Instructions for preparing class notes/minutes: (1) Please emulate the header as found below; (2) Please save and transmit files in "text only" (ASCII) format, if possible (Word format and MIME attachments are difficult to edit!); avoid or minimize indentation, use of tabs, etc.; (3) Since a complete file of notes from 1998 exists on the class page, it is not necessary to try to fill in all the details that can be found there -- cross references to those minutes would be useful. (4) Please check spellings, unsure details, etc., by referring to the textbook, or the 1998 minutes, or other such sources. Thanks! RAK --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #01, 09 September 1999 by Beverly Jogan Basic materials for this class are found on the class home page (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html) for which all students are responsible. The instructor was frustrated by the failure of the system to permit access to the internet. The purpose of this class is to provide information about early Christianity, while also learning methods of assessing the validity of the claims made about it in the Bible, as well as in other early Christian and non-Christian works. The course material will challenge the thoughts and understanding of persons of any religious belief, and make them more aware of what is involved in the creation and maintenance of religious traditions. The grading of the course will be based on one research paper (topic of choice) and one take home exam (consisting of four parts: contexts of the Greco-Roman world, Jesus, Paul and his letters, and other early Christian materials). Some Frequently Asked Questions: The process by which writings came to be viewed as authoritative is called "canonization." The New Testament canon is a collection of writings of various sorts ("scriptures") that became part of the Christian "Bible." It was not until the fourth century that we have evidence for some Christians accepting as authoritative only the 27 books that now make up the New Testament. The process was affected by many aspects of Christian development, including political, and especially by inner-Christian religious conflicts. The technological development of the codex was what enabled the Bible to be conceptualized as a single book. In the time of Jesus and Paul, books were written on individual scrolls, which made it difficult to have a complete collection of works considered "scriptural" (e.g. the Jewish scriptures) or to think of them as some sort of unified "Bible." The "classical" Christian doctrine of the trinity is considered to be a "mystery," and thus defies complete understanding. Christians consider themselves to be monotheists (there is but one God), but also revere Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as interrelated "persons" within that "tri-unity." But this development of the trinity idea came long after the time of the earliest Christians such as Paul, although references to each of the three "persons" can be found in the early materials. In the classical (Roman Catholic) formulation of the Lord's Supper, when the priest blesses the bread or wafer, the "essence" of the substance is believed to change into the body of Christ ("transubstantiation"), while the incidental qualities ("accidents" in Aristotleian terms) remain those of bread/wafer. This sort of language, taken literally, has sometimes encouraged the accusation that Christians engage in cannibalism, even in the very early period with which we will deal. //end notes 99.01// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #02, 14 September 1999 by Libby Bucholz [network connection still not working] Note Ehrman's use of Apollonius of Tyana to catch your attention -- he wants the readers to think they know who the unnamed person is, then reveals that it is the little-known Apollonius, not Jesus! Map survey -- the geographical context of the course, 325 bce - 325 ce. Tracing the journeys of Paul will highlight certain locations: Earliest preserved "Christian" materials = letters of Paul but what do we really know about Paul? what sources can we trust? was he really from Tarsus in Cilicia as the book of Acts claims? probably he was educated in Jerusalem he comes to believe Jesus is the expected Jewish "Messiah" (not a "conversion"; continued to be a Jew throughout his life) Paul goes around preaching the end-times message, from Jerusalem north and west through Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, to at least Rome (if not beyond to Spain and Britain) Constantinople (Byzantium, Istanbul) on the Black Sea to the north (and somewhat northwest) of Asia Minor -- not important at first, but is developed as "Constantine's city" in the early 300s ce and Constantine legitimitizes Christianity in that period (before that, Christianity was an "underground" movement, legally speaking) --the fact that Christianity was "underground" for nearly 300 years makes it difficult to know in any detail how it developed and proliferated --325 ce is the date of the first "ecumenical" (world wide) church council, held at Nicea, not too far from Constantinople after that, Christianity would play an important role in the Roman (Latin) and Byzantine (Greek) world, providing a new type of "unity" among other things Paul reaches Corinth on the Greek penninsula -- he is the "founder" of "Christianity" there and visits the city several times, writing letters (how many?) to them as well Paul writes a letter to the Roman Christians before visiting them --a very selfconcious letter, since he had never been there we don't know how far Paul reached, he intended to go to Spain, and some people think he may have reached Britain Relevant Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean: Main language of the eastern Mediterranean was Greek Rome did not impose its Latin language on annexed areas, but accepted Greek culture as already established The earliest preserved Christian sources were written in Greek Latin comes into use much later, in the western empire North Africa plays a role in Christian expansion, with vague refrences in the book of Acts, but by the end of the 2nd century we find Tertullian in the Carthage area as an influential teacher/author Christianity also spreads to the east towards Persia and India this territory had been conquered by Alexander the Great and maintained some connections to the rest of the hellenistic world Parthia was never conquered by Rome, but enough roads/connections/commerce existed for people to move back and forth fairly easily; there are strong indications that Christians went all the way to India, with traditions about Thomas (and/or Thaddeus/Addai) going all the way to India and even China Chronology (see web materials under RelSt 002) Alexander the Great dies 323 bce as a young man in his 30s --dies intending to move capital to Persian Gulf area --came originally from Macedonia (northern Greece) (modern spinoff, small country has named itself Macedonia, causing much controversy since it is not exactly in that ancient location) The life of Alexander the Great (check the details for yourselves!): --wants to unite Greece, make it more unified under Greek culture --pushes Persia out and conquers Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt --armies go toward Indus Valley --no male heir - kingdom split among different generals after death Northern Area -- general Seleukos = Seleukid Empire Antioch becomes capital -- focal point in that area ("Syrian Empire," geographically, but Greek culturally) Southern Area -- general Ptolemy = Ptolemaic Empire, new city Alexandria founded, became one of the 4 main cities in Greco-Roman world Ptolemaic and Seleukid empires have conflicts and each tries to secure Palestine as a sort of "buffer zone" Seleukid -- very huge empire, tends to fracture Ptolemaic -- more stable, much smaller Parthia eats away at edges of Seleukid empire Palestine -- Maccabean revolt (now celebrated as Hannukah) 170 bce Judas Maccabee, Judah - maccabee perhaps meant "hammerer" rebelling against emperor of Seleukid empire Antiochus IV Hellenistic setting ("Hellenic" = Classical Greek world, Hellenistic = the Greek expansions and amalgamations under Alexander, etc.) Antiochus IV -- newly captured city Jerusalem, wants to integrate it --special Jewish name Yave/Yabe for God, not Zeus --king decides to incorporate temple into more mainstream Greek culture --attempts to negotiate, only moderate success, so tries forceably to change temple into more acceptable hellenistic entity Maccabean revolt (house of Hasmon, thus also "Hasmonean") took arms, went to hill country, got more followers eventually successful (by about 165 ce) results in 100 years of Jewish rule in Jerusalem At about the same time, Parthians rebel and establish independent state --revolt not unique to Judaism in the area and political climate "Temple in Exile" founded in Heliopolis (Leontopolis) in Ptolemic empire see Josephus -- main source for history of the Jews to about 100 ce Elephantine temple -- earlier than period we are discussing found many Jewish papyri there, in Aramaic language (Semitic) Maccabean era lasted 165-63 bce area was annexed by General Pompey (a rival of Julius Cesear) Rome did not usually forceably conquer -- made treaties but had strong army to back them up! Jewish state incorporated into Roman empire by about 25 bce Egypt (Cleopatra) becomes part of Roman expansion Jewish 1st revolt against Rome (66 ce-73 ce) Romans destroy Jewish Temple 70 bce //end of notes 99.02// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #03, 16 September 1999 by Jessica Chao In this class, with the internet connection finally working, Professor Kraft went over the resources that are available through his website: . We are encouraged to look into other Religious Studies sites, for example RELS 002 with its extensive "glossary" and other classes with resources that may help us in our papers later on (Jesus, Paul, Judaism, etc.). It is also helpful to look into last year's classnotes to supplement what we discuss in class this year. During the majority of the classtime, we looked at a lot of resource materials under RELS 135 -- for example, the Bibliography (with attention to the different English-translation versions), the canonical scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, various Jewish calendars, etc. We noted one interesting difference between the RSV and NRSV translations: the NRSV is gender sensitive, meaning, if a Hebrew or Greek word normally translated "brother" occurs in a general "siblings" sense (implying male and female), the NRSV will often render it as "brother and sister." We discussed that the Jewish scriptures ("TaNaKh") incorporates the Torah (Law), Neviim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings) while the New Testament includes the Gospels, Letters, and other works (Acts, Hebrews, Revelation). We went over how "classical Christianity" (Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions) included the Apocrypha in their Bible, whereas the Protestant Christians do not recognize those writings as authoritative. The Apocrypha include historical and wisdom literature, such as Esther and Daniel additions, Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, etc. Luther's reasons for excluding the Apocrypha from the Protestant Bible involved his understanding of what constituted Jewish scriptures in his own time and in early Christian times, but sometimes he also had "theological" reasons such as the use of 1 Maccabees to support the otherwise "unscriptural" (to Luther) idea of purgatory. Regarding early Christian writings, tradition has preserved for us only one writing claiming to be by Jesus, and that writing is in a form of a letter (modern scholarship agrees that it is not authentic). King Abgar of Edessa writes to Jesus requesting that Jesus heal him from an illness, and Jesus writes back saying he is too busy but in due time would send one of his disciples to tend to Abgar's needs. After Jesus' death/resurrection, Judas Thomas and/or one of his followers visits and heals the King, and Thomas goes further east to India, and is still claimed as the founder of Christian communities there. //end of notes 99.03// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #04, 21 September 1999 By Nisha S Ninan Backgrounds - the Greco-Roman world The goal of this class (as well as through our reading) is to become familiar with the major philosophies and influences of the time, such topics as Plato, Stoicism and Alexander the Great (died 323). We bagan by trying to define the term philosopher. We came up with a person who challenges normal views, someone with an education, the idea of contemplation was also associated with the word philosopher. The word philosopher came from two Greek roots: philo- (to love) and sophos (wisdom), so literally meaning "love of wisdom." Socrates was the reputed teacher of Plato -- Our pictures of Socrates have some similarities to the Jesus traditions: - both are known only through their followers (students) - for each, there are somewhat variant depictions (Socrates according to Xenophon, like Jesus in the synoptics; Socrates according to Plato, like Jesus in the Gospel of John) Plato (ca 380 bce) -- student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle: - metaphysical/ontological dualism (form or idea and matter) -- there is an absolute and ultimate world of ideas/forms, which shapes the transitory and illusory world of the senses. - Plato's pyramid of forms/ideas -- at the pinnacle are the most basic abstractions, with the idea of the GOOD at the top, then such ideas as beauty, truth, justice. These ideas/forms act on "raw matter" to produce the physical world of tables, trees, etc. - cave analogy: Big cave, thin opening. Captives in the cave cannot see the opening or the outside world, only shadows of it. If they get out, things will be blurred, but soon reality will become clear. - Plato's followers produced various branches such as the "Academy" in Athens (the most influential seat of "Platonism" in the Greco-Roman world) and the school of Aristotle. Aristotle (died 322 bce) -- student of Plato: - not as influential as the Platonic Academy at the time - called the "Peripatetics" since Aristotle would walk around while teaching his students. - he was more of a realist than Plato, focus on formed matter - believed matterial world is eternal - believed that dualism was a way of understanding the world - believed perfection cannot change: idea of "unmoved mover" that (logically) causes the heavenly bodies to move in circular orbits, etc. - became very influential in later middle ages, and on developments in sciences Cynics: cynical of power, politics and law (Diogenes and his lantern) Zeno: - found school of "Stoicism" (Greek "stoa" means porch, where they met). - was the primary philosophical alternative to Platonism - Stoics were pantheists, believe God was the totality of reality - the primary forces are "nomos" (law) and "logos" (reason) - history moves in cycles, through destructions and reconstitutions - both Plato and Zeno tried to tell you how to live, they were similar in their value system Epicurus (2nd century bce): - philosophy -- concern for well being, don't worry about things that aren't within your grasp, but if you have it in your power to take care of something, do it, don't call upon the gods. Pythagoras (misty figure, pre-Socrates): - founded a brotherhood, met as