1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

2
00:00:02,010 --> 00:00:05,857
Terrorists,
religiously motivated terrorists

3
00:00:05,940 --> 00:00:09,277
from the middle east have
just struck a demoralizing blow

4
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

5
00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,887
to the capital of western civilization,

6
00:00:11,970 --> 00:00:14,770
the capital of western
decadence from their perspective.

7
00:00:15,810 --> 00:00:19,597
The year is 66 ad, the
religious sect are Jews,

8
00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,473
and the capital that we're
talking about is Rome.

9
00:00:23,340 --> 00:00:26,557
Although this war
occurred 20 centuries ago,

10
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,627
it still reverberates throughout history

11
00:00:28,710 --> 00:00:31,923
and is affecting your
life to this very day.

12
00:00:53,220 --> 00:00:57,037
Around 2,000
years ago, the western world

13
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,513
went through its greatest
philosophical shift ever,

14
00:01:01,500 --> 00:01:03,363
a complete 180,

15
00:01:04,620 --> 00:01:09,363
and we've been living out
this same worldview till today.

16
00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:13,837
But now, we're standing at the brink

17
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,707
of another huge philosophical shift,

18
00:01:17,790 --> 00:01:21,727
so learning from this
important period of history

19
00:01:21,810 --> 00:01:26,703
can help us make the
critical choices we need today.

20
00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:36,920
The creating Christ book
is really very fascinating,

21
00:01:37,170 --> 00:01:40,023
there's so many
fascinating things about this.

22
00:01:46,050 --> 00:01:50,223
And it's quite a convincing
presentation, I think.

23
00:01:54,210 --> 00:01:56,047
I think what you're bringing to the table

24
00:01:56,130 --> 00:01:58,657
dovetails beautifully with what's going on

25
00:01:58,740 --> 00:02:01,113
in the rest of the
Mediterranean at the time.

26
00:02:06,420 --> 00:02:10,177
Let's begin
by uncovering various clues

27
00:02:10,260 --> 00:02:14,527
history has left us,
like pieces in a mosaic,

28
00:02:14,610 --> 00:02:18,963
which ultimately help us
arrive at the big picture.

29
00:02:22,230 --> 00:02:23,787
When I was reading the work

30
00:02:23,870 --> 00:02:27,127
of the first century Jewish
historian Flavius Josephus,

31
00:02:27,210 --> 00:02:30,427
I was struck by something he said,

32
00:02:30,510 --> 00:02:34,807
that the man he worked for,
the Roman emperor Vespasian,

33
00:02:34,890 --> 00:02:37,953
was in fact the Jewish Messiah of prophecy,

34
00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,333
in effect, another
Jesus of the first century.

35
00:02:43,380 --> 00:02:46,327
This went against
everything that I'd been taught.

36
00:02:46,410 --> 00:02:50,677
Flavius Vespasian
and his son Titus flavius

37
00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,727
were the Roman generals
who destroyed Jerusalem

38
00:02:54,810 --> 00:02:57,037
and took down its temple,

39
00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,667
ending the first Jewish
war with the Romans.

40
00:03:00,750 --> 00:03:02,617
How could a Jewish historian

41
00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:05,703
say that they were the Jewish Messiah?

42
00:03:12,777 --> 00:03:15,397
And this I think made
me take it seriously

43
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,467
more than any of the rest of this stuff,

44
00:03:17,550 --> 00:03:21,637
was that in Mark 13, they depict Jesus

45
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,317
as saying that when
one generation is passed,

46
00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:28,717
which would be about 40 years,

47
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,197
they'll see the sign of
the son of man in heaven

48
00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,227
and the temple will be destroyed.

49
00:03:35,310 --> 00:03:39,217
Watch out, it's gonna happen
before this generation is over.

50
00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:43,837
Well, why would anybody
have him make a false prophecy?

51
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:46,597
Why no second coming of Jesus?

52
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,937
They must have known that hadn't happened,

53
00:03:49,020 --> 00:03:50,977
Jesus didn't come back.

54
00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:54,697
Well, maybe that's not
what they were saying.

55
00:03:54,780 --> 00:03:57,607
Maybe the son of man wasn't Jesus,

56
00:03:57,690 --> 00:04:01,537
maybe a son of man, you know who we mean,

57
00:04:01,620 --> 00:04:04,417
will come back and destroy the temple.

58
00:04:04,500 --> 00:04:08,343
Is that the general
Vespasian and his son Titus?

59
00:04:13,590 --> 00:04:17,917
In the new testament we
find supposed predictions

60
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,137
of things that are supposed
to happen in the future,

61
00:04:20,220 --> 00:04:23,733
and it looks as if they
have been fulfilled,

62
00:04:24,780 --> 00:04:26,317
and that Jesus is a great prophet,

63
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:27,427
he must have been omniscient.

64
00:04:27,510 --> 00:04:32,253
But in fact they were written
after they'd already occurred.

65
00:04:33,230 --> 00:04:37,833
So it really was
no great feat of prophecy.

66
00:04:41,370 --> 00:04:44,647
Astonishingly, in Josephus'
history of the Jewish war,

67
00:04:44,730 --> 00:04:46,627
he describes the destruction of the temple

68
00:04:46,710 --> 00:04:48,307
in almost identical terms

69
00:04:48,390 --> 00:04:51,033
to those used by Jesus in the gospels.

70
00:04:53,670 --> 00:04:57,547
And the fact that Josephus'
histories and the gospels

71
00:04:57,630 --> 00:05:00,457
were both written during the Flavian era,

72
00:05:00,540 --> 00:05:03,213
was a coincidence that it
was impossible to overlook.

73
00:05:06,060 --> 00:05:07,987
In all three of the first gospels,

74
00:05:08,070 --> 00:05:10,297
Jesus insists that his
glorious second coming

75
00:05:10,380 --> 00:05:12,337
would happen within the lifetimes

76
00:05:12,420 --> 00:05:14,557
of people then listening to him.

77
00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,007
This of course would be a confirmation

78
00:05:18,090 --> 00:05:19,777
of the claims of the emperor Vespasian

79
00:05:19,860 --> 00:05:23,467
to being the glorious
coming of the Jewish Messiah.

80
00:05:23,550 --> 00:05:25,177
And it's that conjunction of events

81
00:05:25,260 --> 00:05:27,997
that struck me as most unusual,

82
00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,607
as if the gospels themselves
were written to demonstrate

83
00:05:30,690 --> 00:05:33,993
the Flavian claim to being
the true Jewish messiahs.

84
00:05:37,470 --> 00:05:40,327
Well, that starts to look
like something different

85
00:05:40,410 --> 00:05:43,057
was going on than we had expected,

86
00:05:43,140 --> 00:05:46,480
and whoever wrote Mark
13 already believed it,

87
00:05:46,563 --> 00:05:51,563
that it was the destruction
of the temple by the Flavians,

88
00:05:52,410 --> 00:05:55,927
that was the great second coming.

89
00:05:56,010 --> 00:05:59,647
In fact, Vespasian was considered a god

90
00:05:59,730 --> 00:06:02,377
and that made Titus the son of god.

91
00:06:02,460 --> 00:06:04,837
So was that lurking in the background?

92
00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,920
I can't say it wasn't,
that is beguilingly cogent.

93
00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:11,744
'Cause otherwise, why would you write this?

94
00:06:11,827 --> 00:06:14,677
"Hey, let's have Jesus
make a false prophecy!"

95
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:15,813
You never do that!

96
00:06:29,057 --> 00:06:30,127
Though other scholars

97
00:06:30,210 --> 00:06:33,637
have spoken of these
parallels, James and Warren

98
00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:38,377
found some actual physical
archaeological evidence

99
00:06:38,460 --> 00:06:41,557
that links these Flavian emperors

100
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:45,093
to the very beginning
of the Christian religion.

101
00:06:47,340 --> 00:06:48,847
Very early on, we began looking

102
00:06:48,930 --> 00:06:52,267
for archaeological evidence that the Romans

103
00:06:52,350 --> 00:06:56,467
had some involvement with
the development of Christianity.

104
00:06:56,550 --> 00:06:59,617
We started to look
at architectural details,

105
00:06:59,700 --> 00:07:02,287
and especially focused on coins,

106
00:07:02,370 --> 00:07:05,137
as the Roman empire used them to spread

107
00:07:05,220 --> 00:07:08,703
their governmental
propaganda across the empire.

108
00:07:09,930 --> 00:07:13,177
And we imagined that there would be a coin

109
00:07:13,260 --> 00:07:16,027
that would show the
linkage between Christianity

110
00:07:16,110 --> 00:07:20,137
and the Roman empire, if
indeed our thesis was correct.

111
00:07:20,220 --> 00:07:22,027
Initially I was skeptical
that we would find

112
00:07:22,110 --> 00:07:25,627
some concrete image that
would actually connect the two.

113
00:07:25,710 --> 00:07:28,537
But I was working myself on a
monograph on Roman coinage

114
00:07:28,620 --> 00:07:31,477
and propaganda, and
as I was working on that,

115
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,547
for years my co-author had been looking

116
00:07:33,630 --> 00:07:36,097
for this physical evidence
and happened across

117
00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:39,787
the specific image that
was used thousands of times

118
00:07:39,870 --> 00:07:42,063
by the emperor Titus on his own coinage.

119
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,897
This image
was never used before

120
00:07:46,980 --> 00:07:48,907
by a Roman emperor,

121
00:07:48,990 --> 00:07:52,957
and early Christians began
using different versions of it

122
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:54,543
in the same era.

123
00:07:55,590 --> 00:08:00,217
Finally while examining the
first archaeological evidence

124
00:08:00,300 --> 00:08:02,257
of Christianity in the world,

125
00:08:02,340 --> 00:08:04,837
which are the catacombs of St. Domitilla,

126
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,504
she being the niece of the emperor Titus

127
00:08:07,587 --> 00:08:10,957
and the granddaughter
of the emperor Vespasian,

128
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,497
the connection finally came into focus.

