Chapter 8
A Flowering of
Faith: Christianity
Late Antiquity
(284-610 C.E.)
Three
cultural traditions:
Greco-Roman
Near Eastern
Hebraic
Greco-Roman Background
 Stoicism:
ethical view of life
equality among people
:
 Neoplatonism
the individual soul seeking to be
united with an Ultimate Being
(Fiero 178)
Roman Deities
Vesta 灶神

She was the goddess of the hearth and
home. She was very important to Romans.
In her temple a flame was always kept
burning as in the 'hearth of Rome' the
flame should never go out.
http://www.roman-empire.net/children/gods.html
Vesta, goddess of the fire
and the hearth
Prayers were said to Vesta
every day, and during a meal
a portion of food might be
thrown into the fire as an
offering, and also to seek
omens from the way in which
it burned.
http://www.the-romans.co.uk/home.htm
Temple of Vesta
This temple was the most sacred
building in Rome, containing as it
did, the sacred fire (the "hearth
fire" of the city) and the Palladium,
a wooden statue of Pallas Athena,
which is said to have been
brought from Troy to Italy by
Aeneas.
This shrine continued to be the
city altar, and the fire was kept
burning until after Christianity had
become the religion of the Empire.
http://www.vroma.org/~forum/tvst.html
Janus


god of doorways
Janus, who gave his name to the month of
January, is often depicted as having two faces,
one looking in each direction. It has been
suggested that this represents opening and
closing a door, going in and coming out, or
viewing (and thus guarding) both the inside and
outside of a house.
http://www.the-romans.co.uk/home.htm
A coin of the Roman Republic, circa 225–212 B.C.E.
http://www.inquiringminds.org/newsletter/0504/calendar-lore.html
The Household Spirits

In Roman religion every household had its
own personal spirits which protected it.
Little figurines of these spirits were kept in
a small household shrine. The spirits
would be worshipped by the family on
special days. Bits of food or wine might be
sacrificed to them.
http://www.roman-empire.net/children/gods.html
Household
lares
The
lares (one of
them was designated
lar familiaris or “family
spirit” and was special
to that household)
were supposed to be
the spirits of dead
ancestors, and had a
cupboard of their own
which they inhabited
in the form of tiny
statuettes. Daily
prayers and offerings
were made to them.
http://www.theromans.co.uk/home.htm
http://www.rebecca-east.com/murals.html
Genius
Each household had in
addition its genius, whose
image was a snake. Genius
might be described as a
“spirit of manhood”, since it
was supposed to give a man
the power of generation, and
its sphere of influence was
the marriage-bed. The
household genius was
especially honored on the
birthday of the head of the
family.
http://www.the-romans.co.uk/home.htm
Emperor Worship


The early emperors who inherited the reins of
Roman government after the fall of the
Republic (31 BCE) attempted to unify the
state under a single system of worship by
merging state and religion.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/12CULTS.htm
Emperor Worship


Thus, temples to that day's potentates rose all
across the Empire, fixtures where people were
expected to visit and pay their just and due respect,
or just their dues.
As the list of emperor-deities grew ever longer—and
ever weirder, this "new religion" of Rome began to
look like just another form of taxation, which is in
fact exactly what it was.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/12CULTS.htm
Near Eastern Background


Central feature: promise of personal
immortality
“Mystery” cults
“The initiates participated in symbolic acts
of spiritual death and rebirth, including
ritual baptism and a communal meal at
which they might partake of the flesh or
blood of the deity.” (Fiero 178-79)
Isis: mother goddess
Isis


She was the Egyptian goddess of the
earth. Her worship entailed elaborate and
exotic rituals.
Both wife and sister of Osiris who is the
prototype of deceased pharaohs, she was
said to have restored her husband/brother
to life after death.
http://www.roman-empire.net/children/gods.html
Isis
Isis was especially
popular among Greek
sailors who by Roman
times had spread her
worship around the
Mediterranean. In this
Hellenized form, she had
evolved into a universal
symbol of renewed life
and fertility.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1
320Hist&Civ/chapters/12CULTS.h
tm
Mithras


The pagan Christ
He was the god of light from Persia. He
was always depicted slaying the holy bull,
and so giving life to the earth. He had
many followers in the Roman army. So
much so, that he is often referred to as
the soldiers' god.
http://www.roman-empire.net/children/gods.html
Mithra slaughtering the Sacred Bull
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/spqr/Images/mithra.jpg
Mithraism and Christianity

Similarities:
1. a dying and reborn man-god hero
2. birthday on December 25
3. ritual baptism
4. a communal meal
5. promise of deliverance from evil
(Fiero 180)
Jewish Background
 The
Hebrew Canon:
the Law (the Torah)
the Prophets
the Writings (wisdom literature)
(Fiero 56)
The Hebrews (1)
 1.
The Period of the Patriarchs:
Abraham of Ur took his people
from Mesopotamia to Canaan (ca.
2000 BCE).
 2. The Period of the Exodus:
Moses led the Hebrews out of
Egypt (ca. 1750 BCE).
The Hebrews (2)
 3.
The Period of the Conquest:
The Hebrews struggled to conquer
Canaan.
 4. The United Monarchy: There
were three kings → Saul, David,
and Solomon.
The Hebrews (3)

