Historical background of the New Testament

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Jesus in Christianity

Jesus in Islam

Background

Jesus in history

Perspectives on Jesus

Jesus in culture

According to the Gospels, Jesus lived in Judea and the Galilee (modern day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan) around the first half of the first century AD. Some people question the Historicity of Jesus, others do not. Some people, including critical Bible scholars and historians, however, claim that an account of Jesus' life must make sense in terms of his historical and cultural context, rather than Christian orthodoxy. The study of this context involves Jewish culture, tensions, trends, and changes under the influence of Hellenic and Roman occupation.

Geographical Background

The ancient land of Judea and Galilee (also, called the land of Canaan, Palestine, Judah & Israel, and currently partially containing the modern state of Israel) is situated on the easternmost coast of the Mediterranean, the westernmost part of the Fertile Crescent, also known as the central Levant.

The settlement of this area by various groups, including Canaanites and Phoenecians, and the origins of the ancient Israelites is a complex and much-debated topic, and counts amongst the History of ancient Israel and Judah. Despite this cosmopolitan setting, the events described in the New Testament are placed within a relatively small and circumscribed area, perhaps 100 miles north to south and 40 or 50 miles east to west.

The Levant lies on the border between the two great tectonic plates of Europe and africa, which are presently sliding past each other, forming minor mountain ranges. In the area of Palestine itself, a north-south mountain range dominates, leaving a small area of plains by the coast, and a desert inland. In the midst of the mountains lies the river Jordan, carving out a valley which historically formed a convenient border between nations. The Jordan runs, within its valley, from a large freshwater lake to the north, the Sea of Gallilee, into a lake, so laden with saltwater that people can float within it, to the south, the Dead Sea.

Cultural Background

Language

The Near East was cosmopolitan, especially during the Hellenistic period. Several languages were used, and the matter of the lingua franca is still subject of some debate. The Jews almost certainly spoke Aramaic, a semitic language from the east, among themselves. Greek was at least to some extent a trade language in the region, and indeed throughout the entire eastern portion of the Mediterranean. Hebrew was the language used to write out the scriptures, but had been superseeded by this time by Aramaic, due to Aramaic's position as the main trade language of the fertile crescent (a position enjoyed due to its use in prior empires)

Procurators like Pontius Pilate (a Roman from Rome) would most likely have spoken Latin in private, but would probably have used Greek to handle day to day business in the province, though it is also possible that he used Aramaic for this. Scholars debate whether everyday people or even the more learned, spoke any other languages than Aramaic, perhaps some rudimentary Greek or Latin, and (for Jews) Hebrew.

Bandits

Social historians have suggested that bandits are common in peasant socities; they are poor men who identify with other peasants, but who seek to aquire wealth and political power. When Herod was still military governor in the Galilee, he spent a good deal of time fighting bandits under the leadership of Ezekias. These bandits are best understood as a peasant group whose targets were local elites (both Hasmonean and Herodian) rather than with Rome. Ventidius Cumanus (procurator 48 to 52 CE) often retaliated against brigandry by punishing peasant communities he believed to be their base of support.

When a Galillean pilgram on way to Jerusalem was murdered by a Samaritan, the bandit chief Eliezar organized Galilleans for a counter-attack, and Cumanus moved against the Jews. The Syrian legate Quadratus intervened and sent several Jewish and Samaritan officials to Rome. The Emporer Claudius took the Jewish side, and had the Samaritan leaders executed and exiled, and turned one named Veler over to the Jews who beheaded him. Thus, widespread peasant unrest of this period was not exclusively directed against Rome but also expressed discontent against urban elites and other groups; Roman policy sought to contain the power of the bandits while cultivating Jewish support.

Hellenism

Ever since the rule by Hellenic empires, Jews had to grapple with the values of Hellenism, and Hellenistic philosophy, which were often directly at odds with their own values and traditions. Bath houses were built in Jerusalem, for instance, and the gymnasium became a centre of social, athletic, and intellectual life. Many Jews embraced these institutions, although Jews who did so were often looked down upon due to their circumcision, noticable in the nude gymnasia, which non-Jews viewed as an unaesthetic defacement of the body.