129
00:08:14,580 --> 00:08:16,987
The symbol that is most famous

130
00:08:17,070 --> 00:08:19,447
from the catacombs of St. Domitilla,

131
00:08:19,530 --> 00:08:23,107
known as one of the earliest
iconographic representations

132
00:08:23,190 --> 00:08:27,783
of Christianity, is of an
anchor flanked by two fish.

133
00:08:29,910 --> 00:08:34,477
As it turns out, Titus'
coinage has a symbol

134
00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:38,733
of an anchor wrapped
around by a dolphin or a fish.

135
00:08:40,710 --> 00:08:43,627
According to
the catholic encyclopedia,

136
00:08:43,710 --> 00:08:47,767
both of these images are
part of a family of symbols

137
00:08:47,850 --> 00:08:50,317
used by early Christians,

138
00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,637
which includes a dolphin on an anchor,

139
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,377
an anchor surrounded by fish,

140
00:08:56,460 --> 00:08:59,317
dolphins or fish with a trident,

141
00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:01,353
and other variations.

142
00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:07,897
This provided at last
the first physical evidence

143
00:09:07,980 --> 00:09:12,213
of a link between the Flavians
and the earliest church.

144
00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,477
I guess the big discovery
they made was that,

145
00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,397
something very odd,

146
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,567
that on Flavian dynasty coins,

147
00:09:28,650 --> 00:09:31,327
there was kind of their house trademark

148
00:09:31,410 --> 00:09:35,884
of an anchor with dolphins around it.

149
00:09:35,967 --> 00:09:37,597
And, what do you know?

150
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:41,497
Around the same period that image,

151
00:09:41,580 --> 00:09:43,177
which is kind of an odd one,

152
00:09:43,260 --> 00:09:46,807
it becomes a widespread Christian symbol.

153
00:09:46,890 --> 00:09:50,767
Now if the Romans were hated enemies,

154
00:09:50,850 --> 00:09:53,703
why would Christians appropriate this?

155
00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,354
It's so strange, it's like

156
00:09:59,437 --> 00:10:01,867
"hey, what do you say our synagogue

157
00:10:01,950 --> 00:10:05,257
adopts the swastika as its symbol?"

158
00:10:05,340 --> 00:10:06,813
It'd never happen.

159
00:10:10,260 --> 00:10:12,007
And so that's kind of their point.

160
00:10:12,090 --> 00:10:12,840
I mean, they do a,

161
00:10:12,923 --> 00:10:15,067
Valliant and Warren Fahy have done

162
00:10:15,150 --> 00:10:20,150
all kinds of complex
work, it's not just that.

163
00:10:20,490 --> 00:10:23,137
But that was a very surprising thing,

164
00:10:23,220 --> 00:10:27,697
almost a smoking gun, so I
have to take that seriously.

165
00:10:27,780 --> 00:10:31,897
Why did Titus
flavius mint thousands of coins

166
00:10:31,980 --> 00:10:34,777
with a fish and anchor image on it?

167
00:10:34,860 --> 00:10:38,647
And why did early Christians use this image

168
00:10:38,730 --> 00:10:41,527
in their earliest catacombs?

169
00:10:41,610 --> 00:10:43,657
What does this symbol mean,

170
00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:47,557
and how could it have
been used at the same time

171
00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,823
in two such different contexts?

172
00:10:57,210 --> 00:10:59,317
To answer these questions,

173
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,257
let's look at the first historical mention

174
00:11:02,340 --> 00:11:06,667
of the official visual
symbols of Christianity.

175
00:11:06,750 --> 00:11:10,777
In the second century,
St. clement of Alexandria,

176
00:11:10,860 --> 00:11:14,257
whose full name is Titus Flavius Clemens,

177
00:11:14,340 --> 00:11:19,340
suggested the following symbols
be used by early Christians:

178
00:11:19,650 --> 00:11:21,230
A dove,

179
00:11:21,313 --> 00:11:23,017
a fish,

180
00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:23,933
a ship,

181
00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,507
a musical lyre, which Polycrates used,

182
00:11:28,590 --> 00:11:32,733
or a ship's anchor, which Seleucus used.

183
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,127
We know that in the late second century,

184
00:11:39,210 --> 00:11:42,067
St. clement of Alexandria in his inventory

185
00:11:42,150 --> 00:11:46,837
of Christian symbols lists
both the anchor and the dolphin,

186
00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:48,843
but does not list the cross.

187
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,647
And among those symbols
that he offers are symbols

188
00:11:53,730 --> 00:11:57,547
associated with ironically
the pagan god Apollo.

189
00:11:57,630 --> 00:12:00,727
This struck us as odd,
as we've often been told

190
00:12:00,810 --> 00:12:03,400
that Christianity is anti-pagan

191
00:12:04,783 --> 00:12:06,937
... more than that, clement of Alexandria

192
00:12:07,020 --> 00:12:10,983
specifies the pagan origins of this symbol.

193
00:12:12,330 --> 00:12:14,347
He refers to Polycrates,

194
00:12:14,430 --> 00:12:18,303
who was a worshiper
of Apollo, and Seleucus.

195
00:12:19,230 --> 00:12:21,547
Seleucus the first was a general

196
00:12:21,630 --> 00:12:23,797
who worked for Alexander the great.

197
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,467
Alexander the great,
in the fourth century BC,

198
00:12:26,550 --> 00:12:28,717
conquered what we
know of as the middle east

199
00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,047
or the near east today,
and brought Greek culture,

200
00:12:32,130 --> 00:12:35,257
platonic philosophy to this entire region.

201
00:12:35,340 --> 00:12:38,047
So the era after Alexander
the great is widely known

202
00:12:38,130 --> 00:12:40,537
by historians as the Hellenistic era,

203
00:12:40,620 --> 00:12:42,247
the era in which Greek philosophy

204
00:12:42,330 --> 00:12:45,547
and Greek ideas spread
throughout the middle east.

205
00:12:45,630 --> 00:12:48,067
And one of
the conquered territories

206
00:12:48,150 --> 00:12:52,657
where Greek ideas were
being spread was Palestine,

207
00:12:52,740 --> 00:12:57,740
which included Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.

208
00:12:57,986 --> 00:13:00,877
The origin of course of
a dolphin wrapped around

209
00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,417
an anchor goes all the way back to Apollo,

210
00:13:04,500 --> 00:13:05,947
it was his symbol.

211
00:13:06,030 --> 00:13:07,507
It represents Apollo

212
00:13:07,590 --> 00:13:09,993
who had transformed himself into a dolphin.

213
00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:13,297
I myself visited the island of Delos,

214
00:13:13,380 --> 00:13:15,877
the legendary birthplace of the god Apollo.

215
00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:17,617
You can see many, many examples

216
00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:19,657
that are centuries older than Christ,

217
00:13:19,740 --> 00:13:22,443
of this same dolphin and anchor image.

218
00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:26,287
And it was Seleucus
who first used an anchor

219
00:13:26,370 --> 00:13:28,177
with a dolphin wrapped around it.

220
00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:31,627
And he did so just as a
symbolization, if you will,

221
00:13:31,710 --> 00:13:34,863
of his own claim to being
the son of the god Apollo.

222
00:13:35,850 --> 00:13:38,647
Apollo was the Greek sun god,

223
00:13:38,730 --> 00:13:43,117
the creator god, source
of life and healing,

224
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:48,200
and arguably the most loved
deity in the pantheon of gods.

225
00:13:49,290 --> 00:13:52,597
So Seleucus used the symbol of Apollo

226
00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,503
to claim this divine lineage.

227
00:14:02,250 --> 00:14:04,957
Roman emperors looked
to Alexander the great,

228
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:07,987
the very first imperialist, as a model,

229
00:14:08,070 --> 00:14:12,123
as a great template for how
to conquer other territories.

230
00:14:13,410 --> 00:14:16,747
So it is natural for the
Romans to use the symbol

231
00:14:16,830 --> 00:14:18,693
of the dolphin and the anchor.

232
00:14:20,790 --> 00:14:22,597
Natural for the Flavians

233
00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,617
to associate themselves
with Seleucus and Apollo,

234
00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:30,007
but why would St. clement of Alexandria

235
00:14:30,090 --> 00:14:33,157
recommend it as a Christian symbol?

236
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,277
Perhaps another clue is that the Romans

237
00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,117
also looked to the Alexandrian conquerors

238
00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,537
for how they integrated Greek culture

239
00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:46,653
with the local cultures they conquered.

240
00:14:48,270 --> 00:14:49,117
And the kings that came

241
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:50,947
in the wake of Alexander the great,

242
00:14:51,030 --> 00:14:52,837
such as the Ptolemies in Egypt,

243
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,747
were attempting an
integration both of local culture,

244
00:14:55,830 --> 00:14:58,987
the Egyptian culture, with Greek culture.

245
00:14:59,070 --> 00:15:00,487
And in the process of doing that,

246
00:15:00,570 --> 00:15:05,403
the Ptolemies created a new
god, a synthetic god, Serapis.

247
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,037
Ptolemy commissioned
the creation of this god.

248
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,157
Serapis is a hybrid, deliberately created

249
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,827
by the priests in order to unify

250
00:15:14,910 --> 00:15:17,527
the constantly warring
factions within Alexandria,

251
00:15:17,610 --> 00:15:19,027
which would be the Greeks and the Jews,

252
00:15:19,110 --> 00:15:21,510
but overtly it was the
Greeks and the Egyptians.

253
00:15:23,850 --> 00:15:26,917
And the god serapis is
himself an interesting figure,

254
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,957
melded together between
Apollo, Ssclepius, Zeus, and Hades,

255
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,437
the afterlife god, as well
as the Egyptians' Osiris,

256
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,217
the god who had himself
been torn apart and resurrected,

257
00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:42,333
makes it clear that serapis
was a resurrection god.

258
00:15:45,180 --> 00:15:48,457
The healing and the
salvation part of serapis

259
00:15:48,540 --> 00:15:53,287
were clearly glommed onto by Christianity.

260
00:15:53,370 --> 00:15:57,127
And in fact, there was a statue of serapis

261
00:15:57,210 --> 00:15:59,347
with long curly dark hair.

