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Crash Course: World History, Christianity from Judaism to Constantine #11

Christianity from Judaism to Constantine #11

Hi there my name's John Green; this is Crash Course World History and today we're going to talk about Jesus.

So this is a Roman coin from around the time Jesus was born in the Roman Empire, and it

calls Augustus, the emperor, the son of God. So let's just state at the outset that in

4 BCE, being the son of God, or at least being the son of a god was not such an unusual thing.

But a poor Jew being the son of God — that was news.

[Theme Music]

Any understanding of Christianity has to start with Judaism, because Jesus was born a Jew,

and he grew up in the Jewish tradition. He was one of many teachers spreading his ideas

in the Roman province of Judea at the time, and he was part of a messianic tradition that

helps us understand why he was thought of not only teacher but something much, much more.

Let's go straight to the Thought Bubble today.

The people who would become the Jews, were just one of many tribal peoples eking out

an existence in that not-very fertile crescent world of Mesopotamia after the agricultural revolution.

The Hebrews initially worshiped many gods, making sacrifices to them in order to bring

good weather and good fortune. But they eventually developed a religion centered around an idea

that would become key to the other great western religions.

This was monotheism, the idea that there is only one true god (or at least that if there

are other gods around, they are total lameoids). The Hebrews developed a second concept that

is key to their religion as well: the idea of the covenant, a deal with God.

The main man in this, the big macher was Abraham. Not to make this too much of a scripture lesson,

but it's kind of hard to understand the Jews without understanding Abraham, or Abram

as he was known before he had his big conversation with God. Recorded in Genesis 17: "When Abram

was ninety years and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, 'I am the Almighty

God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' " And I'm a make a covenant with you and

a bunch of cool things will happen like you're gonna have kids and your descendants will

number the stars and you can have all the land of Canaan forever, it's gonna be awesome.

I'm paraphrasing by the way, Thought Bubble.

So God promised that Abram would have kids with his wife even though the dude was already

like 99, but there was a catch: "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me

and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised." Keep

it PG-13, Thought Bubble.

Now that is asking a lot from a guy, especially a 99-year-old geezer like Abram living in

a time before general anesthesia. But those were the terms of the deal, and in exchange

God had chosen Abraham and his descendants to be a great nation. From this we get the

expression that the Jews are the Chosen people.

Thanks for keeping it clean, Thought Bubble.

So, some important things about this god:

One, singularity. He — and I'm using the masculine pronoun because that's what Hebrew

prayers use — does not want you to put any gods before Him.

He is also transcendent, having always existed and he is deeply personal – he chats with

prophets, sends locusts, etc. But he doesn't take corporeal form like the Greek and Roman Gods do.

He is also involved in history, like he will destroy cities, and bring floods, and determine

the outcome of wars, and possibly football games. Stan, no! FOOTBALL games!

Probably most important to us today, and certainly most important to Jesus, this god demands

moral righteousness and social justice. So, this is the god of the Hebrews, Yahweh, and

despite many ups and downs, the Jewish people have stuck with him for- according to the

Hebrew calendar, at least- over 5700 years.

And He has stuck by them too, despite the Jews being, on occasion, something of a disappointment

to him. Which leads to various miseries, and also to a tradition of prophets who speak

for God and warn the people to get back on the right path lest there be more miseries.

Which brings us back to our friends, the Romans. By the time that Jesus was born, the land

of the Israelites had been absorbed into the Roman Empire as the province of Judea. At

the time of Jesus's birth, Judea was under the control of Herod the Great, best known

for building the massive temple in Jerusalem, that the Romans would later destroy.

And by the time Jesus died, an expanded Judea was under the rule of Herod Antipater. Also,

unhelpfully, known as Herod. Both Herods ultimately took their orders from the Romans, and they

both show up on the list of rulers who are oppressive to the Jews, partly because there's

never that much religious freedom in an empire.

Unless you are, wait for it... The Mongols [Mongoltage]

or the Persians. Also, they were Hellenizers, bringing in Greek theater and architecture,

and rationalism. And in response to those Hellenistic influences, there were a lot of

preachers trying to get the Jews to return to the traditions and the godly ways of the

past, including the Sadducees, and the Pharisees, and the Essenes, and the Zealots.

And one of those preachers, who didn't fit comfortably into any of these four groups,

was Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was a preacher who spread his message of peace, love and,

above all, justice, across Judea over the course of his actually average-length life for his time.

He was remarkably charismatic, attracting a small but incredibly loyal group of followers,

and he was said to perform miracles — although it's worth noting that miracles weren't

terribly uncommon at the time.

Jesus's message was particularly resonant to the poor and downtrodden and pretty radical

in its anti-authoritarian stance. He said it was easier for a camel to get through the

eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven, he said the meek were blessed,

that the last would be first and the first would be last — all of which was kind of

threatening to the powers that be, who accordingly had him arrested, tried and then executed

in the normal method of killing rebels at that time: crucifixion.

