Apostolic Age

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In Christianity, the Apostolic Age is the period from the death of Jesus until the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles (c.33-c. 100 AD). It holds special significance in Christian tradition as the age of the direct apostles of Jesus.

The earliest followers of Jesus were composed principally from apocalyptic Jewish sects during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century. They were Jewish Christians, who strictly adhered to the Jewish commands. Jerusalem had an early Christian community, which was led by James the Just, Peter, and John.

Paul the Apostle, a pious Jew who had persecuted the early Christians, converted c. AD 33–36[3][4][5] and started to proselytize among the Gentiles. According to Paul, Gentile converts could be allowed exemption from most Jewish commandments, arguing that all are justified by faith in Jesus. This led to a gradual split of early Christianity from Judaism, as Christianity became a predominantly Gentile religion.

Apostolic[edit]

The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner[6] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.
Main articles: Acts of the Apostles and Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles

The years following Jesus until the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles is called the Apostolic Age, after the missionary activities of the apostles.[7] According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Jerusalem church began at Pentecost with some 120 believers,[8] in an "upper room," believed by some to be the Cenacle, where the apostles received the Holy Spirit and emerged from hiding following the death and resurrection of Jesus to preach and spread his message.[9][10]

Paul's conversion on the Road to Damascus is first recorded in Acts 9:13-16. Peter baptized the Roman centurion Cornelius, traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity, in Acts 10. Based on this, the Antioch church was founded. It is also believed that it was there that the term Christian was coined.[11]

Earliest Christianity[edit]

Main article: Jewish Christian
See also: Early Christianity and Biblical law in Christianity

After the death of Jesus, "Christianity [...] emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine."[12] The first Christians were all Jews, either by birth or conversion ("proselytes" in Biblical terminology),[note 1] who constituted a Second Temple Jewish sect with an apocalyptic eschatology.

Beliefs and practices[edit]

James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19-29, "...we should write to them [gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood..." (NRSV)

Jewish Christians were fully faithful religious Jews, only differing in their acceptance of Jesus as the messiah.[13] They believed Yahweh to be the only true God,[14] the god of Israel, and considered Jesus to be the messiah (Christ), as prophesied in the Jewish scriptures, which they held to be authoritative and sacred. They held faithfully to the Torah,[note 2] including acceptance of Gentile converts based on a version of the Noachide laws.[note 3] They employed mostly the Septuagint or Targum translations of the Hebrew scriptures.

The Book of Acts reports that the early followers continued daily Temple attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer. Other passages in the New Testament gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as fasting, reverence for the Torah and observance of Jewish holy days.[15][16]

Liturgical services were based on repeating the actions of Jesus ("do this in remembrance of me"), using the bread and wine, and saying his words (known as the words of the institution).[citation needed] The rest of the liturgical ritual is rooted in the Jewish Passover, Siddur, Seder, and synagogue services, including the singing of hymns (especially the Psalms) and reading from the scriptures.[17] At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus' death, Sunday (the Lord's Day) was being regarded as the primary day of worship.[18]

The Jerusalem ekklēsia[edit]

Main article: Jerusalem in Christianity
See also: Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles

The New Testament's Acts of the Apostles and Epistle to the Galatians record that an early Jewish Christian community[note 4] centered on Jerusalem and that its leaders included Peter, James, the "brother of Jesus", and John the Apostle.[19] The Jerusalem Church "held a central place among all the churches," as witnessed by Paul's writings.[20] The relatives of Jesus were accorded a special position within this community, as displayed by the leadership of James the Just in Jerusalem.[21]

According to a tradition recorded by Eusebius and Epiphanius of Salamis, the Jerusalem church fled to Pella at the outbreak of the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66–70).[22]

Emerging Church[edit]

See also: Proto-orthodox Christianity

Growth of early Christianity[edit]

Spread of Christianity in 100 C.E.
See also: Great Commission and Early centers of Christianity

The Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. The most famous version of the Great Commission is in Matthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Christian missionary activity spread Christianity to cities in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire, and then throughout the Hellenistic world and even beyond the Roman Empire.[9][23][24][25][note 5]

Apostles and preachers traveled to Jewish communities around the Mediterranean Sea, and attracted Jewish converts.[24] Within 10 years of the death of Jesus, apostles had spread Christianity from Jerusalem to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Cyprus, Crete, Alexandria and Rome.[27][9][23][28] Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity to Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica.[29] Over 40 churches were established by 100,[23][28] most in Asia Minor, such as the seven churches of Asia, and some in Greece and Italy.

