European Culture : An Introduction

1. European Culture : An Introduction Division Two The Bible and Christianity He Fuquan

2. General Introduction • Judeo-Christian tradition constitutes one of the two major components of European culture. Judaism and Christianity are closely related. In fact, it was the Jewish tradition which gave birth to Christianity. Both originated in Palestine.

3. A Brief Account of Jewish History • Formation: • Abraham -- Semitic race • Emigrated from Mesopotamia • “Hebrews”, means “wanderers”. • History:

4. History • 19th century B.C., in Ur (伊拉克，乌尔), Abraham • 16th century B.C., in Egypt • 12th century B.C., entered Cannan (Promised Land) • 11th century B.C.(second half), a unified nation fighting Philistines (Palestinians) • King David(1012—972 B.C.), founded a unified nation of Israel

7. History • King Solomon(972—932 B.C.), Jerusalem made national capital • Near the end of 9th century B.C., A separatist movement led to split • the south: Judah, ruled by Solomon’ descendents • the north: Israel

8. History • 722 B.C., Assyrians sacked Jerusalem, Israel • 586 B.C., Judah captured by Babylon • 538 B.C., Jerusalem rebuilt • 333 B.C., Alexander the Great hellenized Jews Diaspora – Jewish overseas migration • 60 B.C., a large number slaughtered by Romans

9. History • 3th century A.D., to Babylon • 10th century A.D., to Spain • 1290, from England • 1394, from France • 1492, from Spain • 1497, from Portugal • During WWII, 6 million killed • 13 million survived– 5 m in Europe, 3 m in Israel, the rest scatter • May 14, 1948, Israel—the Jewish nation

10. Judaism • Judaism- the oldest of the monotheistic faiths (religions with one God). • Its holy city is Jerusalem. • The holy book is the Bible, renamedthe Old Testamentby Christianity. • The core of Judaism: The Ten Commandments

11. The Old Testament • The Bible is a collection of religious writings comprising two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The former is about God and the Laws of God; the latter, the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

12. The Old Testament • The Old Testament can be divided into four basic sections with each providing a specific focus with regard to the person of Christ. • Orally passed down • Collected and edited by many people at different times and over many centuries (1000BC—100AD) • Varied in theme, style, content and even in views

13. The Old Testament consists of 39 books, the oldest and most important of which are the first five books, called Pentateuch《摩西五经》 • Genesis 创世纪 • Exodus 出埃及记 • Leviticus利未记 • Numbers 民数记 • Deuteronomy 申命记 1. The Pentateuch

14. Genesis • Creation of the world and man. • The Babel

15. The Ten Commandments • According to the Hebrew Bible, it is a list of religious and moral imperatives that were given by God to the people of Israel. The Bible describes their form as being spoken by God and subsequently as an inscription God wrote with his finger on two stone tablets, which God gave to Moses. The Ten Commandments are recognized as a moral foundation in Judaism and Christianity.

16. 2. The Historical Books • This part of the Old Testament includes these books: Book of Joshua约书亚记, Book of Judges士师记, Books of Samuel撒母耳记, Books of Kings列王纪, Books of the Chronicles历代志, Book of Ezra以斯拉记, Book of Nehemiah尼希米记and others. • These works were written sometime between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C., dealing with history of the Hebrew people from their entry into Palestine around 1200 B.C. till the fall of Palestine into hands of Assyrians and Chaldeans in 586 B.C.

17. 3.The Poetical Books • a. Book of Job约伯记 • It is a poetic drama with the following scheme: • Part One: The prologue • Part Two: The poem Proper • Part Three: The epilogue • “Why God allows the innocent to suffer and what one can know about God at all”

18. b. Book of Psalms诗篇 • It is a collection of 150 poetic pieces, the chief hymnal of the Jews. • c. Proverb箴言 • It is a collection of moral maxims or sayings of practical nature.

19. d. Ecclesiastes传道书 • It is a collection of sayings about the purpose of life. • comes from the Septuagint translation • The work emphatically proclaims all the actions of man to be inherently "vain", "futile", "empty", "meaningless", "temporary", "transitory", "fleeting, or "mere breath", as the lives of both wise and foolish men end in death. • It suggests that one should enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's work, which are gifts from the hand of God.

20. e. Song of Solomon所罗门之歌 • It is a collection of love poems, depicting everyday life in the countryside. • The protagonists of the Song are a woman and a man. • In spite of the lack of explicitly religious content, the Song can also be interpreted as an allegorical representation of the relationship of God and Israel, or for Christians, God and the Church or Christ and the human soul, as husband and wife.

21. 4.The Prophets • Spokesmen of god • Earlier prophets lived in groups as temple officials. Later on there appeared independent prophets. The major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The Minor Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Malachi.

22. a. Amos 阿摩司 • Chronologically it is the earliest prophet. He was a shepherd living around 76 B.C. He warned his people of the coming invasion by Assyria and Egypt and was accused of plotting revolution. • About a hundred years after Amos’ message, what Amos foretold came true. • The Hebrews never regained their unity. • b. Jeremiah 耶利米 • Jeremiah lived through the fall of Jerusalem in 590 B.C. He had a very tragic tale to tell.

