period" have to be studied. The people know as the Jews, conceived of as a whole should be considered by their culture, which is defined both as a universal capacity and a propensity for social learning, thinking, and acting (Stein 353). Their religion is a particular adaptation to the local conditions, which takes the form of highly variable beliefs and practices. To understand the sociological setting of the Jewish identity Shaye Cohen proposes a definition that sees the Jews (Judeans) of antiquity as an ethnos; that is, an ethnic group. "Jews were a specified group and were recognized as directly or indirectly connected and attached to a specific territory. Jews shared a sense of both a communal and unique history, and possessed one or more distinctive characteristics. An ethnic community shares a sense of common origins, claims a common and distinctive history, possesses one or more distinctive characteristics, and feels a sense of collective uniqueness and solidarity"(Gutierrez 24). Valerius Maximus a Roman writer of the first Century B.C.E., "charges the Jews with having attempted "to contaminate Roman beliefs by foisting upon them the worship of Jupiter Sabazio...the praetor Hisoalous expelled the Jews for that reason as early as 139 B.C.E. (Radin 255). This probes that, we are only aware about their experiences as documented by their competing institutions within their society. In the midst of oppression they worked to balance out or create an equilibrium in the social system to keep it functioning harmoniously, that is why the Romans did not eradicate the established order in Israel, but manipulated it for their benefit. Examining how their society functioned creates a picture of what the emperors' relations to the Jews was and how it changed according to the ruler , we know that Philo was sent by the Jews of Alexandria to head a delegation to the Emperor Gaius(Caligula) regarding the mistreatment of Jews (Gregavious 30). The religious institutions in relation to other social institutions can be compared with the religious beliefs and practices across cultures. The literal claims of the Jewish religion can be appreciated by its metaphorical meaning or latent social functions, but a greater issue was at stake, it can be deduced that the charismatic movements in the first century brought about an unbalance of the concessions already made for survival. Their devotion for ancients ideals gave rise to resentment which in part brought about immediate attempts to destroy them. Even though the "ancient political, demographic and social realities. As far as politics is concerned (brought about) the empowerment of certain Jewish elites... (which imposed) limits on the acceptable variety (of second temple Judaism) (Schwartz 10). Conflicting theologies were developed by factions who became the five branches of first Century Judaism; the Perushim, Tzadukim, Essekim, the rebels known as "the Zealots" and in the coast land a group of Galileans and Nazarites became the sect of "the Way." These followers of the Nazarean rabbi, known as "Jesus," were Jews faithful to what is known as Biblical Judaism of that time, until later converts reinterpreted their teachings to devalue Torah observance and connection to the Jewish nation (Gutierrez 2). Dr. Laurence Schiffman of New York University feels that these groups, with their trends, fed into Rabbinical Judaism and others to Christianity and others died off...(Briggs, 1998). Romans predicated their government on secular principles without prohibiting the inhabitants of their vast empire to practice the diverse forms of spirituality or religion. Romans watched them closely, seeing if their faith in God ever affected their allegiance to Caesar. Dr. Kenneth G. Holum Professor of History of the University of Maryland conveys that the Romans new the power of religion. He feels that Herod the Great (a Half Jew from Idumea, common day Jordan) allied himself with Marc Anthony and Octavian to gain his prominent position. Mr. Holum also notes that his first act of allegiance was to make sacrifices to the Roman gods (Ross, 1996). Another tactic utilized to keep the peace and gather Jewish support was the reconstruction of the Temple. To study and interpret the cultural diversity of Israel before its destruction, many sources need to be considered, such as the writers of the time who convey that many things were taking place before and after the New Testament was being written. They also discuss how it provided an account of a particular sub-culture, that lived within Jewish society, and their community had an historical impact that can be corroborated by other sources. Many assumptions have been made by scholars throughout the centuries, which are expounded by Juan Marcos Gutierrez in his book Neither Jews nor Christians, arguing that early Christians of Jewish descent suffered from Anti-Semitic intolerance from Gentile Christian leaders as much as other Jews did. This being true, they should be included in the study of the rise of anti-Semitism, even if there was antagonism from Pharisaical rabbinical sages, who also disagreed with the Zealots and Essenes, but did not pronounce a curse on all of them until they were almost eradicated during the second destruction of Jerusalem in 132. Gregorovius wrote "From that time (Caligula's reign) the Christian mysteries had made their way into Rome, Jews and Christians (who) were regarded as a common sect, and the fact that the Christians were for the most part of Jewish origin favored the confusion" (Gregorovius 32-33). Within Christian circles it is considered that the man commonly know as Jesus,Yehoshua Ha Natzri, came in the spirit of Jeremiah seeking spiritual, not political redemption. Historical evidence conveys that the principles of righteousness attributed to him, had political connotations. According to Trude Weiss-Rossmarin, the gospel writers took over the Hebrew messianic doctrine in its entirety, and then reinterpreted it to fit Jesus and his precursor (Weiss-Rossmarin109). His mentor Yochahannan "the immerser" was a Nazarite prophet who shared with the Essenes total discontent about the establishment. According to Josephus: "He (John) was a good man, exhorted by the Jews to lead righteous lives, practice justice towards one another and piety towards God, and so join in baptism. In his view this was a necessary preliminary if baptism was acceptable by God. They must not use it to gain pardon for whatever sins they committed, but as a consecration of the body, implying that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by right behavior "(Wilson 166). One of the main concepts of Yehoshua's followers was the Brit Ha Olam (Everlasting covenant) taken from Jeremiah 31. The covenant conveyed powerful messianic language that claimed their legitimacy as redeemers to the point of having the charismatic zeal of God to reclaim Israel and Judah and all that all the promises of restoration would be fulfilled though them in a miraculous way.This the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know the LORD'; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. (JPS