Many Jews lived in the Diaspora (i.e. outside the area), and the Judean provinces of Judea, Samaria, and the Galilee were populated by many non-Jews (who often showed a curiousity about Judaism). Under such conditions, Jews had to confront a paradox in their own tradition: their laws officially applied only to them, but revealed apparantly universal truths. This situation led to new interpretations, some of which were influenced by Hellenic thought and in response to Gentile interest in Judaism.

Religious observance

According to the Torah, Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices at the temple three times a year: Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot. Although many Jews attempted to do so, many could not due to the large distances involved. Consequently, Jews developed new institutions to supplement the Temple. Outside of Roman Palestine, Jews established proseuchai (house of prayer). Within Roman Palestine, Jews established synagogues (meeting houses). Synagogues served primarily as local civic-centers, but people in synagogues and proseuchai developed practices based on and that paralleled practices in the Temple. For example, people in the proseuchai imitated the Temple practice of reciting the "Shema" twice daily.

For the most part, although Jews were willing to pay tribute (although they complained when it was excessive), they absolutely refused to allow a religious image in their temple, even though some Emperors considered imposing one.

Political Background

In the first century AD, the area was a Roman Province, having a nominal degree of devolution of power. In the history of the area, secular power was frequently given to the head of the priesthood, a tradition starting with Ezra, appointed as such by the Persian Empire. Ruling as kings, or fighting wars resulting in their appointment to power, was intimately connected to Jewish religion which asserted that the Priesthood had the right to make law, tempering that of the occasional non-priest kings. By the time Jesus is claimed to have lived, the division of powers was enforced, the Romans controlling both govenor and priest. The primary tasks of the appointed rulers was to collect tribute, convince the Romans not to interfere, and ensure that the Jews not rebel.

Kings and Govenors

The early monarchy of the area, according to the Tanakh, was descended from a king named David, considered to have defeated the enemies of the nation, and made the kingdom strong. The dynasty he created was known as the House of David, and was seen, by the state religion, as being appointed by God to perpetual rule. However, it, along with the nation, was obliterated by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

Much later, under Judah Maccabee, the monarcy was restored, but suffered from civil war, eventually being replaced by foreign dominion. Just before the start of the first century AD, Herod the Great was king, but since he had foreign descent, and had usurped the authority of the Hasmonaeans (who were heroes), his rule was extremely unpopular. When Herod died, the antagonism his sons caused resulted in the Romans appointing procurators, who governed indirectly, and nominal kings such as Herod Antipas, who wielded little genuine power.

One of the most notorious procurators was Pontius Pilate. Pilate frequently tortured those he had arrested, often without trial, showing very little mercy, and often went to extreme lengths of depravity in his treatment of prisoners. He also ruthlessly crushed anything even remotely appearing to be potential for rebellion, such as a religious expedition up a hillside, whose leaders he had killed. Survivors made many complaints, the Samaritans appealing to the Syrian Legate, Vitellius, that they were unarmed, and Pilate's actions were excessively cruel. Once news of his behaviour had reached Rome, even the Romans were appalled, the Senate finally demanding he present himself in Rome to answer for it. Having been stripped of his authority, partly because of the unrest he had instigated, records of what happened to him cease.

Priests

The religion of the region, like much of ancient Near Eastern society, centred on temples, served by a caste of priests who made offerings to their god(s). The priests in power by 1AD claimed descent from a figure named Aaron, which they claimed made them part of the tribe of Levi. The general populous, due to the claims of Jewish religious texts, believed them to have been appointed by God to care for the Tabernacle.

