During the life of Jesus, there were many religious groups that roamed Judea. There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Herodians, and the Zealots. While they all claimed to be Jews, they were all unique in how they carried out their religion. Some were concerned with the law, others were concerned with freedom, and one group was even concerned with the king Herod. Altogether, they were the same in some ways, but otherwise they were completely different from each other. The Essenes were a communal community and they shared all their property together. They were very strict in their doctrine, they practiced celibacy, and they refused anything luxurious. They are known to have lived on the coast of the Dead Sea until an earthquake …show more content…
forced them to leave the area. One set of their writings that were found in the caves near their homes, the Dead Sea Scrolls, is an 800 volume set resembling all the Bible books except for Ester. The Essenes were a very righteous group of people, though they were never mentioned in the New Testament. The Herodians were mentioned in the New Testament very few times; they are mentioned in Matthew 22:16, Mark 3:6, and Mark 12:13. They were aligned with Herod the Great and his children and were more political than religious. They were a very small, widespread group who are sometimes identified with the Sadducees. In the time of Jesus, they aligned with the Pharisees in hopes to rid the world of Jesus forever, which didn’t work. Their Pharisee alliance ended soon after Jesus death and never reformed. The Pharisees are well known for plotting to kill Jesus many times.
They were only a group of about six thousand people and cleaved to the Law. They used many of the typical Jewish traditions in addition to their own oral traditions. Many early Christians aligned with them; Jesus even said to do what they say but not what they do. They were very legal and Jesus accused them of clinging to strongly to the traditions of man, being hypocrites, and unwillingness to accept his status as Messiah. Similar to the Pharisees, the Sadducees didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah and they did everything possible to discredit him. On another hand, the Sadducees were very anti-Jewish and didn’t believe anything that the Jews did, especially about the Messiah. They became friends with the Pharisees in order to get rid of Jesus, but their reasons were very different from the Pharisees. Also, though anti-Jewish, they were a community of people who came to power due to connections with the high priests. The Zealots were the final religious group, and also the most violent. They were a group of men who believed God was their one and only Ruler. With this in mind, they murdered many Romans in attempts to gain freedom. These murders got them nowhere and caused the death of many innocent Jewish in retaliation. This never stopped them and in a final act of retaliation, the Romans burnt Jerusalem to the ground and destroyed the
Temple. The religious affiliations of Jesus’ lifetime were many and various. Each had their own views, ideas, and traditions. In the end, though, they were all similar in their love for God. They wanted the everlasting love of the Lord.
income in this situation was to sell things at the marketplace, and even there, Jews were
The first search for a messiah started in the sixth century BC when the Jews of Babylonia were exiled, they called for an anointed one that would bring them back to their home. The second time was when Alexander the Great brought down the Achaemenid Empire and left it to his Macedonian generals. The Jews were peaceful and tried to fit in more with the Greeks to avoid confrontation through this time. Ultimately when the Greeks pushed it too far and destroyed the temple the Hasmonean family led a revolt that bought independence back to the Jews. This period is referred to as the Hasmonean Dynasty. In response to this change of priesthood, the Jewish people reorganized themselves into three major philosophies; the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. When the shift went to Roman, the Jews lost their sense of freedom. They were then ruled by King Herod the Great which didn’t improve. Herod the great was a powerful, brutal and ruthless leader, who accomplished a large amount, however under his rule Jewish people were extremely poor and highly taxe...
The Jews rejected the claim that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. The debate was how a person is saved, forgiven of sin, and have the privileged of spreading the kingdom work in the earth and to enjoy heaven in the age to come.
The long-awaited death in 4 BCE of Herod, the ruthless architect of an oppressive Judean police state, sparked a series of spontaneous revolts by the Jewish peasantry. Once these rebellions were subdued, the Jews continued to chafe under a series of tyrannical Roman governors until the massive revolt of 66-70. This period was marked by "widespread discontent and periodic turbulence." Direct Roman rule, along with the burdensome tribute that accompanied it, was highly offensive to the Jews, who considered themselves subjects only to God. Many, in fact, considered their conditions tantamount to slavery (Horsley and Hanson 34-5).
