Rome attempted not to replace the gods of its provinces but to absorb them.By the end of the first century, Rome had accumulated so many foreign gods that virtually every day of the year celebrated some divinity.Roman citizens were encouraged to give offerings to all these gods as a way of maintaining the Pax Decorum, the peace of the gods, a condition that the Caesars saw as beneficial to the empire.
The Romans also used religion as a tool to assist them in conquest.The leader of the Roman army, the consul, was a religious leader capable of communicating with the gods.The Romans developed a specific ritual for inducing the gods of their enemies to defect to Rome.In this particular ritual, the devotio, a Roman solder, sacrificed himself to all the gods, including those of the enemy.In this way the Romans sought to neutralize their opponents divine assistance.
Thus, when Rome went to war with the Zealots in Judea it had a long tradition of absorbing the religions of its opponents.If Romans did invent Christianity, it would have been yet another example of neutralizing an enemys religion by making it their own, rather than fighting against it.Rome would simply have transformed the militant Judaism of first-century Judea into a pacifist religion, to more easily absorb it into the empire.
In any event, it is certain that the Caesars did attempt to control Judaism.From Julius Caesar on, the Roman emperor claimed personal authority over the religion and selected its high priests.
Caius Julius Caesar, imperator and high priest, and dictator sendeth greeting I will that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, and his children have the high priesthood of the Jews for ever and it at any time hereafter there arise any questions about the Jewish customs, I will that he determine the same38
Roman emperors appointed all
the high priests recorded within the New Testament from a restricted circle of
families who were allied to Rome.By selecting the individual who
would determine any issue of Jewish customs, the Caesars were managing Jewish
theology for their own self-interest.Of course, what other way
would a Caesar have managed a religion?
Rome exercised control over the religion in a way that was
unique in the history of its provincial governments.Rome
micromanaged Second Temple Judaism to the extent of even determining when its
priests could wear their holy vestments.
the Romans took possession of these vestments of the high priests, and had them reposited in a stone-chamber and seven days before a festival they were delivered to the high priest
Josephus,Antiquities, 18.4, 93-94
In spite of these efforts, Romes normal policy of absorbing the gods of its provinces did not succeed in Judea.Judaism would not permit its God to be just one among many, and Rome was forced to battle one Jewish insurrection after another.Having failed to control Judaism by naming its high priests, the imperial family would next attempt to control the religion by rewriting its Torah.
I believe they took this step and created the Gospels to initiate a version of Judaism more acceptable to the Empire, a religion that instead of waging war against its enemies would turn the other cheek. (pages 38-44)
Though the Flavians, Herods, and Alexanders had ended the Jewish revolt, the families had not destroyed the messianic religion of the Jewish rebels.The families needed to find a way to prevent the zealots from inspiring future uprisings through their belief in a coming warrior Messiah.
Then someone from within this circle had an inspiration, one that changed history.The way to tame messianic Judaism would be to simply transform it into a religion that would cooperate with the Roman Empire.To achieve this goal would require a new type of messianic literature.Thus, what we know as the Christian Gospels were created.
In a convergence unique in history, the Flavians, Herods, and Alexanders brought together the elements necessary for the creation and implementation of Christianity.They had the financial motivation to replace the militaristic religion of the Sicarii, the expertise in Judaism and philosophy necessary to create the Gospels, and the knowledge and bureaucracy required to implement a religion (the Flavians created and maintained a number of religions other than Christianity).Moreover, these families were the absolute rulers over the territories where the first Christian congregations began.
To produce the Gospels required a deep understanding of Judaic literature.The Gospels would not simply replace the literature of the old religion, but would be written in such a way as to demonstrate that Christianity was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Judaism and had therefore grown directly from it.To achieve these effects, the Flavian intellectuals made use of a technique used throughout Judaic literature typology.The genre of typology is not often used today.In its most basic sense, typology is simply the use of prior events to provide form and context for subsequent ones similar to using an archetype or stereotype to create a new character in literature.The typology in the Gospels is very specific the system uses repeating names, locations, or concepts in the same sequence.
Typology is used throughout Judaic literature as a way of transferring information and meaning from one story to another, to show the pattern of the hand of God at work.For example, the Book of Esther uses type scenes from the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis, so that the alert reader will understand that Esther and Mordecai are repeating the role of Joseph as an agent of God.
The authors of the Gospels used typology to create the impression that events from the lives of prior Hebrew prophets were types of events from Jesus life.In doing so, they were trying to convince their readers that their story of Jesus was a continuation of the divine relationship that existed between the Hebrew prophets and God.
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