Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine, Essay Example

Religions and Authority (Big Brother)

All over the world various religions preach the existence of superior deity that oversees human actions and controls destiny. This omnipresent omnipotent power is believed to control all human actions by rewarding the good and impeding the actions of the evils as well as punishing these evil doers. The various religions give this superpower the big brother character and use the likely consequences of disobedience as a bait to ensure that people do not stray or misbehave. Such religions as Christianity and Judaism have had great impact on the leadership of societies in the world as well as their cultural practices. The conversion of kingdoms and various communities into specific religions was closely tied to their leadership change. The church was so closely tied to religion that in the time frame of 300 to 1300 AD most of the religious leaders were secular leaders and their roles were inter twinned. Following breaking down of the otherwise cordial relationship and close coexistence between the secular and religious leadership in the later years of 1300 led to collapse of some kingdoms as well as open conflict for control of the church.

Christianity is a monotheistic religion which projects its faith and beliefs from the foundations of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ who is the main pillar and influence of their denomination. Christians believe in the existence of an all powerful force that dictates their actions and that grants their wishes as well as punishing the wrong doers. Their holy book, which also is their main reference material, is the bible which contains teachings on the life and times of Jesus Christ who is commonly referred to as the Messiah. Adherents of the Christian faith, otherwise known as Christians, believe that Jesus suffered like humans, he was crucified and killed, later buried, and he resurrected from the dead to give salvation to the believers as well as grant remission of their sins. Most Christians consider Jesus a model of righteous life and the physical equivalent of the unseen God. This demonstrates their belief in the one power that is omnipresent and omnipotent as well as this power being the force that guides all in the society.

Judaism, on the other hand, is also a monotheistic religion whose base of faith and beliefs originating in the Jewish Bible, otherwise known as the Tanakh, which later was analyzed and converted into other writings like Talmud. Jews consider Judaism as a perpetuation of the covenant God developed with the Children of Israel during the great exodus from Egypt. They all just as Christians believe in one omnipresent and omnipotent power which oversees all deeds of humans.  They hold the belief that God revealed his ten commandments to Moses in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah (which means law). Some sects within Judaism resent the idea that Oral Torah was also presented to Moses but only written Torah, whilst others believe both oral and written were revealed. Their influence runs deep within Christianity, Islam and other religions form the work of their beliefs and traditions (Jacob & Morton P 76). All religions preach the existence of a worldly authority as being ordained by divine powers or the super powers. This means that all power is derived from these superior powers. Christianity specifically preaches that all power comes from God.

Both in Judaism and Christianity the followers belief in the existence of a contractual rapport between them and God thus their conduct and deeds determine their status in the society and before the deity. According to them, God rewards or punishes people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In Christianity followers are urged to believe that God is merciful, gracious and loves them as well. As a reflection of God’s love, people must also love other people and forgive their enemies (Neusner, p27). The establishment of ancient kingdoms and leaderships such as the Roman Empire was highly hinged on the existence of super powers that controlled the people. This spread to the Spanish empire and other establishments of the Iberian Peninsula. The depiction of the superpower as being all encompassing and capable of controlling human life made the people being led rather lame. In the history of the Israelites for example it was not historically logical for the people to follow Moses for forty years through a desert. This scenario is further worsened by the fact that these people followed Moses all through despite the existence of shorter alternative routes that they could have used to get to the destination faster.

Religious piety aside, pagans have also orchestrated an image of existence of superior powers such as ‘karma’ which preaches the boomerang effect where any time a person does bad things to others the same is done to them.   This has also played a big role in entrenching into people the fear of the unknown hence increasing their subordination to authority. The pagan populations such as the African communities submitted to rules due to the believe that any insurrection will be met with an equivalent later on as one progresses. This has permeated all spheres of other non religious groups such as scientologists who believe in doing well so that it can be done to you as well.

The period between 300 and 1300 AD showed a paradigm shift in the relationship between the religions and the populace the church has such strong linkages with the Roman empire for example the conversion of King Clovis led to Christianity spreading fast in the empire as many people sought to identify with the prestige and the power of the church (Krul, p81). Such portrayals showed peoples inability to distinguish between the secular and religious leaderships. This resulted in a highly interconnected coexistence. This eventually  had a negative impact on the faith of the followers as most followers tended to link the rulers with Christians who believe in the righteous going to heaven and the wicked going to hell as the terminal a dwelling place (Powell, 1866). This impacted negatively on their faith since it was apparent that the leadership did not practice what the bible preached. This later evolved into an open conflict between the values of religion and the desires of secular leadership, such was the Case in the late 1300’s when Phillip a French Friar disagreed with the Pope and in the subsequent election upon the popes death he instigated the installation of a French pope and moved the pope’s station form the traditional Rome to France. The growth of Christianity therefore saw a period when people willingly submitted to religion and foolishly followed the authority of the religious leaders. This eventually broke down and it played a major role in the collapse of the Roman Empire.

These two religions are therefore closely related. The existence of free will as depicted by St Augustine is a slight departure from the other depictions of the free will. St Augustine details the existence of this free will as the options people have of whether to pursue righteousness or evil. The free will doctrine though still gravitates towards the existence of a superior power that dictates that this ‘big brother’ or superior power which rules above all and decides our destiny. Augustine renders the existence of free will as being governed by faith this implies that those that believe in the existence of God are inclined to do good while those that do not are inclined to fail to understand God’s very existence hence be drawn into evil deeds.

Religious doctrines have therefore throughout time preached the existence of a superior power that rules over all human activity. This doctrine has permeated human life for ages. To this date it is a common believe that all authority stems from this power. This doctrine has been exploited widely in such incidences like the colonization of African states that was closely intertwined with the spread of Christianity into Africa. The people are made to believe that they ought to understand the existence of a superior power and have faith in this power. They are then taught to follow this power and follow all authority that is anointed by such powers. This way, Christian leaders are able to wield power and control over their followers.  Instances where religious leaders have seemed to depart from the soft power emanating from faith and belief in the superior authority into more totalitarian leadership have resulted in revolt and disagreements in the religious order and dissent among the followers like it happened in the 1300 during the reign of Pope Gregory XI.

Works Cited

Jacob Neusner. Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1987

Krul M, Christianity and Paganism.  10 May 2009. 19 May 2010 <http://mccaine.org/2009/05/30/christianity-and-paganism/> 2009

Murray C. Saint Augustine and Freewill. 08 may 2010.  <http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1282.> 2004

Neusner J & Smith M. Christianity, Judaism and other Greco-Roman Cults, Leiden: E.J Brill .1986.

Powell B.  Christianity without Judaism. London: Longmans Green &Co. 1866