groups - talked about nature of reality with numerical relations basic - known in geometry for "Pythagorean theorem" for right triangles Lastly, the "mystery religions": - mystery religions emphasized obtaining priveleged knowledge - Isis and Osiris -- example of one of the mystery religions, from Egypt, with an elaborate "mythology" During class we compiled a mini-glossary containing: - pantheism - logos - nomos - metaphysics - ontology - myth - cult //end of notes 99.04// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #05, 23 September 1999 By Jenny Hsieh Professor Kraft began class by mentioning a current internet discussion about knowing birthdays and calculating personal ages in antiquity -- they are often given by approximation, seldom in exact numbers. Josephus (37- after 100 CE): Jewish author who was an eyewitness to many of the topics he reported from the last part of the first century. His "Antiquities of the Jews" covers from creation of the world, Adam and Eve, until his own time. He was from Palestine but spent the last part of his life in Rome; his writing focuses on Judaism in Palestine, and tells us little about Judaism in places such as Rome and Asia Minor. Josephus gave us a list of Palestinian Jewish "sects" including Pharisees, Essenes, and more briefly Sadducees (with some disdain) and a "fourth philosophy" sometimes identified as "Zealots" (from a Greek word for "zeal"), which may also be associated with "Sicarii" (best translated as "terrorists," literal translation is "dagger carriers"). Other known Jewish sub-groups from the period include "Therapeutae," which means healers or servants (not mentioned by Josephus, but by Philo, and located near Alexandria) and Palestinian Samaritans, whom Josephus viewed semi-negatively, treating them as opportunists, and said they only called themselves "Jews" when it was to their advantage -- they had a similar background to Jews, but they didn't revere the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Also mentioned by other ancient sources are: Herodians, assumed to be supporters of the ruling Herod family (Herod the Great is identified as half Jewish, half Idumean, in some ancient sources, while another source claims he was from good Jewish stock from Babylon), "Hemerobaptists" -- a Greek name for people who do daily water purification rights ("hemero" means daily), and a few others. Professor Kraft pointed out that arguments from analogy must be made with care (e.g. "terrorism" then, compared to now), expressing concern about being cautious not to assume too much. Discussion of ancient calendars and dating; in early times, dating was based on accession dates of relevant rulers, not by a universal calendar, a situation that may have caused confusion at times. The Main Palestinian Jewish Groups, in greater detail: PHARISEES -Origin of the name is not known, possibly from a Hebrew word for "separatists" (or could also refer to "Persian" influences). -Concerned with purity, separating themselves from the impure. -Josephus wrote a biographical defense of his status and conduct (his "Vita"), in answer to a rival author who criticized him; Josephus claims to have studied different Jewish options, then adopted the Pharisees approach -- it is not clear whether he actually joined the group. -Pharisees were critical of "Am HaAretz" (rustics, "people of the land") for not being sufficiently careful about the laws (especially purity laws) -- in classical Judaism, which follows a Pharisaic approach, the primary concern is with "orthopraxy," right conduct, in contrast to classical Christianity, with its focus on "orthodoxy," or right beliefs (to speak of "the Jewish faith" is a bit misleading insofar as "faith" is an especially Christian term that does not apply easily to Judaism). SADDUCEES: -Main rival group to Pharisees; apparently the "elite." -"Sadducees" was probably derived from name "Zadok," a former high priest. -Josephus describes them as boorish. -Although Sadducees were closely associated with the Temple and its priesthood, not all priests were Sadducees!!! -They were much more conservative than other sects and focused on the first five books of Moses as authoritative "scriptures," while the Pharisees (and Essenes?) had a much more extensive collection. -Not interested in eschatology (Messiah, final judgement, cosmic eruptions, resurrection, etc.), unlike the Pharisees (and Essenes?). -Seem to disappear after the fall of the temple in 70 CE. -No sources written by Sadducees have survived; our information is based on accounts from people mostly critical of them. -Regarding beliefs about "immortality," the Pharisees taught that there was life after death in some sort of "reincarnation" (so Josephus) or resurrection, while Sadducees denied that sort of continuation; possibly Sadducees thought the "soul" or immaterial aspect of human existence lived on. Discussion/Question about types of Modern Judaism: -Classical/orthodox: trying to preserve tradition. -Reform Judaism: attempt to be modern and scientific while also maintaining Judaism as a tradition blessed by the deity. The more radical Reform Jews became much more like Christian Unitarians, with a focus on humanitarian efforts. There has been significant change since the Reform movement took hold in the mid-1800s; for example, Reform Judaism had no interest in returning to the Holy Land about 100-135 years ago, but tends to be much more supportive now. -Conservative Judaism: somewhere between classical and reform. -Reconstructionist Judaism: emphasis on Judaism as a "civilization." //end of notes 99.05// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #06, 28 September 1999 Kevin Galloway For the first 20 minutes, the class went over questions concerning the take home examination. As a result, Prof Kraft briefly went over each of the four exam questions to clarify any future problems and to give better directions. Update on Research Paper -- try to come up with a research topic before Thanksgiving. Be sure to clear topic with Prof Kraft so he can give you his feed back on your topic. What is it that we need to know about Judaism in the Greco-Roman world? Its not a simple matter. For example, Josephus gives his slant on Judaism in Palestine while it is probable that most Jews lived outside of that area. As a result, we have a picture of Judaism in one particular area, but we don't have a picture of Judaism as a whole. Judaism outside of Palestine is called "the diaspora" (Greek for "scattering" or "dispersion"), referring to the spread of Judaism into other parts of the Mediterranean world, especially after the Babylonian conquest of Judea/Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE and the creation of the "hellenistic" world by the conquests of Alexander the great (died 323 BCE). An example of the difficulties in attempting to understand Judaism in the Greco-Roman world relates to excavations at the ancient town of Sardis in Asia Minor (western Turkey) Archaeological findings such as foundations, pots, decorations, etc. suggest that there was a strong Jewish presence in this town. But it is very difficult to determine the type of Judaism, or even when the large synagogue was active during the Greco-Roman period because there aren't any Jewish written records that self-interpret themselves. In other words because there is limited evidence describing the culture of this town it is very difficult to get a connected picture. Another reason scholars can't get a larger picture of Judaism is due to the varieties of Judaism in the ancient world. Even though most Jews had common traditions (e.g. Moses), and were for the most part monotheistic, many Jews had practices and/or beliefs that differed significantly from other Jewish groups. We also talked about what was involved in the rites of "sacrifice." Basically, a sacrifice was made by a priest and offered to the deity or deities. In an animal sacrifice, certain parts of the animal were burned as offerings to the deity, while other parts were given to the priests, and what was left could be eaten by the owner, or sold to others. Ancient temples functioned as sources for meat -- and also as depositories for money (banks). //end of notes 99.06// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #07, 30 September 1999 By Ryan D Cheney Josephus' picture of early Judaism in Palestine was mentioned again, in relation to the "recent" discoveries in the Judean desert (since about 1946/47). Dead Sea Scrolls The class has so far discussed the general Greco-Roman world, and has moved to the more specific study of Judaism. Our focus as a class becomes more specific. World (Greco-Roman and Parthian) > Judaism > Palestine Israel Area > DSS (from the area of Qumran). The discovery of the DSS in Qumran. A map was presented in class depicting the location of Qumran, the ruins nearest to the discovery of the DSS caves. Qumran is noted as a difficult place to get to. About 1947, a young Arabic bedouin lad looking for his goat found a cave with big pottery containers in it. There were written leather scrolls in the pots. Some scrolls were sold through a dealer. This first cave ("cave one" or "1Q") produced 50 or 60 written texts. Overall, texts were found in eleven caves in the area. Designation of caves: "1Q-" first cave at Qumran, "4Q-" fourth cave at Qumran, and so forth. 1Q and 11Q preserved the largest sized fragments; 4Q gave us the most volume of writings, but the writings in 4Q are very fragmentary. Some people suggested that 4Q was a depositary for damaged manuscripts -- a geniza(h) [treasury or storehouse], or place for collection of damaged writings. Geniza(h)s were created because one couldn't just throw away a piece of scroll that contained sacred writing (especially the special name for God). Most scholars argue that the Dead Sea Scrolls are dated between 200 BCE and 70 CE. Can we trust that the DSS are correctly dated? There are several checks on the dating of the DSS. Handwriting experts, archeological evidence, DNA, etc. all agree within reason. It was first believed that the DSS were written by the Essenes (known from Philo, Josephus, and Pliny), and that the Essenes lived in the area of Qumran. The DSS give us an idea of at least one Jewish community of that time. The DSS give lists of rules governing the community. They had a community apparently organized very similarly to what is described in the book of Acts in the Christian New Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that there were dissentions and disagreements between various Jewish groups. A potential problem -- can we conclude that the DSS are representative of mainstream Judaism at the time, as some scholars argue? Others claim the authors represent a special type of Judaism. Professor Kraft emphasizes the importance of this question. Is the picture of Judaism presented typical? Can we extend this picture of Judaism of that time to other geographical areas? Or is this a unique group? Or something inbetween? If it is, where do we draw the line between typical and unique? The halakic (law) side of the DSS was not studied as much early on. Christian scholars were more active in the discovery and early analysis of the DSS (with some exceptions) and tended to focus on specifically Christian interests. In a general sense, Christianity has focused on "orthodoxy" (right opinion), or what one ought to believe, while Judaism tended to emphasize "orthopraxy" (right practice), or how one should conduct (religious) life. Scholars agree that the authors of the DSS were not the originators of the traditional scriptural texts found there. The scriptures were widespread at the time and the authors were influenced by the scriptures, as were other Jewish groups. "Eschatology" = the study of last things. The DSS give us further info on Jewish eschatological expectations. More details on angels, demons, and revelation from God. The authors of the DSS felt that they were living in the last days. They were thinking about the end. "The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness" is the title of one of the writings from 1Q. This writing gives us a very detailed description of the final war between good and evil forces. A demonic figure, Belial, has angels operating on his side. The Prince of Light/ Messiah/ Righteous Person is the leader of the forces against Belial. The lines between the angelic/demonic beings and the humans in this war are sometimes very thin. "Apocalyptic" (what is "revealed") includes traditions of what Enoch is allowed to see in the heavenly books. He comes back to earth and writes about such mysteries (some of which are eschatological). What else do the DSS contain? The texts we study often speak of Messiahs. The word Messiah has various connections. Messiah literally means anointed one, and can refer to an expected military or priestly leader. Note that in the New Testament "Epistle to the Hebrews" Jesus is pictured as a priest like Melchizedek, and replaces the temple and its "cultus" (formal conduct in worship). The idea of religious "cult" also is very strong within many of the DSS texts. The language of the DSS: The DSS are mostly written in Hebrew (perhaps 75% or so). Most of the rest are in Aramaic. There are a handful of writings in Greek. None are written in Latin. Remember to use the word "bible" with caution. The idea of a defined canon of scriptures as it later was understood did not exist at the time of the DSS. The invention of the large-scale codex in the 3rd-4th centuries CE was a key development in establishing what became the traditional concept of biblical canon. Dead Sea Scrolls Film next week on Tuesday. //end of notes 99.07// --- [Class #08 was the Video on the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)] --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #09, 07 October 1999 By Michael Silverberg The class began with Kraft rambling about the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). Kraft explained that Strugnell had an alcohol problem, which loosened his tongue and contributed to his "fall" from directorship of the DSS project. Based on his studies and his personal theological viewpoint, Strugnell concluded that the Jews should have recognized Jesus as the messiah (this is the Christian "supercessionist" viewpoint). At the time that Strugnell made his remarks, many people were embarrassed and offended by the anti-Semitic statements. Strugnell was less suited to be the administrative head of the operation than Emanuel Tov, who took over as Strugnell's successor and has been doing an excellent job. There is no longer any "protection" of scrolls; anyone can read them. The question was raised as to why the scrolls weren't released sooner, even in the non-translated form. Kraft explained that there are standard procedures followed by almost every museum and library that were followed as well in the DSS case. Kraft went on to say that the internet (with its digitized images, etc.) is going to revolutionize the way that ancient artifacts are released to the public. Seventy or eighty years ago by international agreement, archeological finds became the property of the country in which they were found, which has sometimes restricted convenient access. The question was then raised about what the scrolls in fact tell us. Kraft's response was that right now we look at the scrolls to throw light on what we know about Judaism and what we don't. There are still many questions about where and when the DSS came