5. Divided Kingdom and Exile: The
Northern Kingdom was destroyed by the
Assyrians in the 8th century BCE. In 587
BCE the Babylonians conquered the
Southern Kingdom, destroyed Solomon’s
temple in Jerusalem, and carried the
Hebrew people into an exile know as the
Babylonian Captivity (586-29 B.C.E.).
The Hebrews (4)

6. The Return: The Hebrews returned
from exile about 520 BCE. The subsequent
history was marked by a series of foreign
rulers, one brief period of independence (c.
165 BCE), and rule by Rome after 63 BCE.
In 70 CE, after a Jewish revolt, the
Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Jews did
not hold political powers in Palestine until
1948.
Roots of Christianity in Judaism

~ AD 6
Augustus took
over Judah –
renamed it
Judea (it is the
mountainous
southern part
of Palestine)
Religious Groups in Jerusalem
Sadducees: Temple priesthood
and their aristocratic allies
 Pharisees: teachers and
preachers of religious law
 Essenes: a quasi-monastic group,
practice asceticism; The Dead
Sea Scrolls

The Dead
Sea Scrolls:
Discovered in 1840s.
Among the more than
eight hundred
documents represented
by whole scrolls,
incomplete scrolls, and a
myriad of fragments are
complete copies or
portions of all the books
in the Hebrew Bible (our
OT), except for the Book
of Esther.
http://biblicalstudies.info/to
p10/qumran4_jar.jpg
http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/images/scroll.jpg
Roots of Christianity in Judaism




Jews were allowed to practice their religion
but were treated cruelly by Romans
Many Jews hoped for a savior (called a
“messiah” / “one anointed by God”) to
restore Jewish independence
One Jew – Jesus – traveled though Judea
from AD 30–33 saying that God’s rule was
close at hand & people should repent for
their sins
Some Jews thought Jesus was the messiah
Jesus


Sources of information: the Gospels,
the first four books of the New
Testament
Teachings:
1. Renunciation of material goods
2. Primacy of faith over ritual
3. Compassion for the poor,
downcast, and marginalized.
Roots of Christianity in Judaism



Because the Jews in Judea disagreed about
Jesus’ messiah status, there was much
internal Jewish conflict
The Romans were afraid that this conflict
would de-stabilize Judea – thus they
arrested Jesus as a political rebel
Jesus was crucified – the typical Roman
method of punishing criminals
What happened next?



Some of Jesus’ followers said that he had
risen from the dead & appeared to them
Those who believed became known as
Christians because the word “messiah”
translated into Greek is “Khristos”
People like Paul and Peter helped spread the
Christian message throughout the
Mediterranean region
Paul
c. 10- 67 C.E.
 Original Name: Saul, originally a
persecutor of Christians
 The Apostle to the Gentiles:
proclaimed Christianity to be a
universal religion
 Co-founder of Christianity

Paul

Teachings:
Jesus = Christ (Greek for “Messiah”)
 Jesus = the New Adam; the sin of
Adam might be cleansed by the
sacrifice of Jesus
 Faith and God’s grace alone
guaranteed eternal salvation

http://www.wmcwels.com/clipart/230.gif
Saul’s Conversion,
Caravaggio
http://www.luc.edu/depts/histo
ry/dennis/Visual_Arts/101Ima
ges/21_21.03188_Caravaggio_St_Paul.jpg
Spread of Christianity




View of salvation: promise of redemption
Accessibility: easy to understand, free of
cumbersome regulations and costly rituals
Social dimensions: a religion of the humble
(the lower and middle classes, women)
Organizational structure: a well-organized
hierarchy of priests and tightly-knit
congregations
Early
Christian
Communitie
s ~AD 200
Why were Christians
persecuted?




Monotheistic Christians refused to honor the
Roman emperor as a god
Some Christians refused to provide military
service – this led to charges of treason
Some Romans also feared the wrath of their
own deities because of the rejection of
those deities by Christians
As a result, Romans killed some Christian
martyrs who would not give up their beliefs
The Rise of Christianity

312 C.E. Emperor Constantine’s
conversion
313 C.E. Edict of Milan, Christianity
was tolerated throughout the Roman
 392 C.E. Emperor Theodosius made
Christianity the official religion of the
Empire and banned older religions

Constantine
 Growing
regionalism: The
East was the center of
commerce and administration.
The Latin-speaking West lost a
sense of contact with the Greekspeaking East.
Background to Christianity
 Three
cultural traditions:
Greco-Roman
Near Eastern
Hebraic
(Fiero 178)
The End