THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
JESUS AND PAUL

Themes

• "world religions"
• Foundations of Christianity
• worldview in first 4 centuries:
  • world-__________ versus
  • world-__________

Background

• Environment: Palestine, Mediterranean
• Development
  • origins in Jesus and Paul 1st century C.E.
  • spread in the Roman Empire 2nd -4th centuries C.E.

Origins and Foundations

• Jesus: dualities
  • sources: Gospels
  • Jewish background:
    • rabbi, prophet, Messiah, YHWH, Passover lamb
    • shepherd [Alt shepherd]
    • birth 4 B.C.E.: Christmas
    • ministry c. C.E. 27-30 or 29-33 C.E.:
      • baptism and temptation
      • disciples:
      • teaching and miracles:
    • death c. 30-33 C.E.:
      • Passover, Easter
      • Last Supper, eucharist
    • historical verification?
  • Paul:
    • the first church: Book of Acts, Holy Spirit, Peter
    • conversion of Paul, c. 33-35 C.E.: road to Damascus
    • ministry of Paul, c. 47-63 C.E.:
    • Gentiles
  • Christian message and worldview
    • "gospel":
      • nature of man:
      • nature of God:
      • salvation:
      • parousia:
    • practices and rituals
      • baptism (Hippolytus)
      • eucharist
      • "the body of Christ"
    • contexts and influences:
      • Zoroastrianism
      • Hellenistic mystery religions
      • Greek philosophy
      • Roman multicultural world
    • heterodoxy
      • Gnosticism: Gospel of Thomas
      • body and soul: catacombs and tombs [Alt catacomb]
      • orthodoxy: canon of the Bible

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  Christianity in the Roman World: Confrontation and Adaptation

  • Mutual Rejection
    • "pagan" rejection:
      • Greeks:
      • Romans:
      • persecution c. 100-312
    • Christian rejection:
      • symbols
      • martrydom: Perpetua
      • asceticism: hermits Antony and Syncletica
  • Adaptation
    • + Greek philosophy = theology
      • Tertullian and Clement, 2nd century
      • Jerome, 4th century
    • +Roman administration = hierarchy: priests, bishops, patriarchs
    • hegemony of Christianity
      • Constantine Battle of Milvian Bridge 312 C.E.
      • Theodosius: __________ c. 380 C.E.
      • Altar of Victory (Symmachus and Ambrose)
      • Hypatia

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  Conclusions

  • What does conversion to Christianity mean?
  • dualities: divine and human, temporal and eternal, body and soul, world-rejecting versus world-accepting
  • compare with other religions and philosophies

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  Explore!

  • catacombs
  • Christian Late Antiquity
  • Ecole Initiative (early church history)
  • Wheaton College (church history documents)
  • Early Church Documents

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  Return to Lecture Outline

  kjolly@hawaii.edu 10/05/98