<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire: a clash of civilizations?
Religion and Politics
Dr Henk W. Singor, Leiden University
(Delivered on 13 Sept. 2007, in Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies, Nanjing University)
Both Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire found themselves in opposition to the Roman state (at least at the ideological level) and to large parts of Graeco-Roman civilization. Sometimes that opposition led to extremely violent outbursts: wars, persecutions. At the end, the Jews were utterly crushed by the military power of Rome in three wars from 66 to 135 and Judaism became marginalized. Christianity, on the other hand, steadily grew and eventually, in the fourth century was able to take over the empire and Christianise society (thus greatly contributing to the end of Graeco-Roman civilization). What was the nature of these oppositions and conflicts? Were they based on deep-seated religious beliefs and cultural traditions and therefore more or less inevitable â or were they more political in nature and thus to a large extent accidental and avoidable?
Three important recent books throw new light on these questions. And this lecture is, consequently, not much more than a short overview of the subject â mainly the Jews â based on these recent monographs and foremost on Martin Goodmanâs book Rome and Jerusalem. The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, London 2007. The subtitle, it should be said, is misleading. For Goodmanâs thesis is that there was not an ancient clash of civilizations. He describes at length the interactions and parallels between Jewish and Hellenistic culture, the many borrowings and similarities. Also, during the Roman period, it is a myth (propagated by New Testament scholars, according to Goodman), that the Jews in Judaea and Galilee were feeling oppressed, miserable, yearning for delivery from a Messiah. On the contrary, between 4 BCE and 66 CE, the Jews were generally satisfied with the conditions they were living in. They were enjoying certain privileges in the Roman world; intellectual opinion on Judaism was mixed (both favourable and unfavourable), but the prestige of Judaism was very high (the temple in Jerusalem as the biggest temple in the ancient world!). There was only one area where indeed Jewish and Graeco-Roman attitudes and opinions were diametrically opposed: not religion per se (not even monotheism versus polytheism) but the sphere of family life and sexuality. Only here Jews with their strict opposition to abortion and infanticide, to public nudity, to all sorts of extra-marital sex (especially to homosexuality) could be seen as the antagonists of Greek and Roman norms. However, this opposition did not by itself lead to the violent clash between Jerusalem and Rome. That clash was the result of unfortunate political circumstances and had in origin nothing to do with religious or moral values. It resulted from a series of accidents: incompetent Roman governors in Judaea; a blundering Cestius Gallus who lost a complete legion to the rebels in 66, which made a large scale Roman operation of revenge inevitable; the accidental burning down of the temple itself in the last days of the siege. Above all: the political developments in the empire in 69-70 played a major role: Vespasian, finding himself new emperor, needed military prestige; so did his son Titus. The war with the Jews was now represented over and over again as a war against a major enemy of Rome and the burning of the temple was in hindsight seen as the defeat of a religious and ideological opponent of Rome. Therefore, rebuilding of the temple became unacceptable, not only under the Flavii but also under Trajan and the adoptive emperors. Thus the Jews were brought into a situation totally different from any other subject nation: not being allowed to worship their ancestral god in the ancestral way. This in its turn led to new Jewish revolts (115-117 and 132-135), which again were crushed. During these revolts Messianism had certainly played some role, but the revolts themselves were hardly caused by Messianic ideas. After 135 there was in fact little room left for any of such messianic hopes and Judaism became a distinctly minority religion, tolerated but not more than that (the situation for the Jews worsened under the Christian empire when any rebuilding of the temple was out of the question and Christian anti-Semitism raised its head).
The picture Goodman sketches is in essence one in which politics trumps religion as a driving force. In a totally different context that could also be said of the thesis of the next monograph:<b> R.E. Gmirkin, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date of the Pentateuch</b>, New York 2005. The thesis of this book (which for lack of time could only be outlined very briefly) is that the books of the Pentateuch do not go back to the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, but were composed in the period 273-269 BCE in Alexandria. In fact, there were hardly any Jewish books before that date (except for some king lists and other rudimentary archival material â and, I would like to add (Singor), some written pieces of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and a few others). The historical books of the Hebrew Bible at any rate cannot be older than 273/89 BCE! Gmirkin proves his case extensively. To mention a few instances: the Creation story in Genesis is not based on Babylonian literature as found in cuneiform texts but was clearly inspired by Berossus, whose <b>Babyloniaka</b> had just appeared and was available in Alexandria. Likewise, the stories of Moses and the Exodus go back to Manetho, whose <b>Aigyptiaka</b> was available in the Library too. <b>The Table of Nations in Genesis exactly fits the political map of the Eastern Mediterranean world in 272/1 BCE,</b> etc. etc. The background to the Pentateuch and in fact to most of the Hebrew Bible is thus political:<b> first Alexanderâs conquest of the Near East, then Ptolemy IIâs wish to enrich his Library with a description of his Jewish subjectsâ history and religion, an Idoudaika. </b>The writers were Jewish Greek-speaking council-members from Jerusalem invited to Alexandria. There they produced both a Hebrew and a Greek version (with minor differences) of their sacred history, a work that had immediate and great success, triggering a whole outburst of Jewish writings in the 3rd century BCE to the 1st CE.