There are very interesting theories about Jesus as a leader of a Jewish political movement who crowned himself (not in the literal sense) as Jewish King in the fullest sense of that word. The twelve apostles are, in that case, the representatives of the twelve Jewish tribes (they were very often militantly depicted, especially in earlier depictions). However, those are just hypothesis without much tangible proof. Regarding religion, the Jews of that age were much divided. So it is no wonder that even the few followers that Jesus had, divided in two groups, messianic one and Christian one. The former believed that Jesus is a political messiah sent to rebuild the Kingdom of Israel, and the latter followed St. Saul/Paul who preached that Jesus was a son of God and that, in order to achieve salvation, all that people needed to do was believe in him. Nevertheless, Christianity was what prevailed in the end and had conquered the world (or Europe at least), and Wilson claims that it happened because Titus had brutally quenched the Jewish rebellion in 70 AD, by killing off most of Jewish sects. The Christians survived precisely because they were not accepted in Jewish community (Paul/Saul when journeying through the Mediterranean and spreading Christianity, is not at all spreading Christian religion for
Jews became more than shepherds. Unlike people before them that were polytheistic, the Jews were bearers of a concept of ethical monotheism that became the basis for a new kind of religion, Judaism. The religion that marked by a new relationship between people and God.
On the other hand, Christianity traces its origin from Jesus Christ from whom the disciples, at Antioch, were first called Christians due to their manner of living, which was like Jesus Christ’s. Both Christians and Jews believe in one God who is called Jehovah; however, the point of divergence is that while Christians believe in the trinity (that is, God is one substance but three persons in one namely the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), the Jews believe in God being just one substance one
The story of historical Jesus is not an easy story to tell. There is very little evidence for historians to go by and no sources that are from the actual time of Jesus. Years after his death there were attempts to document what Jesus had said and done during his life and the preaching’s he taught (Fisher, 2008, p. 295). We know Jesus was born during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Historians believe that Jesus was born and grew up in a village called Nazareth, even though the Gospel states he was born in Bethlehem (From Jesus to Christ, 1998). Nazareth was located in Galilee, which was ruled by Rome at the time (Fisher, 2008, p. 299). Sepphoris was a major city, located near Nazareth, which had great Roman and Greek culture. Recent excavations of Sepphoris tell scholars that it was a sophisticated environment. It is believed that Jesus may have had a more mainstream up bringing then being a “humble carpenter” from a low social status, or peasant, like the Bible states. Since there is so little evidence of Jesus there are conflicting theories about who Jesus actually was and how he was raised. Some historians believe that Jesus was part of the artisan class and worked in the city of Sepphoris. They also believe he was tri-lingual, speaking Aramaic, Hebrew, and Hellenistic Greek, so he could do business in the city of Sepphoris and his ministry work (From Jesus to Christ, 1998). It is also known that Jesus was Jewish and was a preacher of the Jewish texts. Historians believe that the evidence linking John and Jesus is the strongest they can find. “The ministry of John the Baptist, prophet citing Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Kingdom of God. He was conducting baptism in the Jordan River in preparation for the Kingdom of ...
