I know some Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, but not nearly as much as I would like. I’m merely a scholar wannabe, a mere fanboi of real scholars.
Robert can be as modest as he likes–imposter syndrome is a mark of erudition, and even Socrates professed to know only that he knew nothing–but I’ve been acquainted with more than a few people who were employed full-time by accredited institutions to teach scripture, and Robert knows as much about scripture as the best of them.
Related to the general issue of how Christianity first gained currency among gentiles: I wonder if Zoroastrianism could be a link.
I don’t know much about it, so maybe someone could correct or supplement, but my understanding is that Zoroastrianism
1) Had a strongly apocalyptic element
2) Was a direct influence on post exilic/second-temple Judaism, particularly inspiring Jewish apocalypticism.
3) Was at least known to first century Romans at large.
So, I suppose my question is, Might there have been an awareness and appreciation of eastern apocalypticism more generally, perhaps mediated directly through Zoroastrianism, that might have paved the way for someone like Mark to buy what the first Christians were selling?
Could we perhaps even find an echo of some cultural regard among early gentile converts to Christianity for eastern religions like Zoroastrianism in Matthew’s magi?
On the Zoroastrian question, I snagged a copy of this book ** you do not have permission to see this link ** .
I’m just getting started, but right off the bat, something very relevant that is a new realization for me, is that many of the lands where Christianity first spread (Judea, Syria, Asia Minor) had once been under Persian rule, and there were still people practicing Zoroastrianism living in those places–it was still on the scene in the first century.
Here is just one of many fascinating lines (p441)
This presentation [Paul’s] of the new religion [Christianity] may well have gained it some genuine converts among the Zoroastrians of Asia Minor (such as Bishop Mithres of Hypaipa, or his forbears [fn to p251 for details on him], for it contained little that was specifically Jewish, other than the person of Jesus himself, and embodied doctrines taught by their own faith, namely of a struggle between good and evil, an end of time, a coming World Savior, and a last judgement.
“At the risk of derailing this productive exchange, I would pipe in to add that one of my biggest questions is how the Jewish Jesus movement broke out of Judaism and spread among gentiles. I’m less concerned with how Jewish Christians came to accept gentile converts and more perplexed by why gentiles were motivated to join at all. What message they were given? What background did they have that made them receptive to that message? How did they fit the new religion into their own antecedent world-view?”
Roman religion didn’t offer people much after death. They would be judged after death and most people ended up in the Asphodel Fields, which is described as rather miserable. Only the elite get to go to Elysium, but Christianity offered a version of Elysium to anyone just for believing the story. Frankly, I think it was an easy sell (just like it is today).
“I also try to fudge a little bit on this question. Let’s assume the gospel was first written in Syria. It would have presumably landed in Rome rather soon thereafter in order to then make its way to Matthew and Luke, who may then have made independent use of Mark in relatively distant locations. In the past you’ve made the point that it probably took Mark a while to compose the gospel so maybe it was conceived and written largely in Syria, but was later revised in Rome before it was published more widely throughout the Roman Empire. I’m not saying that I think this is what happened, and I don’t think we can know exactly where the gospel was written or in how many stages, but I do think we can be flexible in how we imagine this question.”
Robert, I was thinking recently whether it was possibly to identify the Greek used in different areas of the world to identify where each of the gospels were written.
Christianity offered a version of Elysium to anyone just for believing the story. Frankly, I think it was an easy sell (just like it is today).
It is not at all clear to me that Christianity as it spread to the gentiles was antinomian or that it anticipated Luther’s (an evangelicals’) sola fide. Paul makes lots of moral demands on his readers, and some of those demands would have been pretty strict by general Roman standards. For that matter so does Jesus in the Gospels.
Second, making attractive promises is one thing, but making those promises believable is another. I mean, I can tell you that if you sign $1000 dollars over to me you will be assured an eternity of bliss; that is a pretty attractive offer–who wouldn’t pay a mere grand for an eternity of bliss–but no one will take me up on the offer unless I can make the offer credible.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert