1. Backgrounds to English Literature
Lecture 24: Early Christianity 1

2. =Jesus and Judaism: the doctrine of Messiah
-Importance of the doctrine of Messiah: Judaism is a messianic religion and that hope for the messiah’s appearance is the major focus of, and driving force behind, Jewish religious belief and behavior.
-Origin of the doctrine of Messiah in Judaism
1. The destruction of the First Temple in 586/587 BC (The Babylonian Exile): the loss of the Davidic dynasty, of Israel’s political autonomy, and the land of Israel itself constituted a cultural trauma
2. For most of its history, Judaism has existed without a native center. Its scripture, theology, liturgy, practices, and most of its writings assume that Judaism’s adherents are living as aliens, away from their native territory.
3. The doctrine of Messiah: the ancient promise of restoration

3. 4. The messiah-theme is inextricably bound up with the notion of exile, and the Jews’ recovery of the land they regard as theirs inevitably has messianic overtones.
5. The term “messiah” means “anointed” or “anointed one.” In ancient Israel, pouring of oil conferred leadership status on a priest, prophet, or king. The shift from the conception of the “messiah” as simply a current leader – a duly anointed king or judge, for instance – to the idea of a future redeemer for Israel after the destruction of the First Temple.
-Jesus as the Messiah: Various elements embed Jesus in the Hebrew scriptures and forge an indelible continuity between him (and thus the early Christians) and Israel.
1. Early Christian writers attached the word christos, the Greek for mashiah (Hebrew, anointed), to Jesus’ name. The New Testament uses the term three hundred and fifty times

4. 2. The promise-fulfillment motif: Gospels’ distinctive use of fulfillment formulas (“All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord declared through the prophet . . .”) to make various prophetic statements into predictions of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection.
3. The genealogies devised by Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38)
-The early Christians situated the messiah’s origin not in the present but in Israelite antiquity. Thus the messiah emerges not as an abrupt response to a contemporary crisis, but as the ultimate fulfillment of centuries of accumulated hope and intensifying expectation, the culmination and completion of an ancient Israelite tradition.

5. =The story of Jesus
-Birth of Jesus
1. Annunciation: God-man: “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. . . Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
2. The Nativity:
2.2. “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.”

6. 2.3. Christmas celebration began by St. Francisco of Assisi
3. The 3 Wise Men (Magi): “they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
4. King Herod: the massacre of the Innocents and flight into Egypt
-The Good News of Jesus
1. 12 Disciples: 12 tribes of Israel and all male
2. The idea of the Kingdom of Heaven (God): it is described in parables and not clearly identified
-Death, Resurrection, and Ascension:
1. Conflicts with the Pharisees and Scribes: Jesus’s violation of the Laws and popularity among the people
2. The Last Supper: Passover and New Covenant)
3. Death on the cross
4. Resurrection
5. Ascension

7. =The formation of the early Christianity
-When did the Christianity begin?
1. Definition of Christianity: the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices:
2. Some candidates for the origin of Christianity: the day of Pentecost, the day of Resurrection, the birthday of Jesus, the day when Jesus began to teach.
3. Acts 11:26, “So it was that for an entire year they associated with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians’.”
-St. Peter: the first Pope; Christians of the Jews
-St. Paul: Christians of the Pagans

8. Group Discussion
-In our contemporary society, do you think we need a religion? If yes, why? If not, why?