Jesus lived near the Sepphoris for most of his life and the city likely exposed him to influences far different from small town life in Nazareth. The article “How Jewish was Sepphoris in Jesus’ time?” by Mark Chancey and Eric Meyers explored the historical and cultural background of Sepphoris. In the following section, I will review the arguments presented by Chancey and Meyers and discuss why I believe that Sepphoris was indeed a Jewish city that influenced Jesus’ upbringing and teaching. Chancey and Meyers present Jewish history in Sepphoris using archaeological evidence. Artifacts with Persian and Babylonian symbols indicate Sepphoris was likely a garrison town on the Jewish route from Babylonian exile. Excavations date a fort to the Seleucid dynasty and later to the Jewish Hasmoneans around 100 B.C.E. Herod the Great built up Sepphoris after the Romans gave him control of the region. Following Herod’s death, there was a small Jewish revolt in 4 B.C.E. which led to burning the city. Herod Antipas controlled Galilee following his father’s death and rebuilt …show more content…
Roman artifacts can lead to the opinion that the city was in fact very Roman until we look at the dates and see that many were from much later than Jesus time. Author Richard Batey proposed that Sepphoris had a pagan culture [Chancey, 33]; however, there is a lack of evidence of pagan temple remains or shrines. Jewish historian Josephus has no references to pagan temples and the only references to gentiles are of Roman soldiers. Jewish influences, however, are apparent in archaeological evidence. Very few pig bones were found compared to non-Jewish areas leading to the conclusion that Jewish dietary restrictions were followed. Also found were fragments of stone vessels used for ritual hand washing and ritual baths indicating Jewish
From the excerpt from the novel, “Under the Feet of Jesus” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character is Estrella, a young Spanish girl with a powerful desire to learn to read. Although she is persistent, her teachers refuse to educate her because they are more concerned of Estrella’s personal hygiene. This leaves Estrella resentful because of the barrier between herself and knowledge. Estrella remains silent until a man named Perfecto Flores teaches her how to read by using his expertise in hardware and tools to represent the alphabet. Viramontes depicts the heartfelt growth of Estrella through her use of tone, figurative language, and detail.
In the book, “Jesus and the Disinherited,” the author, Howard Thurman in chapter five expounds on “Love.” Moreover, Thurman, a black man in the early 1900, with the ultimate goal to offer a humanizing combination as the basis for an emancipatory way of being, moving toward an unchained life to all women and men everywhere who hunger, thirst for righteousness, especially those “who stand with their backs against the wall.” By the same token, Thurman experienced “Fear,” “Deception,” and “Hate” that causes internal, spiritual damage to those who choose compliance, isolation, and violent resistance over the way of Jesus (www.smootpage.blogspot.com). Notably, Howard Thurman’s message helped shaped the civil rights movement that
Jesus as being a poor Jew in the mist of Rome. Help me the understand and paints a picture how
The book Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes shows you the story of Estrella and her family and the struggles they face as migrant workers. Among all the symbolism in the book the one that stand out the most is Petra’s statue of Christ, which symbolizes the failure of religion and the oppressive nature of the Christian religion especially in minorities. Throughout the book, Estrella’s mother, Petra relies on superstitions and religion to get her through the hardships in life. In tough times, she turns to the statue and prays for guidance. Her thirteen-year-old daughter Estrella is the first of her family to realize that she needs to stop relying on religion and take control of her life. This brings in a wave of self-empowerment, not only for Estrella but eventually for all the characters as well. In the book, you’re able to see how religion exemplifies the failures of religion in minorities and how it hinders the growth of the characters while helping some of them.
Gerhard Lohfink, in his book, “Jesus of Nazareth” believes that Jesus’ person and ministry are intertwined, or actually one and of the same. After Lohfink clarifies the difference between the "reign of God" as distinct from the “Kingdom of God,” he asserts that in Jesus, there is this active, ongoing reign which is not only revealed, but is manifested in all He says and does. Lohfink states, that Jesus is “not just preaching about the reign of God, but He is announcing it,” going on to indicating that Jesus is manifesting this reign in His own self disclosure and the actions of His ministry. Jesus ways of teaching and interactions with others, is shown as compassionate, gentle, direct and personal, as well as definitive and bold. As we also find in Ch. 3, “All that is happening before everyone’s eyes. The reign of God is breaking forth in the midst of the world and not only within people.” (51) And for Lohfink, this is taking place in the actual preaching, actions and life of Jesus Christ. Simply, we are personally and collectively and actively a part of establishing this “reign” right here, right now. A “reign” of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, self-giving, sacrificial love, as well as of justice and peace.