from. They were most likely from the Essenes or a similar subgroup, who had a wider collection of authoritative writings than later became traditional (ie. the temple scroll, the war of the sons of light vs. the sons of darkness, etc.). All of these works are considered "parabiblical," which literally means: along side of the bible. About 20% of the DSS are what we think of as "bible" today. Other things in addition to the "parabiblical" include the "sectarian" rules of community living and commentaries (often with cryptic references such as "man of lies" and "teacher of righteousness"), hymns & prayers, astrological materials, and tefillim. Then we discussed Qumran itself. It was perhaps a military fort at some time in its history, but some argue that it could have been a resort of sorts. The area was occupied at least three different times in antiquity, and could have been used for different purposes each time. A formal letter (4Q MMT) was discovered amidst the DSS in five or six different copies. The leader of the community that presumably preserved the DSS may have been the author of the letter. It was a friendly letter discussing certain halakhic practices and became a cornerstone of the hypothesis that the Sadducees were the authors of the DSS. The question was then asked as to how long people actually lived at Qumran. Kraft responded that we have no exact way of knowing. Furthermore, although it was originally thought that the scrolls were placed in the caves not long before the catastrophe of 70 CE, some scholars now argue that they may have been put there a century or more earlier. We also discussed the fact that cave 1 is a couple of miles north of cave 4 and the ruins. Regarding the "biblical" fragments in the DSS, when compared to the traditional Hebrew text, some DSS manuscripts of Exodus and Jeremiah are significantly different, as are some of the biblical Psalms. About 800 different copyists contributed to the physical writing of the scrolls. Perhaps when a new member was initiated into the community, the member was required to show ability to copy some of the texts. The question was then asked about whether women wrote any of the scrolls. Kraft responded that it was not very likely. Although some of the DSS mention women, the men apparently were the ones who operated everything. Someone asked if it was possible that the caves were used for depositing discarded writings (the "geniza" theory). Kraft responded that although it was possible, it was perhaps more likely that at least some of the caves were used as libraries or similar storage areas. Furthermore, there was a copper scroll/plaque found in cave 3 that would never have been thrown in the trash because of its sheer value. The copper plaque contains a description of where various treasures are hidden throughout the land. The copper plaque was written to be difficult to read, because it was a treasure map. Thus, it was written in a mixture of Greek in the Hebrew. We left our discussions of the Dead Sea Scrolls by learning that the scrolls written on leather could, if dampened, shrink and turn into a sort of jell, and the scrolls written on papyrus were attacked by bugs, causing the scrolls to be only a shade of what they once were. After looking at various photographs of DSS and Septuagint scholars on Kraft's web site, we shifted our focus to Joshua/Jesus and the synoptic problem concerning the literary relationship between the first three gospels of the New Testament. The "new covenant" of Jewish expectation gave its name to the "New Testament" collection of early Christian writings. Christians believed that God had made a new covenant with people who will be obedient. There are a total of four canonical "gospels" (messages). Earlier, Paul speaks of "my gospel" or "my message." The gospels present the Jesus message in terms of biographical narrative. SEE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM HOME PAGE (access from Kraft's Jesus course page). "Synoptic" means to see things together, and this is called the synoptic problem, because Matthew, Mark and Luke view Jesus similarly. The class ended with Kraft encouraging us to go to the home page of his 435 class and look at the entries on problems in the gospels, the death of Judas, and the resurrection section. //end of notes 99.09// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #10, 12 October 1999 by Keke Zhao -Looked at web page by Steven Carlson on the Synoptic Problem(s) [for the URL, see below] -Synoptic Problem: easiest way to illustrate how early Christian writers shared and borrowed materials from each other or other sources. By studying the synoptic problem: 1. Even for people with a traditional Christian background, the problems are there in the texts, showing the human aspect of the gospels. 2. Modern scholarship tries to handle the Synoptic Problem now as a scholarly pursuit without the theological involvement. -The Jesus Traditions: are mostly contained in writings called "Gospels." The word "gospel" comes from the German meaning "good news." Some of them became canonical (included in the New Testament) over time, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Others are classified as extra-canonical or apocryphal, such as the (Sayings) Gospel of Thomas. The Gospels are usually given names associated with Jesus' disciples (G.Matt, G.John) or with specific groups (G.Hebrews, G.Ebionites). -There are various ways to categorize the different gospels: 1. By canonical and apocryphal (the traditional approach) 2. Those focusing on Jesus' sayings, as in "Q" (the saying material common to G.Matthew and G.Luke (comes from the German word for source). 3. Those focusing on narrative about Jesus (e.g. G.Mark) 4. Those concentrating on the last days ("passion") of Jesus. 5. Those concentrating on Jesus' birth and infancy. -How did the materials we now have get to be written? How did the sayings of Jesus come to be preserved? The primary vehicle initially was probably oral transmission in early Christian groups. -The language problem: we don't know the language Jesus spoke. --Traditional View: Aramaic (a semitic dialect) because it was the language known to be used in the area Jesus lived (Palestine). --After the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: possibly Hebrew. --Some have even suggested that Jesus spoke in Greek. However, this theory is hard to support because people from the lower classes in Galilee would not be expected to have that ability (speaking or hearing). -The translation problem: since Jesus most likely spoke semitic, and the preserved sources are in Greek, there is a problem of translation. Example: in the "Lord's Prayer," the word "trespasses" (King James version) is also rendered "debts" (Revised Standard Version). Probably a semitic word with both meanings lies behind the Greek. Different translators with different backgrounds may have different understandings of ambiguous words. -Convenient Presentations of the Synoptic Problem: "Gospel Parallels," "Gospel Records," "Gospel Synopsis," etc., align the similar accounts. -We looked at some of the problems on the RelSt 135 web page summary: 1. Crucifixion time: the "synoptics" and G.John have different accounts of when Jesus was crucified relative to Jewish passover. There were at least two different Jewish calendars in the 1st century CE. 2. The accounts of Judas' death: Judas hangs himself and is buried in the AKELDAMA, means the field of blood in Greek (Matthew). Judas falls, bursts open, and dies in the field of blood, which he bought with the "money of wickedness" (Acts). Judas swells up from an illness and dies in his home (Papias). 3. Jesus' view on divorce: Divorce is adultery, and there is no exception based on Paul, Luke and Mark. In two different places G.Matthew has Jesus teach that divorce is adultery, except under certain conditions. Perhaps the author of Matthew came from a community that was more sympathetic toward divorce. -Name of the authors of the gospels: none of the canonical gospels claim to be written by the "apostles," that is, the circle that was closest to Jesus, but tradition quickly made such identifications. -Different View on Jesus: whether or not he's an apocalyptic preacher? Early Christians who were looking for "the end times" would think so. People who were not interested in apocalyptic prophecies might not think so. -The diversity of the audience caused the problem of heresy when Jesus' saying were viewed by different people on different terms. The Gnostics and Mystics viewed Jesus as one who spoke mysteries of personal salvation. Some others viewed Jesus more as a political rebel or reformer. Some saw him as an apocalyptic preacher. Since we can only know Jesus from materials written by these different views, it's difficult to unmask the real Jesus. -The role of "Faith" in Christian tradition: for some, it involves belief that everything in the Bible is God's word and beyond questioning, which is radically different from an academic approach (such as this class). -The Gospel of Matthew: unique to G.Matt are 11 passages claiming "fulfilment" of certain Jewish "prophecies," including 5 concerning Jesus' birth and infancy; G.Matt has strong connections to Jewish traditions, closer than other authors of the gospels, maybe reflecting close conflicts with the Jewish Pharisees because the author portrays them in such an unfavorable light. -The Gospel of Luke (and Acts): the author of Luke-Acts probably borrowed materials from Matthew and Mark, as well as other sources, and put things into a more "historical" framework, for gentile readers. -The Gospel of Mark: thought to be written before Matthew and Luke. -FAQ in Carlson webpage: www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/faq.htm 1. Triple tradition (Mark, Matt, Luke) 2. Q hypothesis 3. Lukan posteriority hypothesis 4. Markan priority hypothesis, 5. Two Source Hypothesis (Mark and Q), etc. -When did people start to use the gospel materials? There are a lot of claims about the date, but there is no concrete materials dating the gospels. However, the gospels were mentioned around 180CE (Irenaeus) and 150CE (Justin). According to Papias (around 130CE), the LOGIA, or Oracles of Jesus, were written down in Hebrew by Matthew; other writers translated Matthew's material into Greek; Mark was Peter's secretary and companion in Rome and recorded Peter's preaching. -The year 70 CE is a pivotal point for dating the Gospels. It is the year when the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman forces. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple. -The earliest extant Christian writings are probably Paul's Letters to various groups and communities. The letters claim Jesus as savior, but seldom report Jesus' teachings and do not contain any narrative stories about Jesus' life. //end of notes 99.10// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #11, 14 November 1999 By Beno Freedman The class centered on the "Jesus tradition problems" section of the RELS 435 materials on the web page. An inquiry was made as to early attestation of Jesus' existence outside of Christian sources. We discussed two ancient historians who apparently mention Jesus. Josephus is one, who lauds Jesus' praises in a doubtful passage that was probably souped-up by Christians to serve their religious agenda, perhaps as a response to this very line of inquiry. The other is Tacitus (circa 120 CE), who mentions a "Chrestos" ("noble one" in Greek) executed under Pilate. The similarity of this name to the word "Christos" -- "anointed one" -- led to a brief analysis of the uncertainty involved in our study. Did Tacitus actually write "Chrestos?" If so, was this "Chrestos" Jesus Christ? Where did Tacitus get the term? Was it a miscommunication, or perhaps another title used by early Christians for Jesus? If the latter, was this term a corruption of "Christos," or is perhaps the popularity of the term "Christos" due in part to its similarity to this term? And so on. We discussed how careful study of details can yield information about the historical setting of the Gospels and how they came to be. Differences in style indicate that the authors knew Greek, but for the most part weren't that great at it. Comparisons of dates might signify the use of different calendars. A more important comparison is that of content. Comparison of similar Jesus stories that differ only in details (such as the story of his birth) usually indicate multiple traditions. By drawing such comparisons, we see that the Gospels are not first-hand accounts but rather compilations of materials from different sources. This is explicit in Luke, but nearly as obvious when a passage like "the Sermon on the Mount" is considered, which seems just a collection of popular sayings attributed to Jesus. So, while we can't know if any of the accounts actually happened, we can say something about their popularity and variety when the Gospels were written. Such comparisons give us a glimpse of more than just the historical Jesus -- they are also our best clues as to the intellectual forces at work in the formation of the Gospels. An illuminating parallel in our own day is to be found in the translation of religious texts. For example, Roman Catholic traditionalists might translate references to Jesus' "brothers and sisters" in a less-than-literal sense (ex. "cousins"), out of conviction that Jesus had no brothers or sisters. Theology thus influences interpretation. A similar phenomenon is evident in the different versions of the Jesus stories. We can't know what actually went on ("Paul doesn't *care* about the historical Jesus," roared the prof), but by comparing different sources, we can get some idea of the motives that formed early Christian literature. To this end, we noted a couple of examples from the web page. One was the influence of scriptural expectations on the Jesus traditions -- Jesus often plays a role in a story that "just happens" to fulfill some prophecy of old. Such stories were probably invented, or at least emended, to "prove" that Jesus was the messiah. Another good example is the comparison of the scene of Jesus' resurrection at the end of the Gospels, where the location of Galilee is stressed in some Gospels but not all. This then may imply a geographical bias on the part of the authors. //end of notes 99.11// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #12, 19 October 1999 By Leanne Wilson We began class by looking at the Jesus traditions, particularly the resurrection materials. In Luke, the author has Jesus remain in Jerusalem despite references to Galilee in Matthew and Mark (see class notes 8 Oct 1998). Christians have tried to reconcile the differences between the synoptics and make all the stories work together. We briefly discussed the relationship between the books of Luke and Acts. We also discussed possible locations of the synoptic authors. Perhaps Luke was in Asia Minor preaching to the Gentiles while Matthew was in the area outlying Palestine. The class discussion then moved to ways in which early Christians might have identified each other secretly (to avoid persecution). Some used the popular symbol of the fish (Greek IXQUS acronym -- Jesus Christ God's Son Savior); the symbol of the cross was also used. Evidence for these sorts of devices may be found in Irenaeus' writings in about the year 180. There are mentions of other acronyms, especially the ROTAS/SATOR square, but scholars are not sure what they mean. After that, we discussed Christianity vs. Judaism and when they became two distinct groups. This is a difficult question to map as the early "Christians" (many of whom were Jews) gradually began to recognize themselves as different from the Jews at different rates in different places. One cannot differentiate between the two groups by referring to unified leadership of either; a common leader was not possible because of the many different strands of Christianity and their varying beliefs, and similarly with early Judaism. The question of transition of the weekly holy day from Saturday to Sunday isn't clear; there is the early tradition that Jesus' resurrection was on a Sunday and the letters of Paul mention Christians gathering on a Sunday. The different Jewish calendars of ancient times provide one possible explanation for the time differences of Jesus' death in the synoptic gospels compared with G.John. What became the traditional Jewish calendar (Luni-Solar, adjusted) would have Jesus executed at one time while the Solar Calendar (very symmetric calendar used by most of the Dead Sea Scroll authors) suggests a different time. In John, Jesus is portrayed as the Passover Lamb himself, whereas in other traditions Jesus eats the Passover meal with his disciples before his crucifixion. (see class notes 13 Oct 1998) The next portion of the class looked at the text (CCAT Gopher - Text Archives - Rels Text - Biblical Materials). We discussed the King James version of John and the death/resurrection traditions portrayed there. Pilate does not want to execute Jesus and thus points to the Jews as responsible for his death. This has contributed to the idea that the Jews killed Jesus and became the source of considerable anti-Jewish animosity in Christian circles. For the research paper, our topics should put us in close contact with primary sources. We need to "get intimate" with the materials; it is possible to write the paper without reading any modern interpretations at all. It is hoped that our scope will go beyond the New Testament materials and into the apocryphal (non-canonical) books as well. //end of notes 99.12// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #13, 21 October 1999 by Noah Stout The majority of class time was spent working through the synoptic problem and the (Sayings) Gospel of Thomas. -Synoptic problem- To continue our studies of the synoptic problem from last class, Kraft took us to the Rel St. 435 class web page. We looked at the Fourth Gospel, called John. The Gospel of John is different from the synoptics in many ways. Jesus speaks differently in John, in discourses. Also, many stories are different from the synoptics' stories of Jesus. There is a different account of the John the Baptist story. Early in John (but near the end of his life in the synoptics), Jesus becomes angry while at the temple due to the commercial trade he sees. At one point Jesus multiplies food to feed the hungry and later walks on water. John also speaks more of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit (but not "trinity" as such) in language similar to later classical Christianity. *A question was asked about what language Jesus spoke. I think this was covered earlier in the course, but Kraft explained that it is probably Aramaic. Aramaic words are preserved in some of Jesus' miracles, for example. Aramaic was widely used at that time. DSS aid the argument that Jesus might have spoken Hebrew, while communities around him still spoke Aramaic. -Gospel of Thomas- The complete Sayings Gospel of Thomas is preserved in Coptic, a form of writing the Egyptian language in Greek characters. 3 fragments have also been preserved in Greek. These have been dated by some to around 200 ce. The Coptic text came from the Nag Hammadi discoveries, where 13 codices were found in 1946/47. The Gospel of Thomas is made up of 114 sayings of Jesus. "Thomas" was not a proper name, but is a semitic term for "twin." His name was Judas, with Didymus (Greek for "twin") and Thomas as nicknames, and he was listed as one of the 12 original followers of Jesus. To study the sayings, we looked at the "scholars translation" on the web. At the beginning, before the first saying, there is a small introduction regarding the secrecy of the sayings of the "living Jesus." The first saying deals with the importance of correctly interpreting the sayings. It is a challenge to discovery. We then did a brief overview, where we looked at sayings: 2, 3-6, and 111-114. The sixth is different from the rest because it is introduced by an interjection by the disciples. //end of notes 99.13// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #14, 26 October 1999 By Abigail Hammett Left over questions on Gospel of Thomas (and other things that the discussion led to): 1. Why was the Gospel of Thomas not included in the bible? Certain individuals and groups in power made the decisions. It was probably not included because of its use by Gnostics; therefore the group that developed into the most powerful, dominant Christian group opposed it. There was a theological struggle between the Gnostics and what came to be the dominant group. Gnostics believed that the material or physical world was bad and believed in the ideal spiritual world. Whereas the others believed that Jesus or God created the physical world so it was therefore not all bad. 2. When was the Bible (as we know it) first compiled? There is good evidence that by the end of the second century there were people that accepted the 4 gospels and letters of Paul. Later it was glued together by the addition of Acts. 3. Were these books exclusively used? This is not as easy to trace. Not enough evidence. There may have been other books used. By the 4th century, Christianity was the favored religion of the Roman world, so these books were more exclusively used. The dominant Christians had tried to marginalize or forbid books used by groups seen as "heretics." 4. When was the Old Testament added? The Old Testament went through similar circles in the Jewish Community as the NT did in the Christian community (i.e. certain groups of individuals in power including or excluding certain books). There were groups in Judaism similar to those in Christianity whose writings were excluded based on ideological differences. *Side Note* the introduction of codices, as a new technology in the 2nd-4th centuries ce, also greatly affected the compilation and distribution of the Bible. Sayings Gospel of Thomas and Infancy Gospel of Thomas: There are no copies of the Sayings Gospel of Thomas passed along by living/surviving groups. It fell out of favor pretty soon. The Infancy G of T was on the margins of writings considered acceptable, and survived in many copies in the Greek and Latin churches. There were many books that haven't survived, some from when Christianity was not recognized legally (it wasn't until 300's that Christianity was fully permitted and groups were allowed to meet publicly etc.). When were the canonical deputes taking place? The oldest list of books of exactly the present New Testament is from the fourth century. There are list from the 2nd century that are similar but not as complete, and/or still refer to some disputed writings. Eusebius wrote a church history around 326 saying that there were debates about certain New Testament books. Are there major theological implications for leaving things out? It affects how Jesus the son related to God the Father, because different sources represented different views. Gospel of John: 2nd century: used by Gnostics, dispute about whether Jesus became flesh. 4th century: G of J survives probably because Origen wrote a commentary in the 3rd century arguing against the Gnostic interpretation. SIMPLIFICATION of theological struggles surrounding choice of NT books: 1st major battle: some people believed that you must be Jewish and follow Jewish laws in order follow Jesus. As early as the 1st century Paul has disputes with law-centered Judaism. 2nd major battle: 2nd century theological battle with Gnosticism. 3rd century battle with Mani (similar to Gnostics) *"Don't shave with Occham's razor": Occham was a medieval figure (William of Occham), studied science and philosophy. Made rule for discussing things in science/nature: whenever there are two explications for things, pick the simpler one. But for the study of history, which is so very complex, beware of oversimplification! OTHER WEB RESOURCES, UNDER JESUS, SOURCE, JESUS OF NAZERETH (similar stuff to Ehrman's textbook) -- see http://www.earlygospels.net/ : Gospel of Peter: Fragmentary work found at Akhmim. Did not survive in living community. Found buried in a grave. Why it is called Gospel of Peter: there are other authors who mention a gospel of Peter (they said it was used by Gnostics) and the speaker claims that he is Peter. The beginning is missing, but the fragment starts with the trail of Jesus. We discussed the passage in chapter 5: "my power, my power..." in other gospels it says "my God." It is just a different choice made by the translator, but some people use the difference to argue for a Gnostic interpretation. We discussed passage in chapt. 10 about Jesus preaching to those who were dead. Gospel of Mary: This is a work called the G of M because Mary figures heavily in the text. It is a papyrus found in Egypt. Part of the beginning is missing. Secret Gospel of Mark: The late Morton Smith (Columbia U) claimed to have found a copy of a letter in Greek written on the end pieces of an 18th century book in a remote monastery. The letter talks about a Secret longer Gospel of Mark used only by the elite Christians and hidden from the common Christians (because they wouldn't understand it). The letter is from Clement of Alexandria. This argues that the current Mark is not the earliest Gospel but it is a condensation of an earlier, longer work. Some believe that Smith forged this letter (because the book has since disappeared) but Kraft thinks this highly unlikely. Epistle to the Apostles: Survived and copied in Ethiopic church. Describes Jesus on a mountaintop revealing things to his disciples. Infancy Gospel of James (Book of James, Protevangelion Jacobi): James reported to be the brother of Jesus (this is mentioned by Paul in Galatians); this book is about the birth of Mary (that she was born in purity) and her giving birth to Jesus. There is the confirmation (by a midwife) of the virginity of Mary after the birth of Jesus. This book helped establish the reverence for Mary in classical Christianity. Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Some believe Thomas was in India at the time of this writing. Collection of stories. We discussed their purposes. Some ideas were: antagonisms against Jesus, tongue in cheek style writing, lessons, or simply stories to show that Jesus' word was done. These writings became mainstream in Greek and Latin Christianity, so it has been preserved and copied. In one story Jesus makes birds out of clay on the Sabbath, and then gives them life. In another Jesus tells a kid who has run into him to die, then blinds the dead boy's parents and then gets in trouble with Joseph -- of course, it all works out in the end! In another Jesus raises a kid who has died after falling off a roof. The next section of writings on the web page we were looking at (www.earlygospels.net) (from Egerton to Cairensis) is all fragments found in Egypt. The next three after that are all writings that have survived only because they were quoted. //end of notes 99.14// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #15, 28 October 99 By Terah Chan Class began with Professor Kraft reviewing information from our Blue Ehrman book -The "gospels" are written in a Greco-Roman literary style -It is in the genre of epic-like storytelling of heroes, presented as a semi-biography -Prof. Kraft remarked that we would soon be going on to study of Paul (although we never got there this class) -Prof. Kraft then began discussing the "Historical Jesus" which is technical terminology in the study of Christian Origins -- Albert Schweitzer wrote "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" -- he attempts to figure out how Jesus really was -- and how modern studies of Jesus have distorted him -- a contrasting search is for "The Christ of Faith" -- seeing Jesus through the eyes of those who believe -Ehrman's chap 15. is the single most important chapter in that book for dealing with the Jesus traditions -- note the idea of Jesus as an Apocalyptic Prophet -- Prof. Kraft explained that he was taking us through an inductive study of the ancient sources -- remember that even if some sources are "primary" in terms of their antiquity, they may be "secondary" in that they are not eyewitness accounts or written by the participants -- we cannot assume that we have a solid knowledge about Jesus -- one has to be aware of ancient perspectives in presenting Jesus -- then we look at how modern scholars view Jesus and the sources - Prof. Kraft then discussed a disputed writing allegedly from Jesus -- it was a correspondence between Jesus and the king of Edessa (Abgar) -- supposedly the king had an ailment so asked for Jesus' healing -- Jesus wrote that he was busy and that he would send one of his followers in his place (Thomas or Addai) -- this writing is not attested until the early 4th century Kraft then referred us to the "Other Resources" web page, found at http://www.academicinfo.net/biblest.html#gospels to look at the Gospels - he discussed the "Q" source common to Matthew and Luke, not Mark - The Gospel of Thomas (the sayings of Jesus) MAY have been related to this "Q" source in some way (an example of the expected format) - Kraft then began to discuss the "Jesus Seminar" -- a controversial, public discussion - over the past 10 years of reporting, there have been several covers on major news magazines about the Jesus Seminar - Robert Funk was the leader in putting together the seminar -- he was a senior scholar, taught at various schools, and was the executive secretary of the American Society of Biblical Literature about 25 years ago -- he became involved in groundbreaking endeavor founding "Scholar's Press" which provided an inexpensive way to publish technical works under the control of the scholars themselves - was committed to "de-mythologizing" Christianity (see Rudolph Bultmann) -- Bultmann believed that de-mythologization was only one part of the needed program -- he wanted to keep Jesus relevant to people -- he wanted to deal with what were the problems common to humans then and now, and how they could be solved in a Christian context -- also, to get behind "mythology," and figure out its meaning -- "Existential Christianity" deals with human existence -- thus he believed that Jesus was a very important representative of God in history, even if we could not know much about him in detail - Funk is concerned that what goes on in scholarly circles doesn't get much publicity -- he wanted to get it more exposure -- he wanted to get scholars together as a group, invite reporters, and have public discussions of the problems -- however, the resulting "seminar" was not really representative of all scholars (it is a self-selecting group) - So far the seminar has discussed the "Q" materials and has developed an unusual way of voting with colored tokens - "Crosstalk" was set up for people to communicate with scholars Kraft then dealt specifically with the "Historical Jesus" - Albert Schweitzer was