A KISSed History of Beliefs
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Alexander was a great military commander. He became king of Greece in 336 at the age of twenty when his father was assassinated, and he carried out his father’s dream of conquering the Persian Empire. He led his army across the Hellespont and defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Issus in 333.
Then he marched along the coast, where Tyre finally succumbed after a seven month siege. Next he marched to Egypt, where he was welcomed by the populace as a liberator. Returning northward, Alexander’s forces won another major battle with the Persians at Gaugamela on the way to Babylon in 331. Not yet content, he attempted to invade India but died of a fever in 323.
When Alexander died, the empire fractured and was fought over by his generals. As the struggle progressed, the one with the most territory was Seleucus, who controlled the region from Asia Minor to the Indus. His chief rival was Ptolemy, who ruled Egypt and Palestine. To the east, the region of Bactria was allowed to drift out of the Seleucid Empire, and a man named Chandragupta Maurya established an indigenous empire in India.
Elsewhere in the world, the Mayan civilization developed in the Yucatan peninsula, and in Africa the Kushite kingdom in Nubia had a thriving trade with merchants as far away as China.
To the west of the Seleucid Empire, Greece became divided into various city-states and leagues again. Further west, the Roman Republic gained control of the Italian peninsula in 270 when it annexed the Greek cities in the southern tip. Carthage dominated the western Mediterranean and soon was fighting Rome over the islands of Sicily, Sardina and Corsica in a series of battles called the Punic Wars from 264 until 202, when Rome finally won. During this time in Alexandria, about seventy Jewish scholars created the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Probably not as substantial as the changes made by Jesus and Paul though, right?
Well, without you being specific there is nothing for me to comment on, so I will TTYL.
Rome defeated Philip V (who had supported Hannibal’s invasion of Italy from Spain in 218) in 197. Then Rome attacked the Seleucid king, Antiochus III (who had provided Hannibal refuge in Antioch after he was defeated by Scipio in 202), when he tried to invade Greece in 192, and forced him to surrender his navy and most of Asia Minor.
His successor, Antiochus IV or Epiphanes (“god manifest”) tried to conquer the Ptolemaic Empire in 167, but he was intercepted by a Roman envoy, who drew a circle on the ground around Antiochus and demanded that he promise to withdraw before stepping outside of it. Antiochus promised. Later that same year, Antiochus’ response to civil unrest in Jerusalem was vicious. He endeavored to suppress Judaism by outlawing circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, and possession of the OT Scriptures. An altar to Zeus was erected in the temple, and on it unclean animals such as swine were sacrificed. This abomination provoked a rebellion, which is described in the apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees.
Judas Maccabeus (“the hammer”) led a guerilla group that captured Jerusalem in 164, cleansing the Temple, which is commemorated by the festival of Hanukkah. His brother Simon proclaimed himself head of a Jewish state in 142, thus establishing the Hasmonean dynasty. The supporters of the Hasmonean priesthood eventually became the party known as the Sadducees, and another group (called the Hasidim or pious ones) resisted Hellenization of the Jewish culture and eventually became the Pharisees and Essenes. These two groups struggled for domination until Rome made Palestine a province in 63.
In 146 Rome burned Carthage, massacred its inhabitants and sewed the ground with salt. That same year Rome also destroyed Corinth and conquered Greece. In 133, Asia Minor became Rome’s eighth province. However, at the same time the Roman Republic was gaining wealth and territory, it was becoming morally and politically corrupt.
Between 133 and 121 two Gracchus brothers tried to institute reforms that would return land to the plebians, but they were killed by members of the patrician senate. Civil war broke out between the General Assembly led by Marius and the Senate led by Sulla, who prevailed in 82. When Sulla stepped down in 79, a period of unrest followed until a triumvirate of consuls (Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus) established order in 60.
After Crassus was killed while leading his army in Asia, Pompey influenced the Senate to disband Caesar’s army in 49. Instead, Caesar led it across the Rubicon River into Italy, so Pompey fled to Greece and then to Egypt, where he was killed by Ptolemy XIII, and Caesar became dictator until he was murdered in 44 by a conspiracy that wanted to return to the republican form of government. Caesar’s son, Octavian, and Mark Antony defeated the conspirators and ruled jointly for ten years. They proclaimed Herod of Idumea (Edom) king of Judea in 40 and sent Sosius to recapture Jerusalem for him.
When it appeared as if Mark Antony intended to establish an independent empire with Cleopatra in Egypt, Octavian attacked and defeated their navies at the Battle of Actium in 30, whereupon they committed suicide. Octavian took the name Augustus and ruled as the first Roman emperor. This began a period of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, which continued until the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 A.D.
