Historical Context

John Dominic Crossan likes to say that "if we can get the first century right (the time of Jesus and the disciples and Paul), we'll get the 21st century right." It kind of goes to follow that for us to get the first century right, we ought to have a sense of its historical context. Hence this compilation, which at worst may bore you to tears, but at best might help set some of that context. Most of the dates are pretty solid, though there is some scholarly conversation about the precision of some of them. This is close enough, I think, for our purposes.

Call the timeline "Earliest Christianity in its Roman Context," or anything else you'd like to call it.

BCE
753 Traditional date for the founding of the village of Rome

74 Herod the Great is born

64 Pompey captures Jerusalem

63 (or when Rome was just under 700 years old, 2.5 times as old as the USA) Octavian is born, and adopted by his uncle, Julius Caesar

58 The First Triumverate is formed by Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar

49 Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Ptolemy queen of Egypt, conceive a child. Two years later, Cleopatra moves into Julius Caesar’s estate in Rome

45 Julius Caesar defeats Pompey and becomes the first dictator of Rome.

44 Julius Caesar is assassinated (by order of the Roman Senate). The Second Triumverate of Octavian, Lepidus, and Octavian's brother-in-law, Marc Antony, takes charge of the dispersed Roman military machine. Antipater (Herod’s father) sends money to Rome to help support the assassination and overthrow

43 Antipater is poisoned by “locals,” power struggle in Palestine ensues

42 Marc Antony hooks up with Cleopatra, Julius Caesar's old flame. They move in together, combine their armies and navies, and eventually flee to Egypt.

37 Herod the Great begins his “reign;” called “King,” he is, actually, like his father, a “regent” Ruler, put in office and kept there by the Roman authorities. Herod oversees the most successful government supported construction efforts in that region since the pyramids

33 The triumvirate dissolves; Lepidus is disgraced and forced from office, and Antony and Octavian become enemies.

31 Octavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Octavian is named Caesar, and takes the name Augustus, and begins the longest reign of any Roman before or since, a 45 year span known ironically as the Pax Romana

30 While under siege from forces loyal to Octavian, Antony, mistakenly believing that Cleopatra had already committed suicide, falls on his own sword. Followers take Antony to Cleopatra’s hiding place, where, according to legend, he dies in Cleopatra’s arms, who soon after actually does commit suicide.

6 (5? 4?) Jesus of Nazareth is born (how is it that Jesus is born “BC”? Most likely a calendar fluke from the time of Pope Gregory centuries later)

4 Herod the Great dies


CE
6 (7? 8?) Saul (who later becomes Paul) is born

14 Caesar Augustus dies. Monuments to him at his tomb and elsewhere, constructed during the last years of his life celebrate the “Gospel” of his life, and declare him to be, among other things, Divine, the Son of God, God, God from God, Prince of Peace, Lord, Redeemer, and Savior of the World. Tiberius, Augustus’ stepson, becomes emperor.

26 (27?) Jesus of Nazareth begins his public ministry. Pontius Pilate becomes Prefect of Judea

29 (30?) Jesus is executed


32 – 37 Paul moves from being a “persecutor” of Jewish followers of Jesus to a follower of Jesus. Paul’s own letters suggest a gradual transformation (hence the date range) while Luke, in the book of Acts, describes a more immediate transformation

36 Pontius Pilate is removed from his office in Judea

37 Gaius, also known as Caligula, becomes emperor

41 Claudius becomes emperor

48 The “Apostolic Assembly” described in Acts and mentioned by Paul takes place in Jerusalem

49 Paul lives for a year in Corinth. Claudius expels all Jews (including Jewish Christians) from the city of Rome.

51 Paul’s earliest surviving letter, I Thessalonians, is written

52 Paul begins a 3-year stay in Ephesus.

54 Paul writes a small portion of what we know call “II Corinthians” (6:14-7:1). Nero becomes emperor when Claudius dies, and opens the way to welcome Jews (including Jewish Christians) back into the city.

55-56 The rest of what we now call II Corinthians and the letters compiled into what we now call I Corinthians, are written. Paul travels to Macedonia and Achaia

56 Paul’s letter to the Romans is written. In the spring, Paul returns to Jerusalem and is arrested.

58 The letter to the Galatians is written. Paul is imprisoned in different cities, and eventually
ends up in Rome

59 Letters to the Philippians and to Philemon are written.

62 Paul is executed in Rome. Earliest possible date for I Peter.

64 Nero “fiddles while Rome burns,” and much of the city is destroyed. Tradition holds that both Peter and Paul are executed as part of the government’s response.

