2 of 4 - Middle Eastern/Greek/Roman Foundations For ...


		2 of 4 - Middle Eastern/Greek/Roman Foundations For ... (Top Posts - History - 013101) ... origins of Judaism and Christianity. Topics covered in post 2 of 4: o Judaism : Religious and Cultural Life in the Diaspora / Palestinian Literature / The Roman Period (63 BCE-135 CE), New Parties and Sects / Origin of Christianity - the Early Christians and the Jewish community / Babylonia (200-650 CE) / The Age of the Geonim (c. 640-1038), Triumph of the Babylonian Rabbinate / Diaspora / Anti- Semitism / Jewish-Christian Relations o Christianity : The Relation of the Early Church to Late Judaism - - - Judaism Religious and Cultural Life in the Diaspora http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108150&tocid=35190#35190.toc Excerpt: "During the Hellenistic-Roman period the chief centres of Jewish population outside Palestine were in Syria, Asia Minor, Babylonia, and Egypt, each of which is estimated to have had at least 1,000,000 Jews. The large Jewish community of Antioch--which, according to Josephus, had been given all the rights of citizenship by the Seleucid founder-king, Seleucus Nicator (died 280 BCE)--attracted a particularly large number of converts to Judaism. It was in Antioch that the apocryphal book of Tobit was probably composed in the 2nd century BCE to encourage wayward Diaspora Jews to return to their Judaism. As for the Jews of Asia Minor, whose large numbers were mentioned by Cicero (1st century BCE), their not joining in the Jewish revolts against the Roman emperors Nero, Trajan, and Hadrian would indicate that they had sunk deep roots into their environment. In Babylonia, in the early part of the 1st century CE, two Jewish brothers, Asinaeus and Anilaeus, were able to establish an independent minor state ... The largest and most important Jewish settlement in the Diaspora was in Egypt. There is evidence (papyri) of a Jewish military colony at Elephantine (Yeb), Upper Egypt, as early as the 6th century BCE. These papyri reveal the existence of a Jewish temple--which most certainly would be considered heterodox--and some syncretism (mixture) with pagan cults. Alexandria, the most populous and most influential Hellenistic Jewish community in the Diaspora, had its origin when Alexander the Great assigned a quarter of the city to the Jews. Until about the 3rd century BCE the papyri of the Egyptian Jewish community were written in Aramaic; after that, with the exception of the Nash papyrus in Hebrew, all papyri until 400 CE were in Greek. Similarly, of the 116 Jewish inscriptions from Egypt, all but five are written in Greek. The process of Hellenistic acculturation is, thus, obvious. ... The most important work of the early Hellenistic period, dating, according to tradition, from the 3rd century BCE, is the Septuagint, a translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. (The translation of the whole Hebrew Bible was completed during the next two centuries.) ... By far the greatest figure in Alexandrian Jewish literature is Philo, who has come to be recognized as a major philosopher. His synthesis of Greek philosophy, particularly that of Plato, and of the Torah, and his formulation of the Logos (Word, or Divine Reason) as an intermediary between God and the world, helped lay the groundwork for Neoplatonism (a philosophy dealing with levels of being), Gnosticism (a dualistic religious movement teaching that matter is evil and that spirit is good), and the philosophical framework of the early Church Fathers. Philo was a devotee of Judaism neither as a mystic cult nor as a collateral branch of Pharisaic Judaism; he was a Diaspora Jew with a profound knowledge of Greek literature who, though almost totally ignorant of Hebrew, tried to find a modus vivendi between Judaism and secular culture. Mention may be made of the Jewish community of Rome. Numbering perhaps 50,000, it was, to judge from the inscriptions in the Jewish catacombs, predominantly Greek-speaking and almost totally ignorant of Hebrew. References in Roman writers, particularly Tacitus and the satirists, have led scholars to conclude that the community--which was influential, to judge from the pagan jibes-- observed the Sabbath and the dietary laws and was active in seeking converts. ... The fact that the Jewish community of Alex- andria was preoccupied in the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE with obtaining rights as citizens--which certainly involved compromises with Judaism, including participation in pagan festivals and sacrifices--shows how far they were ready to deviate. Philo mentions Jews who scoffed at the Bible, which they insisted on interpreting literally, and of others who failed to adhere to the biblical laws that they regarded as mere allegory; he writes too of Jews who observed nothing of Judaism except the holiday of Yom Kippur. But despite such deviations, the pagan writers constantly accuse the Diaspora Jews of being 'haters of mankind' and of being absurdly super- stitious; and Christian writers later similarly attack the Jews for refusing to give up the Torah. ..." - - - Judaism Palestinian Literature