i read a post or a reply a few days ago-i think maybe on @erinbiba.bsky.social ‘s account-that has stayed on my mind. historical jesus may have been a carpenter by trade, but he was also a rabbi: a learned jewish man who probably spent all his spare time at the temple-or in its environ, as the
the temple complex was just that: a complex. a community. hence the moneychangers. there were probably carpentry shops as well. during torah study & debate (did any part of the talmud exist yet? maybe the babylonian one?) which was probably vigorous (jesus developed the concept of the kingdom of
The Roman coins had the image of “divine” Caesar and they could not be used in the temple, so they needed to be converted to shekels. People used shekels for charity in the temple.
i did not know that! i guess i’d always imagined it was whatever passed for banking in the first christian century.
The Babylonian Talmud def existed by then
The Babylonian Talmud wasn't written down until about the year 500, but the teachings in it are based on the Oral Law of the Pharisees. Like when the Pharisees ask about whether a man can divorce his wife, that wasn't just aimed at Jesus. There's a whole debate in the Talmud on that exact question.
Really? I could have sworn it dated back to the final centuries BCE.
You might be thinking of something else, there were a lot of religious texts being compiled around then
Some of the rabbis quoted in the Mishna, upon which the Talmud is based, date as early as 200 BCE (Shimon The Just, that's as far back as rabbinical Judaism goes.) But the text itself was put down in writing in the 5th century CE. The Mishna was sealed in 200 CE. 65 yrs after Bar Kochba was crushed.
Yup that’s what I was thinking of. Gotta brush up on that section of Jewish history.
god being within all humans & a lot of fellow rabbis & students liked the idea. you know the rest. or you certainly should. did he say during his lifetime that he was the son of god? i don’t know, but i do know that roman judean society was in ferment. you couldn’t throw an olive pit without
If Jesus even existed.
if i had to say yes or no, i’d select yes. i know there were contemporary & later in the first century accounts of his human existence. but i’m sure there are equally compelling arguments that he did not & was an amalgamation of several apocalyptic jewish preachers.
Agreed. The guy seems to have been the subject of some reasonably contemporary reporting. It would be strange to have reports about a first century middle-class Jewish carpenter on the fringes of the Empire if he was totally imaginary. Like, why bother?
very true. roman judea was a backwater. no one who wanted to be a roman someone hung out there. until…
hitting a jewish or noahide person (probably a man) claiming to be a god or godlike. meanwhile, the non jewish population was ripe for spiritual awakening. they didn’t identify with judaism but the greek pantheon of gods didn’t stand up to even light scrutiny. jesus preached to them & like i said,
you know the rest.