9/11/12
Reading the Gospels in Context * The World of the Gospels * Political * Judea a Colony of Rome- An occupied land * Comprises of the two southern tribes * Ruled in the first century by a representative of Rome * Herod Antipas-North * Pontius Pilate-South * Local Government-Sanhedrin * Religious * Social * The Literary Backgrounds of the Gospels * Genre * Source
9/13/12
Religious * Primarily of the Jewish People * The Samaritans * Claimed to be true descendants of Abraham * Had their own temple and copies of the scriptures * Viewed as foreigners and heretics by most Jewish people * Diversity of Beliefs and practice in Judaism: Groups in Judaism * Sadducees * Ruling clan * Leaders of the temple * Pharisees * Presenters of the laws/ teachers * Educated * Middle class * Nicodemes * Paul * Jesus of Nazareth * Essenes * Separatist: believed they had the only version of the true religion * Monastic clusters * wilderness * John The Baptist * Zealots * Ancient Judaism * One of the many religions of the Roman Empire * Jesus and his disciples were Jews * The apostle Paul was Jewish * Both Jesus and Paul belonged to the Pharisaic tradition * Pharisees were responsible for the preservation of the religion * Monotheism * Hierarchy of supernatural beings * The Diaspora * Diaspora: Dispersion * Jews who lived outside of Jerusalem * Dispersion began with the foreign domination of Israel * 721 B.C.E.- Assyria took northern kingdom * 587-586- Babylon took southern kingdom of Judah * In first century there were far more