66 The letter to the Colossians is most likely written. A long and bloody series of revolts erupt in Judea

68 The letter to the Ephesians is most likely written

69 Called the “Year of the 4 Emperors”. Nero and others are expelled from Rome by Vespasian, who becomes emperor, transferring power to a new imperial family

70 The temple in Jerusalem is destroyed, and Jews are expelled from Palestine. Also the earliest possible date for the Gospel of Mark

79 Mount Vesuvius erupts. Vespasian dies, Titus becomes emperor

80 The earliest possible date for the Gospel of Matthew. Approximate date for letter to the Hebrews

81 Titus dies, Domitian becomes emperor

85 (90?) The earliest possible date for the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts

90 Approximate date for James, II Peter, and Jude. First Christian bishop of Rome takes office

95 (100?) Earliest possible date for I John, II John, and III John

96 Nerva becomes emperor

98 Trajan becomes emperor

105 (110?) The Gospel of John is written

110 The Revelation is written

117 Hadrian becomes emperor

128 (130) Earliest probable dates for I and II Timothy, Titus

132 Three year revolt in Jerusalem begins when Rome builds a colony and a temple in Jerusalem

What's In a Name (or Title)?

At the core of the argument that our Living the Questions scholars make about the radical nature of the earliest Christian movement is this notion: Roman authorities in the time of Jesus saw as a probable and potentially potent threat, any claim of authority that seemed to deviate from the authority and power of the emperor. And because the followers of Jesus, beginning with the Apostle Paul (remember, Paul is dead for almost a decade by the time the earliest "Gospel" is written) and running through the next couple centuries, described Jesus with the same language as the Romans described particularly Augustus, but to some degree, all of the emperors from Augustus through at least Hadrian (about 170 years worth of emperors), the followers of Jesus were almost by definition seen as threats to the rule of law.

Augustus, who was born 6 decades before Jesus and died while Jesus was a teenager, had these things written on his tombs and monuments. The titles of the pieces were "The Acts of Augustus (compare to what Luke called the second half of his writing, "The Acts of the Apostles") and they said they were carved in stone (literally) to share the "Gospel" or "good news" (the same word used for Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) of the mighty deeds of the Emperor, who was said to have been born of a virgin mother and sired by a Roman god, and who was called Divine, the Son of God, God, very God from very God, Prince of Peace, Lord, Redeemer, and Savior of the World. All these names, these titles which seem second nature to 2 millenia worth of Christians were all first used for Augustus especially, but also for virtually all of the other emperors in the first couple of centuries of the Christian movement.

By taking on those names, those titles, it's pretty easy to imagine why the Roman authorities saw at least the earliest Christian communities as seditious and trouble makers, and why for so long, at least when times were troubled, individuals and individual communities of Christians were seen as defiant, oppositional, and enemies of the state.

Paul and the Surprising Diversity of the Earliest Churches

Four years ago I spent a few days with a group of people studying with John Dominic Crossan, focussed on the work of the apostle Paul. We talked a lot about much of what Crossan talks about in our Living the Questions videos, but in greater depth and detail.

For me, the most revealing new learning came from work that Crossan did with archeologist Jonathan Reed, detailed in two different books, Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts, and In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom. These books offer fascinating details about the actual historical sites associated with the earliest Christian communities including this one.

Outside of Palestine itself, in the "diaspora," or "dispersion," synagogues from the middle first century, many of which served as primary gathering places for the teachings of Jesus to be shared, often listed the names of those who contributed to the construction of the buildings on pillars and walls. Crossan and Reed conclude that a careful look at the names suggests that only about 50% of them were Jewish by birth, 3 or 4% were converts to Judaism, and 46 to 47% of were people called "God-worshippers," Gentiles who had not fully or formally converted to Judaism, but who met regularly and worshipped in the synagogues. The author of the Gospel of Luke, Crossan contends, was one of these "God-worshippers," as were many of those the Apostle Paul led to call themselves "Christians."

This suggests two things to me. First, the often bitter struggle between Paul's approach to following Jesus and the Jerusalem Church's approach, is likely about much more than whether a new Jesus follower, in order to be a true follower, had to become a Jew first, and may be a continuation of the purity arguments that Jesus had with the Pharisees and others.

Second, all this suggests that the earliest Christian communities, at least outside Jerusalem, were more diverse, more cosmopolitan, less poverty-stricken, less primitively superstitious, less dogmatic, and less exclusionary that we had previously believed.