262
00:15:59,430 --> 00:16:02,977
And his Greek counterpart
was the god Ssclepius.

263
00:16:03,060 --> 00:16:05,017
And Ssclepius also was a healing god,

264
00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:06,787
and he had the long curly hair.

265
00:16:06,870 --> 00:16:09,367
And the two of them were kind of a hybrid.

266
00:16:09,450 --> 00:16:11,557
Asclepius did wear the white robes

267
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,337
and pretty much the
same figure, just re-worked,

268
00:16:15,420 --> 00:16:16,777
they took the face and the hair

269
00:16:16,860 --> 00:16:20,887
and the overall impression
of serapis and asclepius

270
00:16:20,970 --> 00:16:25,970
and then turned him
into Jesus Christ basically.

271
00:16:31,260 --> 00:16:32,557
That's not so strange,

272
00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:37,640
because all the middle eastern
empires for hundreds of years

273
00:16:38,130 --> 00:16:40,087
had gone farther than that.

274
00:16:40,170 --> 00:16:43,717
The Persians were big on
this, though others had done it.

275
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,327
And in the Bible itself we read

276
00:16:46,410 --> 00:16:49,387
that the emperor of Persia sent Ezra,

277
00:16:49,470 --> 00:16:52,724
who though Jewish was
a court official in Persia,

278
00:16:52,807 --> 00:16:56,287
"you go back there to
the community of the Jews

279
00:16:56,370 --> 00:16:58,657
in Jerusalem with our authority,"

280
00:16:58,740 --> 00:17:03,457
and he went back with the
torah in some form, the laws,

281
00:17:03,540 --> 00:17:05,917
and they imposed this.

282
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,817
Wow, it's interesting that
from that point on in history,

283
00:17:09,900 --> 00:17:14,900
Judaism looks a whole lot
like Persian Zoroastrianism.

284
00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:24,277
What these guys are suggesting with Rome

285
00:17:24,360 --> 00:17:26,497
in effect creating our Christianity

286
00:17:26,580 --> 00:17:30,037
is not substantially different
than what the Persians did

287
00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:33,817
with Judaism or earlier
middle eastern empires,

288
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:36,783
it's not fantastic in the least.

289
00:17:40,530 --> 00:17:42,940
This is
another piece of the mosaic

290
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,960
that's important for
seeing the whole picture

291
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,447
that it was quite common
in this era for rulers

292
00:17:52,530 --> 00:17:55,987
to engage in religious experimentation

293
00:17:56,070 --> 00:18:00,663
and improvisation for
ruling their subjects.

294
00:18:06,930 --> 00:18:08,737
The first centuries of the common era

295
00:18:08,820 --> 00:18:11,617
were perhaps the most
religiously dynamic period

296
00:18:11,700 --> 00:18:14,017
in the history of western civilization.

297
00:18:14,100 --> 00:18:16,387
It saw the emergence of so many new

298
00:18:16,470 --> 00:18:18,303
and innovative religious ideas.

299
00:18:19,230 --> 00:18:21,217
There's
unquestionably an effort

300
00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:25,653
to synthesize Judaism and pagan religions.

301
00:18:26,490 --> 00:18:29,737
We have to remember that
before the last two centuries,

302
00:18:29,820 --> 00:18:32,977
there was no separation
between religion and politics.

303
00:18:33,060 --> 00:18:35,167
Every political movement needed

304
00:18:35,250 --> 00:18:37,447
to have a religious justification.

305
00:18:37,530 --> 00:18:40,327
The Roman empire, and
before that the Roman republic,

306
00:18:40,410 --> 00:18:42,577
were all considered by
Romans to be sanctioned

307
00:18:42,660 --> 00:18:45,337
by the gods and religiously significant,

308
00:18:45,420 --> 00:18:47,403
sacred political institutions.

309
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,997
The Jews themselves
saw this era as important,

310
00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,607
the fulfillment of their
own messianic prophecies,

311
00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:56,497
the coming of a deliverer
that would lead them

312
00:18:56,580 --> 00:18:58,717
to victory against Rome.

313
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,747
So both sides saw
this era and this conflict

314
00:19:01,830 --> 00:19:04,987
in religious terms,
and that is what created

315
00:19:05,070 --> 00:19:06,967
such a religiously fertile moment

316
00:19:07,050 --> 00:19:08,677
in the first two centuries,

317
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,427
creating entirely new ways
of looking and synthesizing

318
00:19:12,510 --> 00:19:14,767
these religious ideas that came to be known

319
00:19:14,850 --> 00:19:16,923
as Christianity and rabbinic Judaism.

320
00:19:23,850 --> 00:19:25,927
And since
there was no separation

321
00:19:26,010 --> 00:19:29,047
between religion and state in those days,

322
00:19:29,130 --> 00:19:33,364
the Roman state had its
own religious organization,

323
00:19:33,447 --> 00:19:35,943
known as the imperial cult.

324
00:19:37,290 --> 00:19:39,097
One of the most striking syntheses

325
00:19:39,180 --> 00:19:42,847
between politics and
religion in the Roman world

326
00:19:42,930 --> 00:19:46,953
is that they actually deified
their emperors after death,

327
00:19:48,270 --> 00:19:50,557
they turned them into gods!

328
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,297
This of course flew right in the face

329
00:19:52,380 --> 00:19:54,543
of Jewish religion and culture.

330
00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:59,887
It's very common for contemporary minds

331
00:19:59,970 --> 00:20:01,897
to think of the ancient imperial cult

332
00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:06,367
as sort of a political fraud,
or at least very superficial,

333
00:20:06,450 --> 00:20:10,147
or something put over by the
Roman government on its people.

334
00:20:10,230 --> 00:20:12,457
But back in the era of the Roman empire

335
00:20:12,540 --> 00:20:15,937
it was sincere religion to most Romans.

336
00:20:16,020 --> 00:20:18,517
The very first Roman deified Julius Caesar

337
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,667
before any official temple
had been built for him,

338
00:20:21,750 --> 00:20:24,757
the people themselves
constructed a makeshift altar

339
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,967
at the place of his funeral,
themselves worshiping it.

340
00:20:28,050 --> 00:20:30,697
Roman emperors who
were deified were admitted

341
00:20:30,780 --> 00:20:33,667
to the pantheon of all the Roman gods,

342
00:20:33,750 --> 00:20:36,157
they had temples and
priesthoods of their own,

343
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,863
that lasted for centuries.

344
00:20:42,150 --> 00:20:46,837
And the language and the
imagery used in the imperial cult

345
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,743
is strangely echoed in Christianity itself.

346
00:20:50,580 --> 00:20:53,407
The philosophy of the imperial cult

347
00:20:53,490 --> 00:20:57,277
is based upon the greco-Roman
philosophy known as stoicism,

348
00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:01,207
and it had an ideology that
expected a savior to come

349
00:21:01,290 --> 00:21:04,957
and rescue the Roman
world from times of crisis.

350
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,087
And that is why deified emperors

351
00:21:07,170 --> 00:21:11,257
became seen as divine
figures, saviors of the world,

352
00:21:11,340 --> 00:21:14,223
bringers of peace, very
much like Jesus in the Bible.

353
00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:18,577
The very first Roman
emperor himself, Augustus,

354
00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:20,347
in declaring that his adopted father,

355
00:21:20,430 --> 00:21:22,417
his great-uncle Julius was a god,

356
00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:25,387
would proclaim on his own
coins that he was a son of god.

357
00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:27,757
So he was a savior, a son of god,

358
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,333
a bringer of peace, a man-god,

359
00:21:31,170 --> 00:21:34,473
the very innovation that
Christianity brings to Judaism.

360
00:21:45,630 --> 00:21:48,037
But all
this religious innovation

361
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,367
on the part of the Romans did not sit well

362
00:21:51,450 --> 00:21:53,823
with the monotheistic Jewish people.

363
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,207
The Romans were quite
open to accepting culture

364
00:22:07,290 --> 00:22:10,267
and religions from all of
their conquered territories.

365
00:22:10,350 --> 00:22:12,667
In fact, many Romans were open to adopting

366
00:22:12,750 --> 00:22:14,857
the Jewish religion itself.

367
00:22:14,940 --> 00:22:18,607
The Jewish culture however
was far more exclusive

368
00:22:18,690 --> 00:22:20,737
and set up barriers for those wishing

369
00:22:20,820 --> 00:22:23,077
to adopt the Jewish religion.

370
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,647
And this was a source of
conflict in the Roman empire

371
00:22:26,730 --> 00:22:29,977
between the Romans and the Jews.

372
00:22:30,060 --> 00:22:32,707
What's interesting in the
new testament therefore,

373
00:22:32,790 --> 00:22:37,587
is that all of these barriers
seem to be eliminated

374
00:22:38,550 --> 00:22:40,533
in the teachings of Jesus and Paul.

375
00:22:41,820 --> 00:22:44,707
Basically that was one of the problems,

376
00:22:44,790 --> 00:22:48,937
the religions of the Roman
empire were allowed to exist

377
00:22:49,020 --> 00:22:52,057
so long as they paid tribute to the Caesar

378
00:22:52,140 --> 00:22:55,567
as either the leader
or the divine on earth,

379
00:22:55,650 --> 00:22:57,667
but the most devout Jewish factions

380
00:22:57,750 --> 00:22:59,254
would not do that of course.

381
00:22:59,337 --> 00:23:01,713
And so we know that this is a big problem.

382
00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:07,177
One of the astonishing
things that you learn,

383
00:23:07,260 --> 00:23:09,877
and one of the things we
found most remarkable,

384
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,267
is that although we think
of Jews and Christians

385
00:23:13,350 --> 00:23:15,607
as definite believers in god,

386
00:23:15,690 --> 00:23:19,597
to a polytheistic world like
the Romans, they were atheists.

387
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:20,917
They were so sectarian,

388
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,917
they didn't respect anybody else's gods,

389
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,177
and this created an ugly
antisemitism in the Roman world.

