Lesson 14

Theme: Religion and Conflict
Lesson 14

• Abraham, Canaan, covenant, diaspora,
Joshua, Kingdom of David, Kingdom of
Solomon, Moses, Passover, Talmud,
Temple, Ten Commandments, Torah,
Yahweh, Yom Kippur

• Originally from the Sumerian city of Ur (a polytheistic place)
• Migrated to Palestine around 1850 B.C. on God’s command (Genesis 12:1)
• God established a covenant with Abraham (Genesis
17:7-8)
– “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
• It is from this passage that modern Jews claim Israel belongs to them

• Moses led the
Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt to
Canaan, the land God had promised them
(Exodus 12: 31)
• Along the way, God gave Moses the Ten
Commandments
(Exodus 20: 1-17)
Statue of Moses by Michelangelo

• I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
• II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
• III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
• IV. Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
• V. Honor thy father and thy mother.
• VI. Thou shalt not kill.
• VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• VIII. Thou shalt not steal.
• IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
• X. Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's.

• The God of Abraham and Moses was
Yahweh
– The only god; all others were false imposters
(monotheism)
– A personal god who expected the Israelites to worship him alone and to observe high moral and ethical standards

• Between 1000 and 400 B.C., Israelite religious leaders compiled Yahweh’s teachings into the
Torah
– Part of what Christians call the Old Testament
• Yahweh would punish or reward both the individuals and the community based on how well they observed his commandments
– Many would see the exile imposed by the New
Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C. as an example of
Yahweh’s punishment

• Rabbi means teacher or master
• They are Jewish religious officials trained in Jewish law, ritual, and tradition
• The synagogue is the Jewish place of assembly for prayer and study
– It is not required for a synagogue to have a rabbi, but if it does, he is appointed by the lay leadership

• An authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish laws, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories
• Fundamental source of legislation, customs, case histories and moral exhortations
– For example, the Torah does not prohibit pronouncing the name of
God, but the Talmud does
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 90a)

• Joshua succeeded Moses as the one to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land
• A series of battles occurred between the invading Israelites and the native Canaanites:
– Jericho (Joshua 5:13–6:27)
– Ai and Bethel (Joshua 8:1-
29)
– Against an alliance of southern cities (Joshua 10:1-
43)
– Against an alliance of northern cities (Joshua 11:1-
15)

• Formative event in Israel’s history
– Now the Israelites could describe themselves as the inhabitants of the land God had promised to their forefathers.
• Israel is now a land, not just a people
– But this event will also set up continuing conflict between the Jews who claim the land is given them by God and the Palestinians who are displaced from it

• Kingdom of David
(1000-970 B.C.)
– Extended the kingdom by war
– Made Jerusalem the political capital
– Drew up plans for the
Temple
• Kingdom of Solomon
(970-930 B.C.)
– Asserted “federal power” over “tribal power”
• Divided the country into
12 taxable units
• Centralization
– Preserved the kingdom by peace
(David had extended it by war)

• Under King Solomon, the
Jews built an elaborate temple in their new capital of Jerusalem
– Housed the Ark of the
Covenant and the Ten
Commandments
• Romans destroyed the
Temple in 70 A.D.
• In 638 A.D., Muslim invaders captured
Jerusalem and eventually built two mosques on the site of the old Jewish temple, including the Dome of the Rock

• The Dome of the Rock is the holiest Islamic shrine in Jerusalem.
• It stands over the rock from which Muslims believe Muhammad rose to heaven.
• For Jews, the shrine stands on the traditional location of the Temple of
Solomon.
• Jews believe the site to be where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.

• After King Solomon, tribal tensions led to a division of the larger kingdom into Israel in the north and Judah in the south
• Eventually both Israel and Judah came under foreign domination
• As a result of these various conquests, the
Jewish people were displaced from their homeland
• Babylonian, Archaemenid, Alexandrian,
Seleucid, and Roman regimes all ruled over the
Jewish Diaspora

• All these regimes embraced many different ethnic and religious groups and mostly tolerated the cultural preferences of their subjects so long as the communities paid their taxes and refrained from rebellion
• However they sometimes created state cults which honored their emperors as gods
• This created a problem for the monotheistic Jews
18 th Century icon of Shadraeh,
Meshaeh, and Abed-nego in the furnace (Daniel 3:8-12) and
Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel
6:10-13)

• Relations between the Jews and Romans were especially tense as the Romans expanded their empire into the eastern
Mediterranean
• Between the 3 rd Century B.C. and the 1 st
Century A.D., the Jews mounted several rebellions, but were decisively defeated in the Jewish War of 66 to 70 A.D.

