REL 2029 Chapter : The Origins Of Christianity
Document Summary
Introduction: in the beginning . : christian focus on jesus, placing him in context of judaism, knowledge of early christianity and jesus based on documents/traditions of early christianity. Many documents existed; many lost in history, many not accepted into christianity. Cultural contexts: roman roman culture = formative context for development of christianity. Dominated through military might and cultural paternalism, phrased as civility. also set primary religious context: polytheistic - jupiter, judo, minerva, mars. Extremes: gods are entities in selves, gods = metaphors for other thing. Roman practices = tolerance of other gods of conquered peoples. Philosophy and religion both with nature of reality, putting world into context. Both give rise to new schools of thought, actions, etc. Hellenistic and roman philosophy, dominated by socrates, plato, etc. By rise of early christian movement, these names come and gone, but new philosophers still debate about those ideas.