Early Christian beliefs were proclaimed in kerygma [preaching), some of which are preserved in New Testament scripture. The early Gospel message spread orally, probably originally in Aramaic,[30] but almost immediately also in Greek.[31] Christian groups and congregations first organized themselves loosely. In Paul's time there were no precisely delineated functions yet for bishops, elders, and deacons.[32][34]

Beliefs[edit]

Creeds and salvation[edit]

Main article: Salvation in Christianity

The sources for the beliefs of the early Christians include oral traditions (which included sayings attributed to Jesus, parables and teachings),[35][36] the Gospels, the New Testament epistles and possibly lost texts such as the Q source[37][38][39] and the writings of Papias. The texts contain the earliest Christian creeds[40] expressing belief in the risen Jesus, such as 1 Corinthians 15:3–41:[41]

[3] For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, [4] and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.[42]

The creed has been dated by some scholars as originating within the Jerusalem apostolic community no later than the 40s,[43][44] and by some to less than a decade after Jesus' death,[45][46] while others date it to about 56.[47] Other early creeds include 1 John 4:2, 2 Timothy 2:8[48] Romans 1:3–4[49] and 1 Timothy 3:16.

Christology[edit]

Main articles: Christology and Divinity of Christ

Two fundamentally different Christologies developed in the early Church, namely a "low" or adoptionist Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology."[50] The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.[51][52][53][web 2]

The "low Christology" or "adoptionist Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead,"[54] thereby raising him to "divine status."[web 3] According to the "evolutionary model"[55] c.q. "evolutionary theories,"[56] the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time,[57][58][59] as witnessed in the Gospels,[52] with the earliest Christians believing that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q. adopted as God's Son,[60][61] when he was resurrected.[59][62] Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.[59] This evolutionary model was very influential, and the "low Christology" has long been regarded as the oldest Christology.[63][64][web 3][note 6]

The other early Christology is "high Christology," which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father’s will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come,"[web 3][65] and from where he appeared on earth. According to Hurtado, a proponent of an Early High Christology, the devotion to Jesus as divine originated in early Jewish Christianity, and not later or under the influence of pagan religions and Gentile converts.[66] The Pauline letters, which are the earliest Christian writings, already show "a well-developed pattern of Christian devotion [...] already conventionalized and apparently uncontroversial."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=155}

Practices[edit]

Baptism[edit]

Main article: Baptism in early Christianity

Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings. It seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesus's disciples practised baptism. John the Baptist had baptized many people, before baptisms took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul likened baptism to being buried with Christ in his death.[note 7]

Communal meals and Eucharist[edit]

Main articles: Agape feast and Eucharist

Communal meals originated in the early Church.[67][68] The Eucharist was often a part of the Lovefeast, but between the latter part of the 1st century A.D. and 250 A.D. the two became separate rituals.[69][70][71] Thus, in modern times the Lovefeast refers to a Christian ritual meal distinct from the Lord's Supper.[72]

The Eucharist (/ˈjuːkərɪst/; also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper, among other names) is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper; giving his disciples bread and wine during the Passover meal, Jesus commanded his followers to "do this in memory of me" while referring to the bread as "my body" and the cup of wine as "the new covenant in my blood".[73][74][75] Through the Eucharistic celebration Christians remember both Christ's sacrifice of himself on the cross and his commission of the apostles at the Last Supper.[76]

Sabbath[edit]

Main article: Sabbath in Christianity

At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus' death, Sunday (the Lord's Day) was being regarded as the primary day of worship.[77]

Paul and the inclusion of Gentiles[edit]

Saint Paul, by El Greco
St. Peter, by Rubens

Conversion[edit]

Main articles: Paul the Apostle and Paul the Apostle and Jewish Christianity

Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author.[78] According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early Jewish Christians, but then converted. He adopted the name Paul and started proselytizing among the Gentiles, adopting the title "Apostle to the Gentiles."

Paul was in contact with the early Christian community in Jerusalem, led by James the Just.[79] According to Mack, Paul may have been converted to another early strand of Christianity, with a High Christology.[80] Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.[79][note 8] Yet, Hurtado notes that Paul valued the linkage with "Jewish Christian circles in Roman Judea," which makes it likely that his Christology was in line with, and indebted to, their views.[82] Hurtado further notes that "[i]t is widely accepted that the tradition that Paul recites in [Corinthians] 15:1-71 must go back to the Jerusalem Church."[83]

Inclusion of Gentiles[edit]

Mediterranean Basin geography relevant to Paul's life, stretching from Jerusalem in the lower right to Rome in the upper left.
Main article: Paul the Apostle and Judaism
See also: Circumcision in the Bible

Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity to Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica.[84] According to Krister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role, and salvation by faith, is the problem of the inclusion of gentile (Greek) Torah observers into God's covenant.[85][86][87][web 5] The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of the early Christians. Many of the Jewish Christians were fully faithful religious Jews, only differing in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. Observance of the Jewish commands, including circumcision, was regarded as a token of the membership of this covenant, and the early Jewish Christians insisted on keeping those observances.[13] Gentiles were, by definition, not part of Israel, God's chosen people, and the new converts did not follow all "Jewish Law"[note 9] and refused to be circumcised,[88] as circumcision was considered repulsive during the period of Hellenization of the Eastern Mediterranean.[89][90]

Paul objected strongly to the insistence on keeping all of the Jewish commands, considering it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus.[91] According to Fredriksen, Paul's opposition to male circumcison for Gentiles is in line with Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g., Zechariah 8:20-23), not as proselytes to Israel."[web 1] For Paul, Gentile male circumcison was therefore an affront to God's intentions.[web 1] According to Hurtado, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right," who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the “fullness”) of the nations (Romans 11:25)."[web 1]

For Paul, Jesus' death and resurrection solved this problem of the exclusion of the gentles from God's covenant,[92] since the faithfull are redeemed by participation in Jesus' death and rising. According to Sanders, Paul argued that "those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and thus they escape the power of sin [...] he died so that the believers may die with him and consequently live with him."[web 6] By this participation in Christ's death and rising, "one receives forgiveness for past offences, is liberated from the powers of sin, and receives the Spirit."[93] Paul insists that salvation is received by the grace of God; according to Sanders, this insistence is in line with Judaism of ca. 200 NCE until 200 CE, which saw God's covenant with Israel as an act of grace of God. Observance of the Law is needed to maintain the covenant, but the covenant is not be earned by observing the Law, but by the grace of God.[web 7]

These divergent interpretations have a prominent place in both Paul's writings and in Acts. According to Paul, fourteen years after his conversion he visited the "Pillars of Jerusalem" to compare his Gospel with theirs. According to Paul, in his letter to the Galatians,[note 10] they agreed that his mission was to be among the Gentiles. According to Acts, Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, vocally supported by Peter, as documented in Acts 15.[13][94][note 11]

The inclusion of Gentiles is reflected in Luke-Acts, which is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it.[97]

Persecutions[edit]

See also: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, Persecution of Christians in the New Testament, and Constantine I and Christianity

Several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and stress endurance through them. Christians suffered persecutions for their refusal to give any worship to the Roman emperor, considered treasonous and punishable by execution.

Early Christian scriptures and writings[edit]

Main article: Development of the Christian biblical canon

Hebrew scriptures ("Old Testament")[edit]

Main article: Development of the Old Testament canon

The first Christian texts were the Hebrew scriptures. The Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures (the Septuagint) was the dominant translation.[98])[note 12] In the 2nd century, Melito of Sardis called these scriptures the "Old Testament"[99] and specified an early canon. The Greek translation, later known as the Septuagint[100] and often written as "LXX," arose from Hellenistic Judaism which predates Christianity. Perhaps the earliest Christian canon is the Bryennios List which was found by Philotheos Bryennios in the Codex Hierosolymitanus. The list is written in Koine Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew and dated to around 100[101]

Christian scriptures ("New Testament")[edit]

Books of the
New Testament
Papyrus 46, one of the oldest New Testament papyri, showing 2 Cor 11:33-12:9
Gospels
Acts
Acts of the Apostles
Epistles
Romans
1 Corinthians · 2 Corinthians
Galatians · Ephesians
Philippians · Colossians
1 Thessalonians · 2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy · 2 Timothy
Titus · Philemon
Hebrews · James
1 Peter · 2 Peter
1 John · 2 John · 3 John
Jude
Apocalypse
Revelation
New Testament manuscripts
Main article: Development of the New Testament canon

The "New Testament" (often compared to the New Covenant) is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, either by Tertullian or Marcion in the 2nd century.[102] The original texts were written by various authors, most likely sometime after c. AD 45 in Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, though there is also a minority argument for Aramaic primacy.

