An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity

Christianity arose among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet neither Jesus nor his disciples were “Christians,” in the sense that we use that term today. They were Palestinian Jews who practiced the religion of Judaism. Even after Jesus' death, the earliest community of his followers also consisted of practicing Jews, and was at first considered merely a branch of Judaism. To understand the rise of Christianity, therefore, we must first consider the religious context out of which it grew, the religion of first-century Judaism.

The time of early Christianity actually overlaps two distinct periods of Jewish religion. In the former period, religion revolved around the Temple, and the leading religious figures were priests. This period extended from the completion of Jerusalem's second Temple in 516 bce to its destruction in 70 ce. After the destruction of the Temple, religion focused on study of Jewish Law (the Torah), and the leading religious figures were rabbis (scholars of the Law). These two periods are generally designated Second-Temple Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism, respectively.

BASIC SECOND-TEMPLE JUDAISM

The religion of Second-Temple Judaism included certain beliefs, practices, and institutions that nearly all Jews shared. Among these we will consider the God of Judaism, Jewish religious writings, the covenant and the Law, the Temple and the priests, the national festivals, synagogues, and eschatology.