The Easter Debates were a great time of discussion and fellowship. I am very thankful for the opportunity I had to be a part of the weekend and to make some new Muslim acquaintances (thanks especially to David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi of Acts 17 Apologetics).
James White has posted the first debate of the weekend between Nadir Ahmed and himself on his Alpha and Omega Ministries website. View the debate series here.
MJ
In arguing against the theories of “Zeitgeist, the Movie”, I have been presenting a three-part series of posts relating to the first century Jewish culture from which Christianity was birthed. This is the final part of that series. Though I have not directly countered specific points in the movie in these posts, I have established a historical case to demonstrate that first-century monotheistic Judaism was not doctrinally influenced by the cultural worship of various pagan deities.
The earliest Christians’ devotion to Jesus should be understood as emanating from first-century Jewish Monotheism.[1] In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul applauds the church in Thessalonica for her commendable faith and discusses these believers’ conversion from the worship of pagan idols to “serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (v.9b – 10). This stark contrast between the pagan gods and the one true God (also in association with Jesus) is also seen in 1 Corinthians 8. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul warns believers not to knowingly partake in food that has been offered to pagan idols. According to Hurtado, “Paul is pointing out the sharp distinction between the Gentile polytheistic environment of the Gentiles and the exclusivist monotheistic stance; look at the language used ‘idols’ versus ‘a living and true God.’”[2] Paul uses the term, eidōlothyta, “things offered to idols,” which is clearly a contemptuous characterization of the pagan’s offering.[3] This disdain of all other deities lines up with the exclusivism of first-century Judaism.[4]
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul further demonstrates the exclusivity of Judaism by admonishing believers to “flee from idolatry.”[5] His language takes on a stronger contempt for the polytheistic environment of the Roman gods. Paul compares the partaking of pagan rituals as participating with ‘demons.’ He emphatically demands that a believer participating in drinking from the cup of the Lord, cannot also drink from the cup of demons. Clearly, Paul is demonstrating that, although he was raised in a polytheistic culture (Tarsus), and would have been aware of the mystery-religion culture of his time, he emphatically refused to adopt or allow any of the pagan practices into his monotheistic view of God or into the fellowship, at all.[6] “Essentially, Paul directs his converts to shun any overtly pagan religious activity and practice, and he does so in the strongest kind of terms.”[7]
The early church apparently struggled with adherence to the rituals (including the Temple cult), customs, and other traditions of their Judaism.[8] In Acts 21, the news of Paul’s preaching reaches the church in Jerusalem. The report on Paul’s mission work is that he is misleading full Jewish converts by instructing them not to observe the Judaic rituals in obedience to the Law. Upon Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem, James and the brethren required Paul to answer for his instruction.[9] The brethren “demanded that because of this suspicion he undergo the usual purity probe in the Temple and that four oath-bound penitents be called in.”[10] Paul accepted their demands, however when numerous of the Diaspora[11] saw Paul in the temple, they grew furious and sought to lynch him because he: “(1) allegedly agitated against the law and Temple cult, hence, preached apostasy toward the law (among Jews!) and because he (2) had brought a non-circumcised (Trophimus) into the Temple (which Luke disputes).”[12] An exclusivist, ritualistic environment is clearly demonstrated in this passage, even among the Christian believers, as evidenced in James’ request of an explanation for Paul’s ‘defiant’ teachings towards the rituals of the Law. Obviously, the early believers still identified themselves with the rituals and practices of Judaism.
Further, in the second chapter of the book of Galatians, Paul confronts Peter for alleged hypocrisy in dealing with Jewish versus Gentile believers. Paul’s accusation is founded on Peter’s actions of eating with the Gentiles and then drawing away from them when the brethren associated with James arrived. The word used by Paul to describe Peter, kategnōsmenos, is translated “clearly in the wrong.”[13] The main problem was most likely Peter’s adherence to the Jewish food-laws that forbade social interaction between Jew and Gentile.[14] In this passage, again, we have an example of an early believer (another one of the leaders of the Christian Church) struggling with issues arising from a strong adherence to their Jewish faith. As has previously been shown, this first century Jewish faith entailed a strict adherence to the one true God and abhorred the pagan deities. Therefore, it is an illegitimate argument to say that these Jewish men allowed Hellenistic pagan religion influences to guide any formation of their Christology.
