Christian "Atheism": A New Perspective in Light of Second Temple Judaism
Disciplines
Christianity | History of Christianity | History of Religion | Jewish Studies
Abstract (300 words maximum)
The dominant scholarly position holds that the Roman state condemned Christians as atheists because of their refusal to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. This explanation needs further refinement as it fails to account for this heretofore unnoticed fact: Jews also faced charges of atheism, but received no such accusations between 27 BC and 66 AD while the Second Temple still stood. During this time, the Roman state did not consider Jews to be atheists even though like Christians they eschewed sacrifice to Roman deities. The very fact that Jews performed daily sacrifices to their god and explicitly on behalf of the emperor demonstrated their commitment to the prosperity of Rome, thereby rescuing Jews from accusations of atheism. Rabbinic Judaism was later established in the 90s AD as a way for Judaism to continue to function without a temple. It became a religion that spiritualized and replaced temple sacrifice. While Judaism went through this evolution, Christians historically have spiritualized sacrifice, where belief in Jesus’s sacrificial death functioned as a final sacrifice. As a result, both Jews and Christians did not offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor and were thus deficient in outward displays of religiosity and loyalty to the Roman state. In the eyes of Rome they were “spiritual, but not religious;” they were atheists. In light of this, I argue that Christians were condemned as atheists not simply because they failed to participate in pagan sacrifices, but because they did not sacrifice at all.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - History & Philosophy
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Dr. Brian Swain
Christian "Atheism": A New Perspective in Light of Second Temple Judaism
The dominant scholarly position holds that the Roman state condemned Christians as atheists because of their refusal to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. This explanation needs further refinement as it fails to account for this heretofore unnoticed fact: Jews also faced charges of atheism, but received no such accusations between 27 BC and 66 AD while the Second Temple still stood. During this time, the Roman state did not consider Jews to be atheists even though like Christians they eschewed sacrifice to Roman deities. The very fact that Jews performed daily sacrifices to their god and explicitly on behalf of the emperor demonstrated their commitment to the prosperity of Rome, thereby rescuing Jews from accusations of atheism. Rabbinic Judaism was later established in the 90s AD as a way for Judaism to continue to function without a temple. It became a religion that spiritualized and replaced temple sacrifice. While Judaism went through this evolution, Christians historically have spiritualized sacrifice, where belief in Jesus’s sacrificial death functioned as a final sacrifice. As a result, both Jews and Christians did not offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor and were thus deficient in outward displays of religiosity and loyalty to the Roman state. In the eyes of Rome they were “spiritual, but not religious;” they were atheists. In light of this, I argue that Christians were condemned as atheists not simply because they failed to participate in pagan sacrifices, but because they did not sacrifice at all.