Unit A Week 5

Lecture summary

At the beginning of the first century elites made up of Romans and native Palestinians competed for their share in the exploitation of the land. This rivalry created explosive conditions in Palestine as both groups taxed the peasants. Peasants were often driven from their homelands over an inability to pay taxes. Judaism thought it shameful to pay tax to the Romans and to recognize mortal men as their masters along with God. But the Romans had military power to back up their demands, while the priestly aristocracy justified their taxation on ideological grounds.

The Jesus movement ran contrary to the objective interests of the aristocracy because it undermined the claim of priestly privileges and raised fundamental questions about the necessity to pay religious taxes. The society began to stratify in new ways which shattered traditional values and norms. The aristocracy and Roman rule was threatened, the emerging middle class as well as the peasantry became physically displaced causing social rootlessness (Theissen, 44).

It is in this period of social and economic transition that early Christianity began as a renewal movement by Jesus within Judaism. It began to take shape as a separate religious movement after the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. when Pharisaism gained control of Judaism and the Christians were excommunicated. In the New Testament, the teachings of Jesus provide a new framework for understanding the role of giving in the new religion.

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