MJ
Footnotes
Don Cass, director of evangelism for the Southern-
Baptists of Texas, presenting the apologetics certificate
at the general session.
Discussing the evangelism resources available from NAMB.
Our booth at the conference.
Apologetics discussion with the Southwestern-
Baptist Theological Seminary representative.
“The Certificate.” I am a fully certified apologetics
instructor.
___________________________________
The Texas Empower Evangelism Conference was truly a wonderful experience. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to speak with me. I was especially encouraged by those seeking more information about NAMB’s Certified Apologetics Instructor program!
My husband and I nearly lost our voices by Wednesday… I’m guessing you could say we talked too much; but what great conversations! Thank you, again, Southern Baptists of Texas for such a great opportunity and for your desire to “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15)
MJ
On the video shelves of blockbuster you can find the movie called “Amazing Grace.” This movie portrays the life of William Wilberforce and his diligent persistence to outlaw plantation slavery within the British colonies. Although Wilberforce condemned slavery in a speech to parliament in 1789, it was not until the final hours before his death in 1833 that the final passage of the emancipation bill was drafted by the House of Commons. It was through his great persistence of sowing seeds of truth among the people that a fruitful harvest of freedom among the slaves grew. So, what seeds are you planting that will encourage growth in the truth around you?
Jesus, explained in Matthew 8, that the seed worth sowing is the Word of God in which those who hear it and receive it will produce a crop.
In our world today it is obvious that many people are planting crops of sarcasm, disobedience and immorality just to name a few, but what are you planting each day?
We are called to plant the Word of God throughout all of life. In this I mean that when someone wants to hate, we want to encourage them to love, when someone wants to be jealous, we want to encourage them to champion for the glory of God in the lives of others. When someone wants to gossip, we want to remind them that all people were created by God and Christians are called to be peace makers.
It is often that I receive phone calls from people who will ask the question, “what shall I do during a difficult situation they are encountering.” During those opportune times we are given the unbelievable opportunity to have the Word of God, which will give us the principles to deal with all of the life situations. However, it is up to us whether or not we choose to plant seeds from the Word of God or from the system of the world, which more often than not is one of “my way or the highway theme.” Through God’s Word we can point people in life to choosing the wise way.
It was through the life of Wilberforce, that he never gave up his efforts to point people to the right way in life, he sowed seeds of hope, life and freedom for the slaves. If you are someone who knows Christ personally because you have repented of your sin and have received him as your savior, then you too can point people to truth by sowing God’s word in your life. However, if you have not yet begun a relationship with Jesus Christ through repentance in order that you might live eternally in peace, then I urge you to read the Word of God. Allow God’s glory to shine through you today and you too can begin to plant seeds that can bring a harvest of pleasant fruit.
Luke 8:15 “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word,, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”
What type of Crop will you leave in this life?
Deanna
In arguing against the theories of “Zeitgeist, the Movie”, I will be presenting a three-part series of posts relating to the first century Jewish culture from which Christianity was birthed. Though I will not directly counter specific points in the movie in these posts, I will establish a historical case to demonstrate that first-century monotheistic Judaism was not doctrinally influenced by the cultural worship of various pagan deities.
