Voices of Christianity: A Global Introduction

By Rebecca Moore

Voice from the Desert is Gaillot's visionary letter to his new flock, the church in Partenia. It is, in effect, a pastoral letter to all Catholics. In vibrant, clear, and poetic prose, Bishop Gaillot expresses his dreams for a Catholic Church that exists to serve the people of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Aug 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780824599447

Book preview

The Crossroad Publishing Company www.CrossroadPublishing.com

© 2018 by Rebecca Moore

Crossroad, Herder & Herder, and the crossed C logo/colophon are registered trademarks of The Crossroad Publishing Company.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, scanned, reproduced in any way, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company. For permission please write to [e-mail]

In continuation of our 200-year tradition of independent publishing, The Crossroad Publishing Company proudly offers a variety of books with strong, original voices and diverse perspectives. The viewpoints expressed in our books are not necessarily those of The Crossroad Publishing Company, any of its imprints or of its employees, executives, owners. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. No claims are made or responsibility assumed for any health or other benefits.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-0-8245-9943-0

Books published by The Crossroad Publishing Company may be purchased at special quantity discount rates for classes and institutional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

CONTENTS

Preface To Second Edition

Invitation

Acknowledgments

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE. THE JEWISH ROOTS OF JESUS, PAUL, AND CHRISTIANITY

TIMELINE: 587 B.C.E.–95 C.E.

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Genesis 1–3 and 9:1–17

1 Thessalonians

The Gospel of Mark

Mark 1:1-20 (Willis Barnstone translation)

Literary Sources for Understanding Jesus • Jewish Traditions • Thinking about Scripture • The Apocalypse • Jewish Concepts in Christian Theology • Varieties of First-Century Jewish Traditions • Jews or Judeans? • Paul the Convert • Gospel Formation • The Historical Jesus • The Gospel of Mark • Conclusions

MAP: The Roman Empire under Caesar Augustus

MAP: Paul’s Missionary Journeys

CHART: Stages in Gospel Formation

CHAPTER TWO. THE EARLY CHURCH: DIVERSITY, DIVISION, AND DOMINION

TIMELINE: 4 B.C.E.–476 C.E.

PRIMARY SOURCES:

The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity

The Gospel of Thomas, and Parallels with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke

The Nicene Creeds of 325 and 381 C.E.

Athanasius: On the Incarnation, Chapter 3

Augustine: City of God, Chapters from Book 14

Church of the Martyrs • The Mystery Religions • Spiritual Athletes • Varieties of Early Christianity: Practices • Varieties of Early Christianity: Beliefs • The Development of Creeds • The Influence of Hellenism • On the Incarnation • The Church of Empire • Conclusions

MAP: Growth of Christianity to the early Fourth Century

MAP: The Roman Empire in the Fourth Century

PART TWO

CHAPTER THREE. THE MIDDLE AGES: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

TIMELINE: 410–1453

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love, The Fourteenth Revelation

Haimo of Auxerre: Commentary on the Book of Jonah, Prologue and Chapter 1

Thomas Aquinas: The Existence of God, from Summa Theologiae

Saint Francis: Canticle of the Sun

John of Damascus: Third Apology Against Those Who Attack the Divine Images

John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 27—Stillness

William of Ockham: Eight Questions on the Power of the Pope, Question III

Monasticism • The Celtic Renaissance • Mystical Theology • Popular Theology • Hildegard of Bingen • Monastic Theology • The Carolingian Renaissance • Scholastic Theology • Mendicant Theology • Eastern Theology • The Theology of Icons • Missions and Authority in the Eastern Empire • The Theology of Stillness • The Theology of Deification • Political Theology • The Medieval Papacy • Conclusions

MAP: Europe and the Byzantine Empire c. 500 C.E.

MAP: A rural community in Medieval Europe

MAP: The Empire of the Franks under Charlemagne ca. 800 C.E.

MAP: European universities founded by 1350 C.E.

MAP: The Expansion of Islam

MAP: Medieval pilgrim routes

CHAPTER FOUR. THE REFORMATION: A CLARIFICATION OF DOCTRINES

TIMELINE: 1455–1689

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Martin Luther: Preface to the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans

Council of Trent: Decree Concerning Justification

John Calvin: Through the Fall and Revolt of Adam, the Whole Human Race Made Accursed and Degenerate. Of Original Sin

Council of Trent: Decree Concerning Original Sin

Thomas Cranmer: The Order for the Administration of the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion (1522)

Council of Trent: Canons on the Sacraments in General

Council of Trent: Canons on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist

Ulrich Stadler: Cherished Instructions on Sin, Excommunication, and the Community of Goods

Teresa of Avila: The Way of Perfection, Chapter 17

Reformation or Reformations? • Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformation • Justification and the Council of Trent • John Calvin and Reformed Theology • Original Sin and the Council of Trent • The Anglican Reformation • Scorecard for the Anglican Reformation • Sacraments and the Council of Trent • The Radical Reformation • The Catholic Reformation • The Wars of Religion • Conclusions

MAP: Distribution of religious groups in Europe, c. 1600

CHAPTER FIVE. RATIONALISM AND THE QUEST FOR AUTHORITY

TIMELINE: 1624–1902

PRIMARY SOURCES:

William Ellery Channing: Christianity a Rational Religion

David Friedrich Strauss: Hermann Samuel Reimarus and his Apology

Margaret Fell: Women’s Speaking Justified: A Further Addition

George Fox: George Fox’s Journal (1649)

