GARNET Launch Keynote
A Few Words About Terminology
Instead of Christianity, I will use Jesus movement when speaking about the first century. Those in the movement at that time did not call themselves Christians. That came later (very late 1st or early 2nd century).
The term translated Jew (Ioudaios) in the New Testament is ambiguous. It can mean either Jew or Judean, and the context must determine the proper translation.
I will try to avoid the term church. It connotes a building; buildings set aside for worship by Jesus followers/Christians did not appear prior to the third century. Instead, I will translate the Greek term ekklēsia as assembly or gathering.
Instead of the Christocentric BC and AD, I will use BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
The Roman Empire as a Borderless Society
Alexander
Alexander’s defeat of the Persians at Issus (on the coast of the Mediterranean, close what is now the Turkey/Syria border) in 333 BCE paved the way for a more or less culturally unified eastern Mediterranean. Alexander took Greek culture with him. Following his conquest and the empires that grew out of it, primarily the Seleucid (Syria) and Ptolemaic (Egypt) empires, the eastern Mediterranean became Hellenized (Greek-like).
It is important to note that, even though Alexander Hellenized the eastern Mediterranean, ethnic cultures did not disappear. For example, by the mid-2nd century BCE, Jews outside of Judea could not read their scriptures so the books were translated from Hebrew into Greek. Thus, we can see that the importance of the scriptures endured for the Jews even though those writings were now read in Greek.
With the Hellenization of the eastern Mediterranean, it was much easier to go places. As a result, there was more movement across traditional boundaries. We have a great example of an Egyptian who immigrates to the Greek island of Delos during the time of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires. According to a surviving inscription, this Egyptian (a certain Apollonius) moved from Egypt to the Greek island of Delos. Apollonius was a priest of Serapis, an Egyptian God and when he moved, he took the God (likely a small statue) with him. He set it up in his apartment and worshipped the deity there. Perhaps other Egyptian immigrants worshipped with him. After he died, his son continued to honor Serapis in this way as did his grandson. But the deity somehow let the grandson know that he wanted a temple built. Eventually a temple was built and eventually non-Egyptians began worshipping Serapis there. Here we see Egyptian religion (or at least the worship of an Egyptian God) take hold on a Greek island within three generations. We also see something else. Religion has become a “thing” – one could carry it along when emigrating.
With the advent of the Roman Empire, cultural unification from Rome to the East continued (the Romans did not “Romanize” the East; they respected Greek culture, and most educated people in Rome spoke Greek).
Under the Romans, travel was safe and easy; the roads were good. If one wanted, one could walk from Rome around the eastern Mediterranean Sea all the way to Carthage (now Tunis in Tunisia), with no borders to navigate; no customs; and no passport control.
During Roman times, we see the rapid spread of religions from the East. These religions were promoted by freelance (self-authorizing) religious experts (FREs). These FREs included exorcists and healers as well as individuals who claimed the ability to still storms, prevent plagues, or talk to animals.
In any given large city in the empire, one could encounter in public spaces:
- Egyptian diviners,
- Babylonian astrologers,
- Samaritan wonder-workers, and/or
- gender-bending, cross-dressing priests of the Syrian Goddess Artagatis.
This is the context in which the early Jesus movement spread. By the mid 1st century CE, the Jesus movement was in the three largest cities of the empire: Rome, Syrian Antioch, and Alexandria. It had also reached the important port cities of Ephesus & Corinth. The religious movement was spread by businesspersons but also by missionaries (FREs) who were self-funded or funded by others.
An example of how the Jesus movement at this point directly intersected with international affairs can be inferred from the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius. Suetonius said that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome “because of Chrestus” (Claudius probably thought that the trouble was started by someone named Chrestus but he misunderstood; the problem was more likely over Christos, that is, Christ or Messiah). From this, we can conclude that there was probably a significant controversy in Rome between messianic Jews (Jesus followers) and non-messianic Jews (non-Jesus following). Claudius expelled the trouble-makers from the city. In the Acts of the Apostles (18:2), we encounter two such exiled individuals who landed in Corinth: Aquila and Priscilla.
Paul (of the New Testament): A Freelance Religious Expert (FRE)
One FRE about whom we have a fair amount of information is Paul of Tarsus (St. Paul to Christians). Our information comes from two sources in the New Testament: Paul’s letters to assemblies that he founded and the Acts of the Apostles. From these sources, we learn that Paul was born in Tarsus, raised in Damascus, and he probably died in Rome on the way to Spain. We also learn that Paul was an artisan (a skēnopoios) – probably meaning tentmaker. He was a Jew/Judean, who originally opposed the Jesus movement but had a change of heart because of a vision of risen Jesus. He believed himself commissioned to preach the message of the Jesus movement to non-Jews. Paul traveled throughout much of Mediterranean world (mostly by foot): Judea, Syria, perhaps Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, some of the area that is now Albania, and Rome.
