 | History of Christianity: Encyclopedia II - History of Christianity - Roots of Christianity
History of Christianity - Roots of Christianity
To see Christianity's common roots and relationship with other world religions, see Christianity and world religions.
History of Christianity - The Jewish background
Main articles: Christ and Messiah
Christian beliefs state that the preincarnate Christ was involved in the Creation of all things (John 1:3, Col 1:16, Heb 1:2) and as Angel of Yahweh (eg Gen. 16:7-14; Gen. 24:7; Ex. 14:19; 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Chron. 21:1-27; Zech. 1:12-13; 1 Cor. 10:4). The peoples, whose faith point to this Messiah, began with Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15) and continued as the Jewish "nation."
Jesus and his first followers were Jews and Jewish Proselytes. His teaching was based on the Hebrew Scriptures, and he sometimes referred to other traditional writings of Judaism. Christianity continued to use the Jewish scriptures (the Tanakh became their Old Testament) and accept such fundamental doctrines of Judaism as monotheism, (and thus, in turn, Judaism's sole deity YHWH) and the belief in a moshiach (Hebrew term usually rendered messiah in English, which is equivalent to the term, Christ — Christos in Greek). However, from the outset, according to the New Testament, the teachings of Jesus were seen by the Jewish religious leaders as being incompatible with Judaism, which itself was very diverse during the time of Iudaea Province.
In a New Testament account which is contested by many Jews as being non-historical, the temple priesthood and the Sanhedrin (the supreme religious and civic court of Jerusalem, at that time) conspired to have Jesus put to death by the Roman authorities. He taught things about his identity and authority which they believed were incompatible with the Mosaic Law, and the Jewish traditions of doctrine and the worship of the God of Israel. "This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:18 (ESV)). Some testified that he sought to destroy Herod's Temple: "Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death" (Matthew 26:59 (ESV)). From the time of his crucifixion forward, the Jewish leaders are said to have attempted to suppress those who followed his teaching. But, after his death and resurrection, according to the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles formed a community, a church distinct from other Jews and Greeks, into which they allowed uncircumcised Gentiles to enter by baptism, while openly declaring Jesus to be the Christ, and they began to be called Nazarenes and Christians.
Christianity also continued many of the patterns found in Judaism at that time, such as adapting the liturgical form of worship of the synagogue to church parishes, prayer, use of sacred scriptures, a priesthood, a religious calendar in which certain events and/or beliefs are specifically commemorated on certain days each year, use of music in hymns and prayer, giving tithes to the Church, and ascetic disciplines such as fasting and almsgiving. Christians initially adopted the Greek translations of the Jewish scriptures, known as the Septuagint, as their own Bible, and later also canonized the books of the New Testament.
History of Christianity - The Life of Jesus of Nazareth
- Jesus
- Historical Jesus
- Sermon on the Mount
- Twelve Apostles
- Pharisees
- John the Baptist
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