tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post1935712035668902496..comments2024-02-19T04:50:58.170-08:00Comments on Shuck and Jive: Post #9: Cosmology and Faith on CWBJohn Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-43846431446634123112007-07-19T08:02:00.000-07:002007-07-19T08:02:00.000-07:00John,I agree 99% with what you've said and love th...John,<BR/>I agree 99% with what you've said and love this thoughtful, caring conversation you're having with Bob. This is exactly the kind of dialogue that HAS to happen within the PC(USA) if we're going to make it as a denomination.<BR/><BR/>I have a teeeeeeeeeensy tiiiiiiiiny little objection to the way you characterized the reaction of the Roman government to Jesus and Christianity.<BR/><BR/>I've been a bit of a lay scholar of ancient Rome ever since my high school Latin classes (I love "I, Claudius" and I recommend Derek Jacobi's stellar performance in the title role to anyone). While Josephus may have a slightly better perspective on the mood of Greater Judaea, Suetonius chronicles in <I>The Twelve Caesars</I> that until Nero (who desperately needed a scapegoat), Christianity was tolerated in the Roman Empire as just another crazy cult. Cults were in fact very fashionable, and being a member of the cult of the Phrygian (modern Turkey) goddess Cybele was a particular status symbol. Rome was always embracing cults or even absorbing them into the state theology. Paul's speech to an unknown god on the Areopagus in Athens is a good illustration of this.<BR/><BR/>Palestine in the first century was a territory under occupation, and the natives rightly felt oppressed. It is entirely possible that there was some resentment toward the patronizing attitude that the Romans had toward Judaism (and indeed some echoes of the Hellenization detailed in the Maccabees), but until the Great Revolt (about 30 years after Jesus died), the Romans didn't care as long as the colony was in order and taxes were paid.<BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, Jesus' message of the coming of the Kingdom of God had a powerful political component (as evidenced by the events of Palm Sunday, which our pastoral intern calls one of the world's first protest marches) to the Jewish audience. I think that the Romans eventually saw Jesus as a troublemaker by getting the Sanhedrin's panties in a wad (guess how I answered your poll) and had no objections to their request that Jesus be executed. Pilate's act of placing the "INRI" ("Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews") was an expression of his apathy toward Jewish theology--he couldn't care less. Pilate's job was to maintain order, and if it took executing innocent, yet controversial Jews, he didn't lose any sleep over it.<BR/><BR/>In other words, until Nero, the Romans didn't view Christianity as anything particularly revolutionary. It was just another cult. It was when Nero started making trumped-up terrorism charges against Christians in Rome that things got ugly.Flycandlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08599392875619723740noreply@blogger.com