When the Persians governed the area, they had appointed a governor and an high priest, but without the constraining power of a monarchy, the authority of the Temple, in the eyes of the people, was amplified, and priests became the dominant authority. In 57 BCE, the Roman Proconsul, Cabineus, established five regional synhedria (i.e. Sanhedrins, meaning councils), to regulate the internal affairs of the Jews. The Sanhedrinae was a legislative council of 71 elders chaired by the high priest, which interpreted Jewish law and adjudicated appeals, especially in ritual matters, but the specific composure and powers actually varied depending on Roman policy.

Although the office of high priest was theoretically life-long, the Romans regularly deposed the occupants in favour of new appointees. However, due to the manipulations of Annas (himself high priest from 7 to 14 CE), the temple remained in control of one family for most of the first century (until it was destroyed). Annas' son-in-law Caiaphas (high priest from 18-22 and 24-36) was followed by his sons Eleazar (23-24), Jonathas (37), Theophilos (38-42), Matthias (42-44), and Ananias (63). Since the high priest was meant to be life-long, many considered Annas the legitimate holder of the office, and, with regard to Jesus, the Gospel of John reports a separate trial before Annas, in addition to the Sanhedrin.

Religious Background

Sadducees

Main article:Sadducees

The Sadducees (meaning Zadok-ites) emerged from the official priesthood, and those who supported them, upholding the laws of the nation as it stood, and the institution of a religion centralised on one location, the temple (known as the Second Temple) in Jerusalem. As such, they dominated worship in the temple, and acts such as animal sacrifice. Saducees favoured a limited interpretation of the Torah, and did not believe the dead could be resurrected, instead preferring a more permanent Sheol. There is a record of only one high priest (Ananus, in 62 CE) being a Saducee, although scholars generally assume that the Sanhedrin was dominated by them.

Essenes

Main article:Essenes

The Essenes were also an early movement, who rejected the appointed high priests as illegitimate. Ultimately, they rejected the Jerusalem temple, arguing that their community itself was a temple of God, and that simply following religious law represented a form of sacrifice. Most knowledge of the beliefs of the Essenes derives from texts alleged to have been owned by them found at Qumran, and should this be true, they appear to have had esoteric interpretations of scripture.

They formed sets of small communities centred on a single teacher, older than 30, and held their goods in common to varying degrees, some keeping everything in common (partly similar to monasticism) and others only a tithe of their income. Some groups tried to keep as much as possible within their community, only going outside for what they could not produce, and this, together with their lack of concern for the temple, alienated them from the great mass of Jews.

Pharisees

Main article:Pharisees

The notion of the Essenes, that the sacred could exist outside the temple was shared by another group, the Pharisees (meaning separatists, either referring to rejection of Hellenic culture or of the Hasmonaeans), which had its origins in the relatively new group of authorities of scribes and sages. Pharisees dominated scriptural studies (i.e. of the Torah and Tanakh), and expounded on the meaning of texts, debating new applications of the law, devised ways for all Jews to incorporate non-temple purity practices into daily life, and supported Oral Law resulting from it. Pharisees also believed in the resurrection of the dead in a future age, when the House of David had restored the independant kingdom of Israel.

The Pharisees were politically quiescent, and studied, taught, and worshipped in their own way, and although popular and respected, they had no power. As the first century wore on, they split into two camps, those of Hillel the Elder (whose name means victor), who supported liberal interpretation, and those of Shammai (whose name means loser), supporting a rigid interpretation. Hillel's group eventually gained dominance, and one of his descendants, Gamaliel became famed for his wisdom, the first to be named Rabbi (teacher), to the extent that texts attributed to Paul of Tarsus (whom Christians refer to as St. Paul) state that he was proud to claim to have sat at Gamaliel's feet.

Prophets

Many societies had myths about gods, and laws which they believed were given by them. The Jewish nations by 1AD had sacred texts encoding such things, which they believed were written by prophets. Some prophets criticized the king, elites, or the masses and provided visions of a better life. According to the Tanakh, in the early history of the Jewish nations, the tradition was epitomized on one hand by prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, who primarily addressed issues of collective concern, and on the other by Elijah and Elisha, who healed people and performed other miracles, primarily addressing issues of personal individual concern. The credence given to prophets made them a potent political force.