educated in medicine, an expert organist, and at the same time he took up theological subjects to study; he mastered all three subjects -- his doctoral dissertation was his study of how scholars studied Jesus -- claimed that not enough attention was paid to Jesus of the 1st century -- he argued that present studies have fitted Jesus into modern times -- he argues, because Jesus thought the end of the world was imminent, his teachings have a "timelessness" because everyone is approaching the end of their worlds (death), so Jesus' teachings about a world that is ending continues to be relevant -- this study brought about the end of the "old quest" for the historical Jesus and brought about the "new quest" -- the "third quest": a move back towards more credulous historical analysis Kraft gave a proverbial-like statement: "Scholarship is like a drunken person lurching side to side down an alleyway, but gradually making progress" (from his famous teacher at Harvard, Arthur Darby Nock). Kraft then claims that he is a liar in giving generalizations: -- anything he claims to know about Jesus is a product of his assumptions of how Jesus fit into 1st century Judaism -- an apocalyptic Jesus is embarrasingly wrong, since it's been 1900 years since his end of the world teachings and the world continues to exist -- Kraft has no intent in requiring us see things the way he does, but just to recognize the issues and consider consistent solutions. //end of notes 99.15// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #16, 02 November 1999 By Jeanne McFalls Professor Kraft began by referring us to last year's minutes #12 and #13. We then talked about the different ways of seeing Jesus that people in antiquity would have had. If we assume that the Judaism with which he was most familiar was expecting the end-times, Jesus would have been seen in that context as an apocalyptic preacher looking for God to bring judgment. Followers with a more "Stoic/Cynic" perspective probably would have a different interpretation, focusing more on Jesus' sayings. It is possible that Jesus was misunderstood. Professor Kraft suggested that this depended on who Jesus was and to whom he was speaking. If he had stoic/cynic views and was speaking to people who had apocalyptic views he might easily be misconstrued. "Delay of the Parousia" means that Jesus the Messiah had been present, is now gone, but we are anticipating his return. Jesus said to some of his followers, "You will not taste death until you see the kingdom coming." This did not occur, but the saying is still preserved. It could possibly have been given a less literal meaning by early Christians. Professor Kraft suggested that it could have been placed in the gospels in such a context that favored a less literal interpretation so as to avoid embarrassment. In none of the synoptic gospels does Jesus address the problem of circumcision (which was a major concern for Paul); he does however deal with other Jewish concerns such as food laws. In the ancient world circumcision and food laws probably did not originate from health concerns; early observers would have no notion of their health benefits. Instead, at least some of these practices seem to have been done to differentiate Jews from other "rival" groups. Professor Kraft said that we learn about antiquity in a sort of spiral fashion, meaning we keep coming back to the same material but each time we are on a higher level and have greater understanding based on our earlier readings and any relevant new evidence. It is sometimes difficult to know what really happened historically behind the gospel accounts because many historians used the accounts as a source (sometimes the only source) for answering certain historical questions. For example, we do not know if it was a Roman custom to release a prisoner at Passover (as is claimed in the gospels before Jesus is crucified) because the only historical evidence for it is the gospel passage itself. In Luke, Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem while Mary is pregnant with Jesus to be enrolled there because a census has been ordered. Luke gives specific information, saying which governor the census occurred under. However, historically the rule of this governor does not begin until after Herod's death (the ancient sources claim that Jesus was born during Herod's rule). Some have suggested that the Romans had a census every ten years, but there is no evidence for this. Ehrman questions whether such a census occurred at all, suggesting that it could have been an attempt by Luke to place Jesus in a historical context. In the beginning Judaism and Christianity play off one another. Early Christian sources have an apocalyptic and Jewish perspective; later Christians break away from Judaism and reinterpret the early sources. There is a supercessionist point of view among some Christians that holds that all Jews should have realized that Jesus was the Messiah and should have become Christian (Christianity supercedes Judaism). Professor Kraft mentioned that when early sources were examined and found to be sometimes inconsistent a new criterion was suggested which held that the more different Jesus looks from his Jewish and/or early Christian contexts in different sources the more likely the stories about him are to be true. Before the early sources were written all of the traditions about Jesus passed through the filter of the oral traditions of the first generation of Christians. In the fourth century Constantine acknowledges Christianity. This could have been a political move since the population of Christians in the Roman Empire had grown very large by that time. When Christianity was officially recognized in the 4th century there was a blossoming of Christian sites and relics. (The shroud of Turin has been dated to, at earliest, 4th century CE). The Roman feast of Saturnalia, traditionally associated with the shortest day of the year, became associated with Jesus' birth. In the earliest traditions, Jesus' birth was commemorated in the Spring, at Passover/Easter time. Professor Kraft reminded us not to assume dishonesty in the chain of transmission of Jesus traditions; what we see as inconsistencies or errors are usually just honest mistakes (often caused by the sources used in antiquity). The Book of Acts has traditionally been attributed the same author as the Gospel of Luke. We visited a website where we examined some of the pertinent questions in the scholarship on the Book of Acts. Some of the issues which have recently been examined are: - Acts and the Ancient "Historical Monograph"; how did people of Luke's time write and record history? - In the second chapter of Acts the early followers gather and the Holy Spirit descends upon them; this fufills what was written by the prophet Amos. Did the author of Acts see himself as living at the end? He looks to a sequence of things which must happen first; before the end can come the message of Jesus must proceed from Jerusalem to Rome. The Book of Acts shows the progress of this message. - Did the author plan another book? Do other non-New Testament Acts serve as sequels to Book of Acts? The Book of Acts ends strangely with Paul in Rome under house arrest. - Author of Acts refers to the "former treatise" that he wrote. In Greek the word used here for "former" can mean first of more than two. Were there other books written or planned by this author? - Are speeches in Acts an attempt to "tape record" or accurately preserve what was said, or an attempt to write what was thought to be appropriate? - How did legal proceedings of the time get recorded? - There has been a recent resurgence of study of the rules of rhetoric used in ancient times. To what extent was the author following such rules? The Book of Acts has the title "Acts of All the Apostles" but actually only focuses on Peter (Simon) and a little bit on John in the first 5 chapters, then especially on Paul in the last half or so. In chapters 6-7 a transition occurs. In Chapters 1-5 Peter, John and the rest of the twelve are governing the Christian community in Jerusalem. They see themselves as living on the edge of the last times. In chapter 6 the Hellenists (who are contrasted with the Hebraists) begin to stir up unrest because they feel their widows are not being given fair treatment. In this community the followers of Jesus had pooled all of the resources into a commune; the Hellenists feel they are not getting their fair share. The twelve were busy preaching so they appointed seven men to "serve the table"; our word 'deacon' comes from the Greek word 'to serve.' One of the seven deacons (Stephen) goes out to preach and gets in trouble with the Jewish authorities and is stoned to death. He becomes the first "martyr." Martyr means 'to bear witness'. It is used in this context because Stephen is depicted as having died for bearing witness to Jesus. The Book of Acts at that point talks about the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem; because of this persecution Christians begin to spread to areas outside of Jerusalem and Judea, to the seacoast, north to Antioch, and ultimately to Rome itself. Paul is introduced at the death of Stephen; Paul was originally a persecutor but in Acts 9 he receives his "call" to preach the Jesus message to "gentiles." He goes on three journeys and returns back to Jerusalem each time. //end of notes 99.16// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #17, 04 November 1999 by Jon Kelsen Opened with discussion on importance of citizenship in Roman Empire (Paul was a Roman citizen according to Acts) -Kraft mentioned that many Roman citizens killed themselves if they thought they'd lose their property if convicted of a serious crime, as example of how serious people took the matter of status, property, family heritage. Question was raised regarding the deaths of Paul and Peter -- Kraft said that according to tradition, they received different deaths in Rome (Paul beheaded, Peter crucified upside down), then remarked on the respective (noncanonical) Acts of Paul and Peter. Discussion on Apologists: 2nd century apologies for Christians -- eg Justin Martyr, c.150 ce, writes to Roman government to counter rumors about weird Christian practices (sexual oddities, cannibalism, atheism); describes what goes on in Christian communities with which he is associated. Need for apologists because the Romans were very wary of clandestine societies in general (seedbeds of revolution). The "Quo Vadis?" story -- as Peter is leaving the city Rome which has recently burned and in which the emperor Nero (c.54-68 CE) has placed the blame on Christians, whom he is persecuting, Peter sees Jesus entering the city and says "Where are you going?" (quo vadis?) to which Jesus replies "to take my place" (among the persecuted "martyrs" = witnesses). Peter then turns around, reenters the city, and is killed. (Nero is accused of blaming Christians for the fire that he may have ordered to be set, giving rise to the [historically unsubstantiated and unlikely] tradition that Nero "fiddled while Rome burned" -- Nero was famous/notorious for his attraction to theater and arts, and had many critics in the Roman nobility.) Acts 7(end)-8(start) -- first introduction of Paul in Acts (Kraft theorizes that Paul is his real name, the notion that he is originally named "Saul" is a negative remark on Paul, by associating him with the biblical King Saul who had a negative image for various reasons -- e.g. he tried to kill David, as Paul persecuted the followers of David's descendant, Jesus. This was an appropriate nickname because both Paul and King Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin.) (Tangentially, there are several "names" that are created in the traditions from what were originally nicknames, e.g. [Judas] "Thomas" = twin, [Simon] "Peter" = rock). Acts uses various sources, but in its first half it frequently appears to have Jerusalem-oriented materials, with an emphasis on the spirit's power among the followers of Jesus. Also a focus on harmony among the early Christians. Reading of Acts 6-7 (the story of Stephen and his address that results in his being killed by stoning): the address is framed as a history of God's dealings with the Israelites and their ultimate rejection and over-reliance on the Jerusalem Temple. It is not easy to follow Stephen's argument on first reading. //end of notes 99.17// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #18, 09 November 1999 By Heather Berkman Paul and The Book of Acts This class looked at The Book of Acts and the early development of Christian society. The first few chapters of the Acts describes the community of Christianity, with the apostles holding main leadership roles. There are also references to other groups (e.g. the Hebrews and Hellenists) in the Acts, and the author is interested in presenting Christians in some sort of harmony. Christians originally met in privates houses -- "church" referred not to a building but to an assembly of people; centuries later it came to refer to special buildings. A term used in some sources for converts (at first referring to Judaism, then to Christianity) is "proselytes"; but there were also people who felt sympathetic to certain aspects of Judaism, such as ethical teachings or the Jewish 7 day week cycle, who were sometimes called "proselytes of the gate" or even "God-fearers." Some felt that there were certain minimal requirements for all humans -- the "Noachian laws" (laws established with Noah, after the flood). These "requirements" are probably reflected in Acts 15, and were aspects of conduct often associated with basic Judaism but did not include some of the more "peculiar" laws given to Moses (e.g. circumcision, food laws). This approach must have encouraged affiliation with Judaism (short of full conversion) in the Greco-Roman world. -"Polemic" arguments refer to conflicts, as between Jews and Christians. -Epicureanism: the Greek philosopher Epicurus taught that people should focus on things within their power. Epicureans did have some following and were more inclined to resist organized religion that looked to the gods to do things that could be accomplished by humans unaided. The Book of Acts describes how Christians spread out from Jerusalem. The message of Christianity spread to the surrounding areas around Jerusalem, then to such places such as Syria (Antioch), Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Greece and Rome -- see "Maps of the Mediterranean Area." The term "Christian" is first referred to in Acts 11.26 after Paul has been brought to Antioch. The story of Paul's call appears three times in Acts; first in chapter 9, when Paul is blinded by the Lord only to regain his sight later, which leads to his faith in Jesus; then the story is retold in Acts 22 (in a speech of Paul); finally a third version occurs in Acts 26 in Paul's defense before Herod Agrippa. There are variations in all three versions. Afterwards, according to Acts, Paul travels to Syria and Cilicia. Another person pictured in this Christian "inner group" is Barnabas, who is sent up to get Paul to have him help those in Antioch with ministering to the Christian community there. Antioch becomes the base of Paul's and Barnabas' first missionary trip, which is to Cyprus and Asia Minor (Turkey). When they finally return to Antioch, they find that people from Jerusalem are upsetting the brethren, claiming that to be a Christian, one must first be circumcised as a Jew. These