JESUS, THE BIBLE, AND THE EARLY CHURCH

Background of Early Christianity: Transformations in Judaism after the Exile

Historical Events
586 BC
Destruction of Solomons
Temple
537

Persian Cyrus defeats the

Babylonians
st

535
516
486
457

Xerxes (Ahasuerus) King of

Persia
Second wave of returnees
Organizes Temple life, law
Third wave of Returnees
Rebuild the wall of
Jerusalem, civic life

335-323 BC
Conquests of Alexander
275
c.
200
167
63

Succession wars (diadochoi)

end

Translation of
Septuagint
Maccabean Revolt
Collapse of Seleucia; Rome
begin to exert more direct
control over Judea

44

Dictatorship of Julius Caesar

30

Roman annexation of Egypt

Jer 39-43, 2Ki 2425, 2Chr 36, Dan

1-6

Jer 50-51; Isa

Time Period

Notes, Significance

Babylonian
Captivity
605-537BC

Zerubbabel,
Jonathan
Haggai,
Zechariah
Esther
Ezra
Neh, Mal, Joel?

Persian
Period
537-335BC

--End of OT
History--

DeuteroCanon
1-2 Maccabees
Parts of Daniel?
Wisdom of
Solomon
Sirach
Pseudepigrapha
l works
1-2 Enoch
Testament
Tradition
Sibylline
Oracles

Hellenistic
Period
Ptolemys - 312198
Selucids - 198167
[Semi]
Independent Judea
Hasmonean Dynasty 140-40

Herodian Dynasty 37-4

Tetrarchy - 4BC6AD
Hellenism
continues to be

Second Temple Period

444

1 wave of returnees
Building of Second
Temple Begins
Second Temple
Completed

Biblical
Figures /
Accounts

A time of repentance and reflection for Jewish

leaders; Scriptures brought from Jerusalem are
collated and edited
Waves of returnees from Babylon reform and reestablish
Jerusalem as homeland and spiritual capital for Jews with
a chastened version of the faith. Emphasis on locus of
revelation shifts from prophet to teacher as the
canon of Scripture is consolidated. Some of the
exiles elect to stay in the foreign lands where they have
settled. The connection between Babylon and Jerusalem
remains especially strong, with Persian influences helping
to shape Jewish faith and identity. Syncretistic forms of
Judaism are suppressed in Judea, but persist in Egypt and
elsewhere in the Diaspora.
Greek language and cultural institutions become
established in the vast territory conquered by Alexander,
although the empire falls apart into several smaller,
warring kingdoms after his death. Initially a piece of the
diverse Ptolmeic kingdom, Judea is annexed by the
Selucids, who for financial and administrative reasons try
to assimilate Judeans in the Hellenistic civil cultus under
Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This offence prompts an uprising
(the Maccabean Revolt) which succeeds under the
sponsorship of Rome, and enables the formation of a
semi-autonomous Judeo-Hellenistic Kingdom. Rome
gradually takes over as the Hellenistic kingdoms
disintegrate, but Greek remains the lingua franca.
In this period, a number of works are composed in the
tradition and style of Biblical literature sometimes

27BC

Roman imperial
government stabilizes with
Augustus as Emperor

etc.
Philo 25BC
50AD

dominant cultural
force in Judea
under Roman

pseudonymously under the name of a Biblical figure

attempting to reconcile Greek and Jewish thought.

Three Symbolic Cities

at 0 AD
- Rome
- Athens
- Jerusalem

Historical Events
33 Crucifixion
44 Death of Agrippa; End of
Herodian Dynasty

70 Destruction of Second
Temple
90 Council of Jamnia
125 Apology of Aristides composed

132 bar Kokhba Revolt

~ 144 Marcionism begins
~ 150 Foundation of
Montanism
~ 170 Production of
Diatessaron
~ 240 Foundation of
Manichaeism
250 Decian Persecution
270 Monastic revolution
under Antony

301 Conversion of Armenia

303 Diocletian Persecution

306 Beginning of
Constantines Reign
313 Edict of Milan
establishes toleration for
Christianity in the Empire
320 Pachomius organizes cenobitic
monasticism

325 Council of Nicea

~350 Persecution of Christians
in Persia begins under Shapur II

Major Figures
The Apostles,
Paul
Josephus (39100)
Yohanan ben Zakkai
(30-90)

Time Period
Apostolic
Period
35-100 AD

Church Leaders:
The Apostolic
Fathers
The Early
Apologists
The First
Theologians
Formative
Bishops
Monastic
Pioneers
Outside the
Church:

Emperors
Philosophers
Heretics

Patristic Period:
Pre-Nicene
(100-325)

Notes, Significance
A period of rapid change that witnesses the
composition of the NT Scriptures, the end of the
Jewish Kingdom, the destruction of the Temple, and
the reinvention of Jewish identity as a post-temple
phenomenon. The core of the Mishnah is also
collated in this period.