UGC 111 1st Edition Lecture 11 Outline of Last Lecture I Rome Outline of Current Lecture II Early Christianity Current Lecture Early Christianity Prophets Elijah Eleazer Gospel of Mark ca 70 AD Matthew 80 100 Saul of Tarsus Paul Apostle to the Gentiles Gnostic Gospels of Thomas Mary Constantine Edict of Milan 313 Council of Nicaea 325 Jesus was born in 4 BC grew up in Nazareth was a carpenter Met a man named John the Baptist baptized Jesus at the River of Jordan After being baptized Jesus began preaching which drew large crowds Prophets those who shared the word of God but not part of central administration o Elijah upon death ascended into heaven on a fiery chariot o Eleazer ordered to give a demonstration of his skills brought before emperor to perform an exorcism placed a cup of water at the feet of the emperor and demanded the demon inside the sick man to leave his body and turn over the cup of water it worked John the Baptist influenced by Jewish sect Essenes hermits o Essenes did not eat meat sacrificed animals practiced communal ownership no slaves allowed could not swear believed in the coming of the next Messiah o Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls 973 of them talked about various religious things some included copies of the bible important in origin of Christianity Historical Jesus Nazarenes o Stressed the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of the law o Stresses sincerity above all else o His message was aimed at the poor o Lived with disreputable people tax collectors a prostitute These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Followed the Torah except broke with Jewish law concerning divorce only valid reason to divorce a woman was adultery Gospel of Mark 31 AD Matthew 80 100 neither knew Jesus both spoke and wrote in Greek to reach a wider audience in the Mediterranean world o Matthew gave sermons on the mountain two generations later o Gospel of Mark was an account one generation later collected all oral traditions created about Jesus and compiled them Nazarenes o Small group of Jews o Believed Jesus was the Messiah o Lived underground not mainstream o Called Nazarenes because Jesus lived in Nazareth The Jesus Seminar linguists o Look at the Greek writings go through the gospels and look for inconsistencies o Look at what Jesus was supposed to have said and find sayings that are inconsistent with Jewish traditions o Look for sayings that aren t consistent with the church o Long quotations are suspicious o Believed that 80 of the gospels are made up Saul of Taurus Paul Apostle of the Gentiles Saul o Came from Tarsus down to Jerusalem to study the Torah rejected the Nazarenes account spoke against them o Was stoned in Jerusalem Paul Apostle of the Gentiles people living outside of Judea o Saw a vision when he fell off of his horse says Jesus spoke to him directly converted to Christianity o Gave speeches about Jesus in synagogues some successful and some not o Spread the ideas about Jesus o Main virtues faith hope love Paul radically changed the spread of Christianity Paul convinced Peter that Jesus produced a new covenant of God Salvation was there for those who believed in God Mystery religions has something at its core that cannot be understood logically o Ex Isis and Demeter o Paul modeled Jesus as a mystery religion Roman catacombs held buried Christians underground o Practice of Christianity was illegal o When Christians bought land they dug tunnels underneath which were made into a sort of cemetery o Painted with stories of Jesus s life Gnostic Greek for knowledge Gospels Gospel of Mary Gospel of Thomas o Written in Christian communities o Talked about Jesus s message o Spiritual knowledge is the most important thing o Contrasted spiritual knowledge and matter o Gospel of Mary Claims that Jesus spoke to her Sister we know that the savior loved you more than all of the other women The inner spirit is the most important thing made up of three things the spirit the mind and the soul Spiritual knowledge is the path to salvation o Gospel of Thomas Lists over 100 sayings attributed to Jesus Insists that the kingdom of God is at hand for the people who understand the secret message of Jesus can t take Jesus s writings literally Most important thing is to know one s self Salvation is not through works and grace but finding your own light within you In 310 two that were in competition to be emperor meant to fight o The night before the fight Constantine was visited by Jesus who told him he would be victorious and gave him a symbol to wear o Constantine s people wore the symbol and were victorious o Converted to Christianity o Wanted to make sure Christianity spoke with one voice created Council of Nicaea settled on the doctrine of the trinity Nicaean creed appointed archbishops to each province who appointed the bishops began assuming political structure of Roman empire