390
00:23:28,260 --> 00:23:31,837
And many Romans came
to resent Jews themselves

391
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,427
and Judaism itself as
hostile to the Roman empire

392
00:23:36,510 --> 00:23:39,543
and its efforts to unify
their empire culturally.

393
00:23:41,850 --> 00:23:43,417
They were always a problem

394
00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:45,367
because they were so distinctive,

395
00:23:45,450 --> 00:23:47,077
and weren't playing the game

396
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,557
that other subject peoples of Rome did.

397
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,827
And this is the context in
which the gospels were written,

398
00:23:53,910 --> 00:23:57,033
in Greek and possibly in Rome.

399
00:23:58,590 --> 00:24:00,217
Not only did the Jewish people

400
00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:03,007
have religious conflict with the Romans,

401
00:24:03,090 --> 00:24:05,887
but also political conflict.

402
00:24:05,970 --> 00:24:09,517
And the more the Romans
attempted to assimilate them

403
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,827
into the greater Roman empire,

404
00:24:11,910 --> 00:24:16,910
the more extremist and
rebellious certain factions became.

405
00:24:21,420 --> 00:24:23,767
Since the successful Jewish revolt

406
00:24:23,850 --> 00:24:25,807
of the second century BC

407
00:24:25,890 --> 00:24:28,717
against their Seleucid Greek rulers,

408
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:29,797
there had been a dynasty

409
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,497
of genuinely authentic
nationalist Jewish kings,

410
00:24:32,580 --> 00:24:35,107
the Hasmoneans, the
descendants of the Maccabees

411
00:24:35,190 --> 00:24:37,027
who'd led that second century revolt,

412
00:24:37,110 --> 00:24:40,113
that is still celebrated by
Jews in the Hanukkah holiday.

413
00:24:41,370 --> 00:24:44,047
When Rome
took over power in the area,

414
00:24:44,130 --> 00:24:48,457
they removed the authentic
Hasmonean Jewish rulers

415
00:24:48,540 --> 00:24:52,597
and put in place the
Herodians, herod the great,

416
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,227
who were not Jewish
but converted to Judaism

417
00:24:56,310 --> 00:25:00,307
in order to become
legitimate rulers of the region.

418
00:25:00,390 --> 00:25:03,697
However, the Jewish
people never accepted them

419
00:25:03,780 --> 00:25:05,947
as authentic Jewish rulers

420
00:25:06,030 --> 00:25:10,507
and always regarded
them as puppets of Rome.

421
00:25:10,590 --> 00:25:13,897
All other populations had
to worship Roman state gods,

422
00:25:13,980 --> 00:25:16,717
sort of tip their hats
to Roman state deities

423
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,207
to prove their loyalty to the empire.

424
00:25:19,290 --> 00:25:22,507
Jews, being monotheists
and unable to worship idols

425
00:25:22,590 --> 00:25:24,754
or anyone else as divine, couldn't do that.

426
00:25:24,837 --> 00:25:27,457
And so the Romans actually made exceptions,

427
00:25:27,540 --> 00:25:28,897
exempting Jewish people

428
00:25:28,980 --> 00:25:31,267
from the worship of Roman state gods,

429
00:25:31,350 --> 00:25:32,827
but this was not sufficient.

430
00:25:32,910 --> 00:25:34,327
And they were certainly not happy

431
00:25:34,410 --> 00:25:37,417
with the Herodian kings
who'd been placed over them.

432
00:25:37,500 --> 00:25:39,217
And the Jewish rebels themselves thought

433
00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:42,937
that a continuation of the
very militant nationalism

434
00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:45,817
that had been so successful
during the Hanukkah rebellion

435
00:25:45,900 --> 00:25:48,200
would also be successful
in the first century.

436
00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:54,247
So they said that, "we
should have no ruler but god.

437
00:25:54,330 --> 00:25:58,407
And so we're gonna
throw off the yoke of Rome."

438
00:26:00,870 --> 00:26:03,367
The Jewish
rebels were operating

439
00:26:03,450 --> 00:26:06,427
from a long-held Jewish prophecy

440
00:26:06,510 --> 00:26:10,987
that a warrior Messiah would
come to defeat the Romans

441
00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:14,437
and deliver them from occupation.

442
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,947
This messianic prophecy was handed down

443
00:26:18,030 --> 00:26:22,533
from generation to generation
through their scriptures.

444
00:26:23,610 --> 00:26:25,237
The Romans saw the Jewish literature

445
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,637
as being very subversive,

446
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,867
and you know I mean, and it
was, it's extremely xenophobic,

447
00:26:31,950 --> 00:26:36,950
it's very full of global hegemony,

448
00:26:37,485 --> 00:26:39,727
the chosen people are
supposed to take over the world,

449
00:26:39,810 --> 00:26:41,347
they're gonna suck the milk of the nations.

450
00:26:41,430 --> 00:26:43,627
I mean this is all, you
know, in the old testament.

451
00:26:43,710 --> 00:26:45,434
And probably they're thinking,

452
00:26:45,517 --> 00:26:49,357
"what the heck is instigating these people

453
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,907
to behave like this,
what is their motivation?

454
00:26:51,990 --> 00:26:53,127
We gotta find out."

455
00:26:57,810 --> 00:27:00,307
It became obvious, I'm sure, to the Romans

456
00:27:00,390 --> 00:27:04,447
that we don't have a single
mythical figure to point to

457
00:27:04,530 --> 00:27:06,577
or a god-figure to point to,

458
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:07,897
so we gotta get our
hands on the scriptures,

459
00:27:07,980 --> 00:27:09,277
there must be something
in those scriptures."

460
00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:12,483
So you can see why they
would try to get hold of them.

461
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:22,627
In the 1940s,
important ancient documents

462
00:27:22,710 --> 00:27:25,657
were accidentally discovered in caves

463
00:27:25,740 --> 00:27:28,987
in the area that would have been Palestine,

464
00:27:29,070 --> 00:27:32,587
and some of these
documents show the literature

465
00:27:32,670 --> 00:27:35,557
of these Jewish messianic prophecies.

466
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,763
They're known as the dead sea scrolls.

467
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:42,817
In the course of our studies,

468
00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:46,147
I began to pay attention
to the Jewish documents

469
00:27:46,230 --> 00:27:48,037
that were discovered in the
middle of the 20th century,

470
00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:49,683
known as the dead sea scrolls.

471
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:53,887
The group of scholars who originally

472
00:27:53,970 --> 00:27:57,337
got the dead sea scrolls
we were familiar with,

473
00:27:57,420 --> 00:28:00,067
they mostly were connected to the Vatican.

474
00:28:00,150 --> 00:28:02,167
And they controlled who had access

475
00:28:02,250 --> 00:28:05,133
to the documents that
they were willing to release.

476
00:28:07,350 --> 00:28:09,157
And I thought the only
way that you could have

477
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,327
a serious intellectual
discussion about these things

478
00:28:13,410 --> 00:28:15,847
would be that everyone would have access

479
00:28:15,930 --> 00:28:19,117
to all the materials and
everything that exists,

480
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,107
and no one barred and
no choice of materials.

481
00:28:23,190 --> 00:28:26,347
And therefore I felt it
was absolutely essential

482
00:28:26,430 --> 00:28:29,793
that we got all the scrolls
published, all of them.

483
00:28:33,870 --> 00:28:35,767
Ultimately, after a number

484
00:28:35,850 --> 00:28:38,587
of serious challenges and pitfalls,

485
00:28:38,670 --> 00:28:42,727
professor Eisenman
was successful in getting

486
00:28:42,810 --> 00:28:45,573
all the dead sea scrolls published.

487
00:28:47,460 --> 00:28:50,077
One scroll in particular revealed

488
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,563
a warlike, revolutionary perspective.

489
00:28:58,020 --> 00:28:59,347
And the most important thing,

490
00:28:59,430 --> 00:29:02,947
which is in fairly good shape,
not complete but fairly good,

491
00:29:03,030 --> 00:29:06,187
is a document that has since
been called the war scroll,

492
00:29:06,270 --> 00:29:10,293
the war of the sons of light
against the sons of darkness.

493
00:29:12,030 --> 00:29:14,467
This war involves, you know,

494
00:29:14,550 --> 00:29:17,317
some of the contemporary people,

495
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,437
so we're in a revolutionary movement,

496
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,047
and it's gonna be led by the Messiah,

497
00:29:23,130 --> 00:29:25,537
and the angels of heaven are going

498
00:29:25,620 --> 00:29:27,517
to be the battle carriers.

499
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,367
In other words, they know
that they're too small maybe,

500
00:29:30,450 --> 00:29:34,027
they can't fight the whole
might of the Roman empire,

501
00:29:34,110 --> 00:29:37,177
but with the heavenly host and the Messiah,

502
00:29:37,260 --> 00:29:39,727
the reason they have
to be perfectly righteous,

503
00:29:39,810 --> 00:29:42,367
so this is now a movement of righteousness,

504
00:29:42,450 --> 00:29:44,287
and they're called the sons of Zadok,

505
00:29:44,370 --> 00:29:46,327
which is also a priestly movement,

506
00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:48,877
and the leader is often
the righteous teacher

507
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:50,797
or the teacher of righteousness,

508
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,723
so righteousness permeates
the whole idea of the movement.

509
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,537
But they really feel if
they're perfectly righteous,

510
00:29:58,620 --> 00:30:01,203
the heavenly angels will join their camps.

511
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:09,787
Professor Eisenman noticed

512
00:30:09,870 --> 00:30:11,527
that in the new testament,

513
00:30:11,610 --> 00:30:15,487
the book of acts mentions
that the disciple James

514
00:30:15,570 --> 00:30:19,567
is often called the
teacher of righteousness.

515
00:30:19,650 --> 00:30:24,457
Therefore he was able to
make the connection that James,

516
00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:28,057
also called the brother
of Jesus in the gospels,

517
00:30:28,140 --> 00:30:32,167
must have been the leader of
this righteousness movement

518
00:30:32,250 --> 00:30:35,167
described in the dead sea scrolls.

519
00:30:35,250 --> 00:30:38,557
If James was the leader
of this rebellious movement

520
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:43,597
against Rome, is it
possible his brother Jesus

521
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:47,073
could also have been a
leader of this movement?

