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Where Was Christianity on its 100th Birthday?
Show notes
Episode Outline:
– Introducing Christianity 100 years after Jesus
– Why this period matters for understanding early Christianity
– The Roman Empire 100 years after Jesus’ death
– Christian sources after the New Testament
– Apostolic Fathers, apocryphal texts, and early Christian writings
– How diverse Christianity had become by 130 CE
– Jewish Christians, Marcionites, Gnostics, and Proto-Orthodox Christians
– How many Christians existed around 130 CE?
– Where Christianity had spread in the Roman Empire
– Apocalyptic expectations after the first century
– Were Christians being persecuted yet?
– What early Christianity would look like to Christians today
Episode Description
Welcome everyone to a very special episode of Misquoting Jesus - our 100th episode! In keeping with our centesimal celebration (hey, it's a word!), we’re going to be exploring the world of Christianity 100 years after Jesus’ death. Was Christianity still a small, persecuted offshoot of apocalyptic Judaism, or had it spread far and wide? Was it still an apocalyptic religion, and what theological disagreements had occurred? Megan has the questions, and Bart, as always, has the answers.
Also watch these episodes:
What is Christianity? Founder, History, Scripture, and Beliefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyYkK_Fky3I
Meet Marcion: The First Great Christian Heretic
Meet Marcion: The First Great Christian Heretic
Gnostic Christianity: The Beliefs that Shocked the Early Church
Gnostic Christianity: The Beliefs That Shocked the Early Church
Megan asks Bart:
- What was the eastern Mediterranean like, 100 years after Jesus’ death? Had the political situation changed much in that time?
- What sources do we rely on for this time period?
- How about for Christianity, what sources do we have?
- What did Christianity look like in this time period?
- Can you give some examples of the different groups and their differing beliefs?
- Can we estimate how many people would have called themselves “Christian” 100 years after Jesus’ death?
- How far had Christianity spread, geographically, by this time?
- Were the apocalyptic teachings of Jesus still being taken literally?
- Had Christianity become a mainstream religion, or were Christians still being persecuted?
- We’ve talked about how this early Christianity was different to what we might have expected, but how was it similar? Is there anything that we might recognize as being Christian?
- If you had to guess, how do you think Jesus would have felt about what his movement had become?
– Introducing Christianity 100 years after Jesus
– Why this period matters for understanding early Christianity
– The Roman Empire 100 years after Jesus’ death
– Christian sources after the New Testament
– Apostolic Fathers, apocryphal texts, and early Christian writings
– How diverse Christianity had become by 130 CE
– Jewish Christians, Marcionites, Gnostics, and Proto-Orthodox Christians
– How many Christians existed around 130 CE?
– Where Christianity had spread in the Roman Empire
– Apocalyptic expectations after the first century
– Were Christians being persecuted yet?
– What early Christianity would look like to Christians today
Episode Description
Welcome everyone to a very special episode of Misquoting Jesus - our 100th episode! In keeping with our centesimal celebration (hey, it's a word!), we’re going to be exploring the world of Christianity 100 years after Jesus’ death. Was Christianity still a small, persecuted offshoot of apocalyptic Judaism, or had it spread far and wide? Was it still an apocalyptic religion, and what theological disagreements had occurred? Megan has the questions, and Bart, as always, has the answers.
Also watch these episodes:
What is Christianity? Founder, History, Scripture, and Beliefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyYkK_Fky3I
Meet Marcion: The First Great Christian Heretic
Meet Marcion: The First Great Christian Heretic
Gnostic Christianity: The Beliefs that Shocked the Early Church
Gnostic Christianity: The Beliefs That Shocked the Early Church
Megan asks Bart:
- What was the eastern Mediterranean like, 100 years after Jesus’ death? Had the political situation changed much in that time?
- What sources do we rely on for this time period?
- How about for Christianity, what sources do we have?
- What did Christianity look like in this time period?
- Can you give some examples of the different groups and their differing beliefs?
- Can we estimate how many people would have called themselves “Christian” 100 years after Jesus’ death?
- How far had Christianity spread, geographically, by this time?
- Were the apocalyptic teachings of Jesus still being taken literally?
- Had Christianity become a mainstream religion, or were Christians still being persecuted?
- We’ve talked about how this early Christianity was different to what we might have expected, but how was it similar? Is there anything that we might recognize as being Christian?
- If you had to guess, how do you think Jesus would have felt about what his movement had become?
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