Between 133 and 121 two Gracchus brothers tried to institute reforms that would return land to the plebians, but they were killed by members of the patrician senate. Civil war broke out between the General Assembly led by Marius and the Senate led by Sulla, who prevailed in 82. When Sulla stepped down in 79, a period of unrest followed until a triumvirate of consuls (Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus) established order in 60.
After Crassus was killed while leading his army in Asia, Pompey influenced the Senate to disband Caesar’s army in 49. Instead, Caesar led it across the Rubicon River into Italy, so Pompey fled to Greece and then to Egypt, where he was killed by Ptolemy XIII, and Caesar became dictator until he was murdered in 44 by a conspiracy that wanted to return to the republican form of government. Caesar’s son, Octavian, and Mark Antony defeated the conspirators and ruled jointly for ten years. They proclaimed Herod of Idumea (Edom) king of Judea in 40 and sent Sosius to recapture Jerusalem for him.
When it appeared as if Mark Antony intended to establish an independent empire with Cleopatra in Egypt, Octavian attacked and defeated their navies at the Battle of Actium in 30, whereupon they committed suicide. Octavian took the name Augustus and ruled as the first Roman emperor. This began a period of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, which continued until the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 A.D.
Two minor points regarding this post. First, you declined to note that Sulla was a dictator in Rome prior to Julius Caesar and you neglected to mention that Sulla had organized his army at the behest of the Roman Senate to deal with the rebellion in Asia that had spread to Greece and removed both regions from Roman control and that Sulla after his victory, and safely before Ceasar (the same logic, that they were a threat to the existing Senate applied) to not bring his army into Italy. Secondly, Crassus died while leading his troops in Parthia, not Asia. And following his death in 53, the Parthians invaded Syria and Judah, not fully leaving until 37 CE
Summarizing history is an art rather than a science, but I am glad you said what was omitted were minor points.
However, Google said the following: Parthia is in Asia. Its original homeland was located in southwestern Asia, specifically in modern-day northeastern Iran and southern Turkmenistan. At its peak, the Parthian Empire stretched across a vast area of western and central Asia.
However, Google said the following: Parthia is in Asia. Its original homeland was located in southwestern Asia, specifically in modern-day northeastern Iran and southern Turkmenistan. At its peak, the Parthian Empire stretched across a vast area of western and central Asia.
When Herod died in 4 B.C., his will divided the kingdom between his sons Archelaus in Judea and Samaria, Antipas in Galilee and Perea, and Philip in the area north and east of Galilee. The stage was set for the most important event in the history of the world, the central piece of the puzzle surrounded by this framework. It was the “fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4, Eph. 1:10). The people God had chosen to provide the physical ancestry of Messiah were located at the geo-political center of the world. The OT canon had been completed. This area of the world had one language, koine Greek, in which to communicate the gospel. And the Pax Romana provided a favorable political climate for the growth of the Christian church.
So, in fulfillment of prophecies by Malachi (4:5) and Isaiah (40:3), John the Baptist began to preach as the last prophet of the Old Covenant (Matt. 3:1, Luke 3:1-3, John 1:6&15). The theme of his preaching was simply “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”, referring to the coming of Messiah/Christ, which many view as the climax of history, because it has dominated the history of beliefs ever since.
The New Testament teaches that Messiah’s atonement/death and resurrection/ascension to heaven is the culmination of God’s plan of salvation. The Mosaic sacrificial laws were fulfilled when Jesus was slain as the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of humanity (Rev. 5:5-14, 13:8).
So, in fulfillment of prophecies by Malachi (4:5) and Isaiah (40:3), John the Baptist began to preach as the last prophet of the Old Covenant (Matt. 3:1, Luke 3:1-3, John 1:6&15). The theme of his preaching was simply “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”, referring to the coming of Messiah/Christ, which many view as the climax of history, because it has dominated the history of beliefs ever since.
The New Testament teaches that Messiah’s atonement/death and resurrection/ascension to heaven is the culmination of God’s plan of salvation. The Mosaic sacrificial laws were fulfilled when Jesus was slain as the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of humanity (Rev. 5:5-14, 13:8).
It is doubtful that Herod the Great actually died in 4 BCE, far more likely he merely lost his status as a "friend of Rome". The events Josephus records as occurring around his death fit far better with a death in 1 CE. And an obscure source claims that around 5 BCE, Herod committed a grave offense in attacking a fellow client king. If this is true, the offense would lead to a loss of "friend of Rome" status, and exile if caught within Roman territory, as indicated by the fates of multiple client kings.
