Blog Post 49: LO-2 Christianity in the Era of the Roman Peace

We took a test in class today , it was pretty surprising. But after the test we were assigned to take notes on the topic/section above:

#VOCAB:

• Apostles: Jesus's followers and messengers of his teachings 
• Clergy: Church,ministers,bishops,priests & deacons - who guide the laity 
• Laity: Those members of the church who are not clergy 

• First 200 yrs. - Christianity acquired many lasting features of it's belief and practices
• Jesus 
• A.D. - Destruction of the Temple ; during the period of Jewish conflict  
• Scholars debate how much of the gospels "Good news" reflect Jesus actual words and deeds
• The Teacher 
• Like the Pharisees; Jesus.........
•  obeyed the Law 
• Visited the Temple 
• Called for acceptance of Roman rule , while standing apart from the Temple priest 
• He appealed to a long-standing Jewish tradition 
• However Jesus took this tradition farther than ever before 
• He taught that most faithful righteousness according to the Law fell far short of what was necessary to please God 
• Paul 
• 30 yrs. after Jesus's death, his apostles worked hard to proclaim his "good news" 
• This success brought Jesus's believers face to face with serious questions 
• Gentiles and the Law 
• During his travels; by letter , Paul kept in touch with distant groups of believers 
• Letters written between; 50 & 60 A.D. in Greek 
• The international language of Jews and Gentiles 
• The Life of Early Believers 
• Paul called them by a Greek name used by the Jewish congregations outside Judaea - ekklesia which means " assembly " translated as "church " 
• Earliest churches, there was no formal structure of authority and power 
• The Break with Judaism 
• During Paul lifetime he reproached his fellow Jews for distrusting his vision of Jews and Gentiles "all one in Christ Jesus" 
• 60 A.D. - Jesus died probably beheaded on Rome as a Jewish troublemaker tje vision faded 
• 70 A.D. - The Temple's destruction; most believers in Jesus took as Gods abandonment of the Jews for rejecting the Messiah 
• The Church
• Yrs. passed and Christ didn't return 
• his believers didn't lose their faith that he would one day come , for there was more time to spread the good news  
• Clergy and Laity 
• Early in the 2nd century :
• Churches began to choose bishops as permanent chiefs; priests who assisted the bishops in teaching and worship; and deacons 
• This organization developed from the churches were growing larger  
• Now that the churches had formal rulers , women lost some for the share in leadership 
• They still worked as deacons taking care of the poor / sick 
• The wealthy women wielded weighty influence as owners of houses where Christian gatherings were held for until the 4th century 
• women as well as men were revered if they fell victim to persecution or lived lives Christian self - denial 
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