Also, just to put this question to bed, the Romans crucified Jesus, because he was a

threat to their authority. Later traditions saying that the Jews killed Jesus? Very unfortunate, also, very untrue.

We're not going to discuss Jesus's divinity, because:

1. This isn't a theology class, and 2. Flame wars on the Internet make me so uncomfortable that I have to turn to camera 2. Hi there camera 2, I'm here to remind you that

3. Fighting over such things, like fighting over whether the proverbial cake is a lie, rarely accomplishes anything, plus 4. What matters to us is the historical fact

that people at the time believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the son

of God. And they believed that he would return some day to redeem the world.

Which leads us to two questions about Christianity:

First, Why did this small group of people believe this? And second, why and how did

that belief become so widespread?

So why would people believe that Jesus was the Messiah?

First. The Jews had a long tradition of believing that a savior who would come to them in a

time of trouble. And Judea under the rule of Herod and the Romans... definitely a time of trouble.

And many of the prophecies about this savior point to someone whose life looks a lot like

Jesus's. For instance, Isaiah 53 says the person will be misunderstood and mistreated,

just like Jesus was: “He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted

with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we didn't respect him.”

And a lot of the prophecies like Daniel 7:14, for instance, explained that when the Messiah

comes there will be this awesome, new, everlasting kingdom. And that had to sound pretty good

to people who'd had their autonomy taken away from them.

So some religious Jews saw Jesus in those prophecies and came to believe either during

his life or shortly thereafter, that he was the messiah. Most of them thought the new

everlasting kingdom was right around the corner, which is probably why no one bothered to write

down much about the life of Jesus for several decades, by which time it was clear that we

might have to wait a bit for this brilliant new everlasting kingdom.

I should note, by the way, that the idea of a messiah was not unique to the Jews at the

time. Even the Romans got in on the action, for instance, the Roman poet Virgil wrote

of a boy who: “Shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear, he shall receive the life

of gods, and see Heroes with gods commingling.” Sound familiar?

But Virgil was writing about Emperor Augustus in that poem, not Jesus, which points again

to the similarities between the two. Both called sons of God. Both sent to free the

earth from never-ceasing fear. But one ruled the largest empire in the world; and the other

believed that empire, and the world, needed to change dramatically.

So why did the less wealthy and famous son of God become by far the more influential?

Well, here are three possible historical reasons:

Reason #1: The Romans continued to make things bad for the Jews. In fact, things got much

worse for the Jews, especially after they launched a revolt between 66-73 CE, which did not go well.

By the time the dust settled, the Romans had destroyed the Temple and expelled the Jews

from Judea, beginning what we now know as the Jewish Diaspora.

And without a Temple or geographic unity, the Jews had to solidify what it meant to

be a Jew and what the basic tenants of the religion were. This forced the followers of

Jesus to make a decision: were they going to continue to be Jews following stricter

laws set forth by rabbis, or were they going to be something else.

The decision to open up their religion to non-Jews, people who weren't part of the

covenant, is the central reason that Christianity could become a world religion instead of just

a sect of Judaism. And it probably didn't hurt that the main proponent of sticking with

Judaism was James, Jesus's brother, who was killed by the Romans.

Reason #2: Is related to Reason #1 and it's all about a dude named Saul. No, not that

Saul. Yes, Saul of Tarsus, thank you.

Saul, having received a vision on the road to Damascus, became Paul and began visiting

and sending letters to Jesus followers throughout the Mediterranean. And it was Paul who emphatically

declared that Jesus followers did NOT have to be Jews, that they did not have to be circumcised

or keep to Jewish laws or any of that stuff.

This opened the floodgates for thousands of people to convert to this new religion. And

the other thing to remember about Paul is that he was a Roman citizen, which meant that

he could travel freely throughout the Roman Empire. This allowed him to make his case

to lots of different people and facilitated the geographic spread of Christianity.

Oh, it's time for the open letter? Alright. An open letter, to the fish.

But first, lets see what's in the secret compartment today. Oh, Stan. It's my favorite

album Jesus Christ Superstar, finally available in my favorite format, the cassette. Did I

color-coordinate my shirt to Jesus Christ Superstar? Yes.

Dear Ichthys, So check this out: In the first century when it was still super underground

and hipster to be a Christian, you were a secret symbol of Christianity, used to kind

of hide from the Romans. Ichthys, the Greek word for fish, was an acronym and it was a

super clever way to talk about religion without anyone knowing that you were talking about it.

But you'll never guess what happened - even in places where it's completely fine to

talk about Christianity now and to use, you know, regular Christian symbols, like the

cross, you have had a huge resurgence thanks to the plastic automobile decal industry.

I mean seriously, Ichthys, I haven't seen a comeback like this since Jesus.

Best wishes, John Green

And lastly, Christianity was born and flourished an empire with a common language that allowed

for its spread. And crucially, it was also an Empire in decline.