Apostolic Fathers[edit]

St. Clement I was an Apostolic Father.
See also: Apostolic Fathers

The Church Fathers are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The earliest Church Fathers, within two generations of the Twelve apostles of Christ, are usually called Apostolic Fathers for reportedly knowing and studying under the apostles personally. Important Apostolic Fathers include Clement of Rome,[103] Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna. Their writings include the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistles of Clement, as well as the Didache. Taken as a whole, the collection is notable for its literary simplicity, religious zeal and lack of Hellenistic philosophy or rhetoric. Fathers such as Ignatius of Antioch (died 98 to 117) advocated the authority of the apostolic episcopacy (bishops).[104]

Split of Early Christianity and Judaism[edit]

Painting by Rembrandt of Paul, one of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles." Paul, a Hellenistic Jew, was very influential on the shift of Christianity to Gentile dominated movement.
Main article: Split of early Christianity and Judaism
See also: Schisms among the Jews and List of events in early Christianity

Split of early Christianity and Judaism[edit]

A coin issued by Nerva reads
fisci Judaici calumnia sublata,
"abolition of malicious prosecution in connection with the Jewish tax"[105]
Main article: Split of early Christianity and Judaism

There was a slowly growing chasm between Christians and Jews, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took centuries for a complete break to manifest.[106] However, certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism.

The Council of Jamnia c. 85 is often stated to have condemned all who claimed the Messiah had already come, and Christianity in particular. However, the formulated prayer in question (birkat ha-minim) is considered by other scholars to be unremarkable in the history of Jewish and Christian relations. There is a paucity of evidence for Jewish persecution of "heretics" in general, or Christians in particular, in the period between 70 and 135. It is probable that the condemnation of Jamnia included many groups, of which the Christians were but one, and did not necessarily mean excommunication. That some of the later church fathers only recommended against synagogue attendance makes it improbable that an anti-Christian prayer was a common part of the synagogue liturgy. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.[107][108][109]

During the late 1st century, Judaism was a legal religion with the protection of Roman law, worked out in compromise with the Roman state over two centuries.[note 13] Observant Jews had special rights, including the privilege of abstaining from civic pagan rites. Christians were initially identified with the Jewish religion by the Romans, but as they became more distinct, Christianity became a problem for Roman rulers. Around the year 98, the emperor Nerva (AD 98) decreed that Christians did not have to pay the annual tax upon the Jews, effectively recognizing them as distinct from Rabbinic Judaism. This opened the way to Christians being persecuted for disobedience to the emperor, as they refused to worship the state pantheon.[110][111][112] From c. 98 onwards a distinction between Christians and Jews in Roman literature becomes apparent. For example, Pliny the Younger postulates that Christians are not Jews since they do not pay the tax, in his letters to Trajan.[113][114]

Christianity was not legalized until the 313 Edict of Milan. The true end of ancient Jewish Christianity occurred only in the 5th century.[106] Gentile Christianity remained the sole strand of orthodoxy and imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the 5th century.[115]

Rejection of Jewish Christianity[edit]

In Christian circles, "Nazarene" later came to be used as a label for those faithful to Jewish law, in particular for a certain sect. These Jewish Christians, originally the central group in Christianity, were not at first declared to be unorthodox but were later excluded and denounced. Some Jewish Christian groups, such as the Ebionites, were considered to have unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and Gentile converts. The Nazarenes, holding to orthodoxy except in their adherence to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance of orthodoxy in the 4th century. The Ebionites may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. After the condemnation of the Nazarenes, "Ebionite" was often used as a general pejorative for all related "heresies".[116][117]

Jewish Christians constituted a separate community from the Pauline Christians but maintained a similar faith, differing only in practice. There was a post-Nicene "double rejection" of the Jewish Christians by both Gentile Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. It is believed that there was no direct confrontation or persecution between Gentile and Judaic Christianity. However, by this time the practice of Judeo-Christianity was diluted both by internal schisms and external pressures. Gentile Christianity remained the sole strand of orthodoxy and imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the 5th century.[118]

See also[edit]