His message was apocalyptic: He proclaimed the end which would come with a great cataclysm; the gentiles were doomed because of their idolatry; but salvation from end time calamity could be possible for them possible if they turned to Jesus, son of the Judean God.
Why was Paul successful?
- He was from East, like other freelance religious experts (Eastern religions were respected because they were considered more ancient than those of the West).
- Like other freelance religious experts, he had significant spiritual abilities. For example, he said that when he was in Corinth that he “did not come proclaiming the mystery of God … in lofty words or wisdom … but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (i.e., he was a wonder-worker) He also claimed to have other spiritual abilities, including:
- the ability to speak in tongues & prophesy
- the ability to interpret the ancient books of Judeans (Jews).
- Direct contact with the spiritual realm (via both visions and a heavenly journey).
Why did this movement catch on, and not others (e.g., the worship of Isis)? We can only guess.
- Perhaps the intense apocalyptic enthusiasm of the original missionaries had something to do with it.
- Or maybe it was because the movement welcomed the impoverished, dispossessed, slaves, and allowed leadership roles for women (at least initially).
Regardless, the borderless society of the empire certainly facilitated the movement’s growth.
Question and Answer
Q: If the Imperial cult led to a kind of universal Roman identity, did this lead to ostracization of Jesus followers/Christians?
A: Yes, but the imperial cult is, in my opinion, over emphasized. It probably had more to do with Jesus followers’/Christians’ unwillingness to worship the traditional gods. This would have been viewed as subversive, especially since the Romans believed that their success was due to their piety vis-à-vis the Greco-Roman Gods.
Q: What accounts for the split between the non-Jewish Jesus followers and the Jewish Jesus followers?
A: First, we need to ask why there were non-Jews in this Jewish movement at all. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Jews who fled Judea because of persecution, began preaching to non-Jews in Antioch. We cannot be sure why. But in 50, Paul meets with the leaders of the Jerusalem assembly (James, Peter, and John) to discuss what to do about non-Jews in the movement. Should they be forced to become Jews? Paul says no. The leaders of the Jerusalem assembly agree but decide to split the mission field. Paul (and Barnabas) would go to non-Jews and the Jerusalem leaders would try to bring in Jews. The movement was essentially split. What happened to the Jewish side? We don’t know. Following the Jewish revolt against Rome, we hear little from the Jewish side, perhaps because of the destruction of Jerusalem (and perhaps some of its leaders—although Peter and James were already dead by then).
Q: How much can we trust Paul’s accounts vs. Acts?
A: We cannot forget that Paul always had an axe to grind but we can try to get around that by understanding his agenda in any particular situation. Since his material is the earliest, we have no choice but to put more faith in it than what we get from Acts.
Q: Why did the Romans respect the Greeks?
A: Probably because it was an ancient civilization (for the Romans, old was good, new was bad); also probably because of the arts and philosophy that came out of Greece (thanks to Professor Nadia Oweidat for the latter point).
Q: Were there contributions by the Persians to the borderless society?
A: By the time that the Romans came to the east and conquered the Seleucid Empire, the Seleucids had already lost the territory of the Persians.
Alexander himself had respected the Persians and wanted to combine the best of the West and East. Nevertheless, initially, most of the influence went in one direction (West to East; i.e., Hellenization). But eventually eastern ideas (and religions) began to move into the West.
For example, by the second century CE, the religion of Mithras (originally from Persia) became an important religious movement in the West, especially in the Roman army.
Q: What was the role of women in the Jesus movement/Christianity then, as compared to now?
A: In the first century, women played a role in the movement. Paul quotes a baptismal formula that says that:
“There is no longer:
Jew nor Greek
Slave nor free
Male and female”
To some extent that was true on the ground. Women missionaries and even apostles were recognized in Paul’s letters. But by the second century, the movement (at least in some quarters) began to line itself up with the prevailing societal gender expectations: women were to bear children, but certainly not preach or even speak in the assembly. But in other quarters of Christianity, women continued to be valued. For example, according to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Mary is the only one who “gets” Jesus. However, once the church gained power (4th century), books such as this were suppressed.
Q: Was Constantine’s conversion religious or political?
A: I think it was primarily political. He saw Christianity as a way to unify the empire. He may have even seen no difference between the Jewish/Christian God and the Roman deity, Sol Invictus (“the Unconquered Sun”).
Q: What was the attitude toward ethnicity and race?
A: In the Greco-Roman world, ethnicity was recognized (e.g., Egyptian, Syrian, Judea) but, to my knowledge, there was no overall prejudice against any one ethnicity—with the possible exception of reactions against Jews/Judeans following the revolt against the Romans in 66-70 CE.
Race (i.e., skin color) was not an issue with the Romans. There were dark-skinned emperors (e.g., North African, Syrian). One of the most famous western thinkers in Christianity, Augustine (354-430 CE), was African. So was Tertullian, another Christian thinker (ca. 155-220 CE). No one even mentions the skin color of these various individuals.