Yermiyah 31:33-34 ) This message took hold of the disenfranchised, who struggled to keep up with the regulations of the Tzadukim and Ezekim. We can therefore find great numbers among the poor who gathered themselves to Jewish Christians. Indeed, in the second century, various expressions of Jewish Christianity were often labeled under the one term of "Ebionism." "The word Ebion reflects the Hebrew word meaning poor" (Clifton 39). It seems that the oppressed of Jerusalem made the Jewish Christians something quite easy to attach themselves because they furthered their political aspirations of freedom and independence (Gutierrez 105). Its important to note that Catholics still consider Ebionism a heresy, this animosity is not only directed to Jewish Christians who have different beliefs, it is prejudicial toward their Torah observance. This conveys that stereotypes of Jewish practice are still held by official Catholic doctrine (Clifton 368). The "Book of Acts" claims that the charismatic message of restoration among the followers of "The Way" took hold of thousands of Jews from all factions, and was sanctioned by God with diverse miracles and apparitions. Strangely enough Toldot Yeshu testifies to the degree of influence the Jewish Christians obtained in Judea:"The trouble increased more and more for thirty years, when the Jewish Christians, having increased to thousands and myriads, prohibited the Israelites from coming to the greater festivals in Jerusalem...Some of the Israelites followed them, and these being high men of high authority strengthened the Jeshuitic faith; and because they gave themselves out to be apostles of him who was hanged the great body of the Israelites followed them." (Gutierrez 112).According to Josephus, Jacob Bar Yosseff, or know in the west as "James the Just," who took leadership of the Jerusalem Church had the hasmonean tradition a priestly and royal leadership of both the religious sect and in turn a political party which opposed the Sadducees (Gutierrez 111). The Gentiles interest in Judaism needs to be taken into account for their movement to develop, since Nazarean Judaism was not a distinct religion at this time. It is safe to assume that the Gentiles who converted, converted to a liberal Judaic sect and not another religion. Jewish relations with the Gentiles were different all around the empire and some other Jewish groups did not make circumcision a litmus test for joining the house of Israel, Josephus distinguishes between those who are Jews and those who, without actually becoming Jews, worshipped the God of Israel."But no need wonder that there was so much wealth in our Temple, for all the Jews throughout the habitable world, and those who worshipped God even those from Asia and Europe, had been contributing to it for a very long time" (Josephus 4:126-158). Also, there are some limited examples, as recorded by Philo of Alexandria, which may lend some credence to the belief that among some Jews, circumcision was not the definitive event validating conversion (Gutierrez 157). The rise of James, the brother of Jesus, to the position of principal leadership of the early Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem is not well documented in the Books of Acts, but there is a noteworthy tradition of this ascension to power in the writings of the church historian Eusebius. Writing in the fourth century, Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (2.1.2-5) records that: "After the ascension of the savior, Peter, James, and John did not claim pre-eminence because the savior had specially honored them, but chose James the Just as Bishop of Jerusalem."Catholic claims of the prominence of Peter are suspicious, especially as him being the "Apostle to the Jews" He had no reason to go to Rome, and if he did it is difficult to believe that his disciples would have so little disregard for Jewish Christians and so much hatred toward every other Jew (Butler 90). The origins of Anti-Semitism in the church came early as there was debates about when Easter should be celebrated, originally was the same day as Passover, (Carroll 145) The influence of the Romans changed the Holy Day to the spring equinox. A uniquely anti-Semitic gospel was edited by Marcion who wanted to strip away anything that was connected to Judaism. According to Hemut Koester of Harvard Divinity School "He felt that the Apostle Paul had the true Gospel. He decided to purify it from whatever was Jewish" (Koester 27). However, the Roman church, not being as biased as people think, disapproved of his ideas. They felt that the older and more reliable gospels should be included in their tradition, especially Mathew that could have possibly been written in Hebrew (Butler 365). Church leaders did not declare their decision official until the third and fourth century. Anti-Semitism was so attached to Roman culture that Christian Gentiles, who preached equality, could not get over the Jewish identity of some of Jesus' followers. For example Justin Martyr in the second century wrote: "But if they, because of the weakness of their minds, desire to keep such of Moses as are now possible... and choose to live with Christians and believers, as I said before, without persuading them either to receive circumcision like themselves, or keep Sabbath, or to observe other things of the same kind- I declare that we must fully receive such, and have communion with them in all respects, as being of one family and as brothers" ( Sib. Or, 4-23-39 )This Catholic Saint laid down arguments that became the cornerstone of future anti-Israelism (Gutierrez 172). Not long after the First Militant Church Father Iraneaus, who experienced persecution in France under the Romans, as he witnessed how 50-70 people were slaughtered in public, brought about a staunch persecution of dissenters toward his mainstream views. He despised dissent so much that he called everyone an agent of Satan (a common charge issused toward Jews through out the centuries). In 167 B.C.E Melito, Bishop of Sardis, brought the first recorded charge of "deicide" against Jewish people (Carrol 622). Once heresy is made a capital crime in 363 B.C.E., Jewish people became one of the main victims, by 387, Ambrose, the same who baptized Constantine allied himself theoretically with John Chrysostom and the next year he incited people to burn a synagogue and manipulated the emperor not to rebuild it (Carrol 206). Augustine writing about Jews in his time, was also influential his treatise in the Adversos Judeous genre and in book 4 of The City of God, he expressed Christian contempt against Jews, blaming their decendants forever for the death of Christ (Gilbert 6). St. Augustine is generally held as the must influential of the Fathers of the Christian Church, specially because of his work on Christian Doctrine in which "he provides the fundamental plan of Christian culture"(Robertson ix). The other two Anti-Semetic Church Fathers have lesser recognition, St. Ambrose is only considered the protector of bees and domestic animals, however St. John Chrysostom was named by Pope Pius X in 1908 as the patron of all preachers.
