midterm Flashcards

Question

Covenant

Answer 1

Special agreement made between Jews and God, who led them out of Egypt via Moses

Answer 2

Consequence due to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple (both times) – Led Jews to become scattered all over the Mediterranean after Alexander the Great’s reign – Urbanites take in Greek culture/environment – Jews living in Israel are more hesitant to Hellenization – A Greek word that means “dispersion” or “scattering” – State of being for Jews who did not live in Judea but still regarded it as their homeland and themselves as Jews

Answer 3

Dedicated follower of Jesus – Was baptized and has faith

Answer 4

Power and legitimacy of the state was personified in the Emperor – Point was not necessarily to believe in the emperor – Sacrifice was necessary to show your political allegiance Honoring the emperor during his reign or in Rome after his death Emperors in Rome could be declared divus/divine after their death, thereby elevating them to the level of the gods or demigods. – This cause a problem with Jews as they only worship their God and what was told in the Hebrew bible

Answer 5

Believed in living life away from hustle & bustle (isolated in caves usually) – a Judaism activist group that rejected the Sadducee high priests as illegitimate and avoided the Temple. They also thought the Pharisees were not strict enough. They were a closed and secretive society that is described as monastic. Eager to see a fight between jews and gentiles.

Answer 6

Among the first few Church historians – Wrote Ecclesiastical History between 312-314 (CE?) – Trying to write a history that begins at the time of the holy Apostles until his own time ~ 4th century – Begins with Jesus

Answer 7

knowledge; used to refer to secret, mysterious, mystical knowledge only given to certain people

Answer 8

– Gnosticism: pessimistic about material universe and human beings – Unknown and untouchable God who emanated an outflow of other beings – Something terrible happened resulting in something divine escaping and material culture – Divine element is present, people are unaware until the redeemer (Christ) brings forth knowledge and ascends back into heaven – Saved by gnosis/knowledge → those who become aware claim to have secret religious knowledge arising from personal insights (radical change) – Knew who Jesus was, who they are, & how to escape oppressive powers the rule the universe – Gnostics do not care about Hebrew scripture EX: The Gospel of Mary is a gnostic text

Answer 9

appear; Jesus only appeared to be human to interact with ignorant human beings including the disciples who could not quite comprehend his divinity

Answer 10

Attempt to compile the canonical gospels of the Christian New Testament into a single account – Either a single, merged narrative or rather a tabular format with one column for each gospel (aka synopsis)

Answer 11

Hebrew Bible/Tanakh & the Old Testament are essentially identical – Consists of the Torah/Pentateuch – Before this, we have 3 sacred books: Law, Prophets, & Writings

Answer 12

Spread or permeation of Greek culture throughout Mediterranean (process of living like a Greek) – Began with Alexander the Great – Important to Christianity: because this was a time when Jews were hellenized, some jews were in favor of it and some were not in favor of it. Those in favor supported a ruler who placed Greek gods in the Jewish Temple and said no to sacrifices. Those who were not in favor of the ruler went into war. The cause of this war caused a long lasting effect of superiority from Jews and non-jews. (connect this to Paul and how he didnt want that to happen) And at the same time these non-jews or outsiders were called Gentiles.

Answer 13

Bishop of Antioch in Syria, arrested in 110 CE – Wanted to be a martyr – Saw his imminent execution and death as a gift/opportunity – Eager to die and imitate Christ’s passion, believing that it would grant him true discipleship – Asks that the Christians of Rome do not interfere with his trial

Answer 14

Heartland of Jews

Answer 15

Main biblical figure – Jew from Galilee – Begins to preach at 30 – Executed in 29 CE & rose on third day – Stuck around for 40 days before ascending into heaven & is said to come back to judge the living & the dead – Considered as the Messiah & the Son of God – Jesus movement begins in 1st century – Christology: the investigation of the meaning and significance of Jesus Christ

Answer 16

Palestine, Israel – Monotheistic (worship one God, Yahweh) – Acknowledge existence of other gods, just did not worship them – Less about belief, more about practice – Special agreement/covenant with God who led them out of Egypt via Moses – Believed that through moses, God gave them a Law they needed to obey in order to maintain their side of the covenant – Promised Land = Israel – Sacrifice to God in Jerusalem temple

Answer 17

Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah

Answer 18

Forced people to live like Jews – Paul believed that they should not be imposing their way of living/customs onto others, especially when they themselves do not follow it all the way through

Answer 19

Related to stoicism – Logic/Reason – Also used as a term to refer to Jesus by John (logos emanates from the “one”) – The “one” = perfect, no direct contact with the world, & brought the world into emanation

Answer 20

167 BCE – Political rebellion – Led by priest, occured in Israel – Tired of rulers forcing them to become more Greek – Drove out rulers, rededicating the temple, & reclaiming the promised land