http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108150&tocid=35192#35192.toc Excerpt: "... Apocalyptic trends, given considerable impetus by the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks, were not--as was formerly thought-- restricted to Pharisaic circles. They were (as is clear from the Dead Sea Scrolls) found in other groups as well, and are of particular importance for their influence on both Jewish mysti- cism and early Christianity. These books, which have a close connection with the biblical Book of Daniel, stress the impossibility of a rational solution to the problem of theodicy--how to reconcile the righteousness of God with observable evil. They also stress the imminence of the day of salva- tion, which is to be preceded by terrible hardships, and presumably reflected the current historical setting. In the book of Enoch there is stress on the terrible punishment inflicted upon sinners in the Last Judg- ment, the imminent coming of the Messiah and of his kingdom, and the role of angels. ... The Roman Period (63 BCE-135 CE) New Parties and Sects Under Roman rule a number of new groups, largely political, emerged in Palestine. Their common aim was to seek an independent Jewish state. All were zealous for, and strict in their observance of, the Torah. The Herodians were a political group that after the death of Herod--whom they apparently regarded as the Messiah--sought the reestablishment of the rule of Herod's descendants over an independent Palestine as a prerequisite for Jewish preservation. Unlike the Zealots, however, they did not refuse to pay taxes to the Romans. The Zealots' party, founded c. 6-9 CE, refused to pay tribute to the Romans and advocated over- throwing them on the ground that they should acknowledge God alone as their master. A priestly, eschatologically oriented resistance movement, the Zealots were particularly dedicated to keeping the Temple and its cult pure and used guerrilla tactics toward that end. The Sicarii (Assassins), so-called because of the dagger (sica) they carried, arose c. 54, according to Josephus, as a group of bandits who kidnapped or murdered those who had found a modus vivendi with the Romans. It was they who made a stand at the fortress of Masada near the Dead Sea, com- mitting suicide rather than be captured by the Romans (73). A number of other parties--various types of Essenes, Damascus Covenanters, and the Qumran Dead Sea groups--were distinguished by their pursuit of an ascetic monastic life, disdain for material goods and sensual gratification, sharing of material posses- sions, concern for eschatology, strong apocalyptic views in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, practice of ablutions to attain greater sexual and ritual purity, prayer, contemplation, and study. ..." - - - Judaism Origin of Christianity - the Early Christians and the Jewish community http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108150&tocid=35195#35195.toc Excerpt: "Though it attracted little attention among pagans and Jews at the beginning, the rise of Chris- tianity was by far the most important 'sectarian' development of the Roman period. ... When Paul proclaimed his antinomianism (against Torah observance as a means of salvation) many Jewish followers of Jesus became Jewish Christians and continued to observe the Torah. Their two main groupings were the Ebionites --probably to be identified with those called minim, or 'sectaries,' in the Talmud--who accepted Jesus as the Messiah but denied his divinity, and the Nazarenes, who regarded Jesus as both Messiah and God, but regarded the Torah as binding upon Jews alone. The percentage of Jews converted to any form of Christianity was extremely small, as can be seen from the frequent criticisms of Jews for their stubbornness by Christian writers. In the Diaspora, despite the strong influence of Hellenism, there were relatively few Jewish converts, though the Christian movement had some success in winning Alexandrian Jews. There were four major stages in the final break between Christianity and Judaism: (1) the flight of the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem to Pella across the Jordan in 70 and their refusal to continue the struggle against the Romans; (2) the institution by the patriarch Gamaliel II of a prayer in the Eighteen Benedictions against such heretics (c. 100), and (3 and 4) the failure of the Christians to join the messianic leaders Lukuas-Andreas and Bar Kokhba in the revolts against Trajan (115-117) and Hadrian (132-135), respectively. ... The last procurators in particular were indifferent to Jewish religious sensibilities; and various patri- otic groups, to whom nationalism was an integral part of their religion, succeeded in polarizing the Jewish population and bringing on an extremely bloody war with Rome in 66-70. The climax of the war was the destruction of the Temple in 70, though, according to Josephus, the Roman general (and later emperor) Titus sought to spare it. The war was not ended, however, until 73, when the Sicarii at Masada committed suicide rather than submit to the Romans. The papyri indicate that the war against Trajan (115-117), involving the Jews of