Repercussion of Medieval Catholic Doctrine Based on New Testament Imagery
Synanogue-John Singer Sargent
Jewish Bondage in the Roman Empire
The biggest critique of the Romans by Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the disregard for human life; their culture of death was expressed by the different types of bondage. Bondage is defined as "slavery or involuntary servitude; the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control, as well as the state or practice of being physically restrained" (Random house). The trauma of occupation was not only exemplified by the restrictions and taxation, but the indiscriminant use and abuse of the subjects as well. "A complex and drawn out revolution changed the Roman Republic into an empire ruled by the Caesars... Rome's new business class, numerous and rich, was eager for share of the ruling class's power and privilege...wars social upheavals, and the problems of administration and organization made the Romans increasingly restive "(Meltzer 127). These factors allowed a society to trade people as forms of commodity all of which were prisoners from the many wars that broke out unpredictably and irregularly. Meltzer analyses slavery in the Roman era by discussing the abuse of the conquered people,who "legally...belonged to the roman state, but the power of decision was placed in the hands of each field commander. He killed his prisoners or sold them, as he saw fit. Enslaved people could be given to the state as public slaves, hand them as booty for soldiers, ransom them to their families or put them up for public auction using the money for public works" (Meltzer 27). As the dominant power found profit in its enemies, they did not only humiliated them, but used them to make the empire grow, to what some scholars believe to be the greatest development in the history of civilization. Historically Jewish bondage goes back to the times of Moses in Egypt, but reliable records begin uring the time when the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar II, captured Jerusalem in 597 B.C.; in that instance, 3000 Hebrews were enslaved (Meltzer 37). Pompey when he conquered Jerusalem appears to have brought the first Jewish slaves to Rome (Gregorivus 26). In 67 B.C.E, when the Temple was destroyed by Titus, more than 30,000 Jews were enslaved (Sicker 154), And during Rome's war with Jews (the Bar Kobcha Revolt) a total of 97,000 Jews were sold as slaves (Meltzer 106). Slavery was commonplace within the Jewish culture; they allowed it among their ranks with some adjustments compared to other nations. Meltzer writes, "nothing seems to have stopped enslavement, however. Realizing that they could not destroy an institution so deeply woven into economic and social fabric of the ancient world, the Hebrew priest-lawmakers tried to lighten the burden of slavery" (Meltzer 39). Hebrew bondservants were not permanently bound; they were allowed freedom after a set amount of time based on the Leviticus exhortation. There were ancient reformers within the Jewish civilization such as Philo of Alexandria, the Hellenistic Jew who asked fellow Jews to behave well toward their slaves showing compassion, so that they would be rewarded in return. He also wrote about the Essenes "There is not a single slave among them, but they are all free, serving one another; they condemn masters not only for representing a system of unrighteousness in opposition to that of equality, but as personifications of wickedness in that violate a law of nature which made us brethren, created alike" (Meltzer 40-43). The whole Jewish community residing in Judea, as well as in the rest of the empire, was bound to Roman oppression. They were subjected to an involuntary servitude as a nation becoming a victim of all kinds of injustices. Romans controlled everything and placed restrictions in all their practices as well as ways of living. The overall plight of the conquered people can be put into perspective when the amount of slaves within the empire is assessed. Edward Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire states that at the time of Claudius (41-54 B.C.E.) there were as many slaves as free men (Meltzer 128). At the same time, crimes against the empire such as murder, treason, robbery, arson, and sacrilege deserved death in the arena, creating gladiators out of prisoners. Their brutality was with out measure, Titus, the same person who conquered Jerusalem, when he inaugurated the coliseum had 5000 animals to such as panthers, apes, ostriches, giraffes, crocodiles, etc. fighting against each other or performing circus acts to brake the monotony of human death (Meltzer 167,170). Some Romans wanted better treatment of slaves because they saw bondage as a violation of the law of nature. The begging of the modern era brought some reforms to the conditions of slaves within the Roman Empire. The unjust system that legislated the following: "if a slave, treated like an animal, struck back and killed his master, the law demanded the lives of all the household slaves" (Meltzer 177), brought about human right advancements to the slaves such as how emperor Vespian (69-79 B.C.E.) stopped the selling of slaves for prostitution. Then Domitian (81-96 B.C.E.) banned the mutilation of slaves, Hadrian (117-138 B.C.E.) extended the physical protection of slaves, closed private prisons, and stopped the killing of slaves unless by judicial authority. The next emperor Antonius Pius (138-161 B.C.E.) made owners liable for the murder of slaves and Diocletian (285-305 B.C.E.) forbade the exposure of infant slaves (Meltzer 138). Even though these developments took place, the plight of slaves went on for centuries affecting them in every aspect of their lives, "incapable of confronting their enemies by bold offense, they fortified themselves behind the strongest and saddest weapon of misery...Their power to endure-albeit through slavery the Jews have grown more servile than other slaves..."