During the first century a number of individuals claimed to be new prophets, in the individualist tradition of Elijah and Elisha. The Talmud records two examples of people claiming to work miracles around this time. The Mishnah, at Ta'anit 3:8, tells of Honi the Circledrawer who, in the middle of the first century BC, was famous for his ability to successfully pray for rain (his nickname derives from an occasion on which he was unsuccessful in his prayers, and so he confined himself to a circle in the dust which he had drawn, until his prayers were answered). Tha Mishnah, at Berakot 5:5, tells of Hanina ben Dosa, who in the middle of the first century AD cured Gamaliel's son by prayer, and later killed a villanous lizard merely by causing it to bite him.

Such men as Honi and Hanina were respected for their relationship with God but not considered especially saintly, and their abilities were seen as one more unknowable thing, and not deemed a result of any ultra-strict observance of Jewish law. These men were sometimes doubted, often respected, but never considered saviours in any way.

Messiahs and Millenialism

For many Christians, messiah refers to a personal saviour of all humankind, and sometimes also has an apocalyptic notion, as one who who will usher in the end of history by resurrecting the dead and by executing God's judgement over humankind. However, the english word messiah is derived from the Hebrew word mashiyakh (משיח), meaning anointed, which had other meanings. We cannot immediately assume that Jesus and his followers used the word the same way as Christians today.

In the Hebrew Bible, messiah was originally used to refer to High Priests and kings, who were elevated to office by being anointed with oil. The Essenes and the Mishnah, edited in 200 AD, used the term mainly to refer to the High Priest, but by the time of the Roman occupation, many Jews also used the term to refer to a descendent of King David who would restore God's kingdom. Thus, although all Jewish kings were annointed, not all kings were considered messianic.

The Hasmonean kings (162 BC - 56 BC) were not descended from David, and did not claim to have divine right. After the Roman occupation and the fall of the Hasmoneans, many Jews hoped that the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king. However, Jews were divided over how this might occur. Most Jews believed that their history was governed by God, meaning that even the conquest of Judea by the Romans was a divine act. Thus, the majority of Jews accepted Roman rule, and did not look for, or encourage, messiahs, believing that the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king only through divine intervention.

During this period a class of prophets emerged who hearkened back to Moses and Joshua as harbingers of national liberation, expressing a nationalist notion of messiah, as one who will defend the Jews against foreign oppressors, and rule the Jews justly by divine right. These men did not rely on physical force, but did lead large movements of people (from the hundreds to the thousands) to act in ways that, they believed, would lead God to restore an independant kingdom ruled by the House of David. For example, in 36 AD a Samaritan led a large group up Mount Gerizim, where they believed Moses had buried sacred vessels (echoing Moses' ascent up Mt. Sinai), but Pilate blocked their route and killed their leaders, an act which contributed to his downfall.

Another such prophet was Theudas, who, sometime between 44 AD and 46 AD led a large group of people to the Jordan, which he claimed he could part, but Fadus, the successor to Pilate, blocked their route and killed Theudas. After Theudas came the Egyptian (this is the only known appelation of him - it is unclear if the prophet came from Egypt, or was invoking Moses' Egyptian origin) led thirty thousand around the mount of Olives, and sought to enter Jerusalem, until stopped by Felix, the procurator who succeeded Fadus.

Armed Resistance

Main article:Zealots

Various groups also resisted the status quo by force of arms, in many cases without a specific long term plan, and in some cases more opposed to urbanist elitism. As the first century progressed, these groups became more noticable. A group known as Sicarii (meaning dagger-men) were urban terrorists who emerged in Jerusalem in the 50s AD, specifically stabbing to death Jews whom they believed to be supporters of the Romans. More organised resistance took the form of the Zealots, who between 67 and 68 imprisoned members of the Herodian family, killed the former high priests Ananus ben Artanus and Joshua ben Gamaliel, and put on trial the wealthiest citizens, in an attempt to purge away pro-Roman factions.