But I will acknowledge that his death in 4 BCE fits far better with traditional Chrisian theology than a death in 1 CE, the latter would raise issues and suggest that some facts were being intentionally distorted.
From Christ to Mohammed
Following the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus about 30 A.D. (all dates will be A.D. unless noted otherwise) during the reign of the Roman emperor (RE, used also for Roman Empire) Tiberius, Paul the Apostle began his missionary travels about 45 during the reign of Claudius, two years after the Roman conquest of Britain. Paul taught that the Gentiles were included in God’s plan of salvation for humanity, so that all believers in Jesus as Messiah were chosen people, destined for heaven.
In China, the emperor introduced Buddhism in 58, which taught that Nirvana (release from self-consciousness) was obtained by means of enlightenment, which was aided by meditation on teachings of the Buddha, Gautama.
The RE Nero instituted the persecution of Christians, murdering St. Peter and probably St. Paul in 67, about the time Mark’s Gospel was written, which seems to have been before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70, since that event was not mentioned. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke incorporated much of Mark’s version of the life and teachings of Jesus, while the Gospel of John was a later and more theological work, emphasizing that Jesus was Messiah or Son of God.
Under RE Trajan, the empire reached its greatest extent by 116. Justin Martyr (d.166) maintained that Plato knew the Torah and that the Logos is Christ. Irenaeus (c.180) advocated doctrinal unity by submission to the authority of bishops and councils in opposition to heresy, such as the attempt by Valentinus to align Christianity with Platonic philosophy.
As the bishop of Rome gained a predominant position among Christian churches by 200, the New Testament (not yet canonized) teaching regarding salvation via personal faith in Jesus as Lord and obedience to his command for universal love was supplanted by a belief that stressed conformity to the interpretation and authority of Roman Catholicism (RC).
Tertullian (d.c.220) was the first person to speak of God as a Trinity. He became a follower of Montanism, which taught continuing ecstatic prophecy was equally as authoritative as the doctrines of the original apostles. Origen (d.254) wrote De principiis, interpreting scripture allegorically and espousing universal salvation.
About 260, Plotinus wrote the Enneads, the founding document of Neo-Platonism, which taught that there is a transcendent “One” that is beyond being, although we identify it with Good and Beauty, and that existents emanate from the One in succeeding stages of declining perfection from nous (logos, reason) to world soul to human soul to matter. About 310, Apollinarius maintained that Christ was God incarnate in opposition to Arius, who denied that Christ was eternally begotten of God.
Thank you for this. I differ on a few details, but that is again a minor point.
Now for disputes, I hold that Jesus was crucified in 33 based on a variety of reasons including political and archeological, not 30, and thus push Paul's initial missionary journey back a little. Paul's stated chronology in Galatians would not allow for a missionary journey in 45 with a 33 crucifixion, but a 45 missionary journey would have benefits for later political considerations.
Nero plausibly began persecuting the Christians in the mid to late 50's, but clearly by 64. It is possible he executed Peter, but he appears to have exiled Paul, who was likely executed under Vespasian, but such could not be admitted after the Roman victory in the 1st Jewish war. Mark might well have been written as early as the 40's, it is possible that a fragment of his work in the Dead Sea Scrolls can be dated to 49. John's lost 1st edition likely dates to the mid-50's. Matthew appears to have been written in the mid-60's and Luke seems to date to the early-70's. John's rewritten version likely dates to the mid-80's.
As for Tertullian and Valentius, I find evidence that Christianity allied with Platonism from an early date, Valentius just tried to go too far.
Finally regarding Apollinarius and Arius, Arius was hardly the leading proponent of Jesus's humanity over eternal pre-existence, he was merely the loudest proponent who did not acquiesce to Constantine. He supported what had been the majority position within the church prior to Constantine's "purchase" of the church around, plausibly during, the Council of Nicaea.
Thanks for your comments, rew. History is indeed filled with many possibilities/likelies/mights/can bes/appears/seems,
so you may be correct--I was only trying to be approximate based on the sources I summarize. TBC...
After Trajan, the RE declined as non-Christian (pagan or heathen) Germanic tribes (Goths, Franks, Alemanni, Saxons, Thuringians, etc.) gained strength. Germanic and Norse religion was polytheistic, with Odin as chief god. Its earliest extant source document is the Eddas (probably composed about 850). During the reign of Diocletian, the RE was divided east and west in 285, until it was reunited by Constantine in 308, who ended the persecution of Christians with an edict in 313. He moved the capitol to Constantinople in 331. During his reign a council in Nicaea in 325 adopted the Nicene Creed:
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit.
