it s a dangerous, tumultuous time in the roman empire. nowhere more so than in the province of judea on the far edge of the mediterranean. its capital, the holy city of jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he s political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it s a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. this region
jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he s political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it s a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. this region, jerusalem and judea, represented an important land bridge between syria and egypt. so throughout history, this has been a critical place. jerusalem had been the holy
it s the religion founded on jesus death and resurrection. in his letter to the galatians, paul reveals exactly what jesus told him to do. that i should announce him triumphant along the gentiles. it was a radical mission. he starts preaching there, to gentiles, to pagans and saying, this is a faith that can touch you, and that must have been it must have the jews in the diaspora must have said, my gosh, did we miss something? when did they suddenly make judaism into a universal religion? people listened to paul because he was the perfect man for the job, able to speak to both jews and gentiles in their own language. so he s one of the first really powerful intellect to convert to christianity in the
it s the religion founded on jesus death and resurrection. in his letter to the galatians, paul reveals exactly what jesus told him to do. that i should announce him triumphant along the gentiles. it was a radical mission. he starts preaching there, to gentiles, to pagans and saying, this is a faith that can touch you, and that must have been it must have the jews in the diaspora must have said, my gosh, did we miss something? when did they suddenly make judaism into a universal religion? people listened to paul because he was the perfect man for the job, able to speak to both jews and gentiles in their own language. so he s one of the first really powerful intellect to convert to christianity in the 1st century.
the christians now had a name and an identity of their own. it marked the beginning of the public split with judaism. you both claim the same heritage going back to abraham. at some stage, you begin to give yourself a label or perhaps other people begin to give you a label. and labels themselves begin to set up differences. they begin to make you aware of differences. but delivering the jesus message put paul and peter in conflict. paul s open door mission to the pagan gentiles was a huge problem for peter, who thought the resurrection of jesus was for the jews alone. if you wanted to follow jesus, you had to become a jew and obey jewish law. and peter wielded considerable power back in jerusalem, power given to him by jesus. according to the gospel of