Chapter 11.2 Guided Notes

Chapter 11.2 Guided Notes

​Religion in the Roman Empire

by David Jenkins

​Big Idea

• Religions that existed inside the Roman empire would grow across the empire and come to influence her greatly.

• Why it matters now: The rise of Christianity would impact billions of people over the course of history and continues to be a dominate religion in the world today.​

​Religious Tolerance & Conflict

​The people of Rome were very religious and held many festivals to honor their gods

• The Romans did not push their beliefs or rituals onto other people or groups

• Freedom of worship

  • When the Romans conquered people, they were generally allowed to keep their religious beliefs and customs

    • Overtime though Roman traditions and practices spread into these areas

    • Roman temples were built and people adopted the Roman gods as their own

  • The Romans worshiped the Olympic gods of Greece but the Romans ones remained

    • As the Romans conquered different groups they blended their religious traditions with the people they conquered. 

​Religious Tolerance cont.

​The Romans were very practical about their worship

• Because they weren’t sure which gods existed or not the Romans said generic prayers to all the gods

• The only time the Romans banned a religion is if it created a political problem.

  • • Judaism was one of the religions that the Romans considered a problem

• Clash with the Jews

  • Unlike the Romans, the Jews worshiped only one god

    • Romans thought this was an insult to their gods

  • Still the Romans did not attempt to ban Judaism until the Jews rebels against the Romans

​Tolerance cont.

​The Romans conquered Judea in 63 BC and many Jews resented being ruled by the Romans 

• As a result the Jews rebelled against the Romans in AD 66-70 and the Jews were defeated in all attempts 

• By the early 100s the Romans had become more hostile toward the Jews

  • The Jews were treated harshly and taxed heavily and so bitter resentment continued to grow. 

    • Matters worsened when Emperor Hadrian banned the practice of Judaism 

    • Emperor Hadrian thought if he banned Judaism than people would abandon the religion

  • These action anger the Jews and again they rebelled

    • Well Hadrian decided to end the rebellion once and for all

  • The roman army destroyed the Jews and Jerusalem in 135 and drove the remaining Jews from the city forbidden to return

    • The surviving Jews had to move to other parts of the Roman world.

Multiple Choice

When did Romans conquer Judea

• 63 BC

• 63AD

• 66 BC

• 66AD

Multiple Choice

How many Gods did the Jews worship

• 5

• 10

• Many

• 1

​A new religion

​At the beginning of the first century AD, a new religion appeared in Judea

• Christrianity was rooted in the ideas and traditions of judaism but developed as a separate faith

Christianity: a religion based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth that developed in Judea at the beginning of the first century AD

•  At the time that Jesus was born around end of the first century BC he was born into a group of strict Jews that lived in Judea

  • This strict group believed they had to follow the laws of Moses perfectly 

    • Many Jews followed these laws closely because their new leader would be among them and they wanted to show strict religious behavior

  • According to the prophecy, the Jews new leader would be a descendant of King David

​A new religion

​The descendant would restore greatness of King David’s kingdom in Israel 

• This leader would be named Messiah “God’s anointed one” in Hebrew

Messiah: in Judaism, a new leader that would restore the greatness of ancient Israel; in Christianity, a leader sent by God to bring salvation to the world

• When Rome conquered Judea in 63 BC, many jews believed that the Messiah would soon appear

  • The Jews believed that the Messiah would save them from the Romans and bring prosperity to their people

​Jesus of Nazareth

​The Christians believe this man was the Jewish Messiah and he lived at the beginning of the first century AD

• Jesus was one of the most influential figures in all of world history and we know relatively little about his life

  • What we do know is held in the Christian Bible 

• The Christian Bible is made up of two parts

  • 1st, the Old Testament, is largely the same as the Hebrew Bible and it tells of the history of the Hebrew people

  • 2nd, the New Testament, is sacred to Christians and contains accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus while on earth

​Jesus

​The Birth of Jesus 

• According to the New Testament, Jess was born in a town called Bethlehem

  • In dating system, the birth of Jesus marks the shift from BC to AD

  • Jesus grew up to be a carpenter but around 30 years old he began to travel and teach religion

• Crucifixion and Resurrection

  • Jesus attracted many followers and influenced the people who listen to him

    • According to the New Testament, his teachings challenged the authority of political leaders and this got Christians in trouble

    • Jesus was arrested around 30 AD in Jerusalem 

  • Shortly after his arrest, Jesus was executed by crucifixion

​Jesus

Crucifixion: a type of execution in which a person nailed to a cross

Resurrection: in Christianity, Jesus rise from the dead

•  After Jesus died his followers buried him

• According to Christian beliefs, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after he was crucified 

  • Christians refer to this event as the resurrection 

  • Many Christians believed that the resurrection was a sign that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God

• The teachings of Jesus 

  • Jesus traveled from village to village spreading his message to the Jewish people. Love everyone.

    • His message was rooted in older Jewish traditions and he emphasized two rules that were taught in the Torah: Love God and love other people

    • Jesus taught the people to love everyone including your enemies ​

​Jesus

• Jesus also talked about salvation in his teachings

  • He taught that people who believed in God would be saved from their sins and let into the Kingdom of God

• The spread of Jesus’s teachings

  • After the resurrection, the Apostles traveled far to tell people about the teachings of Jesus 

    • Some of Jesus’s disciples wrote down their accounts of Jesus’s life and teachings

    • These accounts are called the Gospels and are found in the New Testament in the Christian Bible

  • The most important figure in the spread of Christianity after Jesus’s death was named Paul of Tarsus

    • Paul traveled throughout Roman world to spread Christian teachings

Apostles: the 12 chosen disciples of Jesus who spread his teachings. ​

Multiple Choice

The (blank) testament contains the teachings of Christ

• Torah

• Old

• Bible

• New

Open Ended

Define Crucifixion and Resurrection

​The Growth of Christianity

​The first Christians spread Jesus’s teachings only among the Jews

• Paul and other Christians introduced Christianity to non-Jews as well 

  • Christianity spread rapidly and within 100 years, thousands of Christians lived in the Roman Empire

• Christians trying to spread their beliefs faced many challenges 

  • Some officials even arrested and killed Christians who refused to worship the Roman gods

    • Roman emperors feared that the Christians would create unrest so they banned Christianity 

  • This period of persecution against Christians; persecution is the punishment of a group because of its belief

​Growth of Christianity

• ​Christians began to meet in secret but continued to spread their faith 

• In the early 300s, the Emperor Constantine became a Christian

• Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire

Multiple Choice

Early in Christianity the Roman empire (blanked) Christians

• Became

• Persecuted

• Converted to

• Tolerated