Lesson Objectives

• Define Key Terms

• Appreciate the relationship between the Roman occupation & the Messiah

• Understand the relationship between the Jerusalem & Apostolic communities

• Appreciate the wide variety of Christianities in the ancient world

• Appreciate the history of the ascendency of the Medieval Church

• Understand the ascendency of the Holy Roman Catholic Church

Key Terms

The Aeneid

Zealot

Messiah

Jesus

Nazarene

Paul the Apostle

The Five Patriarchs

Edict of Thessalonica

The Great Schism

The Seven Sacraments

Of Romans & Jews

Rome & the Divine Caesar

• Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar declares he is the "Son of God"

     • This is to bolster his claim to the imperial throne, as his adoptive father           Julius Caesar was deified in a Roman ceremony in 42 BCE

• Augustus commissions Virgil to write The Aeneid, a sort of 'anti-Gospel'

     • In The Aeneid, God offers the world for the Romans to violently conquer

• With holy fury, the Roman Empire under Caesar takes every land it can reach

     • Rome takes the Celts, the Britons, the Armenians, the Jews, etc.

Judea under Roman Occupation

• The Land of Israel ("Judea") is violently occupied and taxed by the Romans

• The main form of taxation in Galilee is fish — a powerful symbol of oppression

     • Fishermen: Peter & Andrew, James & John (article: fishing boats)

     • Mary of Magdala (a fishing village), Matthew (hated tax collector)

• Taxes enrich Roman ports like Caesarea, leaving villages like Nazareth bare

Remembering Hanukkah

• 200 years before the Roman Occupation, the Jews had kicked the Greeks out

     • This victory was part of their National Myth, and honored as Hanukkah

     • This cultural memory/expectation led to two distinct political responses

• The Zealots – a faction of Jews calling for armed rebellion against Romans

     • Most dangerous Zealots were knifemen ("sicarii") like Judas Iscariot

     • The sicarii assassinated Romans AND Jews who they felt collaborated

• The Messianics – Jews seeking an Apocalyptic leader who'll end occupation

     • The heads of Jewish kings were anointed with oil to mark their royalty

     • The Hebrew "Messiah" & Greek "Christ" both mean 'anointed one'