23. C. The Book of Daniel丹尼尔 • It is a story mixed with vision, describing how Daniel and his friends were taken prisoner to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem and how they refused to compromise their faith. • While in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., The Hebrews, now known as Jews, formed synagogues to practice their religion. • Today there are 15 million Jews scattered throughout the world, yet like the nomadic tribe in Araham’s time, they are still linked with the same religion, same devotion to the Law of the Torah, and they still cling to the hope that some day their Messiah will arise to redeem them.

24. Rise of Christianity • Christianity based itself on two forceful beliefs which separate it from all other religions. • One is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that God sent him to earth to live as humans live, suffer as humans suffer, and die to redeem humankind. • The other is that God gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. • This Redeemer, Jesus, was at once divine and truly human. Thus, the heart of Christianity is the life of Jesus: How he lived and died to redeem the whole human race.

25. The Life of Jesus • Jesus of Nazareth lived in Palestine during the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. He was born in Bethlehem to a virgin mother. At the age of 30, he received the baptism at the hands of John Baptist. • Betrayed by Juda and crucified, and resurrected • He thought that God created all humans and loved them the way a father lived his children. Therefore men should believe in God and love him and behave like God’s children and love one another.

26. The Spread of Christianity • For 240 years after the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, persecutions of Christianity continued.（unpopularity, why?） • Christianity : Palestine the Mediterranean region • Two causes leading to popularity • By 305 Diocletian gave up his effort to destroy the young religion. • In 313, Constantine made Christianity legal. • In 392 A.D., Emperor Theodosius(狄奥多西) made Christianity the official religion of the empire and outlawed all other religions. • Christianity: an object of oppression a weapon spread beyond

27. Structure

28. The New Testament • The New Testament, the second major part of the Bible, is an anthology, a collection of works written at different times by various authors. It has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books. The original texts were written beginning around 50 AD in Greek, in the eastern part of the Roman Empire where they were composed. All of the works which would eventually be incorporated into the New Testament would seem to have been written no later than the mid-2nd century.

29. The New Testament • Towards the end of the fourth century four accounts were accepted as part of the New Testament, which tells the beginning of Christianity. The four accounts were believed to have been written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. • Acts of the Apostles • Epistles • Book of Revelation

30. The Birth of Jesus • In the western hemisphere, time is split by the birth of Jesus Christ: the Gregorian calendar, also the Western calendar or the Christian calendar • Mary and Joseph • An angel • Born as Jesus, the Savior of the world

31. Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil • First temptation • Second temptation • Third temptation

32. The Sermon on the Mount

33. Jesus gave this sermon (estimated around 30 AD) on a mountainside to his disciples and a large crowd. Matthew groups Jesus’ teachings into five discourses, of which the Sermon on the Mount is the first. • The Sermon on the Mount(《登山宝训》) is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching.

34. The Last Supper • According to Christian belief, The Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

35. The Last Supper • The Last Supper specifically portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock.

36. The Crucifixion • The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the first century A.D. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross.

37. Trinity • The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit = one being • God in three persons, each person is God, whole and entire

38. Translation of the Bible • 歌德：世界可以它的步伐飞速前进，人类的科学可以向最高的阶段发展，但却没有任何东西可以取代《圣经》的地位。 • William Shakespeare: Macbeth • Ernest Hemingway：The Old Man and the Sea • 陀思妥耶夫斯基：《卡拉马佐夫兄弟》

39. Translation of the Bible • Importance of the Bible in the History • Essential of western civilization • Much more than a religious book

40. Translation of the Bible • Except a few passages in the related Aramaic dialect, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. And the New Testament was originally written in a popular form of Greek.

41. Translation of the Bible • The oldest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament is known as the Septuagint, as according to the fictional Letter of Aristeas(《阿里斯狄的信件》), it was translated by 72 translators in 72 days.

42. Translation of the Bible • The most ancient extant Latin version of the whole Bible is the Vulgate, which was done by St. Jerome in 383-- 405 A.D. It became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. The Latin Bible was the first complete work printed. • Translation Day: 30 Sept.

43. Translation of the Bible • After the Latin version came the translations in modern languages. Into every country where Christianity spread, the Bible was translated into the languages of that country. By 1963, the whole of the Bible had been translated in 228 languages and parts into 974 languages-- a total of 1202, including tribal tongues.

44. Translation of the Bible • The first English version of whole Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1382 and was copied out by hand by the early group of reformers led by John Wycliff.

45. Translation of the Bible • After John Wycliff’s version, appeared William Tyndale’s version. It was based directly on the original Hebrew and Greek sources. • Partly based on Tyndale’s version was Miles Converdale’s Bible. Then later the Great Bible ordered by Henry VIII in 1539 to be placed in all the English churches was in part founded on Tyndale’s work.

46. Translation of the Bible • But the most important and influential of English Bible is the “Authorized” or King James’s version, King James Bible first published in 1611. • The Revised Version appeared in 1885, and the standard American edition of the Revised Version in 1901and 1979 saw the publication of the New King James Bible. • Other important recent translations, done in the sixties and seventies are the Good News Bible and the New English Bible.