Paul was a monotheistic, zealous Pharisee. His devotion to Judaism before his Damascus Road experience is perhaps best annotated by his ‘mission’ to persecute the followers of Jesus. Hurtado describes Paul’s loyalty, “…devotion to Jesus must have been sufficiently striking (even audacious) that it could draw the determined efforts of this formerly zealous Pharisee to destroy what he regarded as an unacceptable innovation in Second-Temple Jewish religion. It had to be some major offense by Jewish Christians to have elicited the kind of Phinehas-like zeal with which Saul/Paul attacked the Jesus movement.”[16] Paul’s testimony to his background and his conversion are found in several places in the Scripture. In Galatians 1: 11-24, Paul relays his conversion story concerning his zealous Judaism and his persecution of the believers in Jesus: “…how intensely I persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (v.13b-14). This story is confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 9 and 22. Also, in Acts 8, the historian, Luke, mentions Paul’s approval of the stoning of Stephen. The case is made for Paul: he is a devoted Jewish believer in the one true God.
My review of David Wood and Ali Ataie’s debate at the University of California is up on the Answering Islam website.
Thanks,
In arguing against the theories of “Zeitgeist, the Movie”, I will be presenting a three-part series of posts relating to the first century Jewish culture from which Christianity was birthed. Though I will not directly counter specific points in the movie in these posts, I will establish a historical case to demonstrate that first-century monotheistic Judaism was not doctrinally influenced by the cultural worship of various pagan deities.
The Christian faith has weathered accusations over the years that it arose either from Hellenistic pagan mystery religions or from a flexible First-Century Judaism that would allow for a dying and rising god pagan religious pattern to be introduced.[1] Quite to the contrary, first-century (also called Second-Temple) Jews were ritual and doctrinal separatists mainly due to a fear of defilement. Out of this exclusivist faith, Christianity developed as a sect of Second-Temple Judaism that equated Jesus with the one true God; the only God worthy of worship. Because of this very exclusivity, the first Christians – being Second-Temple Jews – would not have tolerated the mere insertion or adaptation of pagan religious ideas into their Judaism for the same fear of defiling the one true God. The evidence for my case can be found in an examination of ancient Judaism in its first century environment and of the admonishment of Paul in his writings; the earliest extant texts from the New Testament.
Scholars have overwhelmingly viewed Ancient Judaism to be a monotheistic religion; with good reason.[2] The historical and literary data establish a people who separated themselves doctrinally, ritualistically, and to an extent, socially.[3] Before looking into the details, it is noteworthy to understand that the assessment I am leveling on the monotheism of the first-century Jewish people is not entirely void of ritualistic and social variances.[4] However, at the heart of Judaism, there exists an unwavering tenet to the “one true God.”[5]
First-century Judaism was inherently exclusivist; namely due to “the nature of the Jewish conception of god which compelled the rejection of all deification of creatures as pagan abominations.”[6] From the self-imposed social separation, such as ill-regard towards marriage with non-Jews[7], to the extreme Pharisaic purity ritualism[8], the Jewish culture itself fostered a rejection of intimate community with non-Jews who defiled themselves with pagan rituals to ‘false gods.’ As Robert L. Wilken, Professor of History of Christianity at the University of Virginia states, “To the outsider it appeared that Jews were exclusionistic and separatistic.”[9] Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher from antiquity, writes of those who followed the Jews out of Egypt as “an illegitimate crowd with a body of genuine citizens.”[10] In Shaye J. D. Cohen’s article for the Harvard Theological Review, “Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew,” he evidences the inferior view of proselytes to the Jewish faith in various writings from antiquity: the Acts of Pilate, the Qumran scrolls and rabbinic literature, the Mishnah, and the writings of Philo, as well.[11]
The exclusivist nature of Jewish monotheism can best be demonstrated through two key passages from Scripture.[12] The first passage is the Shema’ from Deuteronomy 6:4-6: “Hear O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one,’ and continues later with the command of total devotion to YHWH, the one God, ‘You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.’ The Shema was a vital part of Jewish liturgy being recited twice daily as prescribed in the Tractate Berakoth portion of the Mishnah[13] and it is evidenced in use as early as the second century B.C.[14] The second passage is the Decalogue, in which the first two commandments forbid Israel to have or to worship any gods but YHWH.[15] “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Deuteronomy 5:7-9). From the Scripture, we can clearly see those who practiced Judaism were reminded daily – twice daily – of the loyalty and worship due to the one true God.
More to come….