Like even by the end of the first century CE, Rome was on its way down. And for the

average person, and even for some elites, things weren't as good as they had been,

if fact they were getting worse so fast that you might have thought the end of the world was coming.

And Roman religion offered no promise of an afterlife, and a bunch of squabbling whiny

gods - sorry if I offended adherents to Roman religion, but seriously, they squabble. So

even though early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire and sometimes fed to the

lions and other animals, the religion continued to grow, albeit slowly.

But then as the Roman decline continued, Emperor Constantine allowed the worship of Jesus and

then eventually converted to Christianity himself. And then the religion really took

off. I mean, Rome wasn't what it used to be, but everybody still wanted to be like

the Emperor. And soon enough there was a new son of God on coins.

Thanks for watching. See you next week.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller, our script supervisor is Danica Johnson.

The show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself and our graphics

team is Thought Bubble.

As only 62 million of you guessed last week, the Phrase of the Week was "Chipotle Burrito";

if you want to guess at this week's Phrase of the Week or suggest future ones, you can

do so in Comments where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered,

hopefully, by our team of historians.

Thanks for watching Crash Course, and as we say in my hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

Ow... again.

Christianity from Judaism to Constantine #11 Das Christentum vom Judentum bis Konstantin #11 Ο Χριστιανισμός από τον Ιουδαϊσμό στον Κωνσταντίνο #11 El cristianismo del judaísmo a Constantino #11 Le christianisme, du judaïsme à Constantin #11 Il cristianesimo dal giudaismo a Costantino #11 ユダヤ教からコンスタンティヌスまで #11 유대교에서 콘스탄틴까지 기독교 #11 O cristianismo do judaísmo a Constantino #11 Христианство от иудаизма до Константина #11 Yahudilikten Konstantin'e Hıristiyanlık #11 Християнство від юдаїзму до Костянтина #11 基督教从犹太教到君士坦丁 #11

Hi there my name's John Green; this is Crash Course World History and today we're going to talk about Jesus. Olá, o meu nome é John Green; este é o Crash Course World History e hoje vamos falar sobre Jesus.

So this is a Roman coin from around the time Jesus was born in the Roman Empire, and it Trata-se de uma moeda romana da época do nascimento de Jesus no Império Romano, e

calls Augustus, the emperor, the son of God. So let's just state at the outset that in chama a Augusto, o imperador, o filho de Deus. Assim, digamos desde já que em

4 BCE, being the son of God, or at least being the son of a god was not such an unusual thing. 4 a.C., ser filho de Deus, ou pelo menos ser filho de um deus, não era uma coisa assim tão invulgar.

But a poor Jew being the son of God — that was news. Mas um pobre judeu ser o filho de Deus - isso era novidade.

[Theme Music]

Any understanding of Christianity has to start with Judaism, because Jesus was born a Jew, Qualquer compreensão do cristianismo tem de começar com o judaísmo, porque Jesus nasceu judeu,

and he grew up in the Jewish tradition. He was one of many teachers spreading his ideas e cresceu no seio da tradição judaica. Foi um dos muitos professores que difundiram as suas ideias

in the Roman province of Judea at the time, and he was part of a messianic tradition that na província romana da Judeia, na altura, e fazia parte de uma tradição messiânica que

helps us understand why he was thought of not only teacher but something much, much more. ajuda-nos a compreender porque é que ele era considerado não apenas professor, mas algo muito, muito mais.

Let's go straight to the Thought Bubble today. Hoje vamos diretamente para o Balão de Pensamento.

The people who would become the Jews, were just one of many tribal peoples eking out El pueblo que se convertiría en los judíos era sólo uno de los muchos pueblos tribales que se ganaban la vida a duras penas. O povo que viria a ser os judeus, era apenas um dos muitos povos tribais que se esforçavam por sobreviver.

an existence in that not-very fertile crescent world of Mesopotamia after the agricultural revolution. una existencia en ese mundo no muy fértil de la media luna de Mesopotamia tras la revolución agrícola. uma existência no crescente mundo não muito fértil da Mesopotâmia após a revolução agrícola.

The Hebrews initially worshiped many gods, making sacrifices to them in order to bring Os hebreus adoravam inicialmente muitos deuses, fazendo-lhes sacrifícios para

good weather and good fortune. But they eventually developed a religion centered around an idea bom tempo e boa sorte. Mas acabaram por desenvolver uma religião centrada numa ideia

that would become key to the other great western religions. que se tornaria a chave para as outras grandes religiões ocidentais.

This was monotheism, the idea that there is only one true god (or at least that if there Era o monoteísmo, a ideia de que existe apenas um deus verdadeiro (ou, pelo menos, que, se existir

are other gods around, they are total lameoids). The Hebrews developed a second concept that se há outros deuses por perto, eles são totalmente lameoides). Os hebreus desenvolveram um segundo conceito que

is key to their religion as well: the idea of the covenant, a deal with God. é também a chave da sua religião: a ideia da aliança, um acordo com Deus.