522
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,067
People think, "oh, the scrolls are just

523
00:30:51,150 --> 00:30:52,237
an early version of Christianity."

524
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,057
No they're not, because
they're not peaceful.

525
00:30:55,140 --> 00:30:56,287
They're not the least bit peaceful,

526
00:30:56,370 --> 00:30:57,805
anyone who sees them,

527
00:30:57,888 --> 00:30:59,527
it shows they're just like the Maccabbeans.

528
00:30:59,610 --> 00:31:03,127
No, they're not anti-maccabbean,
they're anti-Herodian,

529
00:31:03,210 --> 00:31:04,747
and that's what people missed

530
00:31:04,830 --> 00:31:08,377
in the early interpretations
because of their bad dating.

531
00:31:08,460 --> 00:31:09,937
They hated the Roman empire,

532
00:31:10,020 --> 00:31:12,517
they hated the priests
appointed by the Roman empire,

533
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,577
they hated herod who was
appointed by the Roman empire,

534
00:31:15,660 --> 00:31:17,647
and they wanted to get rid of these people

535
00:31:17,730 --> 00:31:19,387
and institute their own priesthood,

536
00:31:19,470 --> 00:31:21,757
sons of Zadok, sons of righteousness.

537
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,857
And they went out into the wilderness,

538
00:31:23,940 --> 00:31:26,647
John the baptist was
clearly probably associated

539
00:31:26,730 --> 00:31:27,480
with this group.

540
00:31:27,563 --> 00:31:28,717
They went out into the wilderness

541
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,847
to prepare the way of the lord.

542
00:31:30,930 --> 00:31:32,917
And that's the group we have,

543
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,197
it's always been a revolutionary movement,

544
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,533
the real revolutionary
movement in Palestine.

545
00:31:39,030 --> 00:31:40,087
And whether these documents

546
00:31:40,170 --> 00:31:42,727
were written in the second century BC,

547
00:31:42,810 --> 00:31:45,697
the first century BC,
or the first century ad,

548
00:31:45,780 --> 00:31:47,497
as some scholars are now believing them

549
00:31:47,580 --> 00:31:48,427
to have been written,

550
00:31:48,510 --> 00:31:50,647
it's clear that the same ideology

551
00:31:50,730 --> 00:31:53,257
is infused from the Hanukkah rebellion

552
00:31:53,340 --> 00:31:56,017
all the way up to the Jewish
wars of the first century.

553
00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:59,227
And in these documents,
what we find is an odd reversal

554
00:31:59,310 --> 00:32:03,157
of the language that we
find in the new testament.

555
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:04,867
The odd reversal being

556
00:32:04,950 --> 00:32:06,457
that in the new testament,

557
00:32:06,540 --> 00:32:09,307
we have a Jewish Messiah preaching peace

558
00:32:09,390 --> 00:32:11,077
and obedience to Rome,

559
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,527
whereas the dead sea scrolls
have the Jewish Messiah

560
00:32:14,610 --> 00:32:18,037
preaching war and revolution against Rome.

561
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,547
The scrolls strikingly
reveal the difference

562
00:32:21,630 --> 00:32:24,127
between the new testament followers

563
00:32:24,210 --> 00:32:26,497
of a peace-loving Messiah

564
00:32:26,580 --> 00:32:29,947
and the actual militant Jews of the era

565
00:32:30,030 --> 00:32:32,583
who were following a warrior Messiah.

566
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,857
This faction of militant
Jews was wreaking havoc

567
00:32:41,940 --> 00:32:44,317
across the Roman empire,

568
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,377
setting fire to various settlements,

569
00:32:47,460 --> 00:32:50,977
including possibly the great fire of Rome

570
00:32:51,060 --> 00:32:54,247
which Nero blamed on Christians.

571
00:32:54,330 --> 00:32:56,917
It is during the rule of Nero

572
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,037
that the earliest Christian texts appear,

573
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,263
in the form of the letters
or epistles of St. Paul,

574
00:33:05,670 --> 00:33:07,983
another piece of our mosaic.

575
00:33:08,850 --> 00:33:13,713
Let's take a closer look at
this highly influential figure,

576
00:33:14,730 --> 00:33:16,020
who was Paul?

577
00:33:22,470 --> 00:33:26,947
The apostle Paul
originated as Saul of tarsus

578
00:33:27,030 --> 00:33:31,597
and was a persecutor
of early Christians, until,

579
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,847
famously on the road to Damascus,

580
00:33:33,930 --> 00:33:37,027
he had a revelation, the
scales fell from his eyes,

581
00:33:37,110 --> 00:33:39,903
and he became a missionary for Christ.

582
00:33:41,105 --> 00:33:42,307
There are 13 books

583
00:33:42,390 --> 00:33:45,213
of the new testament attributed to Paul.

584
00:33:46,950 --> 00:33:51,337
So when were the Pauline
or Paulinist epistles written?

585
00:33:51,420 --> 00:33:52,957
Well, if you go with conservatives,

586
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,717
some of them could have
been written in the 40s.

587
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,357
But nobody really knows, it's hard to tell.

588
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,557
You only have copies
of the Pauline epistles

589
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:07,640
in the early third century,
shortly after about 200.

590
00:34:08,430 --> 00:34:11,407
And yet even these dates are in dispute,

591
00:34:11,490 --> 00:34:15,693
so could be from the 40s
to a hundred years later.

592
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,357
I was aware that the letters of Paul,

593
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,907
or at least some of the
letters ascribed to Paul

594
00:34:21,990 --> 00:34:23,767
pre-date the Flavian rule

595
00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:26,317
and probably pre-date
the Jewish war itself.

596
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,647
And unlike other scholars
who are interested

597
00:34:29,730 --> 00:34:31,867
in the idea of Roman provenance,

598
00:34:31,950 --> 00:34:33,667
we accept the standard dating

599
00:34:33,750 --> 00:34:36,037
for the documents of the new testament.

600
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,637
The standard
consensus among most scholars

601
00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:42,967
is that the seven letters
considered genuinely written

602
00:34:43,050 --> 00:34:48,050
by Paul were written between 50 and 57 CE,

603
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:53,133
with the rest being
written around 62 to 64 CE,

604
00:34:54,060 --> 00:34:58,083
all before the Flavian
era and the Jewish war.

605
00:34:58,980 --> 00:35:02,287
This is the dawn of Christianity,

606
00:35:02,370 --> 00:35:05,677
and many scholars believe Paul is the one

607
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,763
who actually founded Christianity.

608
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:11,257
Christianity didn't exist,

609
00:35:11,340 --> 00:35:13,237
I don't think they had the word Christ,

610
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,857
and Paul starts to use
these words in his letters.

611
00:35:17,940 --> 00:35:19,987
Paul creates this language.

612
00:35:20,070 --> 00:35:22,627
I don't think you'll find
it in any other materials,

613
00:35:22,710 --> 00:35:24,727
you won't find it I think
in the letter of James.

614
00:35:24,810 --> 00:35:26,587
But the point of the
matter is that's become

615
00:35:26,670 --> 00:35:29,257
the popular language
associated with this movement

616
00:35:29,340 --> 00:35:31,090
but it never happened in Palestine.

617
00:35:33,420 --> 00:35:36,997
An argument that Paul
is continuously making

618
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,807
is we no longer need
to adhere to kosher diet,

619
00:35:40,890 --> 00:35:43,627
we no longer need to circumcise ourselves

620
00:35:43,710 --> 00:35:46,147
to distinguish ourselves
as Jews from others,

621
00:35:46,230 --> 00:35:49,927
all those sectarian
requirements of the Jewish law

622
00:35:50,010 --> 00:35:52,387
are being relaxed by St. Paul.

623
00:35:52,470 --> 00:35:54,097
Well in the letter ascribed to James,

624
00:35:54,180 --> 00:35:57,097
we have just the opposite
philosophy being described,

625
00:35:57,180 --> 00:35:59,497
that none of the law
should be gotten rid of.

626
00:35:59,580 --> 00:36:00,937
Well that appears to be flying

627
00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:03,697
directly in the face of Paul's doctrine

628
00:36:03,780 --> 00:36:07,627
of salvation by faith, salvation by grace,

629
00:36:07,710 --> 00:36:10,177
and no longer salvation by obedience

630
00:36:10,260 --> 00:36:12,337
to the torah or the Jewish law.

631
00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:15,187
And in that, we sort of see encapsulated

632
00:36:15,270 --> 00:36:18,607
the differences between
torah-orthodox Jewish Christians

633
00:36:18,690 --> 00:36:22,297
if you will, and the torah-modifying,

634
00:36:22,380 --> 00:36:25,177
torah-critical Pauline Christians

635
00:36:25,260 --> 00:36:27,243
who wrote most of the new testament.

636
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,727
Authors Thijs Voskuilen

637
00:36:30,810 --> 00:36:33,037
and colonel Rose Mary Sheldon,

638
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,577
who is herself an intelligence expert,

639
00:36:36,660 --> 00:36:40,717
explore Paul's connections
to Roman intelligence

640
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,987
in their book "operation Messiah."

641
00:36:44,070 --> 00:36:48,547
Could Paul have been an
undercover intelligence agent

642
00:36:48,630 --> 00:36:50,707
for the emperor Nero,

643
00:36:50,790 --> 00:36:53,647
who was dealing with messianic rebels

644
00:36:53,730 --> 00:36:55,833
trying to burn down Rome?

645
00:36:56,910 --> 00:37:01,910
To me, the gospel
material is mostly all literary,

646
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,707
not necessarily historical.

647
00:37:05,790 --> 00:37:08,347
Now the book of acts
for the first 15 chapters

648
00:37:08,430 --> 00:37:11,707
is ahistorical, but in chapter 16

649
00:37:11,790 --> 00:37:14,617
you get what's called the we document,

650
00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:18,007
which is obviously based on
someone's travel document.

651
00:37:18,090 --> 00:37:21,367
And suddenly you're talking
about, we did this, I did this.