Friedrich Schleiermacher: Second Speech: On the Essence of Religion

The Way of a Pilgrim, Chapter 1

Alfred Loisy: The Gospel and the Church, Introduction

The Enlightenment • The Authority of Reason • A Reasonable God • The Authority of Scripture • Women and the Bible • The Authority of Experience • Pietism: The Experience of the Holy Spirit • Romanticism: The Authority of Feeling • Mysticism: The Truth of Experience • The Philokalia • The Authority of Tradition • Episcopal Infallibility • Conclusions

PART THREE

CHAPTER SIX. MISSIONS AND INCULTURATION: SINGING THE LORD’S SONG IN A NEW KEY

TIMELINE: 1492–1911

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Bartolomé de las Casas: On the Kingdom of the Yucatan

Virgilio Elizondo: Our Lady of Guadalupe as a Cultural Symbol

Steve Charleston: The Old Testament of Native America

Toyohiko Kagawa: Japan Needs Christ

James Baldwin: Go Tell It On The Mountain

Amanda Berry Smith: An Autobiography, Chapter XXV

Mercy Amba Oduyoye: The African Experience of God through the Eyes of an Akan Woman

Christian Missions • Christian Holidays? • Christianity in the New World • The Virgin of Guadalupe • Christianity in North America • Marian Apparitions • Old World Missions • South Asian Christianity and the Acts of Thomas • Slave Christianity and its Legacy • African American Spirituals • Africa for Christ • Christian Fiction • Modern African Christianity • Conclusions

MAP: The age of exploration

MAP: Christian missionary activity in the nineteenth century

CHAPTER SEVEN. VOICES FOR THE FUTURE

TIMELINE: 1906–2011

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Mother Maria Skobtsova: Insight in Wartime

Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate)

Guidelines on Religious Relations with the Jews

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: The Ecumenical Patriarchate and Interfaith Dialogue

Message of the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches (1948), Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Message from the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches (1954), Evanston, Illinois

Pope John Paul II: Ut Unum Sint: On Commitment to Ecumenism

David Yonggi Cho: Home Cell Groups: A Key to Evangelism

Fernando Bermúdez: Persecution and Martyrdom: Testimonials

Gustavo Gutiérrez: Liberation and Salvation

Martin Luther King Jr.: Loving Your Enemies

Elizabeth Johnson: Introduction: To Speak Rightly of God

Leonardo Boff: Voices of the Prophets

Diana Butler Bass: Revelation

Liberalism, Fundamentalism, and Neo-orthodoxy • Millennialist Christianity • Christian Existentialism • Shaking the Foundations • A World Come of Age • Christianity and Non-Christian Religions • Vatican Council II • The Ecumenical Movement • Pentecostal Christianity • Liberation Theology in Latin America • Liberation Theology in North America • Feminist Theology • Liberating the Planet • The Emerging Church • Conclusions

MAP: Distribution of the World Religions, 2017

Credits

Biblical Index

Subject Index

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

I am extremely pleased that Herder and Herder has chosen to publish a second edition of Voices of Christianity: A Global Introduction. This work reflects my years of teaching undergraduate courses in Christianity and manifests my commitment to teaching students how to read.

The present generation of students is used to scanning texts on a screen; they may rarely be asked to read long and involved discourses from the past. The task of learning to comprehend demanding readings, however, is a skill that is readily transferable to other endeavors. We all require practice in the self-discipline of staying with something until we understand it, whether it is solving a math problem or comprehending Martin Luther.

As instructors, we ought to provide the tools students need to engage successfully with difficult readings. That is what this book attempts to do by presenting the historical context of theological debates, introducing the key players, furnishing extended background and questions to each reading, and then providing the relevant selection.

The secondary narratives and the primary sources work as a complete unit. The readings function as supplements to and examples of particular modes of thinking and theologizing described in the preambles. Instructors might select other examples, choose to skip a reading, or assign only a part of the reading. The chapters introduce essential material that will work with a number of alternative readings. Moreover, the free audio resources online—from readings of Augustine’s City of God through LibriVox to Martin Luther King Jr.’s actual voice on YouTube—will also kindle students’ interest in the subject matter.

It is important to remember that scholarly research has shown that, despite their affinity for social media and their familiarity with digital formats, students prefer to read books in hard copy for educational purposes. A Pew study of reading habits of all Americans showed that print books outpaced e-books and audio books by an almost three-to-one margin in 2016. And Naomi Baron reported in Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital Age (2015) that ninety-two percent of the students she surveyed preferred print copy to any other format. Digital media is too distracting, they observed, and causes problems such as eye strain, headaches, and physical discomfort.

That is why Voices of Christianity is designed to be both textbook and anthology in a single volume. All of the information is in one place, where students can scribble in the margins and highlight what they read. They can engage with the text physically as well as intellectually. This engagement is a crucial element for mastering the skill of reading.

This new edition incorporates comments and suggestions from students and colleagues to make the book more user-friendly. I have shortened some readings and eliminated others; I have used alternative translations and even alternative texts. My hope is that these changes will further the goal of helping students to hear the voices of Christianity.

INVITATION

Dear Reader,

I decided to write this introduction as a letter because it really serves as an invitation: an invitation to read. While an introduction sets the stage and helps create an expectation within the reader, it is also more formal and sometimes more alienating than a letter. A letter is more intimate, more informal, and, I hope, more inviting. And that is exactly what I would like to do in this letter: invite you to learn about Christianity by reading an assortment of Christian texts.

This anthology has two purposes. First and foremost, it tells the story of Christian history through primary documents. Primary sources are the original words and writings of historical figures. They may be public records, letters, diaries, journals, or other kinds of writing. In the case of Christianity and the readings in this book, some of these primary documents may be sermons, commentaries, arguments, poems, liturgies, hymns, analyses, or other types of writing—for instance, letters. Thus, the book provides an overview of 2,000 years of Christian history from a variety of perspectives and in many different ways. By the time we get to the end, we will have a good sense of how Christianity developed, what the key beliefs and practices of Christians are, and why there is so much diversity in the world’s single-largest religion.

