Professor of Early Christianity - ask me (almost) anything!

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billsherman

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I’ve done this a couple of times before, and enjoyed it. I wasn’t pleased with the last attempt ending sooner than I wished, so I figured I’d give it a second attempt.

I’m a professor in the US who teaches and writes about the historical Jesus and early Christianity. I’m a historian, and not a theologian, so my approach to the subjects is dictated by historical methodology. A good primer in what that entails can be found here (about one of my favorite historians Msgr. John Meier): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/finding-the-historical-jesus-an-interview-with-john-p-meier/

Feel free to ask any historical questions, and I’ll do my best to answer. Also feel free to ask any questions about being a scholar. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what we do (ivory towers are drafty, and the pay is low!), and I’d be happy to discuss my profession.

The previous threads on this topic can be found here:
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Historian of Early Christianity waiting for school to start . . . ask me anything! Non-Catholic Religions
I’ve seen a few posts by Atheists looking to answer questions, so I thought it might be fun for me to try the same thing with my interest - Early Christian history. A few pieces of background: I’m a professor of Early Christian history (including the Historical Jesus) at a US university. I am a historian, NOT a theologian. If you have any questions about Christology or things of that nature, I am not the best resource. Also, I am not interested in debating faith. That is something best left…
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Professor of Early Christian History here, ask me anything! Non-Catholic Religions
In a continued effort to keep me out of the News section, I’ve decided to post here and see if anyone has any questions. I did this two years ago (Historian of Early Christianity waiting for school to start . . . ask me anything!), but I’m sure there are different people and/or different questions out there. I work as a historian primarily in the areas of the historical Jesus and Early Christianity (which is broadly defined as pre-Nicaea). Feel free to ask anything about that period, and I’ll…
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There are still some, including historians, who believe Jesus did not exist. What are your views of this belief?

I have another question as well. Were the first Christians really the first Catholics, or was there an evolution in Christian theology beginning perhaps with so-called Jewish Christians and taking on various forms of Christianity?
 
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meltzerboy2 said:
There are still some, including historians, who believe Jesus did not exist. What are your views of this belief?
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That they aren’t very good historians!

Seriously, while there are some people on the fringes who hold this belief, these people are almost extinct. The historical reality of Jesus’ existence is as proven as anything in the first century can be.
 
Did the Gospel writers know that they were writing inspired text (Scripture that would ‘fulfill’ the Torah)? And if so, even if not so, why weren’t the original texts preserved?
 
I suppose that my first question would be… are you Catholic? 🙂
 
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What is the earliest known depiction of Jesus Christ and when?
 
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Were the early Christian communities spread around the Mediterranean aware of each other’s existence in the sense of being aware that they were part of a larger unified “movement?” Were the writings that today we call the Epistles shared among communities before being brought together as part of the first Canonical scriptures?
 
1Lord1Faith said:
Did the Gospel writers know that they were writing inspired text (Scripture that would ‘fulfill’ the Torah)?
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Probably. Unfortunately we don’t know what they were thinking while writing. They clearly did believe in the divinity of Jesus, so I have to imagine that they had a concept that they were writing of great importance. The concept of inspired text, though, takes a much longer time to develop.
1Lord1Faith said:
And if so, even if not so, why weren’t the original texts preserved?
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There are precious few manuscripts that survive more than 1,000 years, let alone 2,000. There are just too many ways for them to be destroyed (fire, flood, mold, decay, etc.). Sadly, a large percentage of the earliest manuscripts were probably lost in war.
 
RepetantCatholic said:
What is the earliest known depiction of Jesus Christ and when?
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I believe it is the “Alexamenos graffito.” Which was a piece of graffiti believed to have been made a Roman soldier mocking the Christianity of another. It probably dates from about 200.

The oldest image that was made by Christians probably is one of the images found in Roman catacombs. Unfortunately dated most of those images is difficult, so it is not really possible to determine which images actually came first.
 
Pitcairn17 said:
Were the early Christian communities spread around the Mediterranean aware of each other’s existence in the sense of being aware that they were part of a larger unified “movement?”
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Certainly they were.
Pitcairn17 said:
Were the writings that today we call the Epistles shared among communities before being brought together as part of the first Canonical scriptures?
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Yes, along with other epistles that did not ultimately made the canon. Probably the most significant of these non-canonical epistles would be First Clement, and The Shepard of Hermas.
 
I have heard different things about betrothal in that time.

Did betrothal allow the spouses to consummate their relationship, or were they still supposed to wait?
 
Before I fire off any questions, could you define “Early Christianity?” Do you have any specific dates in mind?
 
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To be a historian of this period does one have to know the biblical languages - Ancient or koine Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic? Do you know any of these? And to be a serious Bible scholar does one have to know these languages?
 
It is my impression that Christian scholars and theologians have been bullied by the proclamations of the British Museum into believing that the Shroud of Turin is only about 700 years old. For instance, at the Nashotah House library I found Joan Taylor’s horrible little book (What Did Jesus Look like?) prominently displayed while recent books that debunked the British Museum’s conclusion were not to be found there.

As a scholar, where do you stand on this issue?
 
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Are there any Jewish records left of the temple procedures such as at the time of the presentation of Jesus in the temple or the angel appearing to Zachariah, John the Baptist’s father? The bible says everyone knew about the angel appearing and Zachariah not being able to speak. What about records of the time of John’s preaching and baptizing in the Jordan and the beheading of John the Baptist. Any out of the bible records at all?
 
As a non-historian, I have the impression that the 250 years or so that elapsed between the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, around 62, and the beginning of the reign of Constantine seem to have been a period of almost constant persecution of Christians. Even when they weren’t being actively persecuted as government policy, they were often, or even usually, unprotected from harassment and attack by their pagan neighbors. Is that pretty much a true picture, or wasn’t it quite as bad as that in reality?
 
A separate question. Is it possible to summarize in a few words what is known about Roman censuses in general, during the reign of Augustus, and about Quirinius’ census in particular? There even seems to be conflicting information about the dates of Quirinius’ tenure of office in Syria.
 
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Which schools in the US or elsewhere have good Early Christian history programs in your opinion?
Can there be tension between departments that teach Early Christian history and departments that teach Theology at the same institution?
Are there any good online programs that teach Early Christian history?

Thanks in advance!!
 
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