The third and last book to be reviewed in this context is K.L. Gaca, The Making of Fornication. Eros, Ethics and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity, Berkeley 2003. For lack of time this book could only be dealt with very cursorily. Its main thesis is that the extreme renunciation of sexuality in Early Christianity has roots in Judaism as well as in Greek philosophy. On the Greek side it was mainly (Neo-)Pythagoreanism with its ideas of reincarnation and hence of an elaborate preparation (including long periods of abstinence) for the soul to be reborn at conception, that led to the extreme limitation of sexuality for only (!) the purpose of begetting children. The Judaic roots were slightly less extreme (sexuality permitted and even to be enjoyed but within the bonds of marriage) but they conveyed the notion that any transgression was a deadly sin. Indeed, the metaphors in the Hebrew Bible about the people of Israel as adulterers, fornicators or whores, when disloyal to the commands of Yahweh, did much to stamp the idea of sexual sin as the worst of all sins deep into Jewish and Early Christian minds.
Coming back to the questions at the beginning of this lecture: Ms. Gacaâs book illuminates what also Martin Goodman points out: that it is in the sphere of sexuality and the family that the stark differences between Jews and their contemporaries in the Roman World can be found. Nevertheless, the differences here were not as extreme as the differences between the Early Christians and Graeco-Roman civilization. The clash between Rome and the Jews was, as we saw, mainly political. If there was any âclash of civilizationsâ it was between Romans and Christians. But even there it was confined to a few, albeit highly important, areas: sexuality in the first place, but also polytheistic worship in general, blood sports, public baths and theatres and the like. Perhaps these oppositions do explain that it was Christianity that, after its victory in the fourth century, would profoundly change the face of the empire.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Religion and Politics
Dr Henk W. Singor, Leiden University
(Delivered on 13 Sept. 2007, in Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies, Nanjing University)
Both Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire found themselves in opposition to the Roman state (at least at the ideological level) and to large parts of Graeco-Roman civilization. Sometimes that opposition led to extremely violent outbursts: wars, persecutions. At the end, the Jews were utterly crushed by the military power of Rome in three wars from 66 to 135 and Judaism became marginalized. Christianity, on the other hand, steadily grew and eventually, in the fourth century was able to take over the empire and Christianise society (thus greatly contributing to the end of Graeco-Roman civilization). What was the nature of these oppositions and conflicts? Were they based on deep-seated religious beliefs and cultural traditions and therefore more or less inevitable â or were they more political in nature and thus to a large extent accidental and avoidable?
Three important recent books throw new light on these questions. And this lecture is, consequently, not much more than a short overview of the subject â mainly the Jews â based on these recent monographs and foremost on Martin Goodmanâs book Rome and Jerusalem. The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, London 2007. The subtitle, it should be said, is misleading. For Goodmanâs thesis is that there was not an ancient clash of civilizations. He describes at length the interactions and parallels between Jewish and Hellenistic culture, the many borrowings and similarities. Also, during the Roman period, it is a myth (propagated by New Testament scholars, according to Goodman), that the Jews in Judaea and Galilee were feeling oppressed, miserable, yearning for delivery from a Messiah. On the contrary, between 4 BCE and 66 CE, the Jews were generally satisfied with the conditions they were living in. They were enjoying certain privileges in the Roman world; intellectual opinion on Judaism was mixed (both favourable and unfavourable), but the prestige of Judaism was very high (the temple in Jerusalem as the biggest temple in the ancient world!). There was only one area where indeed Jewish and Graeco-Roman attitudes and opinions were diametrically opposed: not religion per se (not even monotheism versus polytheism) but the sphere of family life and sexuality. Only here Jews with their strict opposition to abortion and infanticide, to public nudity, to all sorts of extra-marital sex (especially to homosexuality) could be seen as the antagonists of Greek and Roman norms. However, this opposition did not by itself lead to the violent clash between Jerusalem and Rome. That clash was the result of unfortunate political circumstances and had in origin nothing to do with religious or moral values. It resulted from a series of accidents: incompetent Roman governors in Judaea; a blundering Cestius Gallus who lost a complete legion to the rebels in 66, which made a large scale Roman operation of revenge inevitable; the accidental burning down of the temple itself in the last days of the siege. Above all: the political developments in the empire in 69-70 played a major role: Vespasian, finding himself new emperor, needed military prestige; so did his son Titus. The war with the Jews was now represented over and over again as a war against a major enemy of Rome and the burning of the temple was in hindsight seen as the defeat of a religious and ideological opponent of Rome. Therefore, rebuilding of the temple became unacceptable, not only under the Flavii but also under Trajan and the adoptive emperors. Thus the Jews were brought into a situation totally different from any other subject nation: not being allowed to worship their ancestral god in the ancestral way. This in its turn led to new Jewish revolts (115-117 and 132-135), which again were crushed. During these revolts Messianism had certainly played some role, but the revolts themselves were hardly caused by Messianic ideas. After 135 there was in fact little room left for any of such messianic hopes and Judaism became a distinctly minority religion, tolerated but not more than that (the situation for the Jews worsened under the Christian empire when any rebuilding of the temple was out of the question and Christian anti-Semitism raised its head).