The main man in this, the big macher was Abraham. Not to make this too much of a scripture lesson, O homem principal, o grande mestre, foi Abraão. Para não fazer disto uma grande lição das Escrituras,

but it's kind of hard to understand the Jews without understanding Abraham, or Abram mas é difícil compreender os judeus sem compreender Abraão, ou Abrão

as he was known before he had his big conversation with God. Recorded in Genesis 17: "When Abram como era conhecido antes de ter a sua grande conversa com Deus. Registado em Génesis 17: "Quando Abrão

was ninety years and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, 'I am the Almighty tinha noventa e nove anos, o Senhor apareceu a Abrão e disse-lhe: "Eu sou o Todo-Poderoso

God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' " And I'm a make a covenant with you and Deus; anda diante de mim, e sê perfeito. "E eu vou fazer um pacto convosco e

a bunch of cool things will happen like you're gonna have kids and your descendants will vão acontecer um monte de coisas fixes como ter filhos e os seus descendentes vão

number the stars and you can have all the land of Canaan forever, it's gonna be awesome. numerar as estrelas e poderás ter toda a terra de Canaã para sempre, vai ser fantástico.

I'm paraphrasing by the way, Thought Bubble. Estou a parafrasear, já agora, Thought Bubble.

So God promised that Abram would have kids with his wife even though the dude was already Então Deus prometeu que Abrão teria filhos com a sua mulher, apesar de o homem já ser

like 99, but there was a catch: "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me como el 99, pero había una trampa: "Este es mi pacto, que guardaréis, entre yo como 99, mas havia um senão: "Este é o meu pacto, que guardareis, entre mim

and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised." Keep y tú y tu descendencia después de ti; todo niño varón entre vosotros será circuncidado". Visite e tu e a tua descendência depois de ti; todo o homem dentre vós será circuncidado". Guardar

it PG-13, Thought Bubble. PG-13, Thought Bubble.

Now that is asking a lot from a guy, especially a 99-year-old geezer like Abram living in Isso é pedir muito a um homem, especialmente a um velhote de 99 anos como Abram, que vive em

a time before general anesthesia. But those were the terms of the deal, and in exchange numa altura em que ainda não havia anestesia geral. Mas esses eram os termos do acordo, e em troca

God had chosen Abraham and his descendants to be a great nation. From this we get the Deus tinha escolhido Abraão e os seus descendentes para serem uma grande nação. A partir daí, obtemos a

expression that the Jews are the Chosen people. expressão de que os judeus são o povo eleito.

Thanks for keeping it clean, Thought Bubble. Obrigado por o manteres limpo, Thought Bubble.

So, some important things about this god: Portanto, algumas coisas importantes sobre este deus:

One, singularity. He — and I'm using the masculine pronoun because that's what Hebrew Um, a singularidade. Ele - e estou a usar o pronome masculino porque é isso que o hebraico

prayers use — does not want you to put any gods before Him. não quer que ponhas nenhum deus diante d'Ele.

He is also transcendent, having always existed and he is deeply personal – he chats with Ele é também transcendente, tendo sempre existido, e é profundamente pessoal - conversa com

prophets, sends locusts, etc. But he doesn't take corporeal form like the Greek and Roman Gods do. profetas, envia gafanhotos, etc. Mas não toma forma corpórea como os deuses gregos e romanos.

He is also involved in history, like he will destroy cities, and bring floods, and determine Ele também está envolvido na história, como destruir cidades, provocar inundações e determinar

the outcome of wars, and possibly football games. Stan, no! FOOTBALL games! o resultado de guerras, e possivelmente de jogos de futebol. Stan, não! Jogos de futebol!

Probably most important to us today, and certainly most important to Jesus, this god demands Provavelmente o mais importante para nós hoje, e certamente o mais importante para Jesus, este deus exige

moral righteousness and social justice. So, this is the god of the Hebrews, Yahweh, and a retidão moral e a justiça social. Então, este é o deus dos hebreus, Yahweh, e

despite many ups and downs, the Jewish people have stuck with him for- according to the Apesar de muitos altos e baixos, o povo judeu manteve-se fiel a ele durante - segundo o

Hebrew calendar, at least- over 5700 years. Calendário hebraico, pelo menos - mais de 5700 anos.

And He has stuck by them too, despite the Jews being, on occasion, something of a disappointment E também se manteve fiel a eles, apesar de os judeus terem sido, por vezes, uma desilusão

to him. Which leads to various miseries, and also to a tradition of prophets who speak a ele. O que leva a várias misérias, e também a uma tradição de profetas que falam

for God and warn the people to get back on the right path lest there be more miseries. para Deus e avisar as pessoas para voltarem ao caminho certo, para que não haja mais misérias.