Historical Background

In the 1st century AD, when Jesus was supposed to have lived, most Jews were poor, politically marginalized peasants. Nevertheless, various elites and social movements, sometimes in competition for political power, argued over the status of the Temple, laws and values embodied in scripture, the restoration of a monarchy, Jewish sovereignty, and the Jewish kingdom. These institutions began in the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah, in the 11th to 6th centuries BC.

Babylon and Egypt

Historically a crossroads for intercontinental trade, the area was situated between the ancient empires of Egypt to the south west, Greece and later Rome to the northwest, and Assyria, Babylonia, the Akkadians, Sumerians, and later Persia to the east and north (the south east is desert, and the west is sea). As a consequence, the area formed the front line between each empire, and also a buffer, sometimes powers preferring to keep it nominally independant as a barrier to their enemies, and at other times preferring domination to vie for expansion. The geographical misfortune of the area made it an intrinsic powder-keg, causing misfortune for its attempts at self-rule.

First the area was laid waste by the Egyptians, followed by later Egyptian withdrawel, after suffering damage (like many nations at the time) from the mysterious Sea Peoples. Then the area tried to fend off the Assyrian empire's interest in it, eventually losing the northern half, and the southern remainder, Judah, becoming a vassal state. When the Babylonians took over the Assyrian empire, the Egyptians advanced, and the Judean king, Josiah, rode out to draw battle, at Meggiddo but lost, a battle so devastating its name lived on in Jewish eschatology as the location for the final battle of good and evil - Armaggeddon.

Flipping between Egyptian and Babylonian vassals, the last king decided to rebel, drawing wrath so great that the Babylonians obliterated Judah's existance, carrying off its treasures, imprisoning its nobles, and killing the royal heirs before the face of the rebellious king, who was then blinded so that it was the last he ever saw. A few decades later, Persia arose as a new power, winning Babylon in 539 BCE, and in accordance with their religious (zoroastrian), and governmental, principles, Cyrus the Great released (in 520 BCE) the Jewish people and helped them reconstruct their nation.

Hellenism and the Maccabees

The Hellenistic period of Jewish history began in 332 BCE when the Macedonian, Alexander the Great, conquered Persia. Upon his death in 323 BCE, his empire was divided among his generals. At first, Judea was ruled by the Egypto-Hellenic Ptolemies, but in 198 BCE,the Syrio-Hellenic Seleucid Empire, under Antiochus III, seized control. Although the Jews generally accepted foreign rule as vassals, they were divided on the issue of hellenisation of their culture, and on whether to support the Ptolemies or Seleucids.

Judea had been ruled by the priesthood ever since Ezra was given political and priestly control by Cyrus, and when the High Priest Simon II died in 175 BCE, conflict broke out between supporters of his son, Onias III, who was against hellenising and supported Ptolemaic control, and supporters of his other son, Jason, who favoured hellenising and the Seleucids. The struggle between these rival factions lead to a period of political intrigue; some priests such as Menelaus bribed the king to win the High Priesthood, and many competing contenders were accused of murder.

The result was (brief) civil war. Huge numbers flocked to Jason's pro-Seleucid side, and in 167 BCE the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, invaded, entering the temple, and stripping it of money and ceremonial objects. Jason fled, to Egypt, and the Seleucids imposed forced hellenisation, requiring Jews to abandon seperate law or custom. At this point, a priest of the Hasmon family named Mattathias, and his five sons (John, Eleazar, Simon, Jonathan, and Judah - known as Maccabee), also priests, living in the rural village of Modein, roused an army, and lead a bloody revolt against the Seleucids.

Judah (Maccabee) won Jerusalem in 165 BCE and restored the temple, but fighting continued, and Judah and Jonathan were killed. In 141 BCE, after independance had been won, an assembly of priests and others confirmed Simon as their high priest and leader, and when Simon was killed in 135 BCE, his son, John Hyrcanus, took his place, in effect establishing an Hasmonean dynasty.