Egypt, Cyr- enaica, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia (though only to a minor degree those of Palestine), was a widespread revolt under a Cyrenian king-messiah, Lukuas-Andreas, aimed at freeing Palestine from Roman rule. The same spirit of freedom impelled another messiah, Bar Kokhba, who had the support of the greatest rabbi of the time, Akiba, in his spontaneous uprising (132-135). The result was Hadrian's decrees prohibiting circum- cision and public instruction in the Torah, though these were soon revoked by Anto- ninus Pius. Having suffered such tremendous losses on the field of battle, Judaism turned its dynamism to the continued development of the Talmud ..." - - - Judaism Babylonia (200-650 CE) http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108151&tocid=35203#35203.toc Excerpt: "In the increasingly unfriendly climate of Christendom, Jews drew consolation in the knowledge that in nearby Babylonia (then under Persian rule) a vast population of Jews continued to live under a network of effective and autono- mous Jewish institutions and officialdom. Steadily worsening conditions in Palestine had drawn many Jews to Persian domains, where economic opportunities and the Jewish com- munal structure enabled them to gain a better livelihood while living in accordance with their ancestral traditions. ... The Age of the Geonim (c. 640-1038) Triumph of the Babylonian Rabbinate The lightning conquests in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula by the armies of Islam (7th-8th centuries) provided the environmental framework for the basically uniform (i.e., Babylonian) character of medieval Judaism. As a 'people of the Book' (i.e., of the Bible), the Jews were permitted by the Muslims to live under the same autonomous structure that had developed under Arsacid and Sasanian rule. The heads of the two principal academies were now formally recognized by the exilarch, and through him by the Muslim caliphate (religio- political rulers), as the official arbiters of all questions of religious law and as the religious heads of all Jewish communities that came under Muslim sway. Known as geonim (plural of gaon, 'excellency'), and conducting high courts manned by scholars assigned graded ranks, they drew their financial support from Jewish communities assigned to them by the exilarch. ..." - - - Diaspora http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=30783 Excerpt: "(Greek: Dispersion), Hebrew GALUT (Exile), the dispersion of Jews among the Gentiles after the Babylonian Exile; or the aggregate of Jews or Jewish communities scattered 'in exile' outside Palestine or present-day Israel. ... The first significant Jewish Diaspora was the result of the Babylonian Exile of 586 BC. After the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah, part of the Jewish population was deported into slavery. Although Cyrus the Great, the Persian con- queror of Babylonia, permitted the Jews to return to their homeland in 538 BC, part of the Jewish community voluntarily remained behind. The largest, most significant, and culturally most creative Jewish Diaspora in early Jewish history flourished in Alexandria, where, in the 1st century BC, 40 percent of the population was Jewish. Around the 1st century AD, an estimated 5,000,000 Jews lived outside Palestine, about four-fifths of them within the Roman Empire, but they looked to Palestine as the centre of their religious and cultural life. Diaspora Jews thus far outnumbered the Jews in Palestine even before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Thereafter, the chief centres of Judaism shifted from country to country (e.g., Babylonia, Persia, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and the United States), and Jewish communities gradually adopted distinctive languages, rituals, and cultures, some submerging themselves in non-Jewish environments more completely than others. While some lived in peace, others became victims of violent anti-Semitism. ..." - - - Anti-Semitism http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=7908 Excerpt: "Hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. The term 'anti- Semitism' was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time. ... As Christianity spread, most Jews continued to reject that religion. As a consequence, by the 4th century AD, Christians tended to regard Jews as the crucifiers of Christ and as an alien people who, because of their repudiation of Christ and his church, had lost their homeland and were condemned to perpetual migra- tion. When the Christian church became dominant in the Roman Empire, its leaders inspired many laws by Roman emperors designed to segregate Jews from Christian believers and to curtail Jews' religious rights when they appeared to threaten Christian religious domination. In much of Europe during the Middle Ages, Jews were denied citizenship and its rights, barred from holding posts in government and the military, and excluded from membership in guilds and the pro- fessions. The ritual-murder canard, or blood libel--i.e., Jews' alleged sacrifice of Christian children at Passover in order to obtain blood for unleavened bread-- was first made in the 12th century. The