This is part 2 of the Early Church History class.
Before the great revolution of 66 in which the Jewish nation declared independence from the Roman empire, no fewer than five micro-revolution occurred between 4 BC and 58 AD. In the years that led up to the first Jewish-Roman war (66-73), incompetent Roman governors repeatedly and egregiously antagonized the Jewish populous until there was no turning back. After the war that destroyed the temple that Herod had renovated, Christians and Jews began parting ways. This episode will briefly cover the three Jewish-Roman wars and how Christians and Jews gradually began to separate.
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—— Notes ——
Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100)
- primary source for first-century Jewish history
- Antiquities of the Jews
- The Jewish War
Revolutionary Movements
- Athronges (4 BC)
- Judah the Galilean (AD 6)
- The Samaritan Prophet (AD 36)
- Theudas (AD 45)
- The Egyptian Prophet (AD 58).
Four Types of Judaism
- Pharisees
- Sadducees
- Essenes
- Fourth Philosophy
- Sicarii
The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73)
- Began in 12th year of Nero’s rule
- anti-taxation protests
- Roman governor, Gessius Florus, plundered the temple
- rebellion took Antonia fortress, forcing King Agrippa II and his government to retreat from the city
- Nero sent Vespasian with four legions
- In 69 Vespasian went to Rome to become emperor, leaving his son, Titus, to conquer Jerusalem
- Titus breached the city in 70
- He plundered and burned the temple, leaving for Rome in 71 at the head of a Roman triumph
- The last holdouts fell at Masada in 73
Christians Fled from Jerusalem
- Jesus warned his followers to flee “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” (Luke 21.2-24)
- Eusebius (AD 324) and Epiphanius (AD 375) both mention the desertion of Christians from Jerusalem
Exclusion of Christians from Synagogue
- Berkat haMinim = blessing the heretics
- actually a curse upon Christians whom the Jews called “Nazarenes”
- late first century or early second century
- In AD 160, Justin Martyr mentions the curse in the synagogues
Rabbinic Judaism
- organized at Yavneh (Jamnia) at the end of the first century
- Mishna (AD 200)
- Talmud (AD 500)
Three Total Jewish-Roman Wars
- 66-73 First Jewish-Roman War
- 115-117 Kitos War
- 132-135 Bar Kokhba Revolt
These wars made Christians less likely to befriend or interact with Jews throughout the Roman Empire in the late-first and early-second centuries. Jews had the reputation of being rebels. Jewish synagogues made it hard for Christians, even those of Jewish ethnicity, to attend since they regularly pronounced a curse on the Nazarenes. Still, Jews and Christians continued to interact and affect each other for the first several centuries of Christianity. Even so, Christianity from the second century onwards gradually adopted Greco-Roman categories of thought, leaving behind our Jewish roots.
Hi Sean, what a truly epic series you are creating, I cannot wait for all the episodes yet to come, and I just really wanted to thank you for the enormous effort you put in; it shows.
Now on a slightly related note–it is to do with early church history–have you ever heard about the custom of being immersed three times during the act of baptism, or, in other words ‘triple dipping’ (which I find to be a hilarious term, btw)? Yes, at first it may seem odd, but really, consider it for a moment; we are commanded to…
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, **baptizing** them in the name of the **Father** and of the **Son** and of the **Holy Spirit**” (Matt 28:19)
So, the baptismal formula contains three elements, and it occurred to me that in the customs of Judaism, one is also submerged three times (including for conversion).
So I started searching a bit and, as it turns out, the Didache also seems to be suggesting this practice:
“(…) baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water **three times** upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.”
But also, we find Tertulian explicitly describing the practice:
“And indeed it is not once only, but **three times**, that we are **immersed** into the Three Persons, at each several mention of Their names. – Against Praxeas
And Hippolytus:
And when he who is being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say thus: “Dost thou believe in God, the Father Almighty?” And he who is being baptized shall say: “I believe.”
Then holding his hand placed on his head, he shall baptize him **once**. And then he shall say: “Dost thou believe in Christ Jesus (…)? And when he says: “I believe,” he is baptized **again**.
And again he shall say: “Dost thou believe in [the] Holy Ghost, and the holy church, and the resurrection of the flesh?” He who is being baptized shall say accordingly: “I believe,” and so he is baptized a **third** time. – Apostolic Tradition
Additionally, I found that even today, the Eastern Orthodox church does full immersion baptism with three immersions, along with Brethren churches, and some other minor denominations.
What do you think? Sounds very interesting to me, and perhaps something we should consider adopting if the evidence is indeed compelling. Maybe also something to cover in your series, who knows?
Perhaps I’m alone in being excited about discovering this practice, but I thought I’d just share it because maybe there are others who would find it interesting also.
All the best, Mark