Religion and Theology

Early  Christianity  was  influenced  and  evolved  in  ancient  times. Early  Christian  did  not  believe  that  the  birthplace  of  Jesus  Christ  was  left  to  chance  but  was  Gods  working. The  early  church  was  always  connected  with  the  outside  world. Early  Christians  were Jews  and  then  were  followed  by  the  sect  called  the  gentiles. Christianity  first  appeared  in  Palestine. Due  its  favorable  geographic  location  of  Palestine. In  the  4th  century, Alexander  conquered  Palestine. He  spread  the  insights  of  the  Greek  civilization. This  combined  with  beliefs  from  the native  cultures  led  to  what  was  called  Hellenism. Under  the  rule  of  Alexander  the  great, the  whole  region  of  the  Mediterranean  basin  united  under  one  rule, that  of  the  Roman  Empire.

Hellenism  mostly considered  the  various  gods  as  equal. The  beliefs  Hellenism  equated  or  mixed  the  gods  of  various  nations. This  led  to  the  creation  of  a  negative  image  about  Hellenism  in  the  early  Jewish  community  who  believed  in  one God. This  led  to  unrest  in  Palestine. The  Jewish  community  began  to  look  at  Hellenism  as  being  against  their  faiths  and  traditions. This  gave  rise  to  the  Jewish  rebellion  in  the  2nd  century, these  rebels  were  known  as  the  Maccabees. This  movement  was  however  suppressed  by  the  Hellenizing  pressures, and Roman  intervention  led  to  the  deposition  of  the  last  Maccabees, Arislobulus II  in  the  63  B.C.

In  40  B.C.  when  Herod  became  the  king  of  Judea, the empire  turned  quite  tolerant  towards  the  Jewish  traditions. King Herod  built  temples all  over  Judea, but  when  he  placed  the  statue  of  an  eagle  at  the  entrance  of one  of  the  temples  a  major  uprising  began  in  its  opposition. This  uprising  was  however  suppressed  by  force. The  successors  of  king  Herod  also  followed  the  same  policy  and  also  encouraged  the  immigration  of  the  Gentiles  into  Judea. Hence  in  this  scenario, there  was  continuous  rebellion  from  the  Jews. Many  changes  in  the  Jewish  traditions  occurred  in  the  time  that  followed. Two  major  sects  developed  during  this  time, the Pharises, and  the  Saducees. The  Pharises   believed  in  leading  life  by  being  more  faithful  to  the  law, they  declared  their  belief  in  the  Resurrectionand  the  existence  of  angels. The  more  conservative  Jews  or  the  Saducees disagreed  with  the  traditions  and  beliefs  of  the  Pharisees. It  can  also  be  said  that  the  early  opposition  to  Jesus  and  His  preachings  was  more  from  the  Saducees. There  was  another  sect  formed  called  the  Essenes, who  believed  in  obeying  the  law  strictly, they  also  withdrew  from  the  society. There  were  two  fundamental  tenets  of  all  the  Jews, Ethical  monotheism, and  Eschatological  hope. Ethical  monotheism  believed  in  One  God, they  stressed  that  being  a  good  Jew  not  only  meant     proper  worship  but  also  proper  relations  with  our  fellow  human  beings. The Eschalogical  Hope  believed  in  the  belief  that  according  to  Gods  promise  He  would  deliver  everyone  one  day  and  there  will  be  a  kingdom  which  would  be  just  and  prosperous. All  Jews  kept  this  Messianic  hope.

Due  to  the  destruction  of  the  temple  in  70  B.C., the  Saducees  received  a  mortal  blow. The  Pharisees  however  flourished  due  to  their  theological  traditions. Before  the  birth  of  Jesus, the  Jews  spread  in  every  major  city  of  the  Roman  empire, they  had  a  strong  attachment  to  their  roots. These  were  called  the  Diaspora  Jews, which  later  became  the  main  avenue  through  which  new  faith  expanded. These  Jews  had  forgotten  their  native  language  that  was  Hebrew, hence  the  Hebrew  literature  was  translated  in  various  other  languages. The  translation  that  originated  in  Alexandria  was  called  Septuagint, which  was  also  important  to  the  early  church. The  word  Christ is  Septuagint  for  Messiah or  chosen one. The  Diaspora  Jews  greatly worked  towards  finding  to  find  compatibility  between  their  culture  and  Hellenism  to  show  the  pagan  world  that  their  faith  was  credible.
                                                       
The  Hellenistic  culture  and  the  Roman  law  were  the  context  in  which  the  early  church  took  shape. Two  philosophical  traditions  were  helpful  to  the  spread  of  early  Christian  church, Platonism, and  Stocism. Platonism  believed  in  the  immortality of  the  soul, the stoics  believed in  life  without  passions  abiding  by  the  law  which  found  favour  in  the  early  church. The  early  church  was  growing  and  it  included  people  from  many  different  races. It  was  this  diversity  was  in  which  the  early  church  laid  the  foundations  of  the  faith  followed  by  Christians  around  the  world.