Answer 21

Marcion of Synope (85-164 CE?; excommunicated in 144) – Mild view but negative view of Jewish God – Concluded that the God in the Old Testament was not the good father of Jesus – Father unknown to us until Jesus revealed him – Did not accept the religious authority of the Old Testament (believed it had no connection to Christianity, but did accept it as a historical document) – Wanted to disentangle Christianity from the early Jewish God

Answer 22

Martyr - someone incredibly devout, faithful until death – Choose to die for their faith (sacrifice) – Martyrdom was seen as a communal practice, grounded in eucharistic practices – Imitatio Christi (imitating Passion)

Answer 23

“The truth that: The whole social order of the (Roman) world is in serious malady. Their God is more powerful and more just than the emperor. The confession of believers can defeat not only earthly rulers but cosmic powers of injustice and violence. Women as well as men, old and young, slave and free can be fearless and bold, enduring and victorious. Believers suffer no pain; Satan’s minions and surrogates cannot harm them, no matter what their lengths of cruelty and depravity. Violent revenge is morally justified, divinely sanctioned—or not: revenge and violence, cynicism and despair are always the tools only of unjust powers. Every story is a story of God’s compassion. Death is life.” “But I think, perhaps most importantly, the truth they tell, the truth we may need most to hear, is the reality of compassion in the midst of all the lies, the body’s pain, the agony of human cruelty, our complicity and complacency, death itself. The reality of compassion.”

Answer 24

One of the individuals Jesus appeared to after his death – The Gospel of Mary: other disciples are grieving Jesus’ death – Mary attempts to comfort them & describes a vision where Jesus appears to her – They don’t believe her

Answer 25

Sacrifice was often used as way to demonstrate political allegiance to the Roman empire Sacrifice also connects to Martyrdom Jesus’ sacrifice via the crucifixion

Answer 26

Jesus; a title given to the person believed to be the saviour, who has been chosen to bring salvation to humankind.

Answer 27

Worship of one God – Jews were monotheistic

Answer 28

Aka apocryphal texts – EX: Proto-Gospel, The Gospel of Peter - written around 2nd century, dismissed for being too heretical, carried anti-jewish sentiment

Answer 29

– Hebrew manuscript that had regulations and religious writing that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible – Important to Christianity: because it's one of the most convincing methods of proof of Jesus' existence. Because they date back so closely to the time of Christ, they are all the more solidified as honest records of the Hebrew Bible

Answer 30

– Both considered gnostic texts (referring to the secret, mystical, mysterious knowledge only bestowed onto certain people)

Answer 31

Term used in 4th century – Referred to people within the Roman empire who practiced polytheism or ethnic religions other than Judaism

Answer 32

Referring to the death, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus – 3 different accounts: synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered synoptic gospels) EX: – Luke’s account of the Passion includes a moment where Jesus speaks to his father and asks for his forgiveness towards those who are crucifying him “for they know not what they do” – Matthew’s & Mark’s account does not include that portion, but do both mention the moment in which the inscription that reads “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” is placed over Jesus’ head

Answer 33

Raised a Jew, was a Pharisee, converted to Christianity – Author of many early Christian texts – Believed that in order for a Christian to be a Christian, they did not need to abide by the laws outlined so strictly in the Torah (only needed faith & the gift of grace) – Wanted to retain the validity of law, but also wants include Gentile converts by telling them that they do not need to observe these laws to participate – Concerned about his apostolic authority

Answer 34

Well-known martyrdom story – Both smiling, joyful, modestly-dressed, looking youthful as they await and desire death – Text meant to serve as an example for others & what it means to follow Christ until death – Execution ad bestias: execution via wild animals, make martyrs look like barbarians

Answer 35

Around 250, natural disasters & political disruptions occur within the Roman empire – Phase 1 (29-250), sporadic in terms of time and place: where the persecution took place dictated by the relationship between the Romans and Christians – Phase 2 (250-260 CE) Decius (249-251) places edict that require general sacrifice of wine/incense to the gods: inadvertently targeting Christians Valerian (253-260 CE) explicitly targeted Christians because he believed they were a threat to the gods & empire Persecution of Jesus Christ by Pontius Pilate

Answer 36

Wanted to make Judaism a livable religion that could be practiced – a Judaism activist group that were strict observers of the Law but had the desire to adapt it to changing circumstances and make it relevant to their own time. Anti-hellenic and anti-roman but did not call for war. Were skilled interpreters and rivaled with Sadducees. In the gospels it gave this group a negative reputation of being hypocrites. Were usually people with occupations and not so much of aristocrats and they devoted themselves to intense study and meditation on the Law.