Romans

A political rift gradually emerged as objection to Hasmonean dominance of the priesthood, and political appointments to it, grew, eventually becoming the group known as Pharisees. Matters came to a head when the Pharisees demanded that the Hasmonean, Alexander Jannai, choose between being king and being High Priest, causing another brief civil war, ending with a bloody repression of Pharisees. However, at his deathbed the king called for reconciliation, and was succeeded by his widow, whose brother was a leading Pharisee, and whose elder son (named Hyrcanus) favoured the Pharisees, though her younger son (named Aristobulus) did not.

The conflict between the sons culminated in yet another civil war, during which Hyrcanus appealed to the rising power of Rome for assistance. Rome saw political advantage in entering the region, and the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BC, ended monarchial rule but naming Hyrcanus high priest and ethnarch (a lesser title than king). After 6 years, political jurisdiction was transferred by the Romans to the Proconsul of Syria, who appointed Hyrcanus's Idumaean associate, Antipater the Idumaean, as govenor, later partitioning the area under his two sons Phasael (Judea) and Herod (Galilee).

In 40 BC Aristobulus's son Antigonus overthrew Hyrcanus and named himself king and high priest, and Herod fled to Rome, where he sought the support of Mark Anthony and Octavian, securing recognition by the Senate as king. Herod was an unpopular ruler, perceived as a foreigner and a Roman puppet. Actions such as notorious treatment of his own family, treatment that of the Hasmonaeans (who were regarded in some ways as heroes, due to their earlier freeing of the nation from foreign rule), and his plans to redesign and expand the temple, made him more disliked, and propaganda against him abounded.

Herod died in 4 BC, and various radical Jewish elements saw the opportunity to restore kings like the Hasmonaeans, and so arose in revolt: Judas in Gallilee, whose followers tore down the Roman Eagle that had adorned the temple; Simon in Perea, previously Herod's slave, who burned down the royal palace in Jericho; Athronges in Judea, a shepherd, who led a two-year rebellion. The Syrian legate Varus took command of Judea, Samaria, and the Galilee, and immediately put down the uprisings, killing thousands of Jews by crucifixion, and selling many into slavery. Rome quickly re-established governance and divided Herod's kingdom amongst his sons: the southern part (Judea and Samaria) was given to Archelaus, Herod Antipas was named tetrarch of the Galilee and southern Transjordan (Peraea), and Philip received the northern Transjordan (Batanaea).

Archelaus antagonized the Jews as his father had, and in 6 AD the emperor Augustus acceded to an appeal by placing Judea and Samaria under the indirect rule of a Roman procurator (or prefect), and the direct rule of a high priest appointed by Rome, instead. The first procurator was Coponius (6 - 9), but the most famed was the one from 26 to 36 AD, Pontius Pilate.

End of an Era

By 66 AD Jewish discontent with Rome had escalated. At first, the priests tried to suppress rebellion, even calling upon the Pharisees for help. After the Roman garrison failed to stop Hellenists from desecrating a synagogue in Caesarea, however, the high priest suspended payment of tribute, inaugurating the Great Jewish Revolt. During the Great Revolt, Flavius Josephus was sent to command the Galilee, raising an army primarily of local bandits, who subsequently pillaged nearby Greek and Roman cities, suggesting they had more interest in social rather than political gain. When Roman legions arrived from Syria, the bandit army melted away.

In 70 AD the Romans obliterated the temple. The destruction was a profoundly traumatic experience for many of the Jews, who were now confronted with difficult and far-reaching questions of how to achieve atonement without a temple, and how to explain the disasterous result. How people answered these questioned depended largely on their prior position.

Revolutionaries like the Zealots had been crushed, and had little subsequent credibility, the last committing suicide at Masada (in 73 AD) rather than give in. Similarly, the Sadducees, whose teachings were so closely connected to the temple cult, disappeared. Although always fairly detached from the general culture, and having little in the way of surviving records or documentary evidence, the Essenes are also believed to have vanished, perhaps because their teachings so diverged from the concerns of the times, the destruction having no consequence to them.