The second purpose of this book is to provide the tools needed to read primary sources. I hear many students complain that they do not understand what they read. Sometimes teachers fail to give sufficient guidance to students for helping them through challenging texts. I am convinced, however, that with enough preparation, students can read and comprehend a wide variety of primary source materials. This book is designed to demystify the reading process and to help us approach any reading assignment, not just the ones in this anthology.

Reading involves not simply mastering the words, but somehow making sense of the words and then getting the meaning of the words all put together. This getting it is not something innate or inborn; it is something that is learned. Some are fortunate to learn it early; others never learn it. Good readers have consciously or unconsciously mastered a number of techniques that help them persevere when the going gets rough. This book supplies a method for reading, analyzing, and comprehending a number of different styles of writing. While we learn about Christianity, we will also be learning how to approach texts that are radically different from what is written today.

For example, I will discuss genres, a fine French word meaning category or class. A genre is simply a grouping of things into common types. Music genres include jazz, rock, heavy metal, rap, the blues, and country. Fiction genres encompass science fiction, for example, as well as mysteries, romances, Westerns, children’s literature, and much more. Each genre has its own rules: romance novels follow a certain formula that differs from the formula for Westerns. Similarly, the rules for writing sermons are different from those governing letters, or poems, or Bible commentaries. If we know what the genre is, we know what to expect. This knowledge helps with comprehension because we are already bringing some understanding to the text we are reading.

It also helps to know who wrote something, and why, and when. Our social and cultural contexts definitely affect how we understand things. Someone who is in a bitter child custody case, for example, will see the nature of marriage differently from someone who is happily married. The writers represented in this book are no different. They are engaged in conversations with other Christians and with society at large. If we know the historical or theological setting, we have a better chance of following the conversation. This book therefore discusses the contexts of the readings to help create a preunderstanding of what the writer feels is at stake.

And yes, a great deal is at stake for the writers of the texts included here. They are writing about important issues—in some instances, issues with life-and-death consequences, or even what they perceived to be eternal-life-and-eternal-death consequences. Christians have rarely played supporting roles on the stage of world history. Rather, they have been deeply engaged in debates, arguments, and apologetics—that is, persuasion. A great deal was at stake for these writers, and if we know this, we can begin to appreciate what they are trying to say.

Reading requires imagination. Although it may seem that the words on the page are merely black-and-white symbols, this is far from the case. The words on the page are windows onto the heart and mind and soul of the writer. When we remember that flesh and blood wrote these squiggly lines—and that the writers believed they had a compelling reason to do so—we begin to understand reading for what it really is: a dialogue between the writer and the reader.

When I began this letter, I thought perhaps I should start with Dear Readers—the plural. Although reading seems to be a solitary pursuit, it is far from it. In the olden days, when books and literacy were rare, books were read aloud. The word lecture comes from the Latin root legere, which means to choose or select, but it also means to read. Texts were read out loud, and usually read to more than one person. The letters of Paul, for example, were written to churches in the Mediterranean and were intended to be read to the entire group. Indeed, Paul concluded his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:27) with this directive: I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. In the New Testament letter to the Colossians, similar evidence of this kind of reading appears: And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea (4:16). In the convents and monasteries of the Middle Ages, the nuns and monks ate their meals while listening to someone reading from scripture or from theological works. Throughout the day, they would interrupt their tasks, go to chapel, and read or recite the psalms. Today we tend to understand what we have read much better when we have had a chance to discuss the reading with others. Is this what he really means? I thought she was saying something else. In many respects, then, reading is a collective process, a method of dialogue and engagement that is never solitary.

At the same time, there is a privacy to reading that is undeniable. The dialogue that occurs between writer and reader takes place, initially at least, in one’s own mind. There is an I-Thou relationship, in the words of Martin Buber, a you ’n’ me connection that excludes the rest of the world. The writer is first speaking to me, and I am the one to process those words through my own experiences, abilities, and insights. Once I digest the words, I make them my own: I comprehend—that is, I grasp—what is being said; I get it. And then I check it out with others to see if I got it right, or if my own opinions distorted what I thought I saw.

Of course, with religious texts there is yet another dimension: the realm of the transcendent and the divine, the province of God. This adds a challenge to readers because we must continuously make judgments about whether the writer is expressing her own opinion or is channeling in some way for the divine. This is an especially difficult question when reading scripture. Yet whether we believe the text presents merely human reflections or divinely inspired revelations, we can still ask the same questions: What is being said? How is it being said? What argument is being made? What evidence is given in support of the argument? What persons make up the opposition, and what is their argument? In other words, we can read religious texts with the same critical mind that we bring to other texts. While the subject matter differs, our method can usually (though not always) remain the same. We ask questions of the text just as we would ask questions of the person sitting next to us, because it was a person—whether divine or human is beyond our knowledge—who wrote the text.

In a compilation like this—specifically, one that contains selections rather than entire works—there is a further complication. We are always entering in the middle of the conversation. We’re not sure what was said before we came in, and we don’t know how the conversation will continue once we leave. The best approach to reading these selections is one we might take when we go into a room where the party has already started. Rather than barging in, we usually get the lay of the land: check out what’s going on, who’s doing the talking, and where the food is. And when we join a group, we usually listen to see what the subject matter is before we jump in with our own comments.

