Joseph D. L. wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:53 am
^MrMacSon, I actually find that very relevant.
... My thinking changed when I considered the greater impact that the Kitos revolt had upon Christianity. As far as I'm concerned, the Jewish-Roman war only served as fertilizer for Christianity, and is rather overstated in its role as creating the theology.
Cheers. Yes, I think later events are likely to be as relevant or more relevant than the 1st Jewish-roman War.
Interestingly, I just realised I'd missed the relevance of one comment by Peter also in relation to the time of Trajan
After -
Eusebius quotes an account of the death of Symeon in the reign of Trajan, apparently in response to the Kitos War uprising recorded by Dio Cassius, a rebellion of Jews outside of Judea around 115-117 AD.
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3.32.1-3 ...
http://peterkirby.com/chasing-hegesippus.html
I had noted Peter had said -
... [Hegesippus] is quoted as saying that jealousy arose because of the election of Symeon among the people who belonged to the family of the Lord (and descendants of David) who comprised the leadership of the church. It is most plausible that the one depicted as being snubbed is one who had some kind of legitimate claim to being elected at all, i.e., Thebuthis, a grandson of Judas (one of the remaining “family of the Lord” in the account above [
I think Peter is referring to E.H. bk 3, chap. 201,
which he had quoted previously), the brother of James the Just, instead of Symeon, supposedly the ancient son of Clopas, the brother of Joseph. He was one of those who were arrested and hassled by Domitian “when search was made for the descendants of David”, as already quoted.
http://peterkirby.com/chasing-hegesippus.html
1 H.E. bk 3, chap 20 also refers to Domitan and Trajan -
1. “Of the 'family of the Lord' there were still living
the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord’s brother according to the flesh*.
- This Jude was the brother of James, “the brother of the Lord,” who is mentioned in Jude 1, and is to be distinguished from Jude (Thaddeus-Lebbæus), one of the Twelve, whose name appears in the 'catalogues of Luke' (Luke vi. 14, and Acts i. 13) as the son of James (not his brother, as the A.V. translates: the Greek words are ᾽Ιούδας ᾽Ιακώβου). For a discussion of the relationship of these men to Christ, see above, Bk. I. chap. 12, note 14. Of the son of Jude and father of the young men mentioned in this chapter we know nothing.
2. Information was given that
they belonged to the family of David, and
they were brought to the Emperor Domitian by the Evocatus [soldier/s who, having served out [their] time, were called upon to do military duty as a volunteer]. For
Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it [lol]. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii,722 half of which belonged to each of them;
[there is no 3]
4. and this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes 723 and supported themselves by their own labor.” 724
5. Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labor.
6. And
when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of
what sort it was and
where and when it was to appear, they answered that
it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but
a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when
he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works.
7. Upon hearing this,
Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree
put a stop to the persecution of the Church.
8. But
when they were released they ruled the churches because they were witnesses 725 and were also
relatives of the Lord. 726 And peace being established,
they lived until the time of Trajan. These things are related by Hegesippus.
9. Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words
[Apol. chap. 5]: - “Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero’s cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, 728 he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished.”
10. But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years [
81-96 AD] and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days
[Dion Cassius, LXVIII. 1 sq., and Suetonius’ Domitian, chap. 23] 'voted' that Domitian’s honors should be cancelled, and that
those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them.
11. It was
at this time that
the apostle John returned from his banishment2 in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition [
Literally, “the word of the ancients among us” (ὁ τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἀρχαίων λόγος). On the tradition itself, see chap. 1, note 6].
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201 ... ii.xx.html
2 Eusebiu's commentary on John continues in
E.H. in
chapter 23 of bk 3.
Chapter 24 is about the order of the Gospels, and Chap. 25 is about the Divine Scriptures that are accepted and those that are not.