Transcript The Fullness of Time

The Fullness of Time
General Timeline of the Church
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Beginning of Creation
Israelites
Greeks
Romans
Jesus
Christendom
Global Church (present)
End of time (Parousia)
Beginning of Creation
• Big Bang (or creation) occurred 13.7 billion years ago
• The Church has always been a part of God’s plan from
the beginning.
The Israelites – God Prepares His
People
• God establishes His covenant with Abraham almost
2000 years before Christ
• 1000’s of years of God preparing us for the Messiah
“The remote preparation for this gathering together of the
People of God begins when he calls Abraham and promises
that he will become the father of a great people.” (CCC 762)
• God saves his people from slavery
and Egypt. 1275 B.C.
• Establishing the nation of Israelites.
• Kingdom of Israel (Saul, David,
Solomon.)
• Prophets called the Jews to
holiness and rebuked their
breaking of the covenant with God.
Greeks – God prepares the Mind
• Logos- or Word (Remember Christ is Logos (Jn
1:1)
• Universal Greek language
• Greek translations of Old Testament-Septuagint
• Greek Philosophy searched for the truth, the Old
God and life after death: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato
all prepared the pagan world for the possibility of
a God w/o knowing that Christianity was coming
to Greece.
1.Socrates- Executed in 399 B.C.
2. Plato- Wrote “The
Republic”
3. Aristotle- 335 B.C.
Roman Empire- God prepares the
Stage
• Rome is established in 753 B.C. by Romulus.
• Roman Empire begins 27 B.C., ruled by Augustus.
(previously Rome was a Republic).
• Pax Romana – Roman Peace, marked the 200
year period of peacetime within the Empire.
The Pax Romana is important
because it is the culture in
which Christianity was
introduced.
Roman Empire- How the Stage was set
Pros
• Road system
• Universal language:
Latin
• Lack of war and
outside conflict
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Cons
Disregard of
human life.
Lack of Morals
Hedonism
Lame Pagan gods.
Jews in the Roman Empire
• Remember Jesus was a Jew
• Heavily influenced by Greek and Roman culture“Hellenized Jews.”
• Hellenization- process by which Greek cultural
attributes were transplanted to the East.
• Seen as second class citizens within the Empire.
• Sadducees and Pharisees- Conservative and
Progressive respectively.
• “Diaspora” – Greek for dispersion. Jews were
spread out all over the Roman Empire.
So What?!
The Roman Empire set the stage for a new
uplifting, life filled, spiritually satisfying
Religion: CHRISTIANITY
Greek and Jewish cultures exists and influence
the world into which the Church was born.
The Incarnation is purposefully placed within
this time period.