48 pages • 1 hour read
Gerd TheissenThe Shadow of the Galilean
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: Jesus as a Historical Figure
There has been much historical debate over the years about whether Jesus actually existed. Today, most scholars agree that a man named Jesus did exist in the first-century Herodian Kingdom (ancient Palestine and Lebanon), and that Christianity is based upon the life and teachings of this man. However, there is little consensus among historians on Jesus; without clear historical records separate from religious texts, it is difficult to paint an accurate picture of his life. Historians do agree that Jesus was crucified by the Romans in either 30 CE or 33 CE (sources vary) as there are accounts of Jesus or someone fitting Jesus’s description being crucified not just in the New Testament, but also in some secular sources, including the histories written by Josephus and Tacitus. The fact that these sources are non-Christian lends additional credence to the idea that there was a real historical Jesus. Archaeological research has confirmed that Romans used crucifixion as a method of execution at this time.
Many religious and secular scholars have researched Jesus, including Gerd Theissen and the scholars who attended the famous Jesus Seminar in 1985. Participants in this academic quest highlight the importance of using historical sources as well as religious ones to determine the truth about Jesus’s life.
Religious Context: Judaism and Early Christianity
Judaism in the first century CE was undergoing major change. This period of Judaism is now called Second Temple Judaism, as it developed during the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem from 516 BCE until 70 CE, when it was destroyed in the Roman siege of Jerusalem. At this time, Judaism was split into several factions: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. Another group, the Samaritans, had broken off earlier and was often considered a separate religion. The Samaritans had their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which they believed to be the true holy place of the Israelites. Second Temple Judaism, on the other hand, was centered at the temple in Jerusalem. Members of mainstream Jewish sects did not approve of the Samaritans’ interfaith marriages. Judaism was, at the time, the only monotheistic religion in the Roman Empire. This sometimes caused clashes between Roman and Jewish culture and politics.
During the Second Temple period, the many schisms in Judaism gave rise to a wide range of messianic ideas. In Judaism, the Messiah is a savior figure who will bring liberation and redemption to the Jewish people. It was not clear when or how a Messiah would arise; some believed that the change would be political and worldly, while others, like the Essenes, interpreted the change as a kind of apocalypse, after which the Kingdom of Heaven would begin and the dead would be resurrected. Christianity therefore started as a messianic Jewish sect; the primary difference between the two was that Christians saw Jesus as the Messiah. Mainstream sects of Judaism rejected Jesus as a Messiah and viewed Christian worship of Jesus as a kind of idolatry that went against their own belief in a single, unified God.