652
00:37:21,450 --> 00:37:24,097
It starts with the so-called
Jerusalem conference

653
00:37:24,180 --> 00:37:26,737
where James gives the instructions.

654
00:37:26,820 --> 00:37:29,557
The key is acts 21:21,

655
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,997
when Paul comes up to
Jerusalem and meets James.

656
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,277
And there you see that James

657
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,487
is over Paul absolutely and completely.

658
00:37:39,570 --> 00:37:42,307
And he's called, James is called the leader

659
00:37:42,390 --> 00:37:45,847
of the Jerusalem community in acts.

660
00:37:45,930 --> 00:37:49,057
And it's quoted then, "but you see, Paul,

661
00:37:49,140 --> 00:37:51,420
we have heard of many
disturbing things about what you're,"

662
00:37:51,503 --> 00:37:52,424
this is in acts!

663
00:37:52,507 --> 00:37:56,107
"About what you're doing in
the overseas in the diaspora,

664
00:37:56,190 --> 00:38:00,277
and the things you're teaching
and telling people, etcetera.

665
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,217
So to show people there's
no truth in these things,"

666
00:38:03,300 --> 00:38:05,617
I.E., that he's teaching against the law,

667
00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:08,617
he's teaching against forbidden foods,

668
00:38:08,700 --> 00:38:10,627
he says all kinds of things like this,

669
00:38:10,710 --> 00:38:14,096
and it's totally UN-so-called Jewish

670
00:38:14,179 --> 00:38:15,007
which is why it's Christianity.

671
00:38:15,090 --> 00:38:17,917
But the point is, these people in Jerusalem

672
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,287
are Jewish still and
they're following the law.

673
00:38:20,370 --> 00:38:22,957
So James says, "to show there's no truth,

674
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:28,040
go into the temple and
pay for a nazarite oath."

675
00:38:28,470 --> 00:38:31,897
Paul agrees, he's not gonna not agree

676
00:38:31,980 --> 00:38:33,967
because James is the leader.

677
00:38:34,050 --> 00:38:35,587
It's in there, it's in
the Christian literature

678
00:38:35,670 --> 00:38:36,997
but people never look at it,

679
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:39,667
it's in the we document,
and this is authentic material.

680
00:38:39,750 --> 00:38:42,877
And so he goes in and he's mobbed.

681
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,937
So at that moment when
he's about to be mobbed

682
00:38:46,020 --> 00:38:47,924
in the temple by an angry Jewish crowd,

683
00:38:48,007 --> 00:38:50,257
"this is the person
teaching against the temple,

684
00:38:50,340 --> 00:38:52,983
against our, all over
Asia," they're shouting,

685
00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:57,097
he pulls out his Roman
citizenship or whatever.

686
00:38:57,180 --> 00:39:00,247
And the Roman guards have
come down, seeing this huge,

687
00:39:00,330 --> 00:39:01,807
they're up on the ramparts usually,

688
00:39:01,890 --> 00:39:04,687
seeing this huge disturbance beneath them.

689
00:39:04,770 --> 00:39:07,087
And the Roman guards rescue him

690
00:39:07,170 --> 00:39:11,077
and force the crowd to
listen to a speech by him.

691
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,437
And you see what side he is
on and who is supporting him,

692
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,167
and escort him from the
people who want to kill him.

693
00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:20,677
They escort him down to
Caesarea, the Roman headquarters,

694
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:22,687
where he has some interesting conversations

695
00:39:22,770 --> 00:39:25,387
with the Roman governor at that time.

696
00:39:25,470 --> 00:39:27,967
So the point is, they protect him

697
00:39:28,050 --> 00:39:30,697
until they can get him overseas.

698
00:39:30,780 --> 00:39:33,817
And even acts admits
that once he gets to Rome,

699
00:39:33,900 --> 00:39:36,083
no one bothers with him at all.

700
00:39:36,166 --> 00:39:38,587
That
certainly seems to indicate

701
00:39:38,670 --> 00:39:43,087
that Paul could have been
an undercover Roman agent.

702
00:39:43,170 --> 00:39:47,827
James seems to be the leader
of the torah-orthodox Jews.

703
00:39:47,910 --> 00:39:51,007
If James were one of the apostles of Jesus,

704
00:39:51,090 --> 00:39:54,577
his followers would not be torah-orthodox,

705
00:39:54,660 --> 00:39:58,747
because both Jesus and Paul were preaching

706
00:39:58,830 --> 00:40:02,553
against the torah, against mosaic law.

707
00:40:03,750 --> 00:40:05,587
We have another letter of Paul's,

708
00:40:05,670 --> 00:40:07,207
his letter to the Galatians,

709
00:40:07,290 --> 00:40:10,777
in which he describes
his heated confrontation

710
00:40:10,860 --> 00:40:14,137
with Jewish Christians, the
apostles that came before him,

711
00:40:14,220 --> 00:40:16,447
naming specifically James

712
00:40:16,530 --> 00:40:19,207
who was at least titled
the brother of Jesus,

713
00:40:19,290 --> 00:40:22,297
and cephas, the Aramaic word for rock,

714
00:40:22,380 --> 00:40:23,737
that must be Peter.

715
00:40:23,820 --> 00:40:26,017
So he's having arguments with the apostles,

716
00:40:26,100 --> 00:40:27,817
the disciples who came before him,

717
00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:30,037
who are apparently torah-orthodox.

718
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:31,837
Paul does not cite Jesus

719
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,237
from the gospels in doing this either.

720
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,777
The Jesus of the gospels is torah-critical.

721
00:40:37,860 --> 00:40:40,717
And as I began to think
about it, it became clear to me,

722
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:42,817
as it has become clear to many scholars,

723
00:40:42,900 --> 00:40:46,777
that the gospels must
post-date the letter to Galatians.

724
00:40:46,860 --> 00:40:48,697
Had the gospels existed,

725
00:40:48,780 --> 00:40:52,027
all Paul would have needed
to do would be to cite Jesus.

726
00:40:52,110 --> 00:40:55,807
Jesus point-blank criticizes
kosher diet, for example.

727
00:40:55,890 --> 00:40:58,327
Paul never cites the
words or the deeds of Jesus,

728
00:40:58,410 --> 00:41:00,397
which are critical of sabbath,

729
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:02,943
or which are accommodating to foreigners.

730
00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:06,727
And Paul's words must pre-date the war,

731
00:41:06,810 --> 00:41:10,567
because after the war the
zealots had been defeated

732
00:41:10,650 --> 00:41:13,627
and all of them had been
executed or enslaved.

733
00:41:13,710 --> 00:41:15,127
So there's no way that kind of argument

734
00:41:15,210 --> 00:41:16,893
could have gone on after the war.

735
00:41:18,030 --> 00:41:20,887
And it's probable that
those kinds of conflicts

736
00:41:20,970 --> 00:41:25,203
and that argument might
even have precipitated that war.

737
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,147
If the gospels were
an accurate reflection

738
00:41:28,230 --> 00:41:31,177
of who Jesus was and what Jesus had said,

739
00:41:31,260 --> 00:41:32,947
there would have been no argument.

740
00:41:33,030 --> 00:41:34,417
Even if the previous apostles

741
00:41:34,500 --> 00:41:36,517
had still been following Jewish practice,

742
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,347
they wouldn't have had an objection

743
00:41:38,430 --> 00:41:40,537
to Paul doing otherwise, would they?

744
00:41:40,620 --> 00:41:42,127
Paul would not have needed to argue

745
00:41:42,210 --> 00:41:43,987
so strenuously with them.

746
00:41:44,070 --> 00:41:45,517
He would have only needed to refer

747
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,763
to Jesus' own words to settle the matter.

748
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,847
We know
Paul was born in tarsus

749
00:41:51,930 --> 00:41:54,337
and had Roman citizenship,

750
00:41:54,420 --> 00:41:57,453
what other clues do we have about Paul?

751
00:41:58,380 --> 00:42:00,877
Oh, the Romans were
certainly somewhat behind him,

752
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,247
since he was a Herodian family member.

753
00:42:03,330 --> 00:42:05,677
Paul isn't a Jew, he's an Herodian.

754
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:09,877
He says, "give my regards
to my kinsman Herodion,"

755
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:11,047
at the end of Romans.

756
00:42:11,130 --> 00:42:12,937
Well who's his kinsman Herodion?

757
00:42:13,020 --> 00:42:14,587
It means the littlest herod.

758
00:42:14,670 --> 00:42:16,837
And all the people he
refers to at the end of Romans

759
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,597
in his greetings are
herodian family members.

760
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,237
And the littlest herod
was drowned in Pompeii

761
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:23,070
for some reason,

762
00:42:23,153 --> 00:42:26,137
I forget how he drowned
there, but he's a known person,

763
00:42:26,220 --> 00:42:27,213
that's his cousin.

764
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:29,917
Paul is from the herodian family,

765
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,650
the enemies of the Jewish people.

766
00:42:33,031 --> 00:42:34,687
And in his letters,

767
00:42:34,770 --> 00:42:38,403
Paul mentions other Roman
connections that he has.

768
00:42:39,390 --> 00:42:43,957
Fascinatingly, Paul
himself refers to Nero's palace,

769
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,217
and says, "say hello to
my friends at Nero's palace."

770
00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:49,927
This is quite a remarkable thing

771
00:42:50,010 --> 00:42:52,777
for a new testament
protagonist to be bragging

772
00:42:52,860 --> 00:42:55,173
about his relation with Caesar.

773
00:43:01,470 --> 00:43:03,907
Famously,
in his letter to the Romans,

774
00:43:03,990 --> 00:43:07,867
chapter 13, Paul preaches that everyone

775
00:43:07,950 --> 00:43:11,643
must submit to the
government or be punished.

776
00:43:14,940 --> 00:43:17,917
In the epistles in
particular, the Pauline epistles,

777
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,317
you have these authoritarian statements

778
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:25,400
that are so patently obvious
coming from the authorities.