Which brings us back to our friends, the Romans. By the time that Jesus was born, the land O que nos leva de volta aos nossos amigos, os romanos. Na altura em que Jesus nasceu, a terra

of the Israelites had been absorbed into the Roman Empire as the province of Judea. At dos israelitas tinha sido absorvida pelo Império Romano como a província da Judeia. Em

the time of Jesus's birth, Judea was under the control of Herod the Great, best known Na altura do nascimento de Jesus, a Judeia estava sob o controlo de Herodes, o Grande, mais conhecido

for building the massive temple in Jerusalem, that the Romans would later destroy. para a construção do enorme templo de Jerusalém, que os romanos viriam a destruir.

And by the time Jesus died, an expanded Judea was under the rule of Herod Antipater. Also, E, na altura em que Jesus morreu, uma Judeia alargada estava sob o domínio de Herodes Antipater. Também,

unhelpfully, known as Herod. Both Herods ultimately took their orders from the Romans, and they conhecido como Herodes. Ambos os Herodes acabaram por receber ordens dos romanos, e

both show up on the list of rulers who are oppressive to the Jews, partly because there's ambos aparecen en la lista de gobernantes opresores de los judíos, en parte porque hay ambos aparecem na lista dos governantes que oprimem os judeus, em parte porque há

never that much religious freedom in an empire. nunca tanta libertad religiosa en un imperio. nunca houve tanta liberdade religiosa num império.

Unless you are, wait for it... The Mongols [Mongoltage] A não ser que sejam, esperem por isso... Os Mongóis [Mongoltage]

or the Persians. Also, they were Hellenizers, bringing in Greek theater and architecture, ou os persas. Além disso, eram helenizantes, trazendo o teatro e a arquitetura gregos,

and rationalism. And in response to those Hellenistic influences, there were a lot of e o racionalismo. E em resposta a essas influências helenísticas, houve uma série de

preachers trying to get the Jews to return to the traditions and the godly ways of the pregadores que tentavam fazer com que os judeus voltassem às tradições e aos caminhos piedosos dos

past, including the Sadducees, and the Pharisees, and the Essenes, and the Zealots. passado, incluindo os saduceus, os fariseus, os essénios e os zelotes.

And one of those preachers, who didn't fit comfortably into any of these four groups, E um desses pregadores, que não se encaixava confortavelmente em nenhum desses quatro grupos,

was Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was a preacher who spread his message of peace, love and, foi Jesus de Nazaré. Jesus foi um pregador que espalhou a sua mensagem de paz, amor e..,

above all, justice, across Judea over the course of his actually average-length life for his time. acima de tudo, a justiça, em toda a Judeia, ao longo da sua vida, que teve uma duração média para a sua época.

He was remarkably charismatic, attracting a small but incredibly loyal group of followers, Era extraordinariamente carismático, atraindo um pequeno mas incrivelmente leal grupo de seguidores,

and he was said to perform miracles — although it's worth noting that miracles weren't y se decía que hacía milagros -aunque cabe señalar que los milagros no eran e dizia-se que fazia milagres - embora seja de notar que os milagres não eram

terribly uncommon at the time. terriblemente infrecuente en aquella época. muito pouco comum na altura.

Jesus's message was particularly resonant to the poor and downtrodden and pretty radical A mensagem de Jesus era particularmente importante para os pobres e oprimidos e bastante radical

in its anti-authoritarian stance. He said it was easier for a camel to get through the en su postura antiautoritaria. Dijo que era más fácil para un camello atravesar el その反権威的な立場で。彼はラクダが通り抜けるのがより簡単だったと言いました na sua posição anti-autoritária. Disse que era mais fácil para um camelo atravessar o

eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven, he said the meek were blessed, 金持ちが天国に行くよりも針の目で、彼は柔和な人は祝福されたと言いました、 O que ele disse é que os mansos são abençoados,

that the last would be first and the first would be last — all of which was kind of que os últimos seriam os primeiros e os primeiros seriam os últimos - tudo isto era um pouco

threatening to the powers that be, who accordingly had him arrested, tried and then executed ameaçador para os poderes instituídos, que o mandaram prender, julgar e depois executar

in the normal method of killing rebels at that time: crucifixion.

Also, just to put this question to bed, the Romans crucified Jesus, because he was a Além disso, para acabar com esta questão, os romanos crucificaram Jesus, porque ele era um

threat to their authority. Later traditions saying that the Jews killed Jesus? Very unfortunate, also, very untrue. ameaça à sua autoridade. Tradições posteriores que dizem que os judeus mataram Jesus? Muito lamentável, mas também muito falso.

We're not going to discuss Jesus's divinity, because: Não vamos discutir a divindade de Jesus, porque:

1\. This isn't a theology class, and 2. Flame wars on the Internet make me so uncomfortable that 1\. Isto não é uma aula de teologia, e 2. As guerras de fogo na Internet deixam-me tão desconfortável que I have to turn to camera 2. Hi there camera 2, I'm here to remind you that Tenho de passar à câmara 2. Olá câmara 2, estou aqui para vos lembrar que

3\. Fighting over such things, like fighting over whether the proverbial cake is a lie, 3\. Discutir sobre estas coisas é como discutir se o proverbial bolo é uma mentira, rarely accomplishes anything, plus 4. What matters to us is the historical fact raramente consegue alguma coisa, mais 4. O que nos interessa é o facto histórico

that people at the time believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the son que as pessoas da altura acreditavam que Jesus era o Messias, o Ungido, o filho

of God. And they believed that he would return some day to redeem the world. de Deus. E acreditavam que ele voltaria um dia para redimir o mundo.