Listening to the author is one way to manage difficult texts. Sometimes, however, our thoughts interfere with our ability to understand. We might be preoccupied with how exhausted we are, or how bored we are, or how hungry we are. Or our thoughts might be a bit more critical: Who does this guy think he is? He’s wrong, wrong, wrong! Who ever heard of something so [pick one: weird, strange, bizarre, ridiculous, blasphemous]?!? These latter thoughts are certainly preferable to the former because they indicate an engagement with the text. But if we can manage the self-discipline (having gotten enough food and sleep before reading), it is even better to try to listen to the author to understand what is being said.

And so, this invitation to you, my singular reader. The thesaurus provides a number of synonyms for the word invite: tempt, encourage, incite, attract, provoke, induce. These are all colorful verbs that describe exactly what I hope to do in this book. I want to tempt you to pick it up, open it up, and read. I also hope to encourage you to persevere despite occasional difficulties. I plan to do more than merely encourage you or be a cheerleader on the sidelines. By presenting historical background, contextual information, genre discussions, and questions for reflection, I would like to induce you to approach these texts knowing that you are well prepared to understand and appreciate what you are reading. The writers in this book can be provocative. They may even incite admiration or ire. All of them, however, write from a profound commitment to Christianity. Even when we may disagree with what they are saying, we can respect the depth of their belief and attempt to understand why they believe what they do.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was sitting in a garden, agonizing over the course of his life, when he heard children playing a game. They were chanting "tolle lege; tolle lege, which means take up and read." Augustine picked up a Bible and read a verse, and it changed his life. I invite you to pick up this book and read it to catch a few glimpses of the incredibly rich treasury of texts that make up the Christian tradition.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Moore

A POSTSCRIPT TO TEACHERS

The difficulty inherent in developing a collection of readings is the selection process: Which writers should be included? This anthology takes a different approach. Its purpose is to introduce readers to the vast history and diversity of Christianity, particularly its theology, rather than provide samplings of various figures and key leaders. Most compilations attempt to provide a buffet menu of readings, with little tastes of everything. This collection differs greatly from the buffet model. If we stick with the food analogy, perhaps we can consider each chapter a full-course dinner comprising specific types of cuisine. When we are finished with each meal, we will have a pretty good idea of what we just ate and digested. But this means reading longer selections instead of just snacking.

I did not invent this approach to reading Christianity. I learned the value of struggling through complete primary sources at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have had the good fortune to be raised a Protestant (in the home of a United Methodist minister and his wife), to attend a Catholic graduate school (and Jesuit at that!), and to work for two years with a mentor who is an Orthodox monk. My small-c catholic background created a lasting appreciation for the variety of beliefs and practices that exist within Christianity. That richness can only be grasped by engaging with texts and their writers at some length.

This explains why some writers are missing and others are included in their place. My goal is not to cover the Top Fifty Writers of Christianity. Rather, it is to help readers understand and appreciate the concerns and passions of various Christians throughout history. Those concerns led to the development of doctrines that are taught today, as well as some that were abandoned by orthodoxy. This book is structured to engage readers in the various conversations that Christians have had over key issues through the centuries, and to give them the tools necessary to do so successfully. If readers follow the conversation as it develops from chapter to chapter, a clear outline of Christian thought emerges.

I invite your feedback, suggestions, and comments so that the conversation begun in these pages may continue.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My sincere gratitude goes to Chris Myers at Herder and Herder for bringing this book back into circulation. I had always been sad to see it go out of print and am happy to make it available to readers again. Chris has been a helpful and encouraging editor throughout the entire process. Thank you so much!

The production staff supporting Herder and Herder has been first-rate. I am especially grateful to Janaki Kagel for her able assistance in sorting out permissions and to Tom Bechtle for his close reading and keen eye for copyediting. Rachel E. Reiss, the book designer, has created a readable and inviting text, which is supported by the attractive cover developed by Sophie Appel. Joe Gannon, of Mulberry Tree Press, deserves a special mention for his work on the maps, while Julie Boddorf, the editorial assistant with the press, has been very helpful. Beth McDonough gave the volume a final proofing with great attention to detail. It has been a pleasure working with everyone to produce this new edition.

I am indebted to the staff at McGraw-Hill for proposing this project the first time around. I am especially grateful to Mel Valentín, copyeditor par excellence, whose detailed copyediting improved both the first and the second editions of this book. The faculty and staff of the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University were very supportive in writing the first edition. I particularly want to thank Dr. E. Nick Genovese, Emeritus Professor of Classics, for his help in literary matters great and small for both the first and the second editions.

Deep appreciation goes to the many anonymous readers whose comments and insights made this a much better book the first time it came out. These reviewers suggested readings, translations, clarifications, and corrections that improved the final product. Any errors or omissions remain my full responsibility.

This new edition acknowledges the help and support of those who have actually used the book in their classes. I especially honor Professor Tim Vivian for his many astute suggestions, along with Robert von Thaden Jr., James Jay Carney, and Scott M. Kenworthy. I am also grateful for the advice on Orthodox matters I received from Father Cosmas Shartz. Father Ignatius Green of St Vladimir’s Seminary Press was quite helpful as well.

The idea of assembling a reader that provides complete texts and chapters, rather than soundbites of selections, came from the faculty in Theology at Marquette University. While there are many people I would like to thank, I will mention only three by name: the late Dr. Kenneth G. Hagen, whose insights into the Reformation changed my life; Fr. Alexander Golitzin—now His Grace the Bishop of Dallas and the South, and the Bulgarian Diocese—who gave me an appreciation for Orthodox Christianity; and Dr. Patrick Carey, who not only introduced me to Catholic Christianity in America but also taught me how to write.

