Lecture from the first day of New Testament 1.

1. Jewish and Roman
Backgrounds
Of Early Christianity

2. Two ways to look at it:
• Chronologically
• Thematically

3. Major Periods in 2nd
Temple Judaism
• Exilic (587-539ish)
• Persian Period (539-334/3)
• Hellenistic Period (334/3-depends on how
you think about it)
• Maccabean (164-63)
• Roman (63 BCE and onward)

4. Exilic Period
•587-539 BCE
•Babylon destroys Jerusalem in
587 BCE
•Exiles taken to Babylon
•Characterized by defeat,
destruction, exile
Destruction of Jerusalem, Nuremberg Chronicles, 1493

5. Persian Period
•539-334/3 BCE
•Cyrus and the Persians defeat Babylon
in 539 BCE
•Cyrus issues edict allowing the return
of exiles and rebuilding of the temple
•Waves of exiles return in the 530s,
520s, mid-400s, and clash with those left
behind
•Temple rededicated in 516
•Characterized by return, warm Cyrus Cylinder, 6th century BCE
relations with Persia, conflicts between
returnees and those who had stayed

6. Hellenistic
Period
•334/3-164 BCE
•Alexander the Great conquers pretty
much everything, 334/3
•Alexander’s reign doesn’t last long, but
Greek influence does
•Egyptian Ptolemies rule for a century
or so
•Seleucids for a few decades
•Characterized by dramatic cultural Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus. Pompeii.
changes and hybridizations (and
conflicts), linguistic change, and
ultimately revolt

7. Maccabean
Period
•164-63 BCE
•Begins with a revolt led by Mattathias
and Judah the Maccabeee
•Eventually expands into a large
kingdom
•Was the last independent Jewish state
until 1948 CE
•Characterized by nationalism, alliance-
making, and a simultaneous re-assertion
of religious purity and ongoing cultural Judas Maccabeus, from a coin.

8. Roman Period
•63BCE-6th/7th centuries CE
•Rome conquered Jerusalem in
63
•Rome ruled by proxy kings,
most notably the Herods,
including Herod the Great and
Herod Agrippa
•Characterized by rebellion, Paper cache, Bar Kokhba
foment, religious and messianic
fervor, and ultimately
destruction

9. Religion
•Temple worship
•Regional temples and shrines
•Popular religion
•Synagogues
•Personal piety (prayer, etc)
•Law observance
•Priest-mediated and not
•Individual and communal
•Turn-of-the-millennium trends:
increase in belief in semi-divine beings
like Satan, increased messianic fervor, Elephantine Island, Egypt, site of a Jewish temple
increase in apocalyptic fervor,
decentralization of religion

10. Texts and
Canon
•Texts became increasingly important
after the exile
•By the time of Jesus, one could speak
of “the law and the prophets”
•By the late first century CE, a “canon”
of Jewish scriptures had formed,
comprised by the Torah (law), Nevi’im
(prophets), and Kethuvim (writings),
often expressed in an acronym as TNK
or Tanahk
Page from the Aleppo Codex, an example of the Masoretic Text

11. Sects
•There seemed to be three main
options: Sadducees, Pharisees, and
Essenes
•Josephus also describes a “fourth
philosophy,” possibly an anti-Roman
group
•Sicarii and Zealots also get lumped
together with the Fourth Philosophy,
although they seem to have been
distinct groups
•Judaism was just as diverse as any
other religion
Flavius Josephus, bust

12. Accommodation
and Rebellion
•Cohen notes that the Jews
were usually content to honor
foreign authority, within limits
•Beginning with the Maccabees
and particularly with Roman
rule, Judea became known as a
hotbed of rebellion
•Jewish War, 66-70; Bar Kokhba
Revolt, 132-135

13. The Greco-
Roman Religious
Context
•Overwhelmingly polytheistic,
pluralistic, accommodating, and vigorous
•Comprised of traditional pantheons,
imported “eastern” religions, official
mythologies, and various philosophies
•Judaism was already an ancient, well- Mithraic bull-slaying scene, modern
known, and mostly well-regarded part
of the Greco-Roman religious world

14. Paul’s Context