Which leads us to two questions about Christianity:

First, Why did this small group of people believe this? And second, why and how did Primeiro, porque é que este pequeno grupo de pessoas acreditou nisto? E segundo, porquê e como é que

that belief become so widespread? essa crença se tornou tão generalizada?

So why would people believe that Jesus was the Messiah? Então, porque é que as pessoas acreditariam que Jesus era o Messias?

First. The Jews had a long tradition of believing that a savior who would come to them in a Primeiro. Os judeus tinham uma longa tradição de acreditar que um salvador que viria até eles num

time of trouble. And Judea under the rule of Herod and the Romans... definitely a time of trouble. tempo de angústia. E a Judeia sob o domínio de Herodes e dos romanos... definitivamente um tempo de angústia.

And many of the prophecies about this savior point to someone whose life looks a lot like E muitas das profecias sobre este salvador apontam para alguém cuja vida se parece muito com

Jesus's. For instance, Isaiah 53 says the person will be misunderstood and mistreated, A de Jesus. Por exemplo, Isaías 53 diz que a pessoa será incompreendida e maltratada,

just like Jesus was: “He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted tal como Jesus foi: "Era desprezado, e rejeitado pelos homens; homem de dores, e experimentado

with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we didn't respect him.” e, como alguém de quem os homens escondem o rosto, era desprezado, e nós não o respeitávamos".

And a lot of the prophecies like Daniel 7:14, for instance, explained that when the Messiah E muitas das profecias, como Daniel 7:14, por exemplo, explicavam que quando o Messias

comes there will be this awesome, new, everlasting kingdom. And that had to sound pretty good vem este reino espetacular, novo e eterno. E isso tinha de soar muito bem

to people who'd had their autonomy taken away from them. a pessoas a quem foi retirada a sua autonomia.

So some religious Jews saw Jesus in those prophecies and came to believe either during Assim, alguns judeus religiosos viram Jesus nessas profecias e passaram a acreditar durante

his life or shortly thereafter, that he was the messiah. Most of them thought the new a sua vida ou pouco tempo depois, que ele era o messias. A maior parte deles pensava que o novo

everlasting kingdom was right around the corner, which is probably why no one bothered to write o reino eterno estava mesmo ao virar da esquina, e é provavelmente por isso que ninguém se deu ao trabalho de escrever

down much about the life of Jesus for several decades, by which time it was clear that we Durante várias décadas, a vida de Jesus foi objeto de muitas descobertas, altura em que se tornou claro que

might have to wait a bit for this brilliant new everlasting kingdom. talvez tenhamos de esperar um pouco por este novo e brilhante reino eterno.

I should note, by the way, that the idea of a messiah was not unique to the Jews at the A propósito, devo dizer que a ideia de um messias não era exclusiva dos judeus da época

time. Even the Romans got in on the action, for instance, the Roman poet Virgil wrote tempo. Até os romanos entraram na ação, por exemplo, o poeta romano Virgílio escreveu

of a boy who: “Shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear, he shall receive the life de um rapaz que: "Libertará a terra do medo sem fim, ele receberá a vida

of gods, and see Heroes with gods commingling.” Sound familiar? de deuses, e ver Heróis com deuses a misturarem-se". Soa familiar?

But Virgil was writing about Emperor Augustus in that poem, not Jesus, which points again Mas Virgílio estava a escrever sobre o Imperador Augusto nesse poema, e não sobre Jesus, o que aponta novamente para

to the similarities between the two. Both called sons of God. Both sent to free the para as semelhanças entre os dois. Ambos chamados filhos de Deus. Ambos enviados para libertar os

earth from never-ceasing fear. But one ruled the largest empire in the world; and the other A terra do medo incessante. Mas um governava o maior império do mundo; e o outro

believed that empire, and the world, needed to change dramatically. acreditava que o império, e o mundo, precisavam de mudar radicalmente.

So why did the less wealthy and famous son of God become by far the more influential? Então porque é que o filho de Deus, menos rico e mais famoso, se tornou de longe o mais influente?

Well, here are three possible historical reasons: Bem, aqui estão três possíveis razões históricas:

Reason #1: The Romans continued to make things bad for the Jews. In fact, things got much Razão nº 1: Os romanos continuaram a tornar as coisas más para os judeus. De facto, as coisas ficaram muito

worse for the Jews, especially after they launched a revolt between 66-73 CE, which did not go well. pior para os judeus, sobretudo depois de terem lançado uma revolta entre 66-73 d.C., que não correu bem.