The picture Goodman sketches is in essence one in which politics trumps religion as a driving force. In a totally different context that could also be said of the thesis of the next monograph:<b> R.E. Gmirkin, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date of the Pentateuch</b>, New York 2005. The thesis of this book (which for lack of time could only be outlined very briefly) is that the books of the Pentateuch do not go back to the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, but were composed in the period 273-269 BCE in Alexandria. In fact, there were hardly any Jewish books before that date (except for some king lists and other rudimentary archival material â and, I would like to add (Singor), some written pieces of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and a few others). The historical books of the Hebrew Bible at any rate cannot be older than 273/89 BCE! Gmirkin proves his case extensively. To mention a few instances: the Creation story in Genesis is not based on Babylonian literature as found in cuneiform texts but was clearly inspired by Berossus, whose <b>Babyloniaka</b> had just appeared and was available in Alexandria. Likewise, the stories of Moses and the Exodus go back to Manetho, whose <b>Aigyptiaka</b> was available in the Library too. <b>The Table of Nations in Genesis exactly fits the political map of the Eastern Mediterranean world in 272/1 BCE,</b> etc. etc. The background to the Pentateuch and in fact to most of the Hebrew Bible is thus political:<b> first Alexanderâs conquest of the Near East, then Ptolemy IIâs wish to enrich his Library with a description of his Jewish subjectsâ history and religion, an Idoudaika. </b>The writers were Jewish Greek-speaking council-members from Jerusalem invited to Alexandria. There they produced both a Hebrew and a Greek version (with minor differences) of their sacred history, a work that had immediate and great success, triggering a whole outburst of Jewish writings in the 3rd century BCE to the 1st CE.
The third and last book to be reviewed in this context is K.L. Gaca, The Making of Fornication. Eros, Ethics and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity, Berkeley 2003. For lack of time this book could only be dealt with very cursorily. Its main thesis is that the extreme renunciation of sexuality in Early Christianity has roots in Judaism as well as in Greek philosophy. On the Greek side it was mainly (Neo-)Pythagoreanism with its ideas of reincarnation and hence of an elaborate preparation (including long periods of abstinence) for the soul to be reborn at conception, that led to the extreme limitation of sexuality for only (!) the purpose of begetting children. The Judaic roots were slightly less extreme (sexuality permitted and even to be enjoyed but within the bonds of marriage) but they conveyed the notion that any transgression was a deadly sin. Indeed, the metaphors in the Hebrew Bible about the people of Israel as adulterers, fornicators or whores, when disloyal to the commands of Yahweh, did much to stamp the idea of sexual sin as the worst of all sins deep into Jewish and Early Christian minds.
Coming back to the questions at the beginning of this lecture: Ms. Gacaâs book illuminates what also Martin Goodman points out: that it is in the sphere of sexuality and the family that the stark differences between Jews and their contemporaries in the Roman World can be found. Nevertheless, the differences here were not as extreme as the differences between the Early Christians and Graeco-Roman civilization. The clash between Rome and the Jews was, as we saw, mainly political. If there was any âclash of civilizationsâ it was between Romans and Christians. But even there it was confined to a few, albeit highly important, areas: sexuality in the first place, but also polytheistic worship in general, blood sports, public baths and theatres and the like. Perhaps these oppositions do explain that it was Christianity that, after its victory in the fourth century, would profoundly change the face of the empire.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->