Since Matthew and Luke are not modern day biographies, they do not follow the standard that we imagine. I think the explanation for the combination of similarities and differences comes from the fact that the Matthew and Luke are styled differently and also have different audiences. Since Matthew and Luke are interpreting history for a specific audience, this would explain why Matthew and Luke contains differing details. For example, Matthew tells of the Wise Men that came to visit Jesus in Matt.2:1-12 while Luke tells of shepherds that came to visit Jesus in Luke 2:8-20. Since Matthew is styled for a Jewish audience, perhaps it is considered more impactful and stunning that wise philosophers came to worship a child. On the other hand,
When other popular teachers died, their movement died with them. However, after the death of Jesus, his movement continued to build strength and grew rapidly. James, Peter, John and Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews were convinced of Jesus’ resurrection, they believed this with such conviction that they did not even try to defend or prove this. They stated it as fact. “In each narrative, names are given of those to whom the resin Christ presented himself (Barnett 130)”. This can be verified and proven true, based on eyewitnesses. After the death of Christ, the lives of the writers of the New Testament were radically changed. They traveled where they had not gone to reach out to people outside their comfort zone. They died in their challenge
In 63 B.C. Roman power spread to Judea, the Jewish homeland. At the time King Herod was the ruler of Judea, he accepted Roman rule and angered many Jews by doing so. After the death of Herod many Jews revolted against Roman rule for 10 years. At this time there were two main factions of Jews, one group, the Zealots wanted to rid Judea of Roman influence. The other group was waiting for a messiah as scripture had prophetized. The Messiah, or Savior would restore the kingdom to the Jews.
The religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are alike in many ways but they also share many differences. Judaism and Christianity use the bible in their holy scriptures, while Islam does not. Jesus Christ is a part of all three religions as Christianity and Islam developed from Judaism. Many believe that the three religions worship, pray to, and focus on the same god. They believe this as many of the prophets are they share much in common as they share many beliefs. However, the followers of the three religions pray differently and in different places. the religions believe that their god created the world and everything in the world. The three Abrahamic religions have different histories, yet they share many similarities and difference.
What are parables of Jesus Christ? The word parable in general may mean the placing of two or more artifacts together to make a comparison or explain an ideology. This same concept could be related to the parables of Jesus Christ the son of God. Some people may choose to define these in various meanings depending on their own understanding. However, in my opinion, a parable is basically an analogy consisting of human circumstances that is accompanied with a spiritual or biblical lesson. Altogether, there are thirty-two parables; which could be found in the books of Mathew, Mark and Luke. Out of all these parables, eighteen of them are found in Luke and ten in Mathew. The eighteen parables found in Luke include, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son, the Unrighteous Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Unprofitable Servants, the Unrighteous Judge, the Pharisee and Publican, the Pounds, the Two Debtors, the Good Samaritan, the Friend at Midnight, the Rich Fool, the Watchful Servants, the Barren Fig Tree, the Chief Seats, the Great Supper, the Rash Builder, and the Rash King. The ten in Mathew include, the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Two Sons, the Marriage of the King's Son, the Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Tares, the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Draw Net, and the Unmerciful Servant. Again, the parables of Jesus Christ could be compared to a class of students with a teacher in the front. Basically Jesus Christ was the teacher and the whole world would be considered as the students. Out of all the parables of Jesus Christ, the main ones I will be talking about will be the parable of the good samaritan, and the parable of the sower.
Jesus Christ was the light that came to earth to brighten the lives of the people. He taught phenomenal and meaningful lessons that changed many hearts and caused people to accept Jesus as their Lord. Jesus Christ is the life of Christianity; the Word of God in flesh. His life, his ministry, and his crucifixion where prophesied long before he was born and Christians believe that they were all fulfilled. He had so much love for human kind that he came to earth to die for the sins of the people, so that their souls would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible testifies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who taught memorable life lessons and performed astonishing miracles during his ministry.
My definition of religion has mostly stayed the same, but my perception of it has changed. At the beginning of the class, I assumed religion was something you believed based on your moral principles. I now believe that those moral principles are based on the religion that you believe in. Your religion changes your perception of the world and how to go about in it. Your religion tells you what is right and wrong in the world and answers all of the big questions one asks. Religion according to our book is, “A pattern of beliefs and practices that expresses and enacts what a community regards as sacred and/or ultimate about life” (Van Voorst 6). That definition was one thing that really got me thinking about my own personal idea of what religion