problems are discussed in Acts 15 ("the Jerusalem Council" -- with speeches by Peter, Paul, and Jacob/James, who seems to be in charge) and resolved by placing minimal requirements on the gentile Christians (Acts 15.28f). Then Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch, and the rest of the book of Acts deals mainly with the journeys of Paul. One Christian subgroup is called the "Pharisaic" sect-- these people observed traditional Jewish laws (Acts 15.5). The Book of Acts shows the power structure between the church, the apostles, and the elders, apparently with Jacob/James in charge. Question on the "second coming:" how is this associated with the expected apocalypse? All the promises about the "end times" were not fulfilled when Jesus first came, so some believe that Jesus will return to complete everything. The fear of the end of the world has been an important factor at times in influencing people to be morally responsible for their actions. This is seen especially with Evangelical Protestants. Some also have a strong objection to the millennium being described as a literal period of 1,000 years, for they believe that the millennium is being fulfilled in a spiritual way within the church. //end of notes 99.18// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #19, 11 November 1999 by Anthony M. Galle -Refer to web page for Rels 436, "Life and letters of Paul" -Overview of Letters Attributed to Paul The Rels 436 page includes ancient sources and biographical information about Paul. It explores the authenticity of letters attributed to Paul (were they written by Paul, or even by the same person?). For instance no one believes that the Seneca correspondance is authentic or the NHL Prayer of Paul. Some believe the letter to the Ladiceans was constructed of snippets from earlier Pauline writings (esp. Philippians). The Letter we call Ephesians is considered, by some, to be a cover letter for an early collection of Paul's letters. Curiosity over why some early copies of the letter had a blank where others had the reference to the Ephesians, lead to speculation that this letter was sent with Paul's works to address several different communities (in Asia Minor?). The instructor likes to focus attention on why we have differences in Pauls' letters. We have no originals, and copies don't appear until 100-150 years after Paul. So the questions remain. What sort of differences are there and how are they to be understood/explained? Historical Analysis: Historically Speaking, questions arise on style, consistency, and probability that Paul could or would be comunicating with certain persons found addressed in the letters. Although Paul is referred to by early christian writers (evidence of his existence), there is a gap between his death and the earliest references to his writings. Paul probably died slightly before 70 ce, but the earliest extant copies of his works date 130-140 years after his death. One important thing to note. Paul is referenced early on as a writer of letters, yet in the Acts Paul is not mentioned as a writer. Why? Studying Pauls' letters( refer to Rels 436): Group #1 -- When beginning to study Paul, most scholars start with this set of letters: Galatians Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians These four letters have the most in common, contextually. A minimalist, which the instructor proclaims himself, believes these four letter to be written by Paul, and uses their evidence (style, content) to evaluate other alleged writings of Paul. Group #2 -- The next group of letters are known as the "Prison Epistles" Philemon Philippians Ephesians Colossians Laodiceans They are referred to by this name, because in each of these letters Paul is depicted as either in prison or recently imprisoned. It is also noteworthy that each of these letters is also addressed to a group in a particular location (as are "group #1 above), except for Philemon, who is an individual. Group #3 -- The two letters to the Thessalonians are studied as group 3. Some believe that 1 Thessalonians is the earliest extant letter by Paul. Nonetheless, both letters address the peoples obsession with the immediate expectation of the end times. The author of the letters addresses these views as quite radical, and explains to the people that no one can know exactly when these times will come upon us. The author, in essence, "stretches" the end times framework. Group #4 -- The fourth group studied are not considered authentic by many scholars (including the instructor). Most believe these were written long after Paul's death, and Pauls' name was attached to give them his authority. These first three of these letters are known as the "Pastoral Epistles," for each is addressed to a pastor or "shepherd." 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus 3 Corinthians In the titles alone, we see the first difference; most of these are addressed to individuals. Most of the other "Pauline" letters address groups, with the exception of Philemon, who was not a shepherd/pastor. Each of these letters addresses conflicts within the community. These conflicts may have even been called "heresy" in later centuries, but be careful in your perception of this word. Heresy is a neutral greek term meaning sub-set, which becomes a very different and negative term over time. Early writers (e.g. Josephus) sometimes refer to sub-sets of religions using this term. Pauls' background: Little is known about Pauls' background. Best guess is he is Palestinian and born somewhere around the turn of the era. Although the author of the Acts belives Paul to be from Tarsus, there is a good chance he interpreted his sources in the wrong way ("Tarsian" can mean "weaver"). Paul may have been educated and from an elite class -- the Group 1 letters are written by someone who knew Greek well, in Acts Paul's father was identified as a Roman citizen, and Acts and Philippians refer to Paul as a Pharisee. Paul never mentions his occupation, but the Acts say he was a "tentmaker." Don't call Paul a convert: Paul does not see himself converting from Judaism to Christianity. He believes he is a Jew who holds Jesus to be the Messiah of the Jewish prophecies. With this Messiah, Paul believes the end times are near. Paul goes to every effort to justify his religion as an extension and fullfilment of Jewish expectations. He even goes as far to say that the Messiah has now opened the promises of Judiasm (Christianity) to all people ("gentiles," the nations), Jewish or not. Paul sees himself as "called" by God to bring the message of "salvation" (acceptance by God in the last times) through "Messiah/Christ" to the "gentiles." Everyone is invited: In Galatians, Paul makes the case, using Jewish scripture, that all people can thus be saved/rescued/delivered/healed through Jesus. Galatians 3.6-8 (all gentiles/nations) In 3.16 Paul makes the case that Abraham's "offspring" (a collective singular term) is interpreted in two ways. First, Messiah/Christ is the true offspring of Abraham as promised in the scriptures. Paul also refers to (the body of) "Christ" as inclusive of the whole group of early followers, with Jesus as it's head. He argues in 3.28-29, therefore all that are "of Christ/Messiah" are "offspring" of Abraham. Paul: persecuted vs. persecutor In Galatians 1.13 there are hints as to why Paul took this radical turn in his life. He could not deny his experience that convinced him that Jesus, whom Paul once persecuted, was actually God's Messiah! But Jesus was executed on a cross, and thus is in the class of "cursed" people according to Jewish law. How could that be? For Paul, it signifies the "end" of the period of prescribed Jewish law, and the start of the expected last times. Followers of Jesus the Messiah are released from the "curse" they all deserve, and they are recipients of God's gracious salvation, through "faith" in the Messiah/Christ. In short, the instructor believes Paul had a very moving experience, in which, he believed he learned directly from God. He now believes the Jewish laws of the past to be obsolete. "The law" provided control but did not bring righteousness, faith in the Messiah and faith alone brings righteousness before God. //end of notes 99.19// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #20, 16 November 1999 By Michael Bae We started off the class with the mind-boggling question, what do you want to be when you grow up? Some people responded by saying they don't want to grow up, like Professor Kraft, who started singing the toys r us song. it was excellent. The main agenda for the class was to describe the relationship between what Paul says about himself in Galatians, assuming he wrote it, and what the authour of Luke Acts says about Paul. In Galatians, the author, Paul, is very involved and passionate in his writings. It seems as though he is upset and mad because accusations were made against him. In the beginning of Galatians, he is trying to justify his own authority. The accusations made against him were that he learned his teachings about Jesus from other humans, presumably in Jerusalem; since his knowledge was thus second hand, why should anyone listen to him? He wasn't one of the original apostles, and he might not have even seen Jesus, whose followers he persecuted. But Paul sees himself as an apostle. He rebuts the accusations by saying he got his message from God, not from humans. He got the teachings through a revelation. He sees himself like other Jewish prophets, such as Jeremiah, who also is described as destined to be a spokesperson for God before birth (note the idea of predestination). Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia, but apparently not to any one church in particular. He writes how there are divisions within Christianity. There is his (true) message, and then there are other people's messages, with some basic disagreements. Paul is one of the earliest Christian writers, and already there is division among the Christians. Paul again repeats that he got his revelation from Jesus. He asserts that he wasn't in Jerusalem when he got his "call" to proclaim Jesus as Messiah/Christ to the "gentiles," but in the Damascus area. Three years after the revelation, he went to Jerusalem to see Cephas, which is Aramaic for "rock" (Greek Petros). The visit to Jerusalem was private; he was not well known to the Judean churches. 11 or 14 years later (Paul doesn't make clear if it is 14 years after the call or after the first visit to Jerusalem), he goes to Jerusalem again with other people. The purpose of this visit is to make sure what he is preaching is okay. This whole biographical sketch goes up to Galatians 2.11. Paul then talks about freedom, which is a main theme in his writings. He writes about how salvation comes from faith, not from keeping the law. Paul insists upon the truth of his message. In Acts 15, there is also a Jerusalem meeting similar to Paul's second visit mentioned in Galatians, but in Acts it is his third visit since his call! In the meeting, Simon Peter reports on the conversion of the gentile Cornelius, and Jacob/James makes the decision what to require of gentile believers. His solution is not quite like Paul's, in terms of freedom and requirements. The compiler of Acts seems to be an advocate (here and elsewhere) of compromise and harmony. Paul's call in Acts appears in Chapter 9, with slightly variant versions also in Acts 22 and 26. Paul going to Damascus to persecute the Christians is not incompatible with his version in Galatians. As to the revelation, he hears a voice and gets baptized by someone in Damascus who confirms that Paul is called by God to preach to the gentiles. In the Acts account(s), there are "rough" agreements and disagreements with Paul's claims in Galatians. In Galatians, Paul says that he didn't have significant interaction with the Judean Christians in his first Jerusalem visit. In Acts, it says that he does, and meets with some antagonism. In Acts, it seems Paul made three visits to Jerusalem: there is the first visit, mentioned above, then a second visit (Acts 11, famine relief) that doesn't seem to fit with his Galatians version. The third visit in Acts compares with Paul's version of his second visit. It may be that Acts 11 and Acts 15 refer to the same visit, but the sources available to the author of Acts confused him into thinking they were two separate visits -- one source (from Antioch?) focusing on the famine relief, the other (from Jerusalem?) on the judgment of Jacob/James. Paul talks a lot in forensic, or legal, language. He says God declares people not guilty because the penalty has been paid for by the death of Jesus. The defendents are supposed to throw themselves on the mercy of the judge by trusting in Jesus. Then God declares them not guilty. Paul writes a lot about righteousness, or justification. Because of Jesus' obedience, God declares people who are aligned with Jesus to be justified/righteous. Paul understands the church to be the "body" of Messiah/Christ. Before his call, Paul already had ideas about Messiah, so when he uses the term "Christ," it may not simply be a specific reference to Jesus (as it later becomes) but may reflect Paul's previous understandings. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul boasts about his meekness and humility. But then he writes how he sees himself as a better servant than others. They boast, so he will boast. His main claim to being a better servant relates to his own suffering, presumably as part of the messianic body, that must suffer as Jesus the Messiah suffered. //end of notes 99.20// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #21, 18 November 1999 By Jenny Hsieh jhsieh@sas.upenn.edu, with Kevin Galloway For the first few minutes of class, we discussed next week's film on Peter and Paul. The film includes passages from Acts 7-15. Professor Kraft told us that the filmmakers largely follow Acts, but they have also made adjustments for the film. Paul's Eschatological Perspective Chart: The chart shows divisions of "salvation history." Paul views the period between "This Age" and "Age to Come" as including "Messianic Sufferings." For Paul, people live on two levels, in the body of death (sin's domain, flesh), and in (the spiritual body of) Christ. However, Paul is ambiguous about the "bodily" nature of resurrection in his treatment of the subject in 1 Cor 15. His anti-gnostic followers interpret him as teaching a bodily/physical resurrection. Paul's language is full of contrasting terms such as life/death, sin/redemption, law(bondage)/freedom, faith/works, flesh/spirit. Paul often assumes you know what certain terms mean. Creation occurs, and there is disobedience (Adam and Eve). Paul says that your physical body ("flesh") gives way to sin, but with the spirit in you, you can overcome the sin in the flesh. He says that we die because Adam sinned which is later known as original sin (we inherit Adam's punishment and inevitably we will sin, it's in our genes). Next in Paul's Eschatological perspective comes the promise to Abraham followed by the period of Moses/law. Here, Moses is given the law to keep people in line. This is so that God's people would have a way to control sin in the eyes of God. It defines Judaism. Paul sees this as a temporary solution that ends with the arrival of Messiah/Christ and the last times. Now the spirit in you makes freedom from the external law possible. Question: What about Paul's view of death and sin? Each is used to define the other. Last Adam is Jesus, and his death reverses death. For Paul, sin dominates through the flesh (similar to later rabbinic Jewish ideas about the "two inclinations," good and evil). Paul has a pessimistic view about the abilities of humans "in the flesh." Question: What does Paul think the Age to Come is going to be like? Reference to 1 Cor 15. Paul focuses on double existence, in the spirit while still in the flesh (see above) -- living as if one is already in the age to come is where he thinks people should be. Once the spirit is in you, you have the power to do the right thing automatically, although people sometimes don't meet this ideal. Question: When does grace pop up in Christianity? Hesed -- Hebrew meaning God's loyalty to the covenant -- is translated into Greek as "grace." Paul thinks of salvation as involving faith in God, who is gracious. To take care of justice, Jesus' death is the way. Faith connects you to God's grace, but you can't earn God's favor. When the Galatians who first accepted God's grace now try to earn God's favor, they are moving backwards. Instead they should accept God's favor through faith which also brings them the Holy Spirit. God is faithful to His promises, so one receives grace and forgiveness through faith. Key Figures in Paul's Eschatological Perspective First Adam: produces sin/death as the human condition. Abraham: key figure of Israel, where message of God's promise comes. This is how Paul sees his mission. "All nations will be blessed." Moses: Torah/law comes from God through him, to control human sin. Last Adam: Jesus the Messiah or "Christ" suffers and dies, is resurrected, makes salvation and resurrection possible for others through God's spirit. God's spirit can live in a person while the person is still in the flesh. In the end, Paul is not clear about the fate of unredeemed, whether "death" means negative life (hell) or non-existence. Classical Christianity opted for the alternatives of hell or heaven (adding "limbo" later). Question: What's the difference between death in the physical realm and spiritual death? Physical death is when your body dies. Spiritual death is when you have no future with God, entering into a state of non-existence, or perhaps of punishment. Sin and flesh work together to produce death, first in Adam, then in humankind in general (Adam = man/human). Paul uses lots of legal/forensic language -- to be declared righteous/innocent (aquitted), to be judged guilty. He's also fighting a battle with followers of Jesus with whom he disagrees (and vice-versa), who in some traditions are identified with Peter and James (brother of Jesus) as leaders of "Jewish Christians." 1st Corinthians When Paul uses the term "saved," it does not necessarily have the religious connotations present today (the Greek word can mean to heal or liberate). Kerugma/kerygma = proclamation; from the word for a person who announces things, it comes to be associated with early Christian proclamation. In 1 Cor 15.1ff Paul is not as uptight about "receiving" traditions (presumably from humans) as he was in Galatians. He is constantly appealing to authority based Jewish scripture (implicit/explicit). 1 Cor 1.3-4 "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the 3rd day in accordance with the scriptures." Six traditions of appearances are mentioned: Cephas, the twelve, the apostles, James, the five hundred, the untimely born Paul. There is a problem in 1 Cor 15.13 as to what his adversaries were arguing (no resurrection, or resurrection is already past), but we don't know the situation. Paul argues back from the presumably agreed on "fact" of Jesus' resurrection (5.15-17). First fruits (15.20-23) or down payment -- what has happened to Jesus will happen to his followers. Something in Corinth is occurring where people are being baptized on behalf of the dead -- again, we don't have enough detail. //end notes 99.21// --- [[Note: Class #22 was a film on Peter and Paul, part 1 of 2]] --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #23, 31 November 1999 by James White and Keke Zhao We started off class briefly discussing the take home exam. We will be graded on our ability to be consistent, methodological, and we must understand (not simply regurgitate) the material well. The questions don't have a clear answer and two sides (or more!) may be argued. As long as we explain and backup our arguments well, we should be fine. The length of each essay should not exceed 3 pages or 1000 words. We then discussed the film for a short while. There was clearly negative stereotype of Jewish leaders throughout the film, which is especially obvious in the depiction of the synagogue authorities in the Greek cities (depicted like the Temple authorities in Jerusalem!). There were two main locations of worship for the Jews of that time, the local synagogues and the Jerusalem Temple. The synagogue apparently originated after the destruction of the first Temple around 587/6 bce and was still under development in various ways. The Temple embodied ancient tradition with its different leadership (priests) and functions (e.g. sacrifices), compared to the synagogue. For example, according to Acts, Paul's approach was to speak in the synagogue when the came to a new town, which suggests that (some) synagogues allowed certain visitors to address its adherents. Paul is portrayed as somewhat arrogant and with tremendous confidence in his role in God's plan -- which is probably accurate. However, Paul seems to have considered himself to be "more Jewish" then the film portrayed, and the film almost completely missed Paul's eschatology! We then talked about Jerome and noted that he left lots of letters. He translated the Greek Bible into Latin-the Vulgate. He attacked the Jewish Christians by accusing them of being neither Jewish nor Christian. The Jewish Christians are Jewish in ritual but believed Jesus to be the Messiah. The Jewish Christians' beliefs were parallel to the some of the beliefs of the Messianic Jews. We talked about "pseudo-Clementines," as "Jewish Christian" texts that refer to Paul under the name Simon Magus! In Acts, Simon Magus tries to buy the Holy Spirit. The word "simony" derives from that episode. "Gnosticism" was addressed next. Gnosis means knowledge. Gnosticism is the set of beliefs pertaining to special "knowledge" of God, reality and who you are. The three main questions are: who am I, where am I from (or what am I doing here), and where am I going. Humans need to be freed from the physical body and world in which the sparks of deity and the spiritual realm are imprisoned. The goal is to reunite all the fractured pieces of deity. Reuniting into the 'All' or God means that ultimately the individual ceases to exist and its "spark" becomes part of, or returns to the whole (God). One early form of gnosticism was Valentinianism which flourished in Egypt and elsewhere from the mid 2nd century onward. Some Valentinian texts have been found among the Nag Hammadi materials. Valentinus divided people into three types: 1. "pneumatic" (pneuma means spirit or breath) or those who are destined to know that they have God's spirit in them; they cannot escape their destiny of becoming "gnostics." 2. "psychics" (from the Greek for soul) are people who may or may not become true "gnostics." 3. "hylics" (from the Greek for basic matter) are people who are destined to perish with matter and never become gnostics. There is a clearly dualistic view of reality in gnosticism, which involves both the physical and spiritual realms. Jesus appears to be fully human, but he did not really have a physical body. In modern day language, Jesus could be compared to a hologram. "Docetism" is derived from the Greek word "to seem" or appear, denoting an early Christian perspective that argued that Jesus only appeared to be human. Another way a gnostic may describe Jesus' existence is to affirm the reality of his spirit and the non-reality of his body. The "redeemer myth" explains that God sends a redeemer into the world to free the captured sparks, so that they can be reunited with the whole. The death and resurrection of Jesus did not happen as it seemed, since Jesus can't really die because he doesn't exist in a physical body. The redeemer myth: God sends a redeemer (Jesus) to awaken the spirit/seed and teach people how to gain salvation -- this is the "message of the living Jesus" (see G.Thomas intro). We then talked of the "sexual eucharist" reported among some "gnostic" groups, in which the "body" is male sperm (gathered by interrupting the sexual act) and the "blood" is female menstrual fluid. It was taken to the point where after an accidental pregnancy, the aborted fetus would be eaten, to help counteract further dividing of the divine sparks. Such gnostics opposed human reproduction on those grounds. Marcion is similar in outlook to "gnostics." He flourished in the mid 2nd century as a major follower of Paul and collected ten of Paul's letters to create the first known Christian "canon" (including a short version of the Gospel of Luke). He was from northern Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the son of a shipbuilder. He went to Rome and bought his way into the Church. He had too many controversial ideas and was thrown out of the Roman Church. He started his own church and his followers were called Marcionites. He believed that God freely (by grace) offers people salvation, to be accepted by faith, and that Jesus' (and Paul's) God is not the creator of the physical world. Jesus' God is the God of love; the creator God is the God of justice. Thus Paul had two groups of followers: the dualists (including Marcion and Valentinus) who were interested in the spirit and living by the spirit (the God represented by Jesus did not create the physical world!); and the emerging classical Christians who believed Jesus to be deity in bodily form (the God represented by Jesus created the physical world). Since Marcion didn't believe that everything was predestined, as most gnostics did, he is sometimes not classified with gnostics. //end of notes 99.23// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #24, 02 December 1999 By Ryan Cheney with Jeanne McFalls For primary sources, it is now most appropriate to read Ehrman Green Kraft refers to the online syllabus. Early Christianity and Early Judaism: The Development of Mutual Hostility Paul saw himself as Jewish; Paul is a witness for Judaism and a witness for what comes to be Christianity (the two are not yet distinct). However, Christianity is beginning to separate itself from Judaism. More and more gentile (i.e. non-Jewish) adherents are coming into the communities. This distinction between the two groups becomes advantageous politically to "Christians" after the Jewish revolt of 66 ce and the subsequent destruction of the Temple in 70, since identification with Jews had some unfavorable consequences such as a special tax by the Romans for war reparations. (To) Diognetus -- in the past this anonymous work usually was classified with the "Apostolic Fathers," but a closer examination shows it to be a defence of Christianity and thus more accurately classified among the "apologists." Apologists (150-200 CE) -- Christians who write to non-Christian authorities in defence of the church, countering arguments made against Christianity and trying to show Christianity as a viable option, even an advantageous one, in the Roman world. Apostolic Fathers: a category created to cover the earliest acceptable non-canonical documents of Christianity, usually written to other Christians or Christian communities (not to outsiders). Most "apostolic fathers" texts are associated (rightly or wrongly) by tradition with known individuals -- Didache (anonymous) = "The Teaching of the Lord through the Apostles" Epistle of (claims to be written by) Barnabas 1 Clement (anonymous)- 100 C.E. Warnings from Rome about problems at Corinth (came to be ascribed to Clement, supposed bishop of Rome). 2 Clement (anonymous)- 150 C.E. not expressly related to 1 Clement -- 1 Clement is a treatise written to Corinth and 2 Clement is a sermon. 2 Clement shows us what was being preached somewhere, possibly Rome. Ignatius -- died before 116 ce. He was leader of the church in Antioch (Syria) in the generation after Paul. He is taken captive by the Romans (why?) and sent to Rome under guard. He visits Christian communities along the way and writes to them. He has a martyr complex and thinks that by dying unjustly for his faith he is guaranteed eternal salvation; he thus welcomes martyrdom and even writes to the Romans to ask them not to hinder the execution process! He urges the churches to obey their one bishop (thus advocates 'monepiscopate' organization; mono = one, episcopos = bishop). Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (western Asia Minor), an Epistle (or two). Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (western Asia Minor) -- lost writings are known only from secondary quotations and references. "Shepherd of Hermas" -- attributed to a Roman Christian layman, Hermas, who reports on revelations he has received (thus in a sense an "apocalypse"). This work deals more with common Christianity and various rules Christians ought to be observing. Regarding adultery, Hermas is told that those who have committed adultery still have a chance to repent and be redeemed. Tertullian feels Hermas is not rigorous enough and calls the work "the shepherd of adulterers." The apostolic fathers do not have that many distinct similarities. They are a fairly miscellaneous and heterogeneous collection. Some "Apologists" also left us other writings: Justin (150 ce) -- Justin is mild in his criticism of Judaism (see his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew for details), and also claims to have written against Marcion and some "gnostics." Tertullian (200 ce) -- a later apologist who wrote many other works as well; he is one of the first Christian authors to write in Latin. He is forceful in his criticism of Judaism and is a rigorous moralist who left "catholic" Christianity to become a "Montanist." Antagonism leads to a whole body of literature called "Dialogues Against the Jews" in which Christians develop arguments against Judaism similar to some modern Protestant arguments against Catholicism. These anti-Jewish (mis)representations were repeated and embellished well into the Middle Ages (13th and 14th century.) Because of this type of "frozen" repetition, many Christians in the Middle Ages believed that Jews still did things that were only possible when the Temple existed (pre 70 ce!). Parallelism: Kraft mentions growing up in a Protestant Christian context and encountering stereotyped claims (reflecting the 16th century reformation polemics) about sexual problems in the Catholic clergy. Christians disassociate themselves from Judaism at various rates in various times and places. Jews also separate themselves from Christians in some ways; there is less literature on this, but in some cases Jews are strict about not allowing the Christians into the synagogues. There is an old Jewish liturgical text called the "18 Benedictions," and one of these benedictions is a curse against "heretics" (including Christianity, in some versions of the text). Christianity's Apocalyptic Jewish Heritage: Didache ("teaching") is the earliest preserved Christian handbook for church conduct and rites. Teaches methods of baptism, how to hold the Lord's Supper, guidelines for church leadership, and ethical instruction for new Christians ("catacheumens"). At the end of the book, there is apocalyptic material (a brief summary of what will happen at the end times including a battle between Good and Evil). Didache is in Ehrman Green. Many other examples of early Christian adaptation of Jewish apocalyptic traditions exist, including Paul and his imitators, the book of Revelation (Apocalypse), Barnabas, 2 Peter and Jude. Christian Adaptation of Jewish Lifestyle Traditions: 1 Peter -- ethical materials (don't steal, don't lie, etc.); James -- deals with equality in the Christian church and is also full of ethical material; Didache 1-6: Two Ways Section -- people having to chose between the way of death or the way of life (see Barnabas 18-21, way of light vs darkness). Here Christians are latching onto certain Jewish traditions (as can be seen in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls). Christian approaches to Jewish Scripture: e.g. in "The Epistle to the Hebrews" and in the first part of Barnabas The battle within -- Tensions in Early Christianity 1. The Problem of Allegiance -- who is to be worshipped? Identification of the ultimate God questioned. Conflict between those who believed that Jesus' God created the physical world and those (gnostics) who believed that the physical world is from a different, less worthy source ("dualism"). There is a question as to why gnostics didn't commit suicide to escape the material world. Kraft suggests that their predestinarian outlook (they felt they must struggle through their physical burden) might be a factor. Gnosticism; see Ehrman Green (chs 6-7); Stevenson 60 (Justin), 42-80 (Gnostics, Marcion), 110. 