4 April 2017 Bellringer – Use your notes to answer these questions 1.What is Monotheism? 2.What is the name of the Hebrew’s religion? 3.Who was Abraham? What is Canaan? 4.What is the Exodus?  5.Why were the Romans so upset with the Jews? 6.Why is the Resurrection so important? 7.The birth of Jesus marks the shift from ____ to _____. 8.How are Christianity & Judaism alike/different? Basic Beliefs of Christianity HW : You have a quiz tomorrow over Christianity & the Early Hebrews – look over your notes & make sure your summaries are done!!!

The Beliefs of Christianity PowerPoint Notes Section 11.2

You are a Roman soldier stationed in one of the empire’s provinces You are a Roman soldier stationed in one of the empire’s provinces. You are proud that you’ve helped bring Roman culture to this place far from the city of Rome. But one group of local people refuses to take part in official Roman holidays and rituals, saying it is against their religious beliefs. Other than that, they seem peaceful. Even so, some soldiers think this group is dangerous. What will you do about this group? If you were there…

As the Roman Empire expanded, it came to include many people who spoke many different languages and followed many different religions. While Roman officials were generally tolerant of local religions and cultures, they did not allow anything—like the religion mentioned before—that might threaten their authority Building Background

Religious Tolerance and Conflict The Romans did not insist on imposing their beliefs on others. Roman would often adopt the gods of other cultures they conquered. In order to avoid offending any god, the Romans prayed to a wide variety of gods and goddesses. The Romans would only ban a religion when they thought that it would become a political problem. Religious Tolerance and Conflict

Clashes with the Jews Clashes with Judaism- Since the Jews refused to worship any god but their own, some Romans thought the Jews insulted Rome’s gods by not praying to them. Also did not believe that the emperor was “part god” Still, the Romans did not attempt to ban Judaism. The Jews caused “trouble” by rebelling against Roman rule. The Jews were never successful. Early 100s Romans were hostile towards the Jews: treated harshly and taxed heavily-Hadrian banned certain Jewish rituals hoping to cause them to give up Judaism…didn’t work Rebellion in Judea AD 66-70 Emperor Hadrian banned Judaism from being practiced in the Empire. Jews revolted, lost, and were forced out of the city of Jerusalem.

Christianity- The religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus was considered to be the Messiah or “God’s Anointed One” by the Christians. Note – Later the Birth of Jesus will mark the switch from BC (Before Christ) to AD (anno Domini) By the age of 30 Jesus had started to travel and teach about religion. He emphasized – love God and other people. And the teaching of salvation (recuse from sin) A New Religion

The stories of his actions are written in the New Testament in the Christian Bible. Jesus’ teaching challenged the authority of political and religious leaders. According to the Bible, Jesus was arrested around the year AD 30. Shortly after his arrest, Jesus was executed by crucifixion. It is the type of execution which a person was nailed to a cross. Jesus of Nazareth

Resurrection According to Christian beliefs, Jesus rose from the dead three days after he was crucified. This rise from the dead is known as the Resurrection in Christianity. (According to the History Textbook) After the Resurrection, Jesus’ Apostles (12 disciples whom Jesus chose to receive special training) traveled widely telling about Jesus and his teachings. They also wrote about his life and teachings – which can be found in the New Testament (The Gospels – Mathew, Mark , Luke & John) At first Christianity was spread only among Jews.

Messiah Prophet vs. Messiah? According to the World History Textbook, Early Christians believe that the Resurrection was a sign that Jesus was the messiah and son of God Some people began to call him Jesus Christ, from the Greek words for Messiah, christos It is from this word that the words Christian and Christianity later developed Prophet vs. Messiah?

Christianity Within a hundred years of Jesus’ death, there were thousands of Christians in the Roman Empire. Some officials arrested and killed Christians who refused to worship Rome’s gods – some feared Christians would cause unrest, so they banned Christianity. Christianity became a “problem” and was persecuted until Emperor Constantine became Christian himself….in the early 300s CE. A later Emperor declared Christianity Rome’s official religion.

Symbolism We do not know whether the story is true but we do know that the fish's first known use as a Christian religious symbol was sometime within the first three centuries AD. Possibly around the 16th century Christians began using the Greek word ichthys for "fish". Ichthys is the most commonly used word in the New Testament for fish. Ichthys consists of five letters from the Greek alphabet: I-ch-th-y-s. When these five letters are used as initials for five words, we obtain this Christian Declaration: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter. This is an acrostic for 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior.' . I Iota the first letter in the Greek word Iesous Jesus X Chi the first letter in the Greek word Christos Christ Q Theta the first letter in the Greek word Theos Of God U Upsilon the first letter in the Greek word Yios (Huois) Son S Sigma the first letter in the Greek word Soter Savior ..----- IXQUS ----- Ichthys ----- Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior Greek meaning Iesous Christos Theos Yios Soter English transliteration ... Jesus Christ Of God Son Savior

1. A reason why Christianity became popular 2. Viewed as a threat to the Roman Empire 3. Both 1, 2, or 3?