History of Christianity: Apostolic Age
Preceded by:
Jesus 		Apostolic
Age 		Followed by:
Ante-Nicene
Period
BC 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte: "The English term "proselyte" occurs only in the New Testament where it signifies a convert to the Jewish religion (Matthew 23:15; Acts 2:11; 6:5; etc.), though the same Greek word is commonly used in the Septuagint to designate a foreigner living in Judea. The term seems to have passed from an original local and chiefly political sense, in which it was used as early as 300 BC, to a technical and religious meaning in the Judaism of the New Testament epoch."
  2. ^ Perhaps also Jewish law which was being formalized at the same time
  3. ^ Acts 15 and Acts 21
  4. ^ Hurtado: "She refrains from referring to this earliest stage of the "Jesus-community" as early "Christianity" and comprised of "churches," as the terms carry baggage of later developments of "organized institutions, and of a religion separate from, different from, and hostile to Judaism" (185). So, instead, she renders ekklēsia as "assembly" (quite appropriately in my view, reflecting the quasi-official connotation of the term, often both in the LXX and in wider usage)."[web 1]
  5. ^ Ecclesiastical historian Henry Hart Milman writes that in much of the first three centuries, even in the Latin-dominated western empire: "the Church of Rome, and most, if not all the Churches of the West, were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies [see Greek colonies for the background]. Their language was Greek, their organization Greek, their writers Greek, their scriptures Greek; and many vestiges and traditions show that their ritual, their Liturgy, was Greek."[26]
  6. ^ Ehrman:
    * "The earliest Christians held exaltation Christologies in which the human being Jesus was made the Son of God—for example, at his resurrection or at his baptism—as we examined in the previous chapter."[64]
    * Here I’ll say something about the oldest Christology, as I understand it. This was what I earlier called a “low” Christology. I may end up in the book describing it as a “Christology from below” or possibly an “exaltation” Christology. Or maybe I’ll call it all three things [...] Along with lots of other scholars, I think this was indeed the earliest Christology.[web 4]
  7. ^ Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12
  8. ^ According to Mack, "Paul was converted to a Hellenized form of some Jesus movement that had already developed into a Christ cult. [...] Thus his letters serve as documentation for the Christ cult as well."[81]
  9. ^ Generally understood to mean Mosaic Law as the Halakha was still being formalized at the time
  10. ^ Four years after the Council of Jerusalem, Paul wrote to the Galatians about the issue, which had become a serious controversy in their region. There was a burgeoning movement of Judaizers in the area that advocated adherence to traditional Mosaic laws, including circumcision. According to McGrath, Paul identified James the Just as the motivating force behind the movement. Paul considered it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith and addressed the issue with great detail in Galatians 3.[91]
  11. ^ According to 19th-century German theologian F. C. Baur early Christianity was dominated by the conflict between Peter who was law-observant, and Paul who advocated partial or even complete freedom from the law.[citation needed] Scholar James D. G. Dunn has proposed that Peter was the "bridge-man" between the two other prominent leaders: Paul and James the Just. Paul and James were both heavily identified with their own "brands" of Christianity. Peter showed a desire to hold on to his Jewish identity, in contrast with Paul. He simultaneously showed a flexibility towards the desires of the broader Christian community, in contrast to James. Marcion and his followers stated that the polemic against false apostles in Galatians was aimed at Peter, James and John, the "Pillars of the Church", as well as the "false" gospels circulating through the churches at the time. Irenaeus and Tertullian argued against Marcionism's elevation of Paul and stated that Peter and Paul were equals among the apostles. Passages from Galatians were used to show that Paul respected Peter's office and acknowledged a shared faith.[95][96]
  12. ^ Koine Greek spread all over the Empire, even up the Rhone valley of Gaul; Roman satirists complained that even Rome had become a Greek city.
  13. ^ See Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire for details.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hebrews 8:6
  2. ^ "Sermon on the Mount." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
  3. ^ Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1979). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: A-D (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (W.B.Eerdmans)). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 689. ISBN 0-8028-3781-6.