• 324… Byzantine rule
– The Roman Empire, including Jerusalem, became Christian under
Emperor Constantine and
Theodosius
• 614 - 638… Jerusalem fell to the Persians (614), Byzantines
(629) and Arab Muslims (638)
– 688 - 691… Dome of the
Rock and Al-Aqsa built
• 1099… First Crusaders captured Jerusalem (We’ll discuss the Crusades in
Lesson 22)

• Some 6 million Jews were killed during the
Holocaust
– Led to demands for a Jewish homeland
• On November 29,
1947, the United
Nations voted to partition western
Palestine into a
Jewish and an Arab state

• On the day Israel declared its independence, combined Arab forces attacked
• Israel defeated the attacks

• The Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) was established in 1964 as a political and paramilitary organization of
Palestinians dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state
• Palestinians fought
“intifada” against Israeli forces into the early
1990s

• Israel launched a preemptive strike against
Arab armies and ended up occupying the
Sinai, the
Gaza Strip, the Golan
Heights and the West Bank

• At the 1972 Munich
Olympics, five Arab terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes
• Arab terrorists repeatedly used suicide attacks against
Israeli civilian targets
• Israel responded with air strikes against Syria which it accuses of supporting
Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists
Black September terrorist at Munich

• Egypt and Syria attacked on the
Jewish holy day; other Arab states joined in
• Israel militarily recovered from the initial surprise, but diplomatically it was an Arab victory because Israel agreed to give up territory it had previously seized

• Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai
– Represented the controversial Israeli philosophy of “land for peace”
• The Multinational Force and Observers was established to supervise the implementation of the security provisions of the peace treaty
Egyptian President Sadat,
Israeli Prime Minister
Begin, and US President
Carter celebrate the peace agreement

• In 2005, Israel completed a unilateral withdrawal of civilian settlements and military personnel from the
Gaza strip and the northern West Bank
• In 2006, Israel attacked
Hezbollah forces in
Lebanon in response to the kidnapping of two
Israeli soldiers

• Passover
– Celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in
Egypt
• Chanukah
– Commemorates the successful revolt against the Seleucids and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem
• Rosh Hashanah
– First of the year
– Begins the Days of Awe which are a time of introspection culminating in Yom Kippur
• Yom Kippur
– “Day of Atonement” for sins man commits against God

Source: About, Inc http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/blreligiontop.htm
Religion
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Sikhism
Baha‘i
Confucianism
Jainism
Shintoism
Wicca
Zoroastrianism
Members
2 Billion
1.2 Billion
785 Million
360 Million
17 Million
16 Million
5 Million
5 Million
4 Million
3 Million
.7 Million
.2 Million

• Orthodox
– Jewish law comes from God and cannot be changed
– Torah is the fundamental text and study of the Talmud is stressed
• Conservative
– Accept the binding nature of Jewish law but believe that the law can change
– Use the Talmud along with the Torah, but are more flexible about the texts than Orthodox Jews are
• Reformed
– Most liberal (i. e., open to change)
– The process of reinterpretation of the Torah to the language of today is ongoing, and that every Jew has a stake and a role in that restatement and extension.

• One people (Abraham is their forefather)
• The Chosen People (holy people)
• Covenant relationship (Promised Land)
• Temple/synagogue
• Torah and Talmud

• Hebrew word is moshiach (annointed)
• The moshiach will be chosen by God to put an end to all evil in the world, rebuild the Temple, bring the exiles back to Israel, and usher in the world to come.
• “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the moshiach , and though he may tarry, still I await him every day.” (Principle 12 of Rambam’s 13
Principle’s of Faith)
– Rambam is Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars

• Olam Ha-Ba is Hebrew for “the World to Come” and also the term used to refer to the spiritual afterlife.
• When the moshiach comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create.
– The wicked dead will not be resurrected.
• Jews prepare for the Olam Ha-Ba through study of the Torah and good deeds

Theme: How religions grow and spread
Lesson 14

• Calvin, epistles, Gentiles, Hermensen
(Arminius), Jesus, Luther, New Testament,
Paul (Saul), Pharisees, Reformation, salvation by faith, spread of early
Christianity, St. Augustine

• Born sometime before 4
B.C. in Bethlehem
– Virgin birth as the Son of
God (Luke 1:34-35)
• John the Baptist began preaching before Jesus and Jesus began his ministry with a message of repentance similar to
John’s
• Called Twelve Apostles to assist him

• Met resistance from Jewish authorities who considered his claims to be the
Messiah blasphemy and Roman authorities who considered his call for “the kingdom of God” to be a political threat
• Jews brought Jesus before the Roman authorities who acquiesced to the Jews’ demands to crucify Jesus

• Jesus’ followers proclaimed he had risen from the dead and that his death and resurrection served as a sacrifice to offset their sins
– Now they too can survive death and live eternally in heaven
• Jesus’ followers called him “Christ” which means
“the anointed one” and they became known as
Christians (Acts 11:26)

