Prelim christianity question (1 Viewer)

[allira92]

i have to write an essay and the first part of it is
explain the Jewish context out of which Christianity emerged
does that mean i go all the way back to abraham or just at the time of Jesus...or somewhere in between do you think?

any thoughts would be muchly appreciated
thanks

 

[snapperhead]

i have to write an essay and the first part of it is
explain the Jewish context out of which Christianity emerged
does that mean i go all the way back to abraham or just at the time of Jesus...or somewhere in between do you think?

any thoughts would be muchly appreciated
thanks

Not to sound flippant but I would recommend checking with your teacher/the marker first as thats a really broad context that we are talking about. As its the first syllabus pont in the unit, you wouldnt be going back to Abraham but rather the Jewish background of Christianity with regards to language, customs, beliefs etc blending this with the Jewishness of the Early Christians and Jesus himself. You are not really talking history here but rather influence

If you have access to a textbook, you will see how brief this section really is in context of the available historical timeframe

Also, you say its a first part so I would assume taht this section will also have a bearing on the seocnd part so that should guide you as well
HTH

 

[allira92]

thanks for that,
i was going to ask my teacher but he wants us to have the draft outline for him to read over on our first day back and our teachers dont check their email... but i'll ask him so that i'll know for the final copy
when we did this section in class we covered all the way from abraham moses etc so that we could breifty skim it when we did islam and judaism, so it got me confused as to where the history of christianity started .

but thats really helpful thanks a lot

 

[snapperhead]

thanks for that,
i was going to ask my teacher but he wants us to have the draft outline for him to read over on our first day back and our teachers dont check their email... but i'll ask him so that i'll know for the final copy
when we did this section in class we covered all the way from abraham moses etc so that we could breifty skim it when we did islam and judaism, so it got me confused as to where the history of christianity started .

but thats really helpful thanks a lot

NP


Was thinking that if you wanted to be clever, you would start with the impact of the Apostles (in particular Peter and the issues surrounding the first council re Judaism and the newly emerging group-recorded in Acts of the Apostles) and then move straight into Paul as he was the one who started it all!

Could also look at the Gospel authors..one of them (name escapes me atm) went to great lengths to explain Jewish stuff etc to his audience (Luke??)

Also, just re-read the syllabus point again and its really referring the Messianic expectations the Jews had and how Jesus emerged in the middle of all this 'expectation' (mainly due to Roman rule) and then proceeded to be the opposite of the 'warrior' messiah (as recorded in the OT)

 

[moll.]

I would also research the background of the Zealot-Sicarii uprising a century after Jesus' time, as the populist Jewish sentiment which the groups tapped into had been brewing underneath the surface for several centuries since the invasion of the Romans.
Also, if you're after a view of how Christianity was a breakaway from the supposed Jewish political and theological authoritarianism of the time I would suggest you go to your local, state or university library and find Nietzsche's essay entitled The Anti-Christ. The second half of the thesis is about how Christianity was a Buddhist-like reaction against the absolute authority on all matters claimed by the Jewish authorities of the time. Whilst of course Nietzsche's views are incredibly biased and contain little historical evidence, his theory is interesting and impressive, possibly enough so to garner extra marks if discussed critically.

 

[allira92]

thanks to both of you, this is rather helpful.