  4. ^ Barnett, Paul (2002). Jesus, the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. InterVarsity Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-8308-2699-8.
  5. ^ L. Niswonger, Richard (1993). New Testament History. Zondervan Publishing Company. p. 200. ISBN 0-310-31201-9.
  6. ^ Bargil Pixner, The Church of the Apostles found on Mount Zion, Biblical Archaeology Review 16.3 May/June 1990, centuryone.org
  7. ^ August Franzen, Kirchengeschichte, Freiburg, 1988: 20
  8. ^ Acts 1:13-15
  9. ^ a b c Vidmar 2005, p. 19-20.
  10. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1999), p.130
  11. ^ Acts 11:26
  12. ^ Burkett 2002, p. 3.
  13. ^ a b c McGrath 2006, p. 174.
  14. ^ G. Bromiley, ed. (1982). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "God". Fully Revised. Two: E-J. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 497–499. ISBN 0-8028-3782-4.
  15. ^ White (2004), p.127
  16. ^ Ehrman (2005), p.187.
  17. ^ "LITURGY - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com.
  18. ^ Davidson, p.115
  19. ^ Galatians 2:9, Acts 1:13
  20. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 160.
  21. ^ Taylor 1993, p. 224.
  22. ^ Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, Panarion 29,7,7–8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see: Bourgel, Jonathan, "The Jewish Christians’ Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice", in: Dan Jaffe (ed), Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity, (Leyden: Brill, 2010), pp. 107–138 (https://www.academia.edu/4909339/THE_JEWISH_CHRISTIANS_MOVE_FROM_JERUSALEM_AS_A_PRAGMATIC_CHOICE); P. H. R. van Houwelingen, "Fleeing forward: The departure of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella," Westminster Theological Journal 65 (2003), 181–200.
  23. ^ a b c Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p.281
  24. ^ a b Bokenkotter, p. 18.
  25. ^ Franzen 29
  26. ^ "Greek Orthodoxy - From Apostolic Times to the Present Day". ellopos.net.
  27. ^ Duffy, p. 3.
  28. ^ a b Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), p. 18
  29. ^ "Paul, St" Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005.
  30. ^ Ehrman 2012, pp. 87–90.
  31. ^ Jaeger, Werner (1961). Early Christianity and Greek Paideia. Harvard University Press. pp. 6, 108–09. ISBN 9780674220522. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  32. ^ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
  33. ^ Ronald Y.K. Fung as cited in John Piper; Wayne Grudem (8 August 2006). Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. Crossway. p. 254. ISBN 978-1-4335-1918-5. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  34. ^ Despite its mention of bishops, there is no clear evidence in the New Testament that supports the concepts of dioceses and monepiscopacy, i.e. the rule that all the churches in a geographic area should be ruled by a single bishop. According to Ronald Y. K. Fung, scholars point to evidence that Christian communities such as Rome had many bishops, and that the concept of monepiscopacy was still emerging when Ignatius was urging his tri-partite structure on other churches.[33]
  35. ^ Burkett, Delbert (2002). An introduction to the New Testament and the origins of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00720-7.
  36. ^ Dunn, James D. G. (2013). The Oral Gospel Tradition. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-6782-7.
  37. ^ Horsley, Richard A., Whoever Hears You Hears Me: Prophets, Performance and Tradition in Q, Horsley, Richard A. and Draper, Jonathan A. (eds.), Trinity Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-56338-272-7, "Recent Studies of Oral-Derived Literature and Q", pp. 150–74
  38. ^ Dunn, James D. G., Jesus Remembered, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8028-3931-2, "Oral Tradition", pp. 192–210
  39. ^ Mournet, Terence C., Oral Tradition and Literary Dependency: Variability and Stability in the Synoptic Tradition and Q, Mohr Siebeck, 2005, ISBN 978-3-16-148454-4, "A Brief History of the Problem of Oral Tradition", pp. 54–99
  40. ^ Cullmann, Oscar (1949). The Earliest Christian Confessions. Translated by J. K. S. Reid. London: Lutterworth.
  41. ^ Neufeld, p.47
  42. ^ oremus Bible Browser, 1 Corinthians 15:3–15:41
  43. ^ O' Collins, p.112
  44. ^ Hunter, p.100
  45. ^ Pannenberg, p.90
  46. ^ Cullmann, p.66
  47. ^ Perkins, Pheme (1988). Reading the New Testament: An Introduction (originally published 1978). Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0809129393.
  48. ^ Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament vol 1, pp. 49, 81
  49. ^ Pannenberg, pp.118, 283, 367
  50. ^ Ehrman 2014, p. 125.
  51. ^ Loke 2017.
  52. ^ a b Ehrman 2014.
  53. ^ Talbert 2011, p. 3-6.
  54. ^ Ehrman 2014, p. 120; 122.
  55. ^ Netland 2001, p. 175.