2. The Problem of Authority: Pneumatic vs. Transmitted pneumatic -- authority straight from God through the spirit (Gk pneuma; see Paul's claims in Galatians) transmitted -- authority passed down from Jesus to his apostles and from these apostles to their successors ("apostolic succession"). In some early churches, traveling leaders were respected more but later local authorities come to be given equal respect. We can see this shift in attitude within Didache. 1-3 John, Stevenson 7-15 [1 Clement, Didache, Ignatius (attempting to establish the authority of one bishop in each local church), also in Ehrman reader], 84-90. (Montanism) Montanus claims to have direct authority from God. His two main associates are women. Later, Tertullian joins. Not mainstream, 106-107 (Peregrinus) A story told by a non-Christian author (Lucian) about a guy who travels around and teaches, gaining authority. 3. The Problem of Community: once you have a Christian community together, how do you run it? Institutionalized Forms/Rules -- Didache is a rule book. Pauline "Pastorals" also give rules, especially for leaders; Stevenson 8 (Didache 7-10; also in Ehrman reader) 4. The problem of Conformity -- Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy. What is outside the realm of tolerance? Jewish Christians, Gnostics, are seen as heretics and come to be excluded; later also Montanists. Jude // 2 Peter; Stevenson 91-101 (Irenaeus, etc.) The Struggle for Public Recognition 1. When the "end" does not arrive, how do you set Christianity up for survival in the Roman world ("delay of the parousia") 2 Peter 3; Stevenson 16-25, 32 (Diognetus) 2. Responses to persecution -- Christian apologists claim that Christianity would be an asset to the Roman Empire. Stevenson 31 (Aristeides), 33-41 (Justin, etc.) Syllabus survey is finished. Kraft now reads from the Green Ehrman, "Epistle of a Disciple (Gk mathetes) to Diognetus". This writing attacks paganism for idolatry, etc., and then Judaism. Although Jews have monotheism right they are mistaken in practices. Jews offer sacrifices in vain; God does not need sacrifices -- God made the whole world! Kosher laws, pride in circumcision, the festivals, unnecessary attention to the Sabbath, all of these are useless and superfluous. If God created it all, why do the Jews say that some foods can be eaten but others not? Why do they take pride in mutilation of the flesh, i.e. circumcision? The Christians are one up on the Jews because of issues like this. This is not the most sophisticated argument, nor is it a new argument, but it is likely to have been understood by common people in that world. The author of Diognetus continues: Now let me tell you about Christianity. Christians are not isolated or eccentric. They are not unusually ingenious. They observe the customs of the land. They live with the townspeople, but only as aliens. They endure everything as foreigners. Christians do not expose their offspring to the elements to die if unwanted. All of this is written in poetic couplets with simple contrasts -- flesh, law, love, condemnation, life, death, poor, rich, dishonored, cursed, blessed, insulted, respect, assaulted, persecuted, etc. //end of notes 99.24// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #25, 07 December 1999 By Arielle Bernstein Edited by Libby Bucholz We began class by talking a lot about due dates and grades, and other related stressful issues. Kraft mentioned that it's important to carefully define what you're answering (i.e., what exactly you mean by "theology"), when addressing questions in the take home exam and research paper. We then discussed Take Home Question #4, which refers to "Classical Christian Orthodoxy." Two categories of writings, the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists are relevant because they are understood by classical Christianity to have continuity with early Christianity. 1. Apostolic Fathers: an arbitrary category created by modern scholars to group together writings not found in the NT, and not part of later "Church Fathers" proper. They are mostly single writings, with or without known authors, and date between ca. 90 - 150 CE -- i.e. the next two generations AFTER the end of the "NT period" (broadly speaking; actually there is some overlap with latest NT materials). "1 Clement" (letter from Rome to Corinth) Ignatius of Antioch (seven letters written enroute to martyrdom) "Epistle of Barnabas" (instructional treatise on exegesis, ethics) "Didache" (earliest preserved manual for church conduct, etc.) Papias of Hierapolis (fragments of otherwise lost writings) Polycarp of Smyrna (a letter -- or two? -- by a church leader) "Shepherd of Hermas" (an "apocalypse" on Christian conduct, etc.) "2 Clement" (early Christian "homily" or formal sermonic treatise) 2. Apologists: this category was named for the function of the writings within it; each of these writings gives a defense of Christianity to secular authorities. Justin Martyr is a good early example (about 150 ce), and Tertullian about 50 years later. The anonymous "Epistle to Diognetus" also falls into this category. The question, then, is: what was it about these writings that appealed to the developers of classical Christianity? Remember that once Christianity, in its various forms, could "go public" in the 4th century under Constantine, there is a new need to find or create unity. This situation should form the background to the answers to #4; what emphases or interests fit into what Christianity became, and also, why these writings do NOT fit with objectionable "gnostic" or "Jewish Christian" tendencies. Next, we discussed Take Home Question #3. This question deals with how others use Paul and his teachings -- for example, how Marcion seems to really like Paul, and interprets his teachings to support the Marcionite dualistic approach. Chapter 6 of Ehrman GREEN is a good resource for Gnostic writings. Most importantly, in this question, one should consider IF and HOW people "adjust" Paul's letters to accommodate their opinions; not only how Paul is used my Marcion et al, but also, how Paul is used by "friends" like Irenaeus and Tertullian to REFUTE Gnosticism. Keep in mind that Paul wrote his letters without ever knowing they would become part of a "Bible" -- would he have been happy with the way he was interpreted by various groups, including emerging classical Christianity? Eschatology was very important to Paul himself -- what happens to it in the later interpretations of Paul? Discussion then turned to 3 "filters" of developing Christianity which were used to select/reject, include/exclude, various opinions, beliefs and traditions (discussed briefly at the start of the course!). 1. CANON: the technical word for the collection of writings that came to be included in the NT -- the authoritative texts. 2. CREED: from the Latin "I believe" (credo), designates formal expressions of important beliefs, usually in response to the threat of other variant opinions. 3. HERESY OPPOSITION: the development of written responses to positions considered "heretical" (incompatible with the accepted beliefs), as evidenced in the lost writings of Justin and especially in Irenaeus' 5 books against "Gnostics" or Tertullian's 5 books against Marcion, from the end of our period. By the year 200 CE there was a working canon (with some loose ends) and established creedal formulations along with a growing anti-heresy literature, all of which contribute to the emergence of "classical/orthodox Christianity" in the 4th century. //end notes 99.25// --- Religious Studies 135, Christian Origins Class Notes #26, 09 December 1999 By Meredith Lopez Class began with Professor Kraft showing us more resources that we could access from his homepage (see RelSt 535 "Other Resources"). We first talked about the Apology of Justin, also known as the First Apology, a selection from which can be found in Ehrman (green). The so-called Second Apology is relatively short and probably was intended as an appendix to the First. Justin's writings are preserved in only a few relatively late manuscripts in Greek. His apology is a formal appeal to the Roman rulers for tolerance and recognition. It seems unlikely that Justin would misrepresent Christianity because he was talking to people of power; his claims could produce dire consequences should they prove to be offensive or false. Next we discussed Justin's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew -- which we discovered could not be found on the website but is excerpted in Ehrman (green). This writing contains some biographical information about Justin, painting a dramatic picture of Justin wandering on the beach, probably Caesarea, and meeting an elderly man who convincingly presents him with a somewhat Platonic version of Christianity in which the world of ideas is of greater importance than the material world. We discover that Justin originated from the town of Flavia Neapolis, in the region of Samaria. Justin therefore is from Palestine, but there is no evidence of his being Jewish -- indeed, he says that he is uncircumcised. Justin's Discourse to the Greeks is not believed to be authentic by modern scholars. There are also allusions to other (now lost) works written by Justin in surviving documents. Digression: Chapter (and verse) divisions, among other things, have been added to such ancient texts by modern editors -- as is well known, ancient Greek writings did not have word division or punctuation. By about the 4th century ce, a cross-referencing system called the "Eusebian Canons" was introduced into some manuscripts of the Gospels to indicate parallel passages. Kraft reminded us that until the development of the codex (which provided such conveniences as turning pages and cross-referencing), texts were written on scrolls, with all the limitations of that format. Differences in parallel passages did not always go unnoticed. One of the tendencies in Gospel interpretation was to assume the Gospels to be true, and to consider any apparent differences/inconsistencies in the accounts as indcations that deeper meanings should be sought. Origen, and others, invoked the use of allegories in such instances to expose the supposed deeper meanings to be found behind the problematic passages. Origen took any occurrence of "non-scientific" claims, such as the statement that "Methusaleh lived for 969 years," as a license for applying his allegorical approach. Today we usually treat such statements in other ways; perhaps the 969 referred to a dynasty or was a mistake by a copyist. In his Apology, Justin provides information about early Christian rites and rituals, thus attempting to dispel rumors and accusations such as the supposed Christian predilection for sexual orgies. We examined the main such passage from Justin's Apology and learned about the practices of the early Christians known to him -- prayer and fasting, baptism for remission of sin using the threefold formula, an early evidence of what later became the holy trinity concept. The use of water for purification purposes was wide-spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Interestingly, in the Didache there is evidence for the development of baptism under various circumstances: if running water is available, baptize in it; if not, standing water may be used; and if there is no such body of water, sprinkling is permissible. Appeal to these early developments often is made in the modern arguments about the correct mode of baptism (dunking, dipping, sprinkling, etc.), but for the author of the Didache, the meaning seems to in the performance of the act. For Justin, the significance of baptism was the remission of sin. Justin' Apology contains some of the earliest evidence for the development of Christian "sacraments" (the later Latin attempt to translate Greek "mysteries") as well as the concept of the ineffable God. Some of the language is similar to that used in "mystery religions" with the use of words like "initiation ritual" and "illuminated." Some of the language also sounds like aspects of the later Christian creeds. We also talked about other assorted things: On a slight tangent, someone said that John the Baptist may have been a "mikva man," with reference to classical Jewish water purification rites. The background and significance of John's baptism is much discussed in the scholarly literature. Kraft sees the key to John's baptism in his eschatology -- align yourselves with God in these last days of the world. (Kraft believes the main key to understanding early Christianity is eschatology.) We talked about the etymology of the word "Eucharist" (a term still used by Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Episcopalians to refer to what many Protestants call the "Lord's Supper"), which literally means "prayer" in Greek (note the emphasis on the prayers in the Didache). Digression: We also discussed the difficulties in attempting to recover the earliest form of a given text that is known only from later copies; and how some of the earliest preserved manuscripts are fragmentary in nature. We wound up discussion with an attempt to understand why this type of "classical Christianity" evolved and survived through the centuries. This was due to many reasons including potential converts to Judaism who were apprehensive about circumcision finding similar options (and less pain) in Christianity -- e.g. Jewish ethical standards and the appeal of the Jewish 7-day week -- and the endorsement of Christianity by the emperor Constantine. Many people may also have been sympathetic towards Christianity as it played the role of the underdog, as a challenge to existing (Roman) authority. This type of Christianity caught on due to a combination of many different factors. //end of class notes for 1999//