(Gregorovius 25). One reason that the unlikely Jewish based movement of the Nazareans succeeded was because of their religious anthropology which proclaimed the concept of every person being made in "the image of God" (Frymer-Kensky 334). Their message gave value to people in a society that was full of slaves. Even though that was the original premise, the more Roman, Christianity became, the more the empire's injustices were translated to the new world order which was established to save the Roman Empire now having the heretics (Jews included) as the enemy. Before that time "Jewish slaves existed in the third and fourth centuries...if his master was pagan, a religious duty devolved upon all Jews, and particularly the local synagogue to redeem him" (Radin 364). In the year 339 Emperor Constantious II in conjunction with the Holy Roman Church decreed that a Jew could not posses a Christian slave: "If any one among the Jews has purchased a slave of another sect or nation, that slave shall at once be appropriated for the imperial treasury" (Meltzer 223). This Anti-Semitic sentiment is ironic, because the religion professed by Christians was originally developed by a group of Jews, and now it was being used against them and to help the empire profit from slavery.
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Based on Counter-Reformation Catholic Book Which Represents Jewish Establishment as Demonic
Caiphas-Mel Gibson's Motion Picture
Persecution and Extermination
As prejudice and war raged against Jews a systematic persecution developed. Persecution is defined as the program or campaign to exterminate, drive away, or subjugate a people because of their religion, race, or beliefs (Stein 1074). Nazareans and other Jews shared the same persecutions, in 51 Claudius expelled all of them from the city of Rome (Gregorivous 33). In Judea, the Pharisees persecuted Nazareans as heretical toward their traditions, the Saduccees Rome's allies went after every group that did not vow to their authority. A backlash from devoted Jews came about as the Zealots hated everyone they considered allied to Rome, and the Essenes were ready to go to war with children of darkness or the idolaters. Every group with military or political power persecuted the weaker group. The messianic expectations under the occupation and exile were great, but greater was the reality that redemption from oppresion was not near. Classical Persecution against Jews, came about because Jewish Culture and customs were different from other groups, and Jewish law demanded monotheism and separation, "Jews were persecuted for not behaving like the majority group "(Gilbert 6). Jerusalem's fall was an example of Rome's resolve to stop dissention among the Jews. Josephus vividly accounts"
They (the Romans) blocked the narrow streets with corpses, deluging the whole city with gore...at dusk the slaughter ceased, but in the night the fire gained mastery, and on the 8th of Gorpaios (roughly our September) the sun rose over Jerusalem in flames...(Wilson 165).
The aftermath of the destruction of the temple and the second Jewish revolt brought about apocalyptic literature which corrolates with the Book of Revelation: such as 2nd Baruch. In 132, Jews heard that Emperor Hadrian would rebuild the temple and put a statue of Jupiter, which stirred up the Bar Cochba revolt. According to Dr. Michael White of the University of Texas, Austin” The self conscious apocalyptic and messianic identity of Bar Cobha forces the issue for the Christian community, from at that point we see the full fleshed separation of Jewish Tradition and Christian Tradition” (From Jesus to Christ: The first Christians) The separation of Jewish identities created a divide among the followers of James on one side and on the other the Sanhedrin. According to rabbinic lore, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai secured the Jewish survival by the establishment of an academy at Yavneh. Toward the end of the siege against Jerusalem, Rabban Zakkai requested permission from the Roman general Vespasian to establish a school whose purpose would be to ensure the continuation of Jewish scholarship and learning for future generations. Amazingly, Vespasian consented to the sage’s supplication...With Vespasian’s approval; Zakkai served as the chief architect of Post-Temple Judaism and ensured the definitive establishment of Pharisaism as the sole Jewish expression of the future at Yavneh. "The creation of this center of Post-Temple Judaism served as a revitalization of the authority previously exercised by the Sanhedrin. Yavneh was declared the center of the High Court; several decrees were made defining both the nature of the High Court’s authority and the definition of Jewish orthodoxy" (Gutierrez). According to the tenth-century patriarch Eutychius...Judeo Christians ' returned to Jerusalem in the fourth year of the Emperor Vespian (i.e. 73 AD) and built there their church (Wilson 166).