Although listed last, the people most responsible for any success this book has had are, of course, my family: my husband, Fielding McGehee III, and my parents, John V and Barbara C. Moore. My mother died while I was writing the first edition. This is one of life’s little ironies, since she is the one who taught me about Christianity in the first place.

PART ONE reveals just how rapidly Christianity developed during the first five centuries of the Common Era. It traces the transformation of a small, apocalyptic movement popular among some Palestinian Jews into an international organization with power and authority throughout the Roman Empire.

CHAPTER 1 begins by looking at the historical and theological context in which Jesus and his movement emerged. It briefly surveys the history of Israelite religion, the ancestor of both Judaism and Christianity, and discusses the composition of biblical texts. It closely examines key passages of the Christian Old Testament—what Jews would call the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh—that the followers of Jesus turned to in order to understand their Lord. Chapter 1 also looks at the first-century Judean environment into which Jesus was born. It describes the impact of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (that is, to non-Jews), whose letters make up the majority of the New Testament and greatly contribute to all subsequent Christian theology. Finally, it considers Jesus—his life, his teachings, and the scholarly study of his teachings.

CHAPTER 2 concentrates on the extremely fruitful period of church and doctrinal development during the first five centuries after Jesus’ death. While Christian practices differed from place to place, the two primary rituals of the early church were baptism and communion. Christian beliefs also differed from place to place, and both the nature of Jesus and his relationship to God were hotly debated. In order to clarify what was correct Christian doctrine regarding Jesus, a number of church councils developed creeds and faith statements that spelled out official church teaching.

PART ONE concludes with the fall of the western Roman Empire and sets the stage for the myriad theological developments that were to occur in the Middle Ages.

CHAPTER ONE

The Jewish Roots of Jesus, Paul, and Christianity

LITERARY SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING JESUS

While Christianity claims Jesus Christ as its central figure, its history neither begins nor ends with his life, death, and resurrection. Jewish beliefs and traditions, and the struggle of Jews against their Roman rulers during the first century, provide the context in which Jesus was born. (Chapter 2 examines the Greek and Roman context in which subsequent Christian doctrine develops.) The story of Jesus that appears in the New Testament of the Bible is really just a small part of this sacred text for Christians. The four Gospels that describe Jesus’ earthly life—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—take up less than one-quarter of the New Testament, and still less of the entire Bible, which for Christians includes an Old Testament and a New Testament.

A number of literary sources exist that set the scene for Jesus’ arrival on the world stage. First, of course, is the Bible, with its Old Testament, which relates the story of the Israelites, and the New Testament, which relates the story of first-century Jews and of Jesus and his followers. Other texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Pseudepigrapha, illuminate the religious framework further by revealing the diversity of Jewish thought in Jesus’ day. All of these texts broaden our understanding of who Jesus was.

A Semitic tribe of nomads known as the Israelites wrote the first and largest part of the Bible. The Israelites, who are the religious ancestors of Christians and Muslims as well as of Jews, compiled a collection of scrolls. This collection ultimately formed a body of Jewish scripture called Tanakh, an acronym for Torah (the first five books of the Bible); Nevi’im (the prophets); and Kethuvim (the writings). Protestant Christians know Tanakh as the Old Testament, while Catholic and Orthodox Christians include ancient Jewish texts written in Greek, as well as the Tanakh, in their Old Testament. Biblical scholars use the term the Hebrew Bible for the texts accepted as authoritative by Jews, to provide a neutral, all-inclusive phrase for the writings that three major world religions hold sacred. Muslims dub Jews and Christians people of the Book, and in essence they are correct in labeling the Hebrew Bible the book, since all three faiths base subsequent holy texts upon it. Jews have the Talmud, Christians have the New Testament, and Muslims have the Qur’an.

The Hebrew Bible chronicles the fortunes of the Israelites. It uses poems, legends, prophetic oracles or sayings, prayers, hymns, dialogues, sermons, and other literary genres to document the ups and downs of a particular people and their relationship with their god. It describes the heroic men and women who were faithful to the one god of their tribe, as well as the less-than-heroic ones who were faithless. Though not a history book, the Hebrew Bible does recount historical events, two of which profoundly influenced Israelite religion and the creation of the Hebrew Bible. The first was the eighth-century B.C.E. Assyrian invasion that led to the fall of the northern kingdom of the Israelites, called Israel. (Because researchers of different faiths, or no faith, now study the Bible, we will be using inclusive terminology to designate historical eras. The acronym B.C.E. stands for Before Common Era, the equivalent of B.C., or Before Christ, while C.E., or Common Era, is the term scholars use for A.D., Anno Domini—Latin for in the year of the Lord.) Rather than deal with troublemakers in their own land, the Assyrians deported thousands of Israelites, particularly those in positions of political, economic, and religious leadership. A second disaster occurred with the fall of the southern kingdom, Judah, to the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C.E. Like the Assyrians before them, the Babylonians deported thousands of Israelites to Babylon. In 587 the Babylonians destroyed the Israelite temple in Jerusalem. This was extremely traumatic because all religions of the Ancient Near East, including Israelite religion, shared a belief that their national deities had specific places, or thrones, wherein their power resided. For the Israelites, that place was the temple in Jerusalem. With the temple destroyed, the Israelites asked themselves: Where is our God? Where can we worship God?