  56. ^ Loke 2017, p. 3.
  57. ^ Mack 1995.
  58. ^ Ehrman 2003.
  59. ^ a b c Bart Ehrman, How Jesus became God, Course Guide
  60. ^ Loke 2017, p. 3-4.
  61. ^ Talbert 2011, p. 3.
  62. ^ Geza Vermez (2008), The Resurrection, p.138-139
  63. ^ Bird 2017, p. ix, xi.
  64. ^ a b Ehrman 2014, p. 132.
  65. ^ Ehrman 2014, p. 122.
  66. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 650.
  67. ^ Coveney, John (27 September 2006). Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasure and Anxiety of Eating. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 9781134184484. For the early Christians, the agape signified the importance of fellowship. It was a ritual to celebrate the joy of eating, pleasure and company.
  68. ^ Burns, Jim (10 July 2012). Uncommon Youth Parties. Gospel Light Publications. p. 37. ISBN 9780830762132. During the days of the Early Church, the believers would all gather together to share what was known as an agape feast, or "love feast." Those who could afford to bring food brought it to the feast and shared it with the other believers.
  69. ^ Walls, Jerry L.; Collins, Kenneth J. (17 October 2010). Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation. Baker Academic. p. 169. ISBN 9781493411740. So strong were the overtones of the Eucharist as a meal of fellowship that in its earliest practice it often took place in concert with the Agape feast. By the latter part of the first century, however, as Andrew McGowan points out, this conjoined communal banquet was separated into "a morning sacramental ritual [and a] prosaic communal supper."
  70. ^ Davies, Horton (29 January 1999). Bread of Life and Cup of Joy: Newer Ecumenical Perspectives on the Eucharist. Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 9781579102098. Agape (love feast), which ultimately became separate from the Eucharist...
  71. ^ Daughrity, Dyron (11 August 2016). Roots: Uncovering Why We Do What We Do in Church. ACU Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780891126010. Around AD 250 the lovefeast and Eucharist seem to separate, leaving the Eucharist to develop outside the context of a shared meal.
  72. ^ "agape", Dictionary of the Christian Church (article), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3
  73. ^ Luke 22:20
  74. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. Eucharist
  75. ^ Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine (1937).
  76. ^ A Catechism for the use of people called Methodists. Peterborough, England: Methodist Publishing House. 2000. p. 26. ISBN 978-1858521824.
  77. ^ Davidson, p.115
  78. ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church ed. F.L. Lucas (Oxford) entry on Paul
  79. ^ a b Mack 1997.
  80. ^ Mack 1997, p. 109.
  81. ^ Mack 1988, p. 98.
  82. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 156-157.
  83. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 168.
  84. ^ "Paul, St" Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005.
  85. ^ Stendahl 1963.
  86. ^ Dunn 1982, p. n.49.
  87. ^ Finlan 2001, p. 2.
  88. ^ Bokenkotter, p. 19.
  89. ^ "CIRCUMCISION - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com.
  90. ^ Hodges, Frederick, M. (2001). "The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme" (PDF). The Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 75 (Fall 2001): 375–405. doi:10.1353/bhm.2001.0119. PMID 11568485. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  91. ^ a b McGrath 2006, p. 174-175.
  92. ^ Mack 1997, p. 91-92.
  93. ^ Charry 1999, p. 35-36.
  94. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p.37
  95. ^ Keck (1988).
  96. ^ Pelikan (1975). p. 113.
  97. ^ Burkett 2002, p. 263.
  98. ^ Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, p. 112
  99. ^ A dictionary of Jewish-Christian relations, Dr. Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-82692-6, p.316
  100. ^ McDonald & Sanders, p.72
  101. ^ published by J. P. Audet in JTS 1950, v1, pp. 135–154, cited in The Council of Jamnia and the Old Testament Canon Archived February 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Robert C. Newman, 1983.
  102. ^ McDonald & Sanders p.310
  103. ^ Durant, Will. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972
  104. ^ Ephesians 5–6, Magnesians 2, 6–7, 13, Trallians 2–3, Smyrnaeans 8–9
  105. ^ As translated by Molly Whittaker, Jews and Christians: Graeco-Roman Views, (Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 105.
  106. ^ a b Dunn 1991.
  107. ^ Wylen (1995). p. 190.
  108. ^ Berard (2006). pp. 112–113.
  109. ^ Wright (1992). pp. 164–165.
  110. ^ Wylen (1995). pp. 190–192.
  111. ^ Dunn (1999). pp. 33–34.
  112. ^ Boatwright (2004). p. 426.
  113. ^ Wylen, pp.190-192.
  114. ^ Dunn, pp.33-34.
  115. ^ Dauphin (1993). pp. 235, 240–242.
  116. ^ Tabor (1998).
  117. ^ Esler (2004), pp.157-159.
  118. ^ Dauphin (1993), pp.235, 240-242.