The Talmud states:
“Simeon Hapakuli arranged the Eighteen Benedictions in their proper order in the presence of Rabban Gamaliel at Yavneh. Said Rabban Gamaliel to the Sages: is there anyone that can formulate the Birkat haMinim (i.e. a malediction against sectarians and heretics) up rose Samuel the Lesser and recited it.” (Klausner 50-51)
The label of Birkat HaMinim a malediction toward Nazarean communities could have been not only discriminatory but political; it was eminent that the hated charismatic movements within Judaism would receive persecution from the official Knesset as they parted ways from Jerusalem. "Any study concerning the exclusionary measures enacted by emerging rabbinic leadership against sectarians at the end of the first century CE must take into account the complexity of the various Judaisms at this time” (Gutierrez 138) Biblical traditions and practices were being adapted in a variety of forms in response to changing conditions. The tension between Jewish Christians and their rabbinic counterparts is clear, specially as the relatives of Jesus established a competing power structure against the Sanhedrin. “Simeon son of Cleopas, who is recorded to have succeeded James, brother of Jesus, as head of the Jerusalem Judeo-Christian community...(they)continued Jesus and James' own David bloodline, there apparently having followed thirteen bishops of Jerusalem, some also with the same blood-line"(Wilson p.168). The persecution of James by the sanhedrin was a crucial point in history.Josephus wrote:
"And these things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, for the Jews killed him in spite of his great righteousness." That Ananus the high priest might have attacked against James as part of a conspiracy against the leader of a "People’s Party" "the people’s high regard for James as demonstrated by his martyrdom does testify to the considerable stature and influence of early Jewish Christianity”(Gutierrez 128). Martyrdom was a heroic virtue that both Jews and Christian respected going back to the Hebrew prophets; Akiba's martyrdom is still held in high esteem among Jewish circles to this day. Better recorded are the martyrdoms of Nazarean Jews and Gentile Christians, the Book of Mathew in chapter five attributes persecution as the proper outcome of their commitment to his Yehoshua’s message. A leader of a Roman province Bithynia, Pleni wrote to the emperor after executing Christians: “(I only spared) those who denied and gave adoration to your image and sang to the gods, I think I handled it correctly we don’t want to set a bad precedent,” (White, 1998)
At first being considered a part of Judaism, they were protected by the legal status of tradition within the Roman system. But the relationship changed as Christianity became less connected to their Jewish heritage. Different groups assimilated for survival and it was clearly somewhat easier for the Gentile Christians. this makes Ian Wilson infer that:
"in view of the intense wave of anti-Jewish feeling across the Roman Empire in the wake of the Revolt (Second Jewish Revolt)...this was almost certainly why the gospels of Jesus that have survived were edited and adapted to a Gentile standpoint, with Jesus' association with the Jewish people deliberately down played and attention deflected from the activities of those Jewish Christians led by James and his successors" (Wilson p.168).
By the year 250, Christianity became a state within the state, as the empire was loosing control over the people. It can be inferred that as the broken Roman Empire searched for a new way to control masses, especially as they were fighting other kingdoms on every side. The Roman General who worshiped Apollo took advantage of the situation, by joining the ranks of Christianity. He relocated the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, where he was able to control and consolidate the church making it an imperial establishment and a major force to be reckoned with. Constantine gathered church leaders in the Nicean Council (325 B.C.E.) which brought about the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church and provided the pope with the "power...over all the Christian princes and all peoples...” and allowed him to excommunicate whomever contradict him (Butler 308). Emperor Constantine as the pope’s right hand man, was able to go to Jerusalem in 335 and claim it as a Christian Shrine (Carrol 624) After Constantine's death, in 361-3 Roman Emperor Julian (the Apostate) the last non-Christian emperor, as a backlash against Christianity, allowed Jews to rebuild the Temple. Nonetheless, his work ended when he was assasinated (Gilbert VI). It was too late to stop the empire and the church from being Anti-Semitic and supersecionist, as they enacted a law which forbade Jews to convert Christians to Judaism. Soon after in 363 B.C.E., heresy became a capital crime (Meltzer 223), and Theodosius the Great (379-395 B.C.E.) forbade the building of synagogues and permitted their destruction. Honorarius (395-423) his successor, reaffirmed the existing laws against Jews and heretics" (Pugliese 15). Through the different councils the institutional church became more and more militant against people who differed in their interpretation of scripture. The Roman Church persecuted not only Rabbinical Jews and Nazarean Jews but Middle Eastern churches. The Coptic Church by 320 had a majority of the Egyptian population in its ranks, is interesting to note that their traditions have Hebraic connotations such as: wearing leather crosses, small prayer books and the priests wear kippa like hats. One hundred years later in 414-415 Alexandrian Jewish communities were attacked by those same Christians, later they themselves became one of the first Christian targets by the most radical leader of the Roman Church, Pope Leo "the Great" (440-461) who J.W.C. Wand considers to be "one of the greatest of all ecclesiastical statesmen, and has been called the Father of Papacy" (Wand 237). Leo in his epistles referred to the (Egyptian) pope as “that Egyptian plunderer," and "preacher of the devil's errors,” who tried to force his "villainous blasphemies" on his brethren. (Malaty p.73)
In summation, the universal models of human behavior can explain that disregard for human life brought about resentment to opposing views and power struggles gave rise to systematic eradication of the enemy. Other later developments impacted the history of Jewish civilization, such as how in 429 the "Roman authorities abolish the position of nasi (patriarch of president of the Sanhedrin), and divided the council in two, Jewish communities of Palestine become poorer and poorer, and the center of rabbinical authority shifted to Babylon (Gilbert VI). This had great repercussions, until then the Patriarch had the right to nominate the chief officers of the different Jewish communities, and was the supreme judge in all religious matters" (Parkes 11). When the Christian Emperors made these changes, a more hostile attitude developed against anything Jewish. In 590 Gregory I (the Great) become pope, began the tradition of defending Jews, especially against forced conversions (Carrol 624). It seems that a host of other factors such as the 574-594 plague which killed most of population of Europe, gave the imperial church more reasons to use the Jews as a scapegoat and to demonize them when ever it became politically convenient. The few times they showed human policies towards them, it seems to correlate to the time thy emperors enacted laws that benefited slaves, which were passed to garner support from their subjects and in turn benefit their greater agenda.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carroll, James Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews (New York: Mariner Books 2002)
Clifton, Chas S. Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics (U.S.: Barnes and Noble, 1992)
Eglebert, Omer The Lives of the Saints(England:Penguin Books,1995)
Gibbon, Edward Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (New York: Penguin Books, 2000)
Gilbert, John The Timechart History of the Jewish Civilization (London: Worth Press, 2004).