By the time the dust settled, the Romans had destroyed the Temple and expelled the Jews Quando a poeira assentou, os romanos tinham destruído o Templo e expulsado os judeus

from Judea, beginning what we now know as the Jewish Diaspora. da Judeia, dando início ao que hoje conhecemos como a diáspora judaica.

And without a Temple or geographic unity, the Jews had to solidify what it meant to E sem um Templo ou uma unidade geográfica, os judeus tiveram de solidificar o que significava

be a Jew and what the basic tenants of the religion were. This forced the followers of ser judeu e quais eram os princípios básicos da religião. Isto obrigou os seguidores de

Jesus to make a decision: were they going to continue to be Jews following stricter Jesus teve de tomar uma decisão: iriam continuar a ser judeus, seguindo uma linha mais rigorosa de

laws set forth by rabbis, or were they going to be something else. leis estabelecidas pelos rabinos, ou seriam outra coisa.

The decision to open up their religion to non-Jews, people who weren't part of the A decisão de abrir a sua religião a não judeus, a pessoas que não faziam parte da

covenant, is the central reason that Christianity could become a world religion instead of just de que el cristianismo se convirtiera en una religión mundial en lugar de ser sólo una religión. é a razão central para que o cristianismo se tornasse uma religião mundial em vez de apenas

a sect of Judaism. And it probably didn't hurt that the main proponent of sticking with una secta del judaísmo. Y probablemente no hizo daño que el principal partidario de seguir con uma seita do judaísmo. E não deve ter sido mau o facto de o principal defensor de se manter a

Judaism was James, Jesus's brother, who was killed by the Romans. El judaísmo era Santiago, el hermano de Jesús, que fue asesinado por los romanos. O judaísmo era Tiago, irmão de Jesus, que foi morto pelos romanos.

Reason #2: Is related to Reason #1 and it's all about a dude named Saul. No, not that Razón #2: Está relacionada con la Razón #1 y se trata de un tipo llamado Saúl. No, no ese Razão #2: Está relacionada com a Razão #1 e tem tudo a ver com um gajo chamado Saul. Não, não é esse

Saul. Yes, Saul of Tarsus, thank you. Saulo. Sim, Saulo de Tarso, obrigado.

Saul, having received a vision on the road to Damascus, became Paul and began visiting Saulo, tendo recebido uma visão no caminho de Damasco, tornou-se Paulo e começou a visitar

and sending letters to Jesus followers throughout the Mediterranean. And it was Paul who emphatically e enviando cartas aos seguidores de Jesus por todo o Mediterrâneo. E foi Paulo quem enfaticamente

declared that Jesus followers did NOT have to be Jews, that they did not have to be circumcised declarou que os seguidores de Jesus NÃO tinham de ser judeus, que não tinham de ser circuncidados

or keep to Jewish laws or any of that stuff. ou seguir as leis judaicas ou qualquer uma dessas coisas.

This opened the floodgates for thousands of people to convert to this new religion. And Isto abriu as portas para que milhares de pessoas se convertessem a esta nova religião. E

the other thing to remember about Paul is that he was a Roman citizen, which meant that A outra coisa a lembrar sobre Paulo é que ele era um cidadão romano, o que significava que

he could travel freely throughout the Roman Empire. This allowed him to make his case podia viajar livremente por todo o Império Romano. Isto permitiu-lhe defender a sua causa

to lots of different people and facilitated the geographic spread of Christianity. a muitas pessoas diferentes e facilitou a difusão geográfica do cristianismo.

Oh, it's time for the open letter? Alright. An open letter, to the fish. ¿Es la hora de la carta abierta? De acuerdo. Una carta abierta, a los peces. Oh, está na altura da carta aberta? Está bem. Uma carta aberta, para o peixe.

But first, lets see what's in the secret compartment today. Oh, Stan. It's my favorite Pero primero, veamos que hay hoy en el compartimiento secreto. Oh, Stan. Es mi favorito Mas primeiro, vamos ver o que está no compartimento secreto hoje. Oh, Stan. É o meu favorito

album Jesus Christ Superstar, finally available in my favorite format, the cassette. Did I O álbum Jesus Christ Superstar, finalmente disponível no meu formato favorito, a cassete. Será que eu

color-coordinate my shirt to Jesus Christ Superstar? Yes. coordenar a cor da minha camisa com Jesus Cristo Superstar? Sim.

Dear Ichthys, So check this out: In the first century when it was still super underground Querida Ichthys, mira esto: En el primer siglo, cuando todavía era super underground Caro Ichthys, vê isto: No primeiro século, quando ainda era super subterrâneo

and hipster to be a Christian, you were a secret symbol of Christianity, used to kind e hipster para ser cristão, eras um símbolo secreto do cristianismo, usado para

of hide from the Romans. Ichthys, the Greek word for fish, was an acronym and it was a de couro dos romanos. Ichthys, a palavra grega para peixe, era um acrónimo e era um

super clever way to talk about religion without anyone knowing that you were talking about it. Uma forma super inteligente de falar de religião sem que ninguém saiba que se está a falar dela.

