The influence of Judaism on Christianity and Islam
Judaism
The people and their religion
Patriarchal tribes
a) Nomadic origins
b) Abraham
(1) First introduction to Canaan
(2) The covenant
(3) The rite of circumcision
(4) Belief in an ethical deity with ethical principles for the faithful
Egypt, exodus, and Moses
a) The Egyptian period
b) Moses
(1) The exodus
(2) Wandering on the Sinai peninsula
(3) The Mosaic code
(4) The conquest of Canaan
The Kingdom of Israel
a) The reign of Saul
b) The reign of David
(1) Centralized government
(2) Economic changes
c) The reign of Solomon
(1) Peace with neighbors
(2) Expanded trade
(3) Building program in Jerusalem
(4) Literature and the arts
(5) Two Hebrew kingdoms
a) The northern kingdom of Israel
b) The southern kingdom of Judah
c) The rise of prophets
The Babylonian Captivity and the postexilic period
a) The destruction of Israel by Assyria
b) The conquest of Judah by Babylonia
c) The Persian conquest
(1) Return to Jerusalem
(2) The Second Temple
(3) The beginning of the Diaspora
d) The renewed faith
(1) Zoroastrian influences
(2) Belief in the end of the world
(3) Belief in the apocalypse
(4) The notion of a Messiah
The Hellenistic and Roman periods
a) The Hellenistic threat to the Jewish way of life
b) The Maccabean Jewish state
c) The Roman conquest
(1) Various political strategies for governing
(2) The Third Temple
(3) The First Jewish War
(4) Destruction of the Temple
(5) The second Diaspora
(6) Rabbinic Judaism
Societal and Family Relationships
a) Women's status in earlier times
b) Women's changed status after the founding of the kingdom
The Bible
Evolution of the scriptures
The Septuagint
The parts of the Hebrew Bible
a) The Law
(1) Its books and themes
(2) Canonization
b) The Prophets
(1) Its themes
(2) Canonization
c) The Writings
(1) Its themes
(2) Canonization
Jewish literature outside the canon: the Apocrypha
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Key ideas of biblical Judaism
Early Jewish art and architecture
The effect of the prohibition of graven images
The Ark of the Covenant and other sacred objects
Solomon's Temple
The Second Temple
Hellenistic influences
a) The fortress-palace of John Hyrcanus
b) The tombs in the Kidron valley
Roman influences
a) Herod's fortress-palace at Masada
b) The Third Temple
Christianity
Historical overview
The life of Jesus Christ and the New Testament
Sources for the life of Jesus
a) Biographical summary
b) The Gospels
(1) The synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke
(2) The Gospel of John
(3) The reasons for the various versions
c) The Acts of the Apostles
(1) Relation to Luke's Gospel
(2) Its purpose
d) The seven epistles of Paul
(1) Record of missionary activities
(2) Knowledge of Greek philosophy
(3) The first Christian theology
(4) Interpretation of the life of Jesus
(5) Teaching on the resurrection
e) The other seven epistles
f) The Book of Revelation
(1) Its relation to Jewish apocalyptic literature
(2) Its controversial nature
The establishment of the Christian canon
Christians and Jews
Christian borrowings from Judaism
Christian borrowings of Zoroastrian ideas, mediated through Judaism
a) Satan as a personification of evil
b) Good and bad demons who inhabit human bodies
c) Heaven and hell as the twin destinies of humanity
d) A divine savior who appears at the end of time
Stormy relations between Jews and Christians
a) The Council of Jamnia, a.d. 90, as a turning point
b) Causes of tensions between the two religions and their results
Christianity and Greco-Roman religions and philosophies
Christian borrowings from the mystery cults
Christian appropriations from Stoicism and Neo-Platonism
Christians in the Roman Empire
Changing attitudes of Romans to Christians
a) The early years
b) The expansion of Christianity and its separation from Judaism
(1) Localized, random persecution
(2) Wide-ranging political assault in the mid-third century a.d.
Christian borrowings from Roman culture
a) The Latin language
b) The Roman law
c) The state administrative structure
d) The imperial office
Social patterns of conversion to the late second century a.d.
a) Social classes
b) Women
Early Christian literature
Early Roman commentators on the Christian faith
a) Celsus
b) Galen
The first Christian writers
a) Tertullian
(1) Key ideas
(2) Uncompromising hostility to humanism
b) Origen
(1) Key ideas
(2) Harmony with the humanistic legacy
c) Vibia Perpetua
(1) Historic setting
(2) Willingness to die for one's beliefs
Early Christian art
Confusion over the role of art in the early church
The triumph of humanistic values in art
Art in the Roman catacombs
a) The symbol of the good shepherd
b) The symbol of a communion participant
c) Christian appropriation of Jewish biblical figures
The Legacy of Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity
