Fearful of his fate if he were judged by the Sanhedrin, Paul invoked his status as a Roman citizen and demanded that his case be heard before the emperor in Rome. His demand was granted Acts , verifying the power and respect for Roman citizenship.
But if Paul believed that he had departed from Judaism and had launched the new religion of Christianity why didn't he say so, with his life at stake? Why didn't he say "I'm a Christian, not a Jew.
I believe in Jesus Christ, who the Sanhedrin has rejected. As a Christian they have no Jurisdiction over me. You must release me. And surely, given his status as a Roman citizen, he would have been released. But he didn't use that obvious defense. Only one explanation can account for Paul's puzzling behavior: he believed he was a Jew proposing a valid revision that embraced Jesus as fulfilling the Jewish Messiah prophesy.
In a sense he may have even felt more Jewish than the Sanhedrin in embracing the Messiah Jesus. So, instead of freedom, Paul squanders five years at the peak of his ministry, which included imprisonment in Caesarea, a lengthy treacherous journey to Rome, and then house arrest in Rome.
Punctuating Paul's persistent dedication to Judaism and his Jewish identity, when arriving in Rome he summons the Jewish leadership. He bitterly complains to them that the Romans have no argument with him but that the Sanhedrin has charged him with blasphemy, when he has committed none--still believing that his form of Judaism was the right one. He was clinging to his Jewish identity.
Note too that there is no mention in the New Testament narrative of any consideration of the argument that would have given Paul his freedom "I'm not a Jew any longer, I'm a Christian. At that point in the development of Jewish Christianity, the converts were predominantly Gentiles. With Paul gone and Gentile conversions accelerating, many different sects sprang up. Irenaeus, an early Church leader, counted twenty forms of Christianity.
These disparate sects, says Flesher, had disagreements about fundamental theological doctrines, choice of scriptures, and religious practices.
By the fourth century competing sects still flourished. This broad-stroke sweeping history sketch documents how Christianity "just happened. In this campaign the most devastating blow was the charge of "Christ Killers," with its lethal consequences for Jews. The fatal distancing of Christians and Jews that followed has only recently begun the process of reconciliation and healing, strengthened by Pope Francis' bold statement : "Inside every Christian is a Jew.
In , in a rare occurrence, the first night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve fall on the same date , December 24th. Since that convergence has happened only three times , , and Perhaps this rare event signals a prophetic time for Christians and Jews to celebrate the common foundation of the two faiths. But, it was not until that Constantine finally became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. But he discovered that Christianity itself was not unified. So, he called the Council of Nicea in to bring together the 1, bishops from around the empire to work out official doctrine and provide the basis for a unified Church.
Constantine paid for the entire council and even paid for travel, giving bishops the right of free transportation on the imperial postal system. The council laid the foundation of orthodox theology Catholic theology and declared several differing theologies heresies. Past columns and more information about the program can be found on the web at www. University Ave. Visit Campus. Download Viewbook.
To this day, especially in the United States, it is used to create support for war in the Middle East. Atwill says he made his discovery when while studying the New Testament alongside the 'War of the Jews' by Josephus - the only surviving first-person historical account of first-century Judea.
Richard Dawkins, the English evolutionary biologist and author, well known for his anti-religion views, yesterday tweeted a link to the press release advertising the event in London. However, he later tweeted: "RT doesn't imply endorsement. I'm not qualified to judge Atwill's thesis. Just thought it might be worth a look. These theories commonly include the suggestion that secret societies, mystery schools and other religions used the fictional story of Christ to unify the Roman Empire under one state religion.
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