But you'll never guess what happened - even in places where it's completely fine to Mas nunca adivinharão o que aconteceu - mesmo em locais onde não há qualquer problema em

talk about Christianity now and to use, you know, regular Christian symbols, like the falar sobre o cristianismo agora e usar, sabe, símbolos cristãos normais, como o

cross, you have had a huge resurgence thanks to the plastic automobile decal industry. cruz, teve um enorme ressurgimento graças à indústria de decalques de plástico para automóveis.

I mean seriously, Ichthys, I haven't seen a comeback like this since Jesus. A sério, Ichthys, não via um regresso como este desde Jesus.

Best wishes, John Green Felicidades, John Green

And lastly, Christianity was born and flourished an empire with a common language that allowed E, por último, o cristianismo nasceu e floresceu num império com uma língua comum que permitiu

for its spread. And crucially, it was also an Empire in decline. para su propagación. Y lo que es más importante, también era un Imperio en decadencia. para a sua expansão. E, sobretudo, era também um Império em declínio.

Like even by the end of the first century CE, Rome was on its way down. And for the Al igual que a finales del primer siglo CE, Roma estaba en su camino hacia abajo. Y para el Como se, mesmo no final do século I d.C., Roma estivesse a cair. E para os

average person, and even for some elites, things weren't as good as they had been, persona media, e incluso para algunas élites, las cosas no iban tan bien como antes, para o cidadão comum, e mesmo para algumas elites, as coisas já não eram tão boas como antes,

if fact they were getting worse so fast that you might have thought the end of the world was coming. de hecho, empeoraban tan rápido que uno podría haber pensado que se acercaba el fin del mundo. Na verdade, estavam a piorar tão rapidamente que se poderia pensar que o fim do mundo estava a chegar.

And Roman religion offered no promise of an afterlife, and a bunch of squabbling whiny Y la religión romana no ofrecía ninguna promesa de una vida después de la muerte, y un montón de quejumbrosas disputas E a religião romana não oferecia nenhuma promessa de vida após a morte, e um bando de chorões briguentos

gods - sorry if I offended adherents to Roman religion, but seriously, they squabble. So deuses - desculpem se ofendi os adeptos da religião romana, mas a sério, eles discutem. Assim

even though early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire and sometimes fed to the apesar de os primeiros cristãos terem sido perseguidos pelo Império Romano e, por vezes, terem sido alimentados

lions and other animals, the religion continued to grow, albeit slowly. leões e outros animais, a religião continuou a crescer, embora lentamente.

But then as the Roman decline continued, Emperor Constantine allowed the worship of Jesus and Mas depois, com a continuação do declínio romano, o imperador Constantino permitiu o culto de Jesus e

then eventually converted to Christianity himself. And then the religion really took e acabou por se converter ao cristianismo. E foi então que a religião se tornou realmente

off. I mean, Rome wasn't what it used to be, but everybody still wanted to be like fuera. Quiero decir, Roma no era lo que solía ser, pero todo el mundo todavía quería ser como fora. Quero dizer, Roma já não era o que era, mas toda a gente ainda queria ser como

the Emperor. And soon enough there was a new son of God on coins. el Emperador. Y muy pronto hubo un nuevo hijo de Dios en las monedas. o Imperador. E não tardou muito a aparecer um novo filho de Deus nas moedas.

Thanks for watching. See you next week. Gracias por vernos. Nos vemos la semana que viene. Obrigado por assistir. Até à próxima semana.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller, our script supervisor is Danica Johnson. Crash Course é produzido e realizado por Stan Muller e a nossa supervisora de guiões é Danica Johnson.

The show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself and our graphics O espetáculo é escrito pelo meu professor de história do liceu, Raoul Meyer, por mim e pelos nossos gráficos

team is Thought Bubble. A equipa é a Thought Bubble.

As only 62 million of you guessed last week, the Phrase of the Week was "Chipotle Burrito"; Como sólo 62 millones de ustedes adivinaron la semana pasada, la Frase de la Semana era "Burrito Chipotle"; Como apenas 62 milhões de pessoas adivinharam na semana passada, a frase da semana foi "Chipotle Burrito";

if you want to guess at this week's Phrase of the Week or suggest future ones, you can se quiser adivinhar a Frase da Semana desta semana ou sugerir frases para o futuro, pode

do so in Comments where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered, faça-o nos Comentários, onde também pode fazer perguntas sobre o vídeo de hoje que serão respondidas,

hopefully, by our team of historians. esperamos, pela nossa equipa de historiadores.

Thanks for watching Crash Course, and as we say in my hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome. Gracias por ver Crash Course, y como decimos en mi ciudad natal, Don't Forget To Be Awesome. Obrigado por verem o Crash Course e, como dizemos na minha terra, não se esqueçam de ser fantásticos.

Ow... again. Ai... outra vez.