legend was revived sporadically in eastern Europe and Poland and, in the 1930s, became part of Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda. Another instrument of 12th-century anti-Semitism, the compulsory yellow badge that identified the wearer as a Jew, was also adopted by the Nazis. The practice of segregating the Jewish populations of towns and cities into ghettos dates from the Middle Ages and lasted until the 19th and early 20th centuries in much of Europe. ... As European commerce grew in the late Middle Ages, some Jews became prominent in trade, banking, and moneylending, and the Jews' econo- mic and cultural successes tended to arouse the envy of the populace. This economic resentment, allied with traditional religious prejudice, prompted the forced expul- sion of Jews from several countries or regions, including England (1290), France (14th century), Germany (1350s), Portugal (1496), Provence (1512), and the Papal States (1569). Intensifying persecutions by the Inquisition in Spain culminated in 1492 in the forced expulsion of that country's large and old-established Jewish population. Only Jews who had converted to Christianity were allowed to remain. The result of these mass expulsions was that the centres of Jewish life shifted from western Europe and Germany to Turkey and then to Poland and Russia. The end of the Middle Ages brought no major changes in Jews' position in Europe, and the Counter-Reformation renewed anti-Jewish legislation and reinforced the system of ghetto segregation in Roman Catholic countries. Jews remained subject to occasional massacres, such as those that occurred during wars between Eastern Orthodox Ukrainians and Roman Catholic Poles in the mid-17th century, which rivaled the worst massacres of Jews by Crusaders in the Middle Ages. Periodic persecutions of Jews continued until the late 18th century, when the Enlightenment and the French Revolution brought Europe a new religious freedom. ... In Germany and Austria in the late 19th century, anti-Semitism became an organized movement with its own political parties. ... The storm of anti-Semitic violence that was let loose by Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler in 1933-45 not only reached a ter- rifying degree in Germany itself but also inspired anti-Jewish movements elsewhere. ... In Germany anti-Semitism became official govern- ment policy--taught in the schools and elaborated in 'scientific' journals, research institutes, and by a huge, highly effective organization for inter- national propaganda. In 1941 the liquidation of European Jewry became official party policy. An estimated 5,700,000 Jews were exterminated in such death camps as Auschwitz, Chelmno, Belzec, Majdanek, and Treblinka during World War II. ... For many centuries, Islamic societies had tolerated Jews but had made them pay special taxes, wear identifying clothing, and live in specified areas. Jews were thus treated much as other nonbelievers were in Muslim societies. But the emigration of large numbers of Jews to Palestine in the 20th century and the creation of the state of Israel (1948) aroused new currents of hostility within the Arab world. Because the Arabs are Semitic, their hostility to the state of Israel has been primarily political (or anti-Zionist) and religious rather than racial. ..." - - Judaism Jewish-Christian Relations http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108152&tocid=35223#35223.toc Excerpt: "... Elements of the Church spoke out during the 1930s against the Nazi persecution of the Jews, but the majority of Christian religious figures in Europe remained silent, even during the Holocaust (near extermination of European Jews). In response to the Holocaust, however, the World Council of Churches denounced anti-Semitism in 1946, and in 1965 the Roman Catholic Church's Schema on the Jews and other non-Christian reli- gions, adopted by the Second Vatican Council, revised its traditional attitude toward the Jews as the killers of Christ. A growing sense of ecumenism (of fellowship and common concerns) has been shared by Jews and Christians alike. Although there remain many difficulties related to the question of the place that Zionism and the State of Israel hold within Judaism, the older forms of official church anti-Semitism have radically lessened. ..." - - - Christianity The Relation of the Early Church to Late Judaism http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108295 Excerpt: "Christianity began as a movement within Judaism at a period when the Jews had long been under foreign influence and rule and had found in their religion (rather than in their politics or cultural achievements) the linchpin of their community. From Amos (8th century BC) onward the religion of Israel was marked by tension between the concept of monotheism, with its universal ideal of salvation (for all nations), and the notion of God's special choice of Israel. In the age after Alexander the Great (i.e., the Hel- lenistic period, 3rd century BC-3rd century AD), the dispersion of the Jews throughout the Hellen- istic kingdoms and the Roman Empire gave some impetus to the universalistic tendency. ..." --- end 2 of 4 ---