MJ
Footnotes:
[1] Hooke, S.H., “The Emergence of Christianity from Judaism,” Volume One. Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. New York, KTAV Publishing House: 1969. p. 279.
[2] For examples see: Hengel, Martin. Judaism and Hellenism. Eugene, Wipf and Stock Publishers: 1974. pp. 68, 77, 264-267, 313 -314.; Rainbow, Paul A. “Jewish Monotheism as the Matrix for New Testament Christology: A Review Article.” Novum Testamentum, Vol. 33, Fasc. 1. (Jan., 1991), pg.81.
[3] “In regard to Rome, however, the argument that the Jews of Rome did not interact with Roman culture has depended to a large extent on literary sources and historical data.” Snyder, Graydon F. “The Interaction of Jews with Non-Jews in Rome.” Judaism and Christianity in First-Century Rome. Karl P. Donfried, ed., Peter Richardson, ed. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 1998. pg. 74. However, Graydon goes on to say, “In order to assess cultural changes the broader, popular data of symbols and inscriptions provide a sounder basis,” which I have found, in the course of this research, to be out of line with most scholarly opinion.
[4] Ibid. See also, Weber, Max. Ancient Judaism. Glencoe, The Free Press: 1952. Weber addresses the Essenes and the variants prevalent in Essenian doctrine. Although, he denounces that these variants arose from Judaism. Also, Knox, W.L., “Pharisaism and Hellenism,” Vol. 2,. Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. New York, KTAV Publishing House: 1969. pp.59-109.
[5] Hurtado, Larry. How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2005. pg.133. Also, Paul A. Rainbow. “Jewish Monotheism as the Matrix for New Testament Christology: A Review Article,” Novum Testamentum, Vol. 33, Fasc. 1. (Jan., 1991), pp. 81.
[6] Weber, Ancient Judaism, pp. 412, 417.
[7] Though inter-marriage was practiced, the converted spouse was referred to as a “proselyte,” regarded as inferior to “native Jews.” See Cohen, Shaye J. D. Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew. The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 82, No. 1. (Jan., 1989), pp. 13-33.
[8] Weber. Ancient Judaism. pg. 412.
[9] Wilken, Robert L. “Judaism in Roman and Christian Society.” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 47, No. 4. (Oct., 1967), pp. 315-316.
[10] Philo. Life of Moses 1.27 Available from http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book24.html. Accessed December 5, 2007.
[11] Cohen, Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew, pg. 30.
[12] Bauckham, Richard. God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans: 1998. pg.6.
[13] Available from the Internet Sacred Text Archive website at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tbr/index.htm. Though the Mishnah dates later than the first century, it is a compendium of Jewish practices that were already in practice by the 2nd Century A.D.
[14] William Albright’s dating of the Nash Papyrus. Albright, William F. “A Biblical Fragment from the Maccabaean Age: The Nash Papyrus,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 56, No. 3. (Sep., 1937), p.149.
[15] Bauckham. pg. 6.
Five Sacred Crossings: A Novel Approach to a Reasonable Faith is due out in January of 2008. I was given the opportunity to preview the book and I was quite impressed. In fact, I read the entire book in one night! The author, Dr. Craig Hazen, is the director of the apologetics program at Biola University (my school). He has written a book that fulfills the need for a modern-day Christian apologetic told through a delightful story. I recommend this book for every person interested in seeking truth; I strongly recommend it for those who may be a bit intimidated by apologetics but still want to “get their feet wet” in the important area of defending the faith.
Faith, Film, and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen is a book that addresses the subject of the philosophy behind individual movies. Every movie entails a message that is powerfully conveyed through this most influential form of media. As quoted from the Faith, Film, and Philosophy website: “The fourteen essays of Faith, Film and Philosophy explore big ideas as they are treated on the big screen. The book explores classic and contemporary films, together with several major philosophical themes, all from a Christian perspective….Faith, Film and Philosophy is a virtual film festival for all who wish to nurture the wonder of philosophical inquiry and the love of Christian theology through an engagement with big ideas on the big screen.” The authors are Dr. R. Douglas Geivett, Professor of Philosophy, Biola University and Dr. James S. Spiegel, Professor of Philosophy at Taylor University.
