The Evolution of Early Christianity: A Genetic Study of First-century Christianity in Relation ... by Shirley Jackson Case

Author:Shirley Jackson Case
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1913-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter VII. The Religious Significance of Emperor-Worship

The national religions of antiquity commonly cherished a belief that the gods were especially interested in their followers political welfare. This interest was usually thought to find its expression in certain mutual relations existing between the deity and the ruler. The king was in some sense Gods representative, either being of divine descent or else divinely chosen and endowed for the exercise of sovereignty. This belief is exemplified in the history of the Egyptians, the Babylonians and Assyrians, the Hebrews, and also among less well-known peoples of that ancient Orient. It persisted as long as the various nations maintained any semblance of independence or continued to hope for a restoration of former glory.

The Macedonian conquest was a severe shock to the national ideals of the conquered peoples. Alexander, to be sure, did not abolish native religions, nor was he even as hostile toward them as some earlier conquerors had been. But the essential unification of nations which followed his work and which was still further advanced by the Romans hastened the necessity, which had to some extent already begun to manifest itself in the Persian period, for abandoning the national emphasis in religion. This meant, for those ancient religions which survived in Hellenistic times, the severance of political ties and the substitution of a personal emphasis. This development is most familiarly illustrated in the history of the Jews who held long and tenaciously to national expectations but were finally compelled to abandon them except as a vague and distant hope. One of the prominent items in the early Christians success was their decision to forsake the narrow national ideals with which they began their propaganda.

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