An early version of what later became the Apostles’ Creed, called the “Old Roman Creed,” was in use as early as the second century, but the earliest written form of this creed is found in a letter that Marcellus of Ancyra wrote in Greek to Julius, the bishop of Rome, about AD 341. The text is as follows:
I believe in God the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord, Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the third day rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, [life everlasting].
Following the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381, the Nicene Creed was further supplemented with the following:
And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father;
who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Any comments on these creeds?
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit.
An early version of what later became the Apostles’ Creed, called the “Old Roman Creed,” was in use as early as the second century, but the earliest written form of this creed is found in a letter that Marcellus of Ancyra wrote in Greek to Julius, the bishop of Rome, about AD 341. The text is as follows:
I believe in God the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord, Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the third day rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, [life everlasting].
Following the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381, the Nicene Creed was further supplemented with the following:
And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father;
who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Any comments on these creeds?
Here are my comments on the complete Nicene Creed.
1. We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
GWH - So far, so good, except that Scripture supporting this should be cited, such as Genesis 1. Even a child who is old enough to be a sinner is able to understand that sin is not cooperating with his/her heavenly parent.
2. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
GWH - This is too wordy and also lacks Scripture references. A creed should express only what is necessary to understand and believe in order to be saved, and understanding the Trinity in detail is not required, but only that Jesus is God manifested as Messiah or Savior from just punishment of sin.
3. and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.
GWH - Incarnate needs to be explained as God/God's Spirit manifested as a man, but it is not necessary to understand virgin birth.
4. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;
GWH - It is necessary to know that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and arose to heaven. Scripture would be good.
5. and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end.
GWH - It is necessary to believe that after death those who are saved will be happy in heaven, but not those who hate God/Jesus.
6. And in the Holy Spirit. // And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father;
who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
GWH - Again, it is not necessary to understand the Trinity in order to be saved, but even a child can understand that God is invisible Spirit, the Spirit of Love and Truth. (1John 4:7-5:6)
7. In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
GWH - It is necessary to understand that "catholic" refers to all of those who worship or believe in God/Christ, who are a spiritual body or church, and that holy means "saved" and that "apostolic" refers to those who first believed and wrote the Bible, mainly John, Peter--and Paul.
8. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
GWH - It is not necessary to understand the (didachaic) doctrine of baptism in order to be saved but only to believe in God and the (kerygmatic) Gospel.
9. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
GWH - This restates #5 and thus should be combined with it.
Any more commentary?
In 386, Augustine decided to convert to Catholic Christianity, returning from Milan to Carthage before settling in Hippo and writing prolifically until his death in 430 what became the dominant RC theology. Especially significant were his doctrines regarding original sin, predestination, infant baptism and papal supremacy. RC theology was dominant in Christendom through the Middle Ages until the Protestant Reformation. The Christological controversy continued with Nestorius opposed to calling Mary the “mother of God” because it denied Jesus’ humanity, prompting Cyril of Alexandria to convene the Council of Ephesus in 431.
After the death of Theodosius I in 395, the RE was redivided permanently, and the western part weakened as Rome was sacked by Visigoths from Dacia (Romania) in 410 (before they established a kingdom in Gaul and Spain in 419), then in 455 by Vandals from the Baltic area (who had migrated across Europe to Spain and then across the straits of Gibraltar and eastward along the African coast as far as Sicily by 429).
These migrations may have been motivated by the Huns, who migrated from Mongolia across the Volga in 372, defeating the Ostrogoths in the Ukraine and travelling as far as Gaul before attacking Italy in 452. Their religion may have been Tengriism, about which little is known until the time of the Mongols, but it revered the god of the sky or heaven. The Roman part of the empire ended in 476, when Italy was captured by Germans led by Odoacer.
After the death of Theodosius I in 395, the RE was redivided permanently, and the western part weakened as Rome was sacked by Visigoths from Dacia (Romania) in 410 (before they established a kingdom in Gaul and Spain in 419), then in 455 by Vandals from the Baltic area (who had migrated across Europe to Spain and then across the straits of Gibraltar and eastward along the African coast as far as Sicily by 429).
These migrations may have been motivated by the Huns, who migrated from Mongolia across the Volga in 372, defeating the Ostrogoths in the Ukraine and travelling as far as Gaul before attacking Italy in 452. Their religion may have been Tengriism, about which little is known until the time of the Mongols, but it revered the god of the sky or heaven. The Roman part of the empire ended in 476, when Italy was captured by Germans led by Odoacer.