While in exile in Babylon, the Israelites came up with an answer. Now called Jews, or Judahites, because of their origin in Judah (Yehuda), they gathered together the religious stories and traditions of their people. They considered their long history of conflict with foreigners who did not believe in their deity, worshipping instead other gods and goddesses. They turned to collections of oracles of prophets for inspiration and hope. They were guided in part by a contemporary prophet named Ezekiel, whose vision of God’s throne leaving the temple in Jerusalem gave them hope that God was present in their exile. The Jewish community compiled, edited, and wrote a set of scrolls that traced their encounters with a god whose name was so sacred it was never said aloud. The editors arranged the scrolls somewhat chronologically: from narratives of the creation of the world and the lives of early ancestors; through stories of kings, queens, and prophets; to their present exile. They also ordered the scrolls in terms of theological importance. Thus, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible—called the Torah by Jews and the Pentateuch by Christians—came first because they were the most important.

J EWISH T RADITIONS

For the past thirty years, scholars have debated the proper terminology for identifying the religion of the Judahites—those people who had been exiled to Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E. and who subsequently returned to the land of Judah in the centuries following. Are they Jews? Judahites? Judeans, after the Greek, and then English, transliteration of the Hebrew word Yehudim? And can we even call their religion Judaism, since it differs from contemporary Rabbinic Judaism? In the nineteenth century, Christian theologians called this Late Judaism, by which they implied that Judaism ended with the coming of Christianity. Claude Montefiore, a leader of the Liberal Judaism movement in England in the early twentieth century, noted that a variety of Judaisms existed in first-century Judea. In the mid-twentieth century, many called the religion of those who believed in the God of Israel Second Temple Judaism, because it mixed elements of both Israelite religion and later Judaism. Today some scholars call this complex of religious practices Early Judaism, which expresses the view that they are not yet what we would call normative Judaism.

As study of this time period continues, it becomes apparent that old labels are not always accurate—and yet new labels can be confusing. For example, Judaism during the centuries before and after the turn of the Common Era is not so much a religion as a cultural complex of beliefs, practices, and traditions that claimed descent from the ancestral customs of the Israelites. In this view, Judaism is an alternative to Hellenism, a competing system of beliefs, practices, and traditions, that claimed descent from the customs of ancient Hellas—that is, Greece. When we refer to Judaism, however, we tend to think of it in its modern form. What language should historians use to describe all the people who believed in the God of Israel in the centuries just before and just after the turn of the Common Era?

This book is published at a time when terms and labels are in great flux. Some scholars argue, for example, that the very idea of religion began in the third and fourth centuries. This text will continue to use the language that has been commonly accepted, although it will also introduce one new term—Jewish Traditions—to encompass all of the different practices of what has been called Second Temple Judaism. Jewish traditions encompasses and renders more accurately the great diversity of beliefs and practices that existed in first-century Palestine, which contained the regions of Idumea, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. It also includes the religions practiced in the Diaspora—that is, outside the biblical land of Israel—by Egyptian, Babylonian, and other Judeans. Jewish traditions also takes in the various movements that proclaimed Jesus as their messiah and savior, yet also claimed to be the descendants of biblical Israel. Finally, the ­expression suggests that all of these groups are somewhat Jewish, or sort of like Judaism, rather than asserting their complete orthodoxy or manifestation as Judaism as we know it today.

Jews returned to the land of Judah later in the sixth century B.C.E. and rebuilt their temple in Jerusalem. Because this was the second temple that had been constructed, the Judaism of that time period, and up to the temple’s destruction in 70 C.E., has been called Second Temple Judaism. During the period dating from Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.), the Jews faced enemies and invasions on several fronts: from the Greeks under Alexander; from the Ptolemies of Egypt; from the Seleucids of Syria; and, in 63 B.C.E., from the Romans under the general Pompey. They also faced tyranny within their own ranks, most notably from the Hasmonean dynasty of priestly rulers (152–63 B.C.E.), who first liberated the Jews from their Seleucid rulers and then oppressed their countrymen and women under a corrupt temple priesthood.

The two centuries before the birth of Jesus served as the crucible in which many religious works emerged and various Jewish traditions arose. A number of Jewish texts surfaced in this period that do not appear in the Hebrew Bible. Some were written in Greek, the language of learning and culture in the Mediterranean inherited from Alexander the Great and his conquests. Their late arrival on the religious scene, as well as their Greek rather than Hebrew origins, made them suspect in terms of credibility and authority. Some were the writings of anonymous Jews, which reflected influences outside of Israelite religion. Still others came from the hearts of Jews living outside of Jerusalem and practicing alternative traditions. This last group, sometimes identified as Essenes, comprised ascetic monastic Jews who lived on the shores of the Dead Sea. In addition to maintaining traditional or orthodox Jewish scriptures, such as the Prophets, the Qumran community (named after its location at Khirbet Qumran) also wrote its own sacred texts. These writings, called the Dead Sea Scrolls, were found there by accident in 1947.

It has taken decades to translate and publish these ancient Jewish writings, in part because of the fragmentary nature of the scrolls (they were in actual bits and pieces) and in part because of scholarly and professional envy. What the materials reveal is a strand of Jewish thought that anticipated a holy war to be fought in heaven between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. God had acted in history, on earth, in the previous centuries of Israelite religion, and the Hebrew Bible documented this divine activity. But the time had come, according to the Qumran writings, for God and God’s angels to fight the enemy, Satan and Satan’s forces, in heaven. These Jews expected an otherworldly savior to lead God’s army against Satan’s army. Some writings suggest that the angel Michael—who would be leading God’s troops—might be the savior. The Dead Sea Scrolls depict a type of religion that was apocalyptic, anticipating a climactic cosmic battle in which, eventually, the good guys would win. Upon that victory, God would rule on earth, and would be the king, just as God had been king of Israel in its earliest days.