This left the Pharisees, emergent Christianity, and Mandaeanism (a group which included followers of John the Baptist), as the surviving groups. Judaism is a corporeal religion, in which membership is based not on belief but rather descent from Abraham, physically marked by circumcision. But a resurrected, or gnostic, figure offers the possibility of a spiritual rather than just a corporeal messiah, allowing an extension of Judaism's principles outside the limit of Jewish territory.

Following the destruction of the temple, Rome governed Judea through a Procurator at Caesarea and a Jewish Patriarch. Yohanan ben Zakkai, formerly a leading Pharisee, was appointed the first Patriarch (the Hebrew word, Nasi, also means prince, or president), and he reestablished the Sanhedrin at Javneh under Pharisee control. Instead of giving tithes to the priests and sacrificing offerings at the Temple, the rabbis instructed Jews to give money to charities and study in local Synagogues.

A second revolt, against Emporer Hadrian's threat to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city dedicated to Jupiter, in 132 CE, led by Simon bar Kozeba again failed. Because of perceived support from the Sanhedrin, according to a midrash, the Romans tortured and executed ten leading members of the Sanhedrin. After the suppression of the revolt the vast majority of Jews were sent into exile; shortly thereafter (around 200 CE), Judah haNasi edited together judgements and traditions into an authoritative code, the Mishna.

Too close an association with Judaism was perhaps risky, fearing Roman vengeance, and so an emphasis on the differences occurred, encouraging non-Jews to take part in the beliefs. This distancing was a long and gradual process, and some Christians were still part of the Jewish community even up until the time of the Bar Kochba revolt in the 130s. As late as the 300s, John Chrysostom strongly discouraged Christians from attending Jewish festivals in Antioch, which suggests at least some ongoing contact between the two groups in that city.

The Pharisees had been partisan, but after the destruction of the temple, these sectarian divisions ended. The term Pharisee was no longer was appropriate, and the Rabbis claimed leadership over all Jews, addeding to the Amidah the birkat haMinim, a prayer against sectarianism. This shift by no means resolved conflicts over the interpretation of the Torah, just transferring them to later forms of Judaism.

The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism

Of all the major Second Temple sects, only the Pharisees remained (but see Karaite Judaism). Although they had accepted the importance of the Temple, their vision of Jewish law as a means by which ordinary people could engage with the sacred in their daily lives, provided them with a position from which to respond to all four challenges, in a way meaningful to the vast majority of Jews.

Reference Sources

General background reference sources

Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 93AD

Jesus as a Jew

Boyarin, Daniel A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity 1997 ISBN 0-520-21214-2
Cohen, Shaye J.D. 1988 From the Maccabees to the Mishnah ISBN 0-664-25017-3
Cohen, Shaye J.D. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties 2001 ISBN 0-520-22693-3
Crossan, John Dominic 1991 The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, ISBN 0060616296
Ehrman, Bart The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, ISBN 0195154622
Fredriksen, Paula Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity ISBN 0679767460
Fredriksen, Paula 1988 From Jesus to Christ ISBN 0-300-04864-5
Meier, John A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus: The Roots of the Problem and the Person. Vol I 1991 ISBN 0-385-26425-9
Meier, John Mentor, Message, and Miracles. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus Vol. II 1994 ISBN 0-385-46992-6
Meier, John Companions and Competitors. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus Vol. III ISBN 2001 0-385-46993-4
Neusner, Jacob Torah From our Sages: Pirke Avot ISBN 0-940-64605-6
Pagels, Elaine The Gnostic Gospels 1989 ISBN 0-679-72453-2
Sanders, E.P. The historical figure of Jesus, Penguin, 1996, ISBN 0140144994
Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press, 1987, ISBN 0800620615
Schwartz, Leo, ed. Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People ISBN 0-394-60413-X
Vermes, Geza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels ISBN 0800614437
Vermes, Geza, The Religion of Jesus the Jew ISBN 0800627970
Vermes, Geza, Jesus in his Jewish context ISBN 0800636236

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