Lesson Objectives

• Define Key Terms

• Appreciate the academic history of the Hebrew scriptures

• Place Jewish thought and narrative into its historical context

• Appreciate the relationship between the Torah, the Gospels, and the Quran

• Understand the importance of Greece and Rome to Abrahamic religion

• Appreciate the academic history of the Christian scriptures

• Place Christian thought and narrative into its historical context

• Appreciate the variety of Christologies in the ancient world

• Appreciate the academic history of the Islamic scriptures

Key Terms

Torah

Hebrew Bible

Mitzvah

Babylonian Exile

Hellenism

Septuagint

Messiah

Gospel

Quran

Ancient Israel

Pre-Biblical Israel

• Jews are a Semitic people genetically native to Cana'an (the Land of Israel)

• Israel has enjoyed self-rule as a nation four times in history

• Before Persian (Zoroastrian) influence, Israel was a polytheistic civilization

The Babylonian Exile | 587 - 538 BCE

• Babylon conquers Israel in 587 BCE; no record of Jewish ritual/belief predates

• Rather than kill them all, many Jews are exiled in Babylon — far from Israel

• Jewish stories are shared during the Exile of a Retun to the Promised Land

The Persians & the (Second) Temple | 538 - 332 BCE

• Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, defeats the Babylonians

• King Cyrus grants his Jewish subjects the freedom to return to Israel

• King Cyrus and the Persians also pay for the (Second) Temple to be built

• The many Jewish stories collected in Exile now make up the Torah, the chief scripture of the Jewish people, brought to Jerusalem by the Prophet Ezra