During this same time period—from about 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.—another set of writings surfaced from Jews who had been influenced by Persian religion. Sometimes these texts are called Intertestamental Literature because they were written more or less in the period following the writing of the last book of the Old Testament and prior to the writing of the first book of the New Testament. Sometimes they are called Pseudepigrapha, which means fake or false writings. They earned this name because they purport to be written by biblical figures such as Moses and Abraham, and even Adam. In a sense these texts could be titled The Further Adventures of …, with heroes of the Old Testament figuring prominently. These books vividly describe a world vastly different from that of the Hebrew Bible. Whereas the latter is grounded—literally—in the land of Canaan, the Pseudepigrapha turn heavenward, reporting dreams, visions, and celestial travel: a realm in which angels, archangels, demons, and Satan figure prominently. What appears to be important in these revelations is what is going on behind the scenes, up above. Like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Pseudepigrapha are apocalyptic literature that turn attention away from the world and toward heaven. That is where the action is; it is where history will be made in future.

A final ancient literary source for understanding Jesus is the New Testament. Consisting of twenty-seven books, it includes four gospels (accounts of Jesus’ life), twenty letters, one sermon, one apocalypse, and a historical book. Although Christians usually start with the New Testament, the fact is that this work reinterprets and retells many of the stories and themes that precede it in the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Pseudepigrapha. To begin with the New Testament, and then go back to the Old Testament, is a bit like reading the ending of a book before its beginning. The New Testament brims with references to Jewish scripture, practices, and theology—everything from Sabbath to sacrifice. Some Jewish scholars claim that the New Testament is in fact a Jewish text, just one of many that came out of the period of great diversity occurring within Judaism between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. Moreover, they find the New Testament to be of great help in understanding the antecedents to Rabbinic Judaism. The writers of the New Testament certainly knew Jewish scripture, including the legends of the Pseudepigrapha, and they used it to interpret the meaning and significance of Jesus’ life.

THINKING ABOUT SCRIPTURE

The texts just noted—Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible or Old Testament), Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, and New Testament—are, or were, sacred to members of their religious communities, but not necessarily to all readers. Each of us brings a worldview into our reading of any text, but especially of sacred texts. Thus, a Hindu reading a New Testament account of Jesus comes away with a different understanding of Jesus than does a Christian—just as Mohandas K. Gandhi did. Gandhi founded his movement of nonviolent resistance to British colonialists in India in part on the teachings of Jesus. A feminist who reads the story of Jesus’ encounters with women may well explain those stories differently than a conservative Christian, a Buddhist, or an atheist. The concept of worldview helps explain these differences, for a worldview captures all of the beliefs, opinions, presuppositions, and prejudices we bring to our reading. When we read ancient texts, our modern worldview collides with the worldview in the text, as we attempt to make sense of what we are reading.

T HE A POCALYPSE

When we think of the apocalypse, images of rivers of blood, plagues of locusts, and other global disasters come to mind. These mental pictures reflect some of the imagery that appears in the last book of the Christian New Testament, the book of Revelation, which is also known as the Apocalypse of John. But apocalypse simply means revelation in Greek, and there were many revelatory texts written in the period 200 B.C.E.–200 C.E. Apocalypse came to be understood as a literary genre in which heavenly journeys, angelic visitations, and vivid dreams disclosed unknown truths. While some revelations were bloody and violent, others unveiled heavenly cities and perfect worlds.

Apocalyptic literature marked a theological shift in a number of Jewish traditions. Instead of God acting on earth and dealing with the chosen people—the Israelites—in historical events, God now acted in heaven, the site of a celestial battle between the forces of good and evil. While the cosmic war would also be waged on earth, the outcome would be determined strictly in heaven. People thus had to choose sides and decide whether they were on the side of light or the side of darkness.

Sometimes this final war is described as an eschatological conflict. Eschatology means the doctrine of last things, that is, the doctrine of our future destiny. There may be a day of judgment, a time of reward or punishment, or, as the book of Revelation says, a new heaven and a new earth. But Jesus always spoke of the end of the age (eon), that is, the present evil times. When this age ended, a new and improved age would begin under God’s reign. Thus, when we speak of eschatology, we speak of this turning point in time. It may come about through a climactic, apocalyptic battle; or it may come silently, like a thief in the night. In either case, in the apocalyptic view, things will be radically different both on earth and in heaven.

Christianity emerged, in part, from the Jewish traditions that prophesied a heavenly battle between good and evil, and that preached an imminent judgment day in which God would right the wrongs of this world and redeem those who had already died, or were currently suffering, because of their faithfulness to the God of Israel.

How, then, should we read scripture? Feminist theologian Sandra Schneiders suggests three approaches to any revelatory text. She writes that we should first examine the world behind the text: that is, the historical context in which the text was written. What was happening? Who were the major players? What were the important issues and concerns of the time? Second, we should examine the world within the text: that is, the narrative on its own. What does the text itself say? What is going on in the reading apart from any external considerations? Finally, we should reflect on the world before the text: that is, what we ourselves bring to the reading. Interpretation means entering into the text from our twenty-first-century vantage point and then reemerging transformed, enlightened, or changed by our reading.

It may come as a surprise, but the more literally we read sacred texts, the better we will understand. That means reading the stories in the Bible as stories rather than as history, or science, or theology. This kind of reading pays close attention to plot and to character development. It ignores the succeeding layers of interpretation and doctrine that have gathered around the texts and focuses on the stories themselves. What is the plain meaning of the text? This may be a difficult approach for some readers to take because for many these are not just stories, and the Bible is not just any book. The genre of literature called scripture invests significant and even transcendent meaning in writings and makes them holy. If we drop a novel or a cookbook on the floor, we pick it up and dust it off. If we drop a Bible on the floor, however, we may experience a sense of guilt or violation. A student in a New Testament class once asked me if it was okay to write in his Bible and, specifically, to use a highlighter. I could understand his concern. Out of a large collection of Bibles that I own, I write in just one, which I use for teaching and study. Christians call the Bible the Word of God and the Good Book, which indicates the sense of reverence they feel about it. Jews have this same feeling of respect for their scripture. On the Sabbath, when the Torah scroll is removed from the ark, people stand, and as the scroll circulates through the congregation, worshipers may touch a scarf or prayer shawl to the scroll and then kiss it. Muslims feel similarly about the Qur’an, their scripture, and believe that it cannot be translated from Arabic, the language in which it was originally recited by the prophet Muhammad. Other world religions also have sacred texts and share this reverence for the stories that reveal something of the divine and of the nature and destiny of humankind.