Answer 37

427 BCE - 347 BCE – The world of ideal forms (being) and the material world (becoming)

Answer 38

– Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave their entire lives, facing a blank wall, watching as shadows projected in front of them from objects passing in front of a fire – Shadows are representative of their reality, but not accurate representations of the world – One prisoner escapes & learns that the shadows on the wall are not the direct source of the images seen → tries to tell the other inmates but they don’t desire to leave or learn

Answer 39

– Origin of everything (including the universe) – Used to refer to Jesus – In humans, our immaterial soul is always in yearning for the One

Answer 40

– Body & soul thought of as separate usually – Body = material form – Soul = ideal form

Answer 41

Roman prefect (governor) of Judaea – Presided at the trial of Jesus and gave the order for his crucifixion – Persecuted Jesus Christ: people dragged Jesus before Pilate to be tried for blasphemy for claiming to be the King of the Jews – Was the only one with the power to impose a death sentence

Answer 42

“Falsely named/ascribed” – Practice of attributing a writing work to someone other than the actual author – EX: 13 Paul like letters (7 agreed to be genuine and 3 pseudonymous)

Answer 43

Depending on the area, Jews either got to live in a peaceful environment where they are allowed to practice Judaism – In areas like Judea, there was tension between Jews and Romans – This is significant as Romans and Jews will eventually go into war and then later on in the future – Romans would persecute Christians (depends on the officials in the area…but an example of persecution was Ignatius)

Answer 44

Main focus was on the temple & ritualistic practices – a Judaism activist group that believed solely on the Torah and with the unclear teachings of resurrection of the dead, angels, and a coming Messiah in the 5 books of Moses it resulted in a denial to those beliefs. Mostly aristocrats and major landholders who brought Jews interest to the Roman authorities and Roman authorities to their people in Palestine.

Answer 45

Greek translation of the Bible – Christians then add & change the order of the books (Extra books known as Apocrypha to Protestants) – Catholics call it deuterocanonical – Jews who never saw Jeresalum kept ties to the holy city and its Temple, and had the sacred books of their ancestors. Oftentimes they read them in a Greek translation which was the Septuagint. This was used because those jews did not know Hebrew after generations of Diaspora

Answer 46

Emerged in 3rd century BCE – Ultimate materialists – Believed in cultivating virtues – Cyclical history – Taught people “self-sufficiency” by encouraging them to restrict their desires – Stoics chose to live in accord with reason, to accept their lot, and to control their desires Romans attracted to Stoicism because it emphasized devotion to duty, which was an important cultural value for them – Saw it as a call to do the best one could wherever one was – Paul used Stoic terminology to explain Christian ideas – Both a Stoic and a Christian would agree with the statements: “I must do what is right”, “I have been put here for a reason,” and “I must control my desires”

Answer 47

tranquility, freedom from tension within yourself or between yourself and others

Answer 48

self-control, justice, etc.

Answer 49

not a person, but rather an organizing principle – The ordering universal law of the universe

Answer 50

Social places, public centers – Only place where Jews could properly worship their God with the animal sacrifices and rituals that the Law demanded – 586 BCE = Babylonians destroyed the first Temple – Was built by King Solomon for Jews to worship God by sacrificing animals and was the exact temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians. Then it was rebuilt and Jew's exile was less occurring. By then there were some Jews that did not want to move and hence why synagogues were created. The Temple at the time was Jerusalem's major outlet for their economics and employees.

Answer 51

Places of Jewish worship, community organization, teaching, & charity – a Greek word that means “a coming together” or “houses of prayer” – Developed to meet the religious needs of the vast majority of Jews who lived away from the Temple – Essential to Jewish communal and religious life, including their knowledge of the law – Created for Jews who did not live near the Temple. This was what kept Judaism alive. There’s no sacrifice involved in synagogue, what was involved was singing, charity, praying, blessings/curses, and written scribes.

Answer 52

First five books in the Hebrew Bible Discuss the history of Israel, ancestors, and laws

Answer 53

Early Christian gnostic – Believed that only those of a spiritual nature received the gnosis (knowledge) which separated them from other “ordinary” Christians

Answer 54

Fourth Philosophy of Zealots - Eager to start a rebellion – a Judaism activist group that saw the Sadducees as collaborators and the Pharisees as too peaceful. Were viewed as rebellious, terrorist, uncompromising nationalist who viewed God as their king (based on a person’s interpretatiion). Led the first Jewish-Roman war. – Important to Christianity: because all these groups are what developed the diversity and was the developing factor of the “rivalry” between Jews and gentiles. A great example of how people’s faiths were shown differently. A bit of what Paul talks about, as long as a person has faith they can be Christian. And other leaders also show their own way of interpreting faith (example of Ignatius his faith was shown by his willingness to die). All these also used the Torah in different ways to study and pray. (statement was connected using these words: Jewish Christians, Torah/Pentateuch, Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots)

midterm Flashcards

(79 cards)