Glatzer, Nahum N. The Literature of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus(New York: Schocken Books, 1972)
Gregorovius, Ferdinand The Ghetto and the Jews of Rome (New York:Schoken Books, 1948).
Goodman, Martin Jews in a Greaco-Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Goodman, Martin The Ruling Classs of Judaea (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)
Gutierrez, Juan Marcos Neither Jews Nor Christians (Avantine Press, 2004)
J.W.C. Wand A history of the Early Church to A.D. 500, 1965
Klausner, Joseph Jesus of Nazareth (New York:The Macmillian Company: 1943).
Konner, Melvin Unsettled an Antropology of the Jews (New York: Viking Compass, 2003).
Leon, Harry J. The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: JPS, 1960).
Mader, Gottfried Josephus and the Politics of Histography( The Netherlands: Koinklijke Brill NV, 2000).
Malaty, Fr. Tadros Yacoub, Introduction to the Coptic Orthodox Church (Houston: St. Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, 1999)
Meltzer, Milton Slavery: From the Rise of Western Civilization to the Renaissance (Chicago: Dell Publishing Company, 1971)
Painter, John Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition, (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997)
Parkes, James The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue (New York: Atheneum, 1985).
Porton, Gary G. The Stranger within Your Gates: Converts and Conversion in Rabbinic Literature, (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1994).
Pritz, Ray Nazarene Jewish Christianity, Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, 1988).
Pugliese, Stanislao G. The Most Ancient of Minorities (Conneticut: Greenwood Press, 2002)
Radin, Max The Jews among the Greeks and the Romans (Philadelphia: JPS, 1915).
Rajak, Tessa Josephus The Historian and His Society (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 2002)
Roberts A. & J. Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers - Irenaeus- Volume I (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdman”s Publishing Company, 1978).
Robertson, D.W. Jr. Translated by On Christian Doctrine Saint Agustine (New Jersey:Prentice-Hall,1997).
Runia, David T. Philo In Early Christian Literature, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).
Schiffman, Lawrence Who was a Jew? : Rabbinic and Halakhic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism (KTAV: New York, 1985).
Stein, Jess Editor in Chief The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (The Unabridge Edition) (1966 Random House, Inc. New York)
Stevenson, J. A New Eusebius (London: S.P.C.K., 1957).
Taylor, Joan E. The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 1997).
Wilson, Ian Jesus: The Evidence (Washigton DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2000).
Jewish Publication Society :Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia: JPS, 1980).
Documentaries
White, Michael Frontline: From Jesus to Christ: the first Christians (PBS, 1998)
Briggs, Curtis Director Dead Sea Scrolls (Scandinature Films USA Inc. and KBYU Television Salt Lake City/Provo, UT. USA 1998)
Ross, Bram Mysteries of the Bible: "Herod the Great"(Film Ross, INC for A&E Network, 1996)
They (the Romans) blocked the narrow streets with corpses, deluging the whole city with gore...at dusk the slaughter ceased, but in the night the fire gained mastery, and on the 8th of Gorpaios (roughly our September) the sun rose over Jerusalem in flames...(Wilson 165).
The aftermath of the destruction of the temple and the second Jewish revolt brought about apocalyptic literature which corrolates with the Book of Revelation: such as 2nd Baruch. In 132, Jews heard that Emperor Hadrian would rebuild the temple and put a statue of Jupiter, which stirred up the Bar Cochba revolt. According to Dr. Michael White of the University of Texas, Austin” The self conscious apocalyptic and messianic identity of Bar Cobha forces the issue for the Christian community, from at that point we see the full fleshed separation of Jewish Tradition and Christian Tradition” (From Jesus to Christ: The first Christians) The separation of Jewish identities created a divide among the followers of James on one side and on the other the Sanhedrin. According to rabbinic lore, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai secured the Jewish survival by the establishment of an academy at Yavneh. Toward the end of the siege against Jerusalem, Rabban Zakkai requested permission from the Roman general Vespasian to establish a school whose purpose would be to ensure the continuation of Jewish scholarship and learning for future generations. Amazingly, Vespasian consented to the sage’s supplication...With Vespasian’s approval; Zakkai served as the chief architect of Post-Temple Judaism and ensured the definitive establishment of Pharisaism as the sole Jewish expression of the future at Yavneh. "The creation of this center of Post-Temple Judaism served as a revitalization of the authority previously exercised by the Sanhedrin. Yavneh was declared the center of the High Court; several decrees were made defining both the nature of the High Court’s authority and the definition of Jewish orthodoxy" (Gutierrez). According to the tenth-century patriarch Eutychius...Judeo Christians ' returned to Jerusalem in the fourth year of the Emperor Vespian (i.e. 73 AD) and built there their church (Wilson 166).
