Book Report

The Birth of the Christian Religion.

Book Report.

At the time of the death of Christ, there was a great confusion, because the ones that knew him did not know what his death meant. And for the ones that did not know him were only interested in ending the movement that they called a sect. At the time when Tacitus thus evaluated the Christian religion and its founder, Pliny the Younger wrote on similar lines to Trajan that the Christians "in their meetings sing praises to Christ as to a god." [1] For Tacitus and the rest of the people that did not know Christ who resurrected from death and did not read the Gospels had an incomplete picture of who Jesus is. Because all the information they had was only the opinions of their administrator or people that did witness the events. On the other hand, it might have been different if they had listened to the Christians themselves, then their opinions might have changed.

During the times of the Babylonian captivity that Judea proper with Samaria was placed under the government of Rome. The faith and the beliefs of the Roman government had an effect on the Jewish people, because of the new ideas of the Hellenistic faith that the Romans had. “It is well to remember also that in this crisis Galilee was a hotbed of Jewish nationalism. Thence came that Judas whom Josephus represents as the founder of the school of uncompromising resistance which he compares to the schools of the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. [2] Although Judas was not a religious man or a philosopher, and more of a leader of a band. He is yet a representative of the beliefs of the Jewish beliefs which embraced the idea of the kingdom of God. Because of his faith, we can trust Josephus on this point when he says “that the Israelites, the people, and children of God, had no master on earth save their Master in heaven. Hence the Roman government was a sacrilege, its exercise an impious usurpation, and there must be no paying tribute to Caesar.” [3] The fact that the God and master of the Jewish people is not from this earth, but He is heaven went against the Roman religion for whom their master was the emperor. On the other hand, if their master is heaven than they cannot praise an earthly one. Some of the consequences that came from this thought are that they can only pay tribute to the God of their faith. And to believe in any other is foolish.

Through different groups came different ideas of faith. For instance, the Sadducees regarded the kingdom of God through the observation of the Law. The Essenes believed in attained Mystery and eternal future through the ascension of the soul to God.  The Pharisees other than the Kingdom of God on earth accepted the resurrection of the dead. But all of them had something to provide for the Christian faith which was still evolving. But none of them believed in the things of this earth as lasting or an earthly master who could inflict violence for the creation of a kingdom, but rather on a heavenly God who could do it without violence.” A considerable party of educated Pharisees, while cherishing the idea of the Kingdom of God on earth, and accepting the resurrection of the dead, denied that there was any need to lend the aid of human violence in founding an order of things which only the power of God was able to bring about.” [4] This new thought brought various forms of national hope from all diversity and did not come in conflict with the practice. They were rather associated than opposed to each other, for now, there was a common ground for the nationalist feeling. Because no one had to look at their earthly nationality to form part of the heavenly one. More than the other sects that involved as followers of different characters of scripture John the Baptist gave testimony of Jesus before his appearance. The anticipation and waiting of his coming are some things that no other had. And even in some other part of the makes mention of a virgin having a child. And so, by comparison, there was no other so well waited for or bigger than Jesus for them to believe in.

Perhaps the most convincing fact about Christ for the conversion of the people in other Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and Rome was its rapid spread. There had to be a systematic way of the spread of the propaganda, and it could not have been done only by those who spoke Aramaic. “This was not achieved by the proper and direct initiative of the Aramaic-speaking group of believers gathered in Jerusalem. The propulsive force that carried the new religion into the Mediterranean world was the force of the blow that had struck Stephen.” [5] Some think that there were small groups of believers in Galilee at that time who were attributed the spread of the Gospel to Damascus, but that is not certain because they did not like the Galilean towns or what came from them. The conclusion of small groups who spread the gospel might have been false. Rather the spread of the Gospel was due to the conditions that the Jewish people were in because of war. “It may well be that the Jewish-Christian propaganda was roused into activity only by the Hellenistic-Christian, and did not become effective in North Palestine, Transjordania and Syria until after the migration thitherward of the Jerusalem community at the beginning of the Jewish war. [6] Therefore it had to be the plan of God by to spread the Gospel by the conditions that his people were in when they had to migrate to the different part of the Roman Empire and Eastern Mediterranean. Rather than the plan of various groups which at the end it worked out the same way because how they were separated from each other.

It was in this type of world that the Apostle Paul lived in a son of the Jewish parents and Pharisee who observed the law and a Roman by birth, who persecuted the church. Because he did not believe at first like the rest of the people that did not know Christ, or that only listened to one side of the story and not listened to the witnesses. Paul was in the middle of all the sects, cults, or religions because he lived as a Roman and had knowledge of the Hellenistic believes. Also, he was a Jew who believed in the law and the covenant. Being the son of a race who was exiled in the times of the Babylonian exile, he did not live on his land, but he lived in diaspora waiting for the time when they could go back to their homeland. In short, Paul was the perfect man for the spread of the Gospel after his conversion. Because before his conversion, he was against the Church because he only believed in the Law. (Acts 9:3-4) As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” [7] After the encounter with Jesus Paul’s faith made a U-turn, and instead of persecuting the Church he spread the Good News. More than anything it was under these type of conditions that the Gospel spread through, and not organized groups from Galilee. Though Paul did get his own group to help him spread the Gospel.     

    

[1] Alfred Firmin Loisy. The Birth of the Christian Religion. (1933) Published in New Hyde Park, N.Y. by University Books, Inc. Pg. 62

[2] Ibid, pg. 63

[3] Ibid, pg. 63

[4] Ibid, pg. 64

[5] Ibid, pg. 122

[6] Ibid, pg. 122

[7] Acts 9:3-4. New International Version (NIV). Retrieved from. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9:3-4&version=NIV