For someone so well known, Jesus is someone the historical world knows little about. Around this religious figure revolves a strange phenomena. Most people could probably tell you something Jesus stood for, or the gist of something he said, just off the top of their head. But someone who has spent years studying Jesus within a historical context, would probably have a hard time pinpointing anything Jesus really said. Scholars have been interested, and even obsessed with the historical Jesus for centuries, and two of the most well known Jesus scholars of today are Dale C. Allison and John Dominic Crossan. Yet how they go about examining the historical Jesus is completely different.
Moseley, Ron, Ph. D. "THE JEWISH BACKGROUND OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM." The Tree of Life Magazine n.d.: n. pag. Arkansas Institute of Holy Land Studies. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
The book consists of three parts. The first part has five chapters of which focuses on explaining what the key questions are and why we find them difficult to answer. The second part has nine chapters explaining in detail what N.T. Wright considers Jesus’ public career and the approach he had in first century Palestine. The third part of the book, the last chapter, challenges readers to wrestle with the questions of Jesus’ life and ministry.
Hamath and Sepharvaim.”]- (Antiquities of the Jews Book IX, 14:3). If this is the case we can
About one fourth of the New Testament is authored by the Gentile believer, Luke. The Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles cover about 27-30% of the New Testament making Luke the greatest contributor and making the content and messages in which he presents extremely important and influential. Often referred to as the “companion” books, this paper will explain the relationship between these two works and make intelligible each book’s message in regards to the roles of the the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles is an attempt to answer the theological problem/idea, of how Jesus Christ, Messiah of the Jews, came to hold an extremely immense non-Jewish Church.
In the book, Social World of Ancient Israel, Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin bring together both anthropological and biblical studies and gives insight to aspects of the social world of ancient Israel. In every chapter the authors discuss how a particular social functioned in the ancient Near East and then examines biblical texts of the social world.
—. “The Historical Background of Jesus’ Life.” BI 250. Warner Pacific College, Portland. 16 Sept. 2010. Lecture.
Cassian was born into a wealthy Christian family, and was educated before he entered monastic life (Driver, 12). His theological quest began with a monastic community near Bethlehem; however, he and a companion named Germanus found that community
The social structure during Jesus’ lifetime differed from that of the Holy Roman Empire, but it was not different at all from the social structure before he was born. The social structure before Jesus was born was a reflection of a typical historical pattern: the subordinate class consisted of young people, poor people, and women, while the superordinate class was filled with older, rich, men. During his time, he gave sermons that inspired subordinate people, gave them hope, and supplied new concepts to uplift them, but did not change anything legally. Therefore, things for the subordinate people in the Roman Empire were the same as they were before: sexist, oppressing, and filled with slavery. These groups felt hopeless because slavery was heavily embedded into their religious thinking, making it almost impossible to escape their fates. During the Holy Roman Empire, which was run by Christian Germanic people, slavery, though still
It is, to me, most notable within Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities where he proclaims that the Pharisees display ‘respect and deference to their elders’ This aligns with the way that Josephus perceived the Essenes stating that they, ‘settle in large numbers in every town’. It does, however, seem impetuous to presume that Josephus is the only contemporary scholar who holds much weight, in fact many of his words have been branded partisan in favour of the Pharisees with a strong case to believe so: on the Sadducees he labels them, ‘among themselves … boorish in their behaviour’ altogether, a fairly negative view and one which makes you question the overall authenticity of his comments. Nonetheless, the views of the Essenes seem to be contemporarily true as reiterated by the first century CE scholar, Philo, who also indicated that the Essenes ‘live in … many villages and large groups’ seemingly agreeing with Josephus on the views of an Essene. Thus, I believe that the writings of Josephus do correlate with the view that the sects of Judaism studied are family and community