The Talmud states:
“Simeon Hapakuli arranged the Eighteen Benedictions in their proper order in the presence of Rabban Gamaliel at Yavneh. Said Rabban Gamaliel to the Sages: is there anyone that can formulate the Birkat haMinim (i.e. a malediction against sectarians and heretics) up rose Samuel the Lesser and recited it.” (Klausner 50-51)
The label of Birkat HaMinim a malediction toward Nazarean communities could have been not only discriminatory but political; it was eminent that the hated charismatic movements within Judaism would receive persecution from the official Knesset as they parted ways from Jerusalem. "Any study concerning the exclusionary measures enacted by emerging rabbinic leadership against sectarians at the end of the first century CE must take into account the complexity of the various Judaisms at this time” (Gutierrez 138) Biblical traditions and practices were being adapted in a variety of forms in response to changing conditions. The tension between Jewish Christians and their rabbinic counterparts is clear, specially as the relatives of Jesus established a competing power structure against the Sanhedrin. “Simeon son of Cleopas, who is recorded to have succeeded James, brother of Jesus, as head of the Jerusalem Judeo-Christian community...(they)continued Jesus and James' own David bloodline, there apparently having followed thirteen bishops of Jerusalem, some also with the same blood-line"(Wilson p.168). The persecution of James by the sanhedrin was a crucial point in history.Josephus wrote:
"And these things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, for the Jews killed him in spite of his great righteousness." That Ananus the high priest might have attacked against James as part of a conspiracy against the leader of a "People’s Party" "the people’s high regard for James as demonstrated by his martyrdom does testify to the considerable stature and influence of early Jewish Christianity”(Gutierrez 128). Martyrdom was a heroic virtue that both Jews and Christian respected going back to the Hebrew prophets; Akiba's martyrdom is still held in high esteem among Jewish circles to this day. Better recorded are the martyrdoms of Nazarean Jews and Gentile Christians, the Book of Mathew in chapter five attributes persecution as the proper outcome of their commitment to his Yehoshua’s message. A leader of a Roman province Bithynia, Pleni wrote to the emperor after executing Christians: “(I only spared) those who denied and gave adoration to your image and sang to the gods, I think I handled it correctly we don’t want to set a bad precedent,” (White, 1998)
At first being considered a part of Judaism, they were protected by the legal status of tradition within the Roman system. But the relationship changed as Christianity became less connected to their Jewish heritage. Different groups assimilated for survival and it was clearly somewhat easier for the Gentile Christians. this makes Ian Wilson infer that:
"in view of the intense wave of anti-Jewish feeling across the Roman Empire in the wake of the Revolt (Second Jewish Revolt)...this was almost certainly why the gospels of Jesus that have survived were edited and adapted to a Gentile standpoint, with Jesus' association with the Jewish people deliberately down played and attention deflected from the activities of those Jewish Christians led by James and his successors" (Wilson p.168).
By the year 250, Christianity became a state within the state, as the empire was loosing control over the people. It can be inferred that as the broken Roman Empire searched for a new way to control masses, especially as they were fighting other kingdoms on every side. The Roman General who worshiped Apollo took advantage of the situation, by joining the ranks of Christianity. He relocated the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, where he was able to control and consolidate the church making it an imperial establishment and a major force to be reckoned with. Constantine gathered church leaders in the Nicean Council (325 B.C.E.) which brought about the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church and provided the pope with the "power...over all the Christian princes and all peoples...” and allowed him to excommunicate whomever contradict him (Butler 308). Emperor Constantine as the pope’s right hand man, was able to go to Jerusalem in 335 and claim it as a Christian Shrine (Carrol 624) After Constantine's death, in 361-3 Roman Emperor Julian (the Apostate) the last non-Christian emperor, as a backlash against Christianity, allowed Jews to rebuild the Temple. Nonetheless, his work ended when he was assasinated (Gilbert VI). It was too late to stop the empire and the church from being Anti-Semitic and supersecionist, as they enacted a law which forbade Jews to convert Christians to Judaism. Soon after in 363 B.C.E., heresy became a capital crime (Meltzer 223), and Theodosius the Great (379-395 B.C.E.) forbade the building of synagogues and permitted their destruction. Honorarius (395-423) his successor, reaffirmed the existing laws against Jews and heretics" (Pugliese 15). Through the different councils the institutional church became more and more militant against people who differed in their interpretation of scripture. The Roman Church persecuted not only Rabbinical Jews and Nazarean Jews but Middle Eastern churches. The Coptic Church by 320 had a majority of the Egyptian population in its ranks, is interesting to note that their traditions have Hebraic connotations such as: wearing leather crosses, small prayer books and the priests wear kippa like hats. One hundred years later in 414-415 Alexandrian Jewish communities were attacked by those same Christians, later they themselves became one of the first Christian targets by the most radical leader of the Roman Church, Pope Leo "the Great" (440-461) who J.W.C. Wand considers to be "one of the greatest of all ecclesiastical statesmen, and has been called the Father of Papacy" (Wand 237). Leo in his epistles referred to the (Egyptian) pope as “that Egyptian plunderer," and "preacher of the devil's errors,” who tried to force his "villainous blasphemies" on his brethren. (Malaty p.73)