According to the makers of “Zeitgeist, the Movie,” the worship of Jesus is explainable as another outcrop of apotheosis (human figure exalted to divine status and therefore worthy of worship), as just another divine figure in the “religious cafeteria”[1] of the first century pantheon of gods, or perhaps a product of astrology. But is this explanation reconcilable to the actual historical and demographical evidence of first century Palestine and of the earliest surviving Christian writings? No. The earliest demonstration of the “cultic” worship of Jesus is by Second-Temple Jewish believers.[2] Though, as will be shown, this is an extremely important piece of Christianity’s development, “Zeitgeist, the Movie” completely ignores this fact.
The Second-Temple Jewish believers were unquestionably influenced culturally by the Hellenism brought from the Roman occupation of their lands.[3] But what historians must do is look at exactly how these Jewish believers were influenced, and in what areas of life. One area in which they were influenced was language. There are Greek copies of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint; clearly demonstrating that some of the Jewish people spoke/read Greek. However, it does not follow that these people were therefore influenced in religious practice. This kind of conclusion requires more specific evidence.
What we do know about Second-Temple Jewish believers is that their devotion to the “One God” stuck out amongst the menagerie of pagan deities surrounding them. The Jewish adherence to God’s uniqueness can be seen in various non-rabbinic texts of the Jewish provenance: Sibylline Oracles (3.11-12, 545-61; cf. 4.27-32; 5.172-76; 493-500), Letter of Aristeas (132-38), Wisdom of Solomon, (13-15), and references in Philo and Josephus.[4] The First Book of Maccabees also describes Jewish devotion to the One God specifically with regard to the Hellenistic influences (1 Maccabees 2:15-26). From the Old Testament, worship of any other gods was established as detestable and vile. “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed,” as found in Deuteronomy 8:19. Also, in Deuteronomy 13: 6-9, “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.” So what can be inferred from these evidences is the believers of Second-Temple Judaism not only disallowed influences of the pagan religions on their belief structure, but also vehemently opposed this activity.
The young Christian movement, located entirely within Second-Temple Judaism, associated Jesus with worship of and devotion to the One God; while at the same time showing disdain for worship of the multiple deities of the Roman environment. The earliest writings of Christianity (c. A.D. 50-60) by the apostle Paul demonstrate this very idea. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul describes his praise of the new believers for their conversion “to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the dead – Jesus who rescues us from the wrath that is coming” (1:9-10). Also, in 1 Corinthians 8 through 10, Paul addresses the Gentiles with regard to leaving behind their pagan religious practices. He advises them to completely shun any former pagan practices in light of their conversion to the one true God (through Jesus Christ).
The idea of abandoning all other deities was uncommon and dissimilar to the pagan mystery religions. The apotheosis stories and other pagan deities cannot show the same devotion to worship of one God. The earliest Christian writings disdain these very religions for their practices and establish a totally new kind of “theology”; namely, Jesus was to be identified and worshiped as the one, true God, not supplanting God, but as a part of God’s identity. The makers of “Zeitgeist, the Movie” need to satisfy the question of why the earliest Christians, who were Second-Temple Jewish believers, would create a theology influenced by the pagan deities in light of the historical evidence that these people abhorred pagan worship and deities. Speculation and surface similarities of worship practices will not suffice to explain the historical Jewish faith or the Christian sect that developed from Judaism in the first century.
MJ
[1] Hurtado, Larry. How Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus. Cambridge, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2005, Pg. 25
[2] The name “Second Temple Judaism” has become popular in more modern scholarship to describe the religion of the Jewish people who practiced their faith in the time frame of the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple to at least the time of the destruction of this second temple in AD 70.
[3] For further study: Martin Hengel. Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003.
[4] Hurtado. How Did Jesus Become a God? Pg.118
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007