RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 1
Page 3 - Tacitus - see p.30 for another translation of Tacitus' account of Nero's massacre of the Christians.
Page 3 - Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny the Younger and other non-Christian witnesses
Go here for a separate page of their texts and information
Page 7 - Aramaic is the variety of Hebrew spoken at the time of Jesus. It developed from the older Hebrew used during Old Testament times, particularly after the Jews were taken into captivity in Babylonia during the sixth century BC, and later spread throughout Alexander's Empire and the later Roman Empire. The relationship of Aramaic to Hebrew is like the relationship of modern American English to King James' English.
Page 7 - Diaspora Jews were Jews who lived in communities scattered throughout the Roman and Parthian Empires. They tended to speak and read Greek rather than Hebrew
Page 12 - Jesus as a "great moral teacher" - note that this description is attributed to those who do not consider themselves to be Christians. C. S. Lewis said about this description
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Page 12 - Jesus' ethical teaching - the textbook presents a rather extreme view of Jesus' teaching.
In Mark 10:23 Jesus says "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God.". In Mark 10:24 "How hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God."; in Mark 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God." So from this passage Jesus is warning about the accumulation of money, and trusting in wealth, rather than saying we have to give it all away. From the following verses (Mark 10:26-31) Jesus makes it clear that His call is to be followed, even if it means leaving our families as well as our possessions.
In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus tells us "Lay not up for yourselves treasured upon earth . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.", which again warns us not to accumulate money, and not to set our hearts on having money.
In Luke 12:22-34 the stress is upon trusting God to provide us with everything we need, and "seek first the Kingdom of God", "Sell what you have and give alms" and "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.".
Although the author of chapter 1 says that no divorce was to be permitted, according to Matthew 19:9 divorce for fornication might permissible.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