In summation, the universal models of human behavior can explain that disregard for human life brought about resentment to opposing views and power struggles gave rise to systematic eradication of the enemy. Other later developments impacted the history of Jewish civilization, such as how in 429 the "Roman authorities abolish the position of nasi (patriarch of president of the Sanhedrin), and divided the council in two, Jewish communities of Palestine become poorer and poorer, and the center of rabbinical authority shifted to Babylon (Gilbert VI). This had great repercussions, until then the Patriarch had the right to nominate the chief officers of the different Jewish communities, and was the supreme judge in all religious matters" (Parkes 11). When the Christian Emperors made these changes, a more hostile attitude developed against anything Jewish. In 590 Gregory I (the Great) become pope, began the tradition of defending Jews, especially against forced conversions (Carrol 624). It seems that a host of other factors such as the 574-594 plague which killed most of population of Europe, gave the imperial church more reasons to use the Jews as a scapegoat and to demonize them when ever it became politically convenient. The few times they showed human policies towards them, it seems to correlate to the time thy emperors enacted laws that benefited slaves, which were passed to garner support from their subjects and in turn benefit their greater agenda.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carroll, James Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews (New York: Mariner Books 2002)
Clifton, Chas S. Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics (U.S.: Barnes and Noble, 1992)
Eglebert, Omer The Lives of the Saints(England:Penguin Books,1995)
Gibbon, Edward Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (New York: Penguin Books, 2000)
Gilbert, John The Timechart History of the Jewish Civilization (London: Worth Press, 2004).
Glatzer, Nahum N. The Literature of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus(New York: Schocken Books, 1972)
Gregorovius, Ferdinand The Ghetto and the Jews of Rome (New York:Schoken Books, 1948).
Goodman, Martin Jews in a Greaco-Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Goodman, Martin The Ruling Classs of Judaea (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)
Gutierrez, Juan Marcos Neither Jews Nor Christians (Avantine Press, 2004)
J.W.C. Wand A history of the Early Church to A.D. 500, 1965
Klausner, Joseph Jesus of Nazareth (New York:The Macmillian Company: 1943).
Konner, Melvin Unsettled an Antropology of the Jews (New York: Viking Compass, 2003).
Leon, Harry J. The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: JPS, 1960).
Mader, Gottfried Josephus and the Politics of Histography( The Netherlands: Koinklijke Brill NV, 2000).
Malaty, Fr. Tadros Yacoub, Introduction to the Coptic Orthodox Church (Houston: St. Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, 1999)
Meltzer, Milton Slavery: From the Rise of Western Civilization to the Renaissance (Chicago: Dell Publishing Company, 1971)
Painter, John Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition, (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997)
Parkes, James The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue (New York: Atheneum, 1985).
Porton, Gary G. The Stranger within Your Gates: Converts and Conversion in Rabbinic Literature, (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1994).
Pritz, Ray Nazarene Jewish Christianity, Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, 1988).
Pugliese, Stanislao G. The Most Ancient of Minorities (Conneticut: Greenwood Press, 2002)
Radin, Max The Jews among the Greeks and the Romans (Philadelphia: JPS, 1915).
Rajak, Tessa Josephus The Historian and His Society (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 2002)
Roberts A. & J. Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers - Irenaeus- Volume I (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdman”s Publishing Company, 1978).
Robertson, D.W. Jr. Translated by On Christian Doctrine Saint Agustine (New Jersey:Prentice-Hall,1997).
Runia, David T. Philo In Early Christian Literature, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).
Schiffman, Lawrence Who was a Jew? : Rabbinic and Halakhic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism (KTAV: New York, 1985).
Stein, Jess Editor in Chief The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (The Unabridge Edition) (1966 Random House, Inc. New York)
Stevenson, J. A New Eusebius (London: S.P.C.K., 1957).
Taylor, Joan E. The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 1997).
Wilson, Ian Jesus: The Evidence (Washigton DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2000).
Jewish Publication Society :Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia: JPS, 1980).
Documentaries
White, Michael Frontline: From Jesus to Christ: the first Christians (PBS, 1998)
Briggs, Curtis Director Dead Sea Scrolls (Scandinature Films USA Inc. and KBYU Television Salt Lake City/Provo, UT. USA 1998)
Ross, Bram Mysteries of the Bible: "Herod the Great"(Film Ross, INC for A&E Network, 1996)
1930's Anti-Semitic Movie of Life of Christ
King of Kings-Cecil B. DeMile
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Council of Laodicea in Phrygia Pacatiana, Canon XXIX,364 A.D.
"Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ."
Friday, March 7, 2008
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