Sources[edit]

Printed sources
  • Bird, Michael F. (2017), Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology, Wim. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  • Bokenkotter, Thomas (2004), A Concise History of the Catholic Church, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50584-1
  • Brown, Schuyler. The Origins of Christianity: A Historical Introduction to the New Testament. Oxford University Press (1993). ISBN 0-19-826207-8
  • Burkett, Delbert (2002), An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-00720-7
  • Cross, F. L., ed. "Jerusalem". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
  • Cullmann, Oscar, The Early Church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology, ed. A. J. B. Higgins, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966
  • Davidson, The Birth of the Church (2005)
  • W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism 2d ed., London, 1965
  • Dunn, James D.G. (1982), The New Perspective on Paul. Manson Memprial Lecture, 4 november 1982
  • Dunn, James (1991), The Partings of the Ways
  • Dunn, James D.G. (1999), Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, AD 70 to 135, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  • Dunn, James D.G., "The Canon Debate," McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002
  • Dunn, James D.G. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity. SCM Press (2006). ISBN 0334029988.ISBN 0-8028-4498-7.
  • Ehrman, Bart D. (2003), Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-972712-4
  • Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperCollins (2005). ISBN 0060738170
  • Ehrman, Bart (2014), How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, Harper Collins
  • Elwell, Walter; Comfort, Philip Wesley (2001), Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale House Publishers, ISBN 0-8423-7089-7
  • Finlan, Stephen (2004), The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors, Society of Biblical Literature
  • Grant, M., Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels New York: Scribner's, 1977
  • Gundry, R.H., Soma in Biblical Theology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976
  • Hunter, Archibald, Works and Words of Jesus (1973)
  • Hurtado, Larry (2005), Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, Eerdmans
  • Johnson, L.T., The Real Jesus, San Francisco, Harper San Francisco, 1996
  • Keck, Leander E. Paul and His Letters. Fortress Press (1988). ISBN 0800623401.
  • Kremer, Jakob, Die Osterevangelien — Geschichten um Geschichte, Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1977
  • Loke, Andrew Ter Ern (2017), The Origin of Divine Christology, 169, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-108-19142-5
  • Ludemann, Gerd, What Really Happened to Jesus? trans. J. Bowden, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995
  • Mack, Burton L. (1997) [1995], Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven. (Who Wrote the New Testament? The Making of the Christian Myth), Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes bv
  • Maier, P. L., "The Empty Tomb as History" in Christianity Today, March 1975
  • McGrath, Alister E. (2006), Christianity: An Introduction, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0899-1
  • Netland, Harold (2001), Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission, InterVarsity Press
  • Neufeld, The Earliest Christian Confessions, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964
  • O' Collins, Gerald, What are They Saying About the Resurrection?, New York: Paulist Press, 1978
  • Pannenberg, Wolfhart, Jesus–God and Man translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan. The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600). University of Chicago Press (1975). ISBN 0226653714
  • Stendahl, Krister (1963), "The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West" (PDF), The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 199-215
  • Smith, J. L., "Resurrection Faith Today", in TS 30 (1969)
  • Tabor, James D. "Ancient Judaism: Nazarenes and Ebionites", The Jewish Roman World of Jesus. Department of Religious Studies; University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1998)
  • Talbert, Charles H. (2011), The Development of Christology during the First Hundred Years: and Other Essays on Early Christian Christology. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 140., BRILL
  • Taylor, Joan E. (1993), Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198147856
  • Thiede, Carsten Peter. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity. Palgrabe Macmillan (2003). ISBN 1403961433.
  • Van Daalen, D. H., The Real Resurrection, London: Collins, 1972
  • Vidmar (2005), The Catholic Church Through the Ages
  • Volp, Ulrich. Idealisierung der Urkirche (ecclesia primitiva). European History Online (2011), retrieved: 1 March 2013.
  • Weiss, Johannes, Der erste Korintherbrief 9th ed., Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1910
  • White, L. Michael. From Jesus to Christianity. HarperCollins (2004). ISBN 0060526556.
  • Wilckens, Ulrich, Auferstehung, Stuttgart and Berlin: Kreuz Verlag, 1970
  • Wright, N.T., "The New Unimproved Jesus", in Christianity Today, 1993-09-13
  • Wylen, Stephen M., The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction, Paulist Press (1995), ISBN 0-8091-3610-4
Web-sources
  1. ^ a b c d Larry Hurtado (December 4, 2018 ), “When Christians were Jews”: Paula Fredriksen on “The First Generation”
  2. ^ Larry Hurtado, The Origin of “Divine Christology”?
  3. ^ a b c Ehrman, Bart D. (February 14, 2013). "Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul". The Bart Ehrman Blog. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  4. ^ [Bart Ehrman (6 feb 2013), The Earliest Christology
  5. ^ Stephen Westerholm (2015), The New Perspective on Paul in Review, Direction, Spring 2015 · Vol. 44 No. 1 · pp. 4–15
  6. ^ E.P. Sanders, Saint Paul, the Apostle, Encyclopedia Britannica]
  7. ^ Jordan Cooper, E.P. Sanders and the New Perspective on Paul

Further reading[edit]

Background
  • Malina, Bruce J.: The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology. 3rd edition, Westminster John Knox Press Louisville (Kentucky) 2001
Jesus
  • Bockmuehl, Markus N.A. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Jesus. Cambridge University Press (2001). ISBN 0-521-79678-4
Early Christianity
  • Dunn, James D.G. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity. SCM Press (2006).ISBN 0-334-02998-8
  • Mack, Burton L.: Who Wrote the New Testament?, Harper, 1996
  • Wright, N.T. The New Testament and the People of God. Fortress Press (1992). ISBN 0-8006-2681-8
Jewish Christianity
Paul
  • E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, SCM Press 1977
  • Dunn, James D.G. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to St. Paul. Cambridge University Press (2003). ISBN 0-521-78694-0

External links[edit]

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