779
00:43:27,540 --> 00:43:30,217
Paul, in one of the oldest
sections of the new testament,

780
00:43:30,300 --> 00:43:32,497
specifically commands Christians

781
00:43:32,580 --> 00:43:37,117
to obey the state as god's
appointed agents on earth,

782
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,297
specifically naming rebellion to be a sin,

783
00:43:40,380 --> 00:43:43,477
specifically requiring
Christians to pay their taxes,

784
00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:47,437
and elsewhere specifically
to honor the emperor himself.

785
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,117
And all of this struck
me as, in this new light,

786
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:52,863
as naked Roman propaganda.

787
00:43:55,140 --> 00:43:57,847
You must obey the
emperor, there's a good one,

788
00:43:57,930 --> 00:44:00,417
it's right in there, it
says "obey the emperor".

789
00:44:01,830 --> 00:44:02,894
There's all this,

790
00:44:02,977 --> 00:44:07,977
"slaves, be submissive
for the sake of Christ."

791
00:44:08,310 --> 00:44:11,977
Now if you're the savior
and you're the liberator

792
00:44:12,060 --> 00:44:13,597
and you're god on earth,

793
00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,597
you're god coming down from the heavens,

794
00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:20,887
the all-powerful, why not end slavery?

795
00:44:20,970 --> 00:44:23,024
Why do you have your mouthpieces saying,

796
00:44:23,107 --> 00:44:27,003
"slaves, just put up
with your lot for my sake,

797
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:29,827
you know, just go along,"

798
00:44:29,910 --> 00:44:34,807
it's obvious whose interests
these remarks are in.

799
00:44:34,890 --> 00:44:39,890
So, if you were trying
to create a state religion

800
00:44:40,470 --> 00:44:44,317
that you could control, and
through your controlling it,

801
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,673
control the masses, I mean
they really had it down pat.

802
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,997
Paul appears to be
combining an anti-torah message

803
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,727
with a pro-peace, pro-Roman message,

804
00:44:54,810 --> 00:44:56,767
and those two things are connected.

805
00:44:56,850 --> 00:45:00,817
So in criticizing torah
and arguing for peace,

806
00:45:00,900 --> 00:45:02,647
there can be little doubt
that what Paul is doing

807
00:45:02,730 --> 00:45:06,757
is having a combined political
and theological message

808
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:11,227
geared and aimed at the
Jewish rebels of the first century.

809
00:45:11,310 --> 00:45:14,373
Paul is changing messianic Judaism.

810
00:45:19,770 --> 00:45:22,267
One of the
objections to the idea

811
00:45:22,350 --> 00:45:25,477
that the Romans created Christianity

812
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:28,657
is that Christian
tradition tells us Christians

813
00:45:28,740 --> 00:45:31,507
were persecuted by the Romans.

814
00:45:31,590 --> 00:45:35,047
But which of these
groups of Messiah-followers

815
00:45:35,130 --> 00:45:37,203
were the ones being persecuted?

816
00:45:40,860 --> 00:45:44,557
Today we use the word
Christian in a very sectarian sense.

817
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:46,867
The sense of Christian that we use it in

818
00:45:46,950 --> 00:45:50,467
was unknown in the first
two centuries, of course.

819
00:45:50,550 --> 00:45:52,057
Christianity didn't exist

820
00:45:52,140 --> 00:45:53,977
till the second or third century,

821
00:45:54,060 --> 00:45:56,497
and I don't think they had the word Christ,

822
00:45:56,580 --> 00:46:01,580
it's not a Palestinian
word, it's a Greek word.

823
00:46:03,060 --> 00:46:05,617
And to Romans who
don't make fine distinctions

824
00:46:05,700 --> 00:46:08,047
between different forms
of messianic Judaism,

825
00:46:08,130 --> 00:46:10,117
they were all Christians.

826
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:13,567
However today the idea
of a Jewish Christianity

827
00:46:13,650 --> 00:46:15,513
is almost entirely unknown.

828
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,457
We exclusively think of Christianity

829
00:46:18,540 --> 00:46:21,667
in terms of the peaceful
new testament Christians

830
00:46:21,750 --> 00:46:23,193
we read about in the Bible.

831
00:46:25,890 --> 00:46:28,327
The objection that we
run across most frequently

832
00:46:28,410 --> 00:46:30,997
is one that comes from Christian tradition,

833
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,177
of being persecuted and
martyred at the hands of Romans.

834
00:46:34,260 --> 00:46:36,123
This is largely a myth.

835
00:46:36,990 --> 00:46:40,387
But it is a myth that's
understandable when you realize

836
00:46:40,470 --> 00:46:42,847
that there was an entirely
different form of Christianity

837
00:46:42,930 --> 00:46:44,433
going on in the first century.

838
00:46:45,510 --> 00:46:47,947
That tradition of martyrdom
is almost certainly rooted

839
00:46:48,030 --> 00:46:50,407
in the true persecution of Jewish rebels,

840
00:46:50,490 --> 00:46:52,777
messianic rebels in
the first two centuries,

841
00:46:52,860 --> 00:46:54,937
who were tortured and crucified

842
00:46:55,020 --> 00:46:57,697
by the thousands by the Roman government.

843
00:46:57,780 --> 00:46:59,827
It's that tradition of persecution

844
00:46:59,910 --> 00:47:01,717
that Christians have picked up on.

845
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:03,847
And, if you think about it,

846
00:47:03,930 --> 00:47:08,017
why would the Romans actually
persecute peaceful Christians,

847
00:47:08,100 --> 00:47:08,850
our new testament Christians,

848
00:47:08,933 --> 00:47:12,547
who are willing to render
unto Caesar, pay their taxes,

849
00:47:12,630 --> 00:47:16,087
turn the other cheek, and
be blessed peacemakers?

850
00:47:16,170 --> 00:47:18,820
And use the
Flavian symbols for their own?

851
00:47:21,270 --> 00:47:22,387
Curiously enough when we look

852
00:47:22,470 --> 00:47:24,727
at the actual hard evidence of history,

853
00:47:24,810 --> 00:47:27,937
we find Christians
already in the Roman army

854
00:47:28,020 --> 00:47:29,977
by the end of the second century,

855
00:47:30,060 --> 00:47:33,487
Christians who are able to
cooperate with the Roman empire

856
00:47:33,570 --> 00:47:36,937
in a way that militant Jews
had never been able to.

857
00:47:37,020 --> 00:47:40,867
The work of professor candida
moss, the British theologian,

858
00:47:40,950 --> 00:47:43,717
has basically demonstrated
that the Christian tradition

859
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:46,413
of martyrdom altogether is a legendary one.

860
00:47:49,770 --> 00:47:51,607
Hello, I'm candida moss,

861
00:47:51,690 --> 00:47:54,517
professor of new testament
and early Christianity

862
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:56,947
at the university of Notre dame.

863
00:47:57,030 --> 00:48:00,217
Today Christians from all denominations

864
00:48:00,300 --> 00:48:02,527
remain deeply invested in the myth

865
00:48:02,610 --> 00:48:05,707
that for the first three
centuries of its existence,

866
00:48:05,790 --> 00:48:10,177
the early church was the
victim of relentless persecution.

867
00:48:10,260 --> 00:48:12,937
But contrary to traditional church teaching

868
00:48:13,020 --> 00:48:14,617
and popular belief,

869
00:48:14,700 --> 00:48:17,497
Christians were not
systematically tortured and killed

870
00:48:17,580 --> 00:48:21,367
by the Romans merely because
they refused to deny Christ.

871
00:48:21,450 --> 00:48:24,517
Rather, these stories were exaggerated,

872
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:28,147
revised and forged, often centuries later,

873
00:48:28,230 --> 00:48:30,577
and the history of the church was reshaped

874
00:48:30,660 --> 00:48:32,827
in order to combat heresy,

875
00:48:32,910 --> 00:48:36,783
to inspire and educate the
faithful, and to fund churches.

876
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:41,677
In her book, professor moss,

877
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,434
who is a Christian theologian, states,

878
00:48:45,517 --> 00:48:49,207
"Christians adapted their
ideas about martyrdom

879
00:48:49,290 --> 00:48:54,097
and sometimes even the stories
about the martyrs themselves

880
00:48:54,180 --> 00:48:59,180
from both ancient Jewish and
pagan Greek and Roman writers."

881
00:49:01,230 --> 00:49:03,967
Most of the Christian saints
who were regarded as martyrs

882
00:49:04,050 --> 00:49:08,617
were themselves based
either on pagan sources

883
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:11,857
or garbled accounts of people at the time.

884
00:49:11,940 --> 00:49:15,127
It's really a legendary
mythology of Christian martyrdom

885
00:49:15,210 --> 00:49:16,410
during the Roman empire.

886
00:49:17,580 --> 00:49:19,687
And yes, Nero persecuted

887
00:49:19,770 --> 00:49:23,527
militant messianic
Jewish Christians if you will,

888
00:49:23,610 --> 00:49:27,367
and it is that very persecution
and those very issues,

889
00:49:27,450 --> 00:49:30,847
for example, his predecessor
the emperor Claudius'' expulsion

890
00:49:30,930 --> 00:49:33,937
of the Jews from Rome
because of militant disturbances,

891
00:49:34,020 --> 00:49:36,963
that the Romans need an
ideological response to.

892
00:49:37,890 --> 00:49:40,717
So as we can see, there
were pro-Roman Jews

893
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:42,937
who were clients of the Romans,

894
00:49:43,020 --> 00:49:46,147
at the same time that there
were Jews who opposed Rome,

895
00:49:46,230 --> 00:49:48,067
torah-orthodox Jews,

896
00:49:48,150 --> 00:49:49,867
and were very much against integrating

897
00:49:49,950 --> 00:49:51,547
with the Roman empire.

898
00:49:51,630 --> 00:49:54,607
Also we see that there were Christians

899
00:49:54,690 --> 00:49:58,537
or messianic Jews who were
very much opposed to Paul,

900
00:49:58,620 --> 00:50:02,197
and there were Christians
of the Pauline variety

901
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,347
who were pro-Roman
and would come into conflict

902
00:50:05,430 --> 00:50:07,717
with those other Christians.

903
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,237
This is the political
context that would lead

904
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:14,073
to all-out war between
the Jews and the Romans.

