Living Religion

The basic theology of Christianity is not basic at all. It is very long and complicated. Before Christianity came along Judaism was the common religion throughout the world. According to the note provided in class, “Jesus was born a Jew in Israel” (Detrick). Bethlehem is believe to be the birth place of Jesus and according to the note “Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David” (Detrick). The Jewish believed that Jesus was just a man, but Christians believe that Jesus was more than a man. They believe that Mary was gifted with God’s child, making Jesus man and God or a Messiah. The notes also say that “After baptism, Jesus spend 40 days in the desert” and was “tempted by Satan, but refused” (Detrick). Baptism is defined in the Living Religions

book as “a Christian sacrament by which God cleanses all sin and makes one a sharer in the divine life, and a member of Christ’s body, the Church” (Fisher, pg. 374).

Jesus’s teaching were simple, but in some eyes radical or drastic. A couple of examples were found in the notes; “love your neighbor”, “you shall not kill”, and also that justice no longer meant an eye for an eye. Jesus also taught to love (Detrick). And that love was to be proved by selfless service and extended love to the sinners and the unlovable (Detrick). The Last Supper was a dinner to warn Jesus’s disciples that “his end was near” (Detrick). According to the Living Religions book, Pontius Pilate was the Roman Governor who “turns him over to his military guard for execution by crucifixion, a form of death by torture widely used within the Roman Empire” (Fisher, pg. 318). The book goes on, saying, “In this method, the victim was typically tortured or beaten brutally with whips and then hung or nailed onto a wooden cross to die as a hideous example to intimidate the public” (Fisher, pg. 318). According to the Living Religions book, “A wealthy Jewish disciple named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus’ body, which Joseph wrapped in linen shroud and place in his own tomb, with a large stone against the door” (Fisher, ph. 319). Joseph apparently placed a guard at the tomb “to make sure that no followers would steal the body and claim that Jesus had risen from the dead” (Fisher,

pg. 319). The Sunday of Jesus preparation for burial, the tomb was found empty. This made the followers of Jesus believe that he was resurrected by God. The term, resurrection, is defined as “the rising of Christ in his earthly body on the first Easter Day, three days after his crucifixion and death” (Fisher, pg. 374). There is a lot more history behind Christianity; such as, how it moved throughout Europe and to the United States. But Christianity all started with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and has moved forward.