Thus, most readers approach scripture differently than they do other kinds of writing. And religious believers have still more at stake because certain scriptures make up their identity as human beings. With all this noted, it is important to reiterate the value of reading the Bible in a scholarly, nonconfessional way. (By nonconfessional I mean temporarily setting aside one’s religious beliefs for the purpose of seeing the text in a new light.) Obviously, this is not the only way to read sacred texts, nor is it even the most common. But it is the most useful in seeing how Christian doctrine developed. The late Marcus Borg, a contemporary Protestant New Testament scholar, called it reading the Bible again for the first time.

JEWISH CONCEPTS IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

Christianity begins not with the birth of Jesus, but with the creation of the world. It was at creation—in the very beginning—that a huge disaster occurred, which is described in the first three chapters of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. Most Christians read these chapters as depicting the disruption of God’s wonderful world—and everything in it—by an act of human disobedience. As a result of this act, the first man and the first woman, and all of their descendants, were cursed and doomed to die. This story provides the central reason for God’s divine son coming to earth. In a nutshell, Jesus, the Son of God, came to release human beings from the consequences of this prehistoric catastrophe.

It is important to note, however, that the dominant Christian interpretation of Genesis 1–3 as describing creation and a fall from that creation is not the only way the story of Adam and Eve can be read. Jews read this as a story that describes God’s gift of freedom to people: the freedom to make bad choices, but freedom nonetheless. Muslims, and even other Christians, also read this story differently. In the Qur’an, for example, Adam and Eve are not blamed; rather, Satan—the tempter—is cursed and exiled from God’s realm. According to Irenaeus (c. 120/140–c. 200/203), a Christian bishop in Lyon, France, God knew that Adam and Eve were moral infants, and God’s plan had always been a developmental one. We begin our lives as children, and it is only through growing up that we become adults. God intended Jesus Christ to be the perfect model of adulthood and fully expected the first humans to eat from the tree of knowledge—just as we would expect toddlers to eat cookies left on the coffee table.

Christianity developed a theology of loss and failure, however, from the story of Adam and Eve. Humans lost their original perfection, most contemporary Christians would argue. We can look around today and observe that the world seems less than perfect. Human activity frequently seems to tend toward evil rather than toward good. The garden story offers one explanation, an etiology, for the origin of human behavior in general and human sin in particular.

But the creation accounts in Genesis 1–3 also provide a more hopeful theology. Genesis 1 states that God created the world and said that it was good not just once but several times. This indicates God’s interest in the earth around us. It also invests worldly things with a divine nature. If God made the planet and everything on it, then surely humans should value all of these creations. Genesis demonstrates that God deliberately created this world and intended it to be home for plants, animals, and humans. Since God also created the waters and the skies, they, too, contain something of the divine. Thus, from the book of Genesis, Christians find both an optimistic theology of creation and a pessimistic theology of human nature.

The Reading

The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible, for Christians and Jews alike, and is widely known throughout the world. The first three chapters describe the creation of the world and the first human beings. Some interesting questions emerge if we read what follows as mythology or legend rather than as science or history. Try reading the chapters from a number of different viewpoints: How would a scientist interpret these stories? What about a feminist? Hindus or Native Americans who have their own creation stories? A Christian Fundamentalist? How do you think the chapters should be read?

ADDITIONAL NOTES: The Hebrew Bible uses a sacred word for the name of God: YHWH, sometimes pronounced Yahweh and once translated as Jehovah. Bible translators today use the euphemism LORD to indicate this holy word, which in Jewish practice must not be pronounced. It is also worth noting that the Hebrew word translated as humankind in Genesis 1:26 is adam, the generic term for humanity. Adam is then translated as man in Genesis 2, until we reach 2:23, when we first come to the word for a gendered man or male: ish.

All passages from the Bible in this chapter come from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, unless noted otherwise.

Questions to Consider

1. Why are there two creation stories in Genesis (1:1–2:3 and 2:4–25)? What are some possible explanations for this? How would you explain the different names used for the divine in chapter 1 (God) and chapters 2 and 3 (LORD God)?

2. Examine God’s instructions to Adam about the various trees and fruits in the garden. How are they relayed by Eve to the serpent? How does the serpent interpret them? What is lost in the translation? What is added?

3. Who is telling the truth about the tree of knowledge: God or the serpent? (See Genesis 2:15–17; 3:4–5, 3:22–24.) What do you make of this?

4. What is the difference between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life in these stories? Figuratively, or metaphorically, how would you describe the difference?

5. If we read the stories in Genesis as legends, or just-so stories, that explain the origin of the way things are, what questions of origins do they answer? Think of this as Genesis Jeopardy and come up with the questions that the stories are answering. Example: Why are women called women? Genesis 2:23 has the answer. Or: Why do we observe the Sabbath? Genesis 2:2–3 explains why.

6. How do the creation stories in Genesis compare with stories of origin in other religions and cultures? What, if anything, makes them different?

GENESIS 1–3

1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky. So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind. And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and