• Christians compiled a body of writings including accounts of Jesus’ life, reports of his followers’ works, and letters outlining
Christian teachings
• Becomes known as the “New Testament” and Christians refer to the Jews’ Hebrew scriptures as the “Old Testament”

• The Christians were subjected to persecutions from Jews who disagreed with the new faith
• One of the chief persecutors was Saul
– Zealous Pharisee
– Held the people’s coats while Stephen was being stoned (Acts 4:58)
• Was on his way to Damascus to see whether there is any Christian influence in the synagogue there when God encountered him
– “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts
9:4)

• God made Saul “a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of
Israel” (Acts 9:15)
– Came to be known as Paul
– Greatest theologian of the early Church
– Apostle to the greatest sphere of Christian missionary expansion – to the Gentile world to the west

• The cities in which Paul established churches were politically, culturally, and economically important
• They were also located on the main thoroughfares of the Roman Empire, ensuring mobility of the message
• Christianity would radiate from these major cities to others and eventually to the countryside

• Paul wrote in Greek
– The conquests of Alexander had introduced
Greek as the common language from Italy to
India (We’ll study Alexander in Lesson 18)
• Roman system of good roads and the lack of piracy or serious crime ( Pax Romana )
– Allowed Paul to travel and preach throughout
Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and Italy

• Presence of the synagogue
– Gave Paul a forum to preach, dispute with the
Jews, and attract converts
• Roman toleration of religion
– Paul and the other missionaries were able to freely debate the cause of Christianity, provided they said nothing subversive to
Rome’s political authority

• Degenerate nature of Roman society
– Rome’s idle, lascivious aristocracy amused itself with such pursuits as mortal combat for entertainment and created a spiritual void that needed to be filled
• Broad Appeal
– Open to lower classes, urban populations, and women
– Accorded honor and dignity to individuals who did not enjoy high standing in Roman society

• Less than 300 years after the crucifixion,
Christianity became the most dynamic and influential religion in the
Mediterranean basin
• Sometime shortly before
337 A.D., Constantine became the first
Christian emperor
• In 380 A.D., Theodosius proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the
Roman Empire
The baptism of Constantine

• In the absence of organized leadership, the earliest Christians had generated a wide range of sometimes conflicting doctrines
• To standardize the faith, Christian leaders instituted a hierarchy of church officials
– The bishop in Rome and patriarchs in Jerusalem,
Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople
– As Roman imperial authority crumbled, the bishop of
Rome (known as the pope) emerged as the spiritual leader of Christian communities in the western part of the empire

• In 325 A.D., Constantine called the
Council of Nicea which brought together
Christian leaders to consider the views of the Arians
– Arians taught that Jesus was a mortal man rather than God Himself
– Arianism was condemned as heresy
• (We talked about this in Lesson 6)

We believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the
Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in the one holy catholic
(Christian) and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
Amen.
and the life of the world to come.

• The earliest Christians had come from the ranks of ordinary people
• Their doctrine seemed unsophisticated to intellectual elites
• Until the 3 rd Century Christianity grew as a popular religion of salvation favored by the masses
• During the 4 th Century, intellectual elites began to give it a reasoned doctrine of intellectual substance

• Well educated and conversant with all the leading intellectual currents of his day
• Converted to Christianity in 387
• Worked to reconcile Christianity with Greek and Roman philosophical traditions, especially Platonism
• Tried to articulate Christianity in terms that were familiar to educated classes
• Wrote Confessions and The
City of God

• In 1517, Martin Luther distributed his Ninety Five
Thesis which was a public challenge to debate the
Church practice of selling indulgences
– Indulgences were a type of pardon that excused individuals from doing penance for their sins and facilitated entry into heaven
– Church officials thought indulgences were great – encouraged believers to reflect piously on their behavior and served as a large source of income

• In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther
• Though expelled from the Church,
Luther still considered himself a
Christian and he began to attract followers
• The movement spread from
Wittenberg, throughout Germany, to Switzerland, and throughout western Europe
– The printing press was instrumental in spreading the word
• The dissidents became known as
“Protestants” because they were protesting against the established order

• John Calvin
– Converted to Protestantism in the 1530s and left France for
Switzerland to escape persecution
– Founded a model Protestant community in Geneva which also served as a missionary center
– Advanced the doctrine of predestination
– Great influence on
Presbyterianism

• Jacob Hermensen
(Latinized Arminius)
– Revolted against strict
Calvinism in favor of free will
– Argued that people must make an active choice to be saved
– Profoundly influenced
John Wesley and
Methodism

Source: About, Inc http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/blreligiontop.htm
Religion
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Sikhism
Baha‘i
Confucianism
Jainism
Shintoism
Wicca
Zoroastrianism
Members
2 Billion
1.2 Billion
785 Million
360 Million
17 Million
16 Million
5 Million
5 Million
4 Million
3 Million
.7 Million
.2 Million

• Islam