Religion and Theology

Judaism, as the Jewish religion came to be a religion of extreme diversity by first century CE where Jewish settlements in the Mediterranean areas inevitably affected their religious beliefs and practices.

JUDAISM IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD
By the time of Jesus birth, more Jews were living outside Palestine than within its borders. The City of Alexandria in Egypt became home to a large Jewish population and within the Third Century CE important Jewish communities throughout Asia Minor and Greece were culturally distant, and since the Hebrew language could no longer be assumed, Jewish translators created a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint. However, language differences became a huge hindrance between the Diaspora (Jews dispersed from Palestine) and the Jews from near Palestine and its surrounding communities.

Different Jewish traditions helped Judaism survive, although Hellenism posted a threat when it spread and became an important part of millions of Jews, especially those in the Diaspora and absorbed contradicting and critical religios practices within itself. Despite the  hellenizing,  Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 scp - 40 cs) produced a synthesis of both traditions developing concepts for future Hellenistic interpretation of messianic Hebrew thought. He, along with other Hellenistic Judaism representatives were able to claim that Judaism represented the true from and nature of the religious impulse within all peoples.

JUDAISM IN PALESTINE
In the mid-twentieth century, an extensive collection of documents were discovered near the Dead Sea clarified that there is no easy distinction between Judaism in Palestine and in the Diaspora, and furthermore verified that most Jews shre certain fundamental beliefs.

Saying the Mishnah can serve as a good starting place to trace the roots of first-century Palestinian Judaism. Being the first section of Talmud, Mishnah is attributed to a high priest called Simeon who reportedly belive that there are three things by which the world is maintained (1) by law, Jews believed that Torah (a special heritage from God) reveals how to best live life(2) by temple service, because it provides and appropriate way to seek forgiveness after error and (3) by deeds of loving kindness, because it is one of the chief features of Gods character.

Torah   contains the story of Gods self-revelation and the commandments that are the foundations of Jewish Law.

Temple   the place where Gods name dwelt a visible reminder of Gods accessibility to them and a sign of His presence and holiness, as well as his desires to forgive sin.
Synagogue - a congregation of Jews for the purpose of worship or religious study. Its temple is solely based in Jerusalem

JEWISH POLITICAL PARTIES
Because of different political aspirations, first-century Palestinian Jews had many religious and politcal parties that divided their ideas concerning Torah, temple and synagogue.
Sadducees   a religious and political party from the Maccabean rebellion.
politically conservative usually identified with the priestly aristocracy centered in Jerusalem, who allied themselves with the policies of the Hasmoneans.
only considered the written Torah, hence they do not share in the resurrection of the dead to the afterlife woth other Jews

Pharisees   appear to have been especially concerned with ritual purity, which required the avoidance of   unclean  things such as certain food, blood, dead bodies and leprosy.
- discouraged contacts between Jews and non-Jews who do not share their religious beliefs
- considered synagogues to be their source of power and support
- devoted to Torah and committed to applying its principles to every aspect of daily life

Essenes -  a priestly sect who withhdrew from the Sadducees for founding them to be corrupt.
- believed that they were living on the verge of some great cataclysm that God would inaugurate, and that they were the  true  Jews whom God would declare his divine purpose.
Zealots   a revolt that brought together resolute groups in a unified anti-Roman front
- desired violent overthrow of Roman rule in Palestine and believed that God was king

Economic hardship and family resporrsibilities left most with little opportunity for political involvement or religious expression beyond observance of the Sabbath and other holy days and  occasional pilgrimages to Jerusalem hence less than 10 percent of the Palestinian Jews were associated with any of these political parties.

APOCALYPTIC AND JEWISH MESSIANIC EXPECTATION
The term apocalyptic derives from the Greek word apokalypsis, meaning revelation or unveiling,  and in English points to a branch of eschatology which refers to any teaching of speculation about the end of the world. Apocalyptic literature is concerned woth revealing the course of future events, describes the interaction of the supernatural and natural worlds, looks forward to a violent and cataclysmic clash between the forces of good and evil, expects that the good forces will triumph, and assumes that the end is very near.

In line with apocalypticism was messianism. Messiah ( anointed ) originally denoted someone who had been anointed with oil and thereby set apart by Gid for a special purpose. Later term associated it with agents who would establish and safeguard Gods standards on earth. And finally, it refers to a deliverer who hass the abilities to overthrow evil rulers and intitutions, as well as restore righteousness.

First-century Jews were people of expectation. Between 100 BCE and 100 CE, conditions in Palestine worsen that many expected God to intervene and replace the Roman reign with the divine rule. Their faith taight them that God was their king and that they were  the chosen ones.  But still, they could not ignore the hard reality that they people under Roman rule. And although there was no general agreement as to when and how God would act, Jewish people watched and waited in confident expectation.