905
00:50:15,930 --> 00:50:18,097
James was killed, the war broke out

906
00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:20,947
three and a half years after his death,

907
00:50:21,030 --> 00:50:23,077
Daniel, a time, two times, and a half,

908
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:24,577
if you look at the prophet Daniel,

909
00:50:24,660 --> 00:50:27,002
you'll see everything
is contained in prophecy

910
00:50:27,085 --> 00:50:29,677
that they're involved in.

911
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:32,557
So their righteous
teacher-type person is killed

912
00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:35,947
under suspicious circumstances in 62,

913
00:50:36,030 --> 00:50:37,927
the war breaks out in 66,

914
00:50:38,010 --> 00:50:40,327
and they don't have the holy angels

915
00:50:40,410 --> 00:50:42,183
joining their camps unfortunately.

916
00:50:44,430 --> 00:50:48,307
A large piece
of our mosaic is this war,

917
00:50:48,390 --> 00:50:50,407
which the Jews began to wage

918
00:50:50,490 --> 00:50:54,963
against their Roman occupiers in 66 CE.

919
00:50:56,160 --> 00:51:01,160
It marks the turning point
in all of western history

920
00:51:01,260 --> 00:51:05,767
and the result is still
affecting our society today.

921
00:51:05,850 --> 00:51:09,307
It is in response to this war that Nero

922
00:51:09,390 --> 00:51:13,579
calls upon his best generals, the Flavians,

923
00:51:13,662 --> 00:51:18,015
flavius Vespasian and
his son Titus flavius.

924
00:51:27,684 --> 00:51:32,257
In 66, when the Jewish
war broke out in Judea,

925
00:51:32,340 --> 00:51:35,017
Nero is the one who tapped Vespasian,

926
00:51:35,100 --> 00:51:38,047
ironically in part because
of his humble origins.

927
00:51:38,130 --> 00:51:40,267
He was going to entrust a major section

928
00:51:40,350 --> 00:51:42,637
of the entire Roman army into the hands

929
00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:43,897
of this powerful general,

930
00:51:43,980 --> 00:51:45,937
in order to subdue the Jewish rebellion,

931
00:51:46,020 --> 00:51:48,817
and so he had to be
someone that Nero could trust,

932
00:51:48,900 --> 00:51:50,077
someone who wouldn't necessarily

933
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:51,873
have his own political ambitions.

934
00:51:57,240 --> 00:51:58,537
If they wanted to remove

935
00:51:58,620 --> 00:52:00,667
the cause of the rebellion,

936
00:52:00,750 --> 00:52:03,517
the Romans would need to seize Jerusalem

937
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:06,847
and capture the scriptures that were housed

938
00:52:06,930 --> 00:52:08,253
in the Jewish temple.

939
00:52:10,380 --> 00:52:12,667
As far as I know, there was a thrust

940
00:52:12,750 --> 00:52:14,707
that they really wanted to get their hands

941
00:52:14,790 --> 00:52:19,790
on the Hebrew texts that
was egging on the terrorists,

942
00:52:20,790 --> 00:52:21,963
the Jewish terrorists.

943
00:52:23,970 --> 00:52:25,147
You know, they would be considered

944
00:52:25,230 --> 00:52:27,487
to be rabid nationalists and so forth,

945
00:52:27,570 --> 00:52:30,877
but the barbarism of
these particular groups

946
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:31,987
and factions we're talking about

947
00:52:32,070 --> 00:52:33,470
was almost like the Taliban.

948
00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:46,057
It wasn't just "oh, we don't like your cult

949
00:52:46,140 --> 00:52:46,897
so we're gonna destroy you,"

950
00:52:46,980 --> 00:52:48,927
these guys were like vicious,

951
00:52:51,420 --> 00:52:56,197
Constant raids and
attacks and killing people

952
00:52:56,280 --> 00:52:59,583
and taking hostages
and all manner of things.

953
00:53:02,610 --> 00:53:05,557
And during the last
two years of Nero's reign,

954
00:53:05,640 --> 00:53:08,467
Vespasian successfully prosecuted the war

955
00:53:08,550 --> 00:53:11,047
in Galilee and wider Judea.

956
00:53:11,130 --> 00:53:13,327
And it was only when
they were just getting ready

957
00:53:13,410 --> 00:53:18,247
for the siege of Jerusalem,
that Nero himself was taken out.

958
00:53:18,330 --> 00:53:20,257
It is one of the great moments of history

959
00:53:20,340 --> 00:53:22,717
when the general who was
appointed by the emperor,

960
00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:25,777
himself became emperor,
following the death of Nero.

961
00:53:25,860 --> 00:53:27,157
There was a civil war that followed,

962
00:53:27,240 --> 00:53:28,837
a year of four emperors,

963
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:31,987
and the Victor there just
happened to be the general

964
00:53:32,070 --> 00:53:34,057
who had defeated the Jews.

965
00:53:34,140 --> 00:53:37,237
He had a major chunk of the Roman army,

966
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:40,267
and so was in a unique
position to launch his bid

967
00:53:40,350 --> 00:53:42,997
for empire which was successful.

968
00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:45,217
And so when he became emperor,

969
00:53:45,300 --> 00:53:48,187
he left his son Titus in
charge of the final sack

970
00:53:48,270 --> 00:53:51,337
of Jerusalem, which
would fulfill Jesus' prophecy,

971
00:53:51,420 --> 00:53:54,757
as he returned to Rome
to take up world rule,

972
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:58,057
and to proclaim himself
a new bringer of peace,

973
00:53:58,140 --> 00:54:00,003
a new prince of peace.

974
00:54:01,110 --> 00:54:03,967
This was a
huge sea change in Rome.

975
00:54:04,050 --> 00:54:07,027
Not only was it the death of an emperor,

976
00:54:07,110 --> 00:54:09,907
Nero, but he was the last ruler

977
00:54:09,990 --> 00:54:13,177
in the Julio-claudian dynasty.

978
00:54:13,260 --> 00:54:17,317
The Julio-claudians
created the Roman empire

979
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:20,587
and ruled it for nearly a hundred years.

980
00:54:20,670 --> 00:54:25,147
With the end of that
long-ruling dynasty, the flavians,

981
00:54:25,230 --> 00:54:29,047
now with the Hebrew
scriptures in their possession,

982
00:54:29,130 --> 00:54:32,737
began an extensive propaganda campaign

983
00:54:32,820 --> 00:54:36,123
to prove their legitimate
right to the throne.

984
00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:42,877
Because of their humble origins,

985
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:45,457
it was important for the flavians to gather

986
00:54:45,540 --> 00:54:49,057
as many endorsements from
religions around the empire

987
00:54:49,140 --> 00:54:52,687
to justify their claim
to the throne of Rome.

988
00:54:52,770 --> 00:54:56,437
These would include the cult
of serapis, the cult of Venus,

989
00:54:56,520 --> 00:54:58,833
and of course the religion of the Jews.

990
00:55:03,150 --> 00:55:05,947
When you investigate
the historians of the time,

991
00:55:06,030 --> 00:55:08,497
such as Suetonius and Tacitus,

992
00:55:08,580 --> 00:55:12,217
you find that they quite
openly claim that Vespasian

993
00:55:12,300 --> 00:55:16,203
and Titus were the Jewish
messiahs of prophecy.

994
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:20,437
The claim was
that because the flavians

995
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:22,687
brought peace to Palestine,

996
00:55:22,770 --> 00:55:27,097
ascending from the east
to become world rulers,

997
00:55:27,180 --> 00:55:30,427
they fulfilled the messianic prophecies

998
00:55:30,510 --> 00:55:34,863
and were the true Messiah
the Jews had been waiting for.

999
00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:38,857
Curiously enough, the Jewish militants

1000
00:55:38,940 --> 00:55:42,967
and the rebel leaders had each
in effect proposed themselves

1001
00:55:43,050 --> 00:55:45,037
as the true Jewish Messiah,

1002
00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:48,697
and the Jewish rebel
leaders had a better claim to it,

1003
00:55:48,780 --> 00:55:51,667
for contemporary Jews
expected an earthly, political,

1004
00:55:51,750 --> 00:55:55,507
and military leader to come
lead their country, Israel,

1005
00:55:55,590 --> 00:55:57,094
to victory over the Romans.

1006
00:55:57,177 --> 00:55:59,587
And so both pagan and Jewish historians

1007
00:55:59,670 --> 00:56:03,397
in the wake of that war
re-evaluated those claims,

1008
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:06,727
and identified the Roman
emperors who had conquered Judea

1009
00:56:06,810 --> 00:56:10,593
as the true bringers of
world rule from Judea.

1010
00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:18,397
Even the most prominent
rabbi at the time openly claimed

1011
00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:22,087
that Vespasian and Titus
were the Jewish messiahs.

1012
00:56:22,170 --> 00:56:25,207
People today don't realize
how widely recognized

1013
00:56:25,290 --> 00:56:29,673
the flavians were as Jewish
messiahs in their time.

1014
00:56:31,530 --> 00:56:34,537
For other writers such as
the Jewish writer Josephus,

1015
00:56:34,620 --> 00:56:37,417
he appears to have been
actively working as a propagandist

1016
00:56:37,500 --> 00:56:39,487
for these same Flavian emperors.

1017
00:56:39,570 --> 00:56:41,617
It's important to remember
that these Flavian emperors

1018
00:56:41,700 --> 00:56:43,417
were not working in isolation,

1019
00:56:43,500 --> 00:56:46,207
but appear to be working
with Jewish scholars at the time

1020
00:56:46,290 --> 00:56:48,607
in order to establish their claim to being

1021
00:56:48,690 --> 00:56:50,047
the true Jewish Messiah.

1022
00:56:50,130 --> 00:56:52,477
In other words, they
were convincing the world

1023
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:54,937
that the rebels had got it all wrong.

1024
00:56:55,020 --> 00:56:56,684
Or as Josephus himself said,

1025
00:56:56,767 --> 00:56:59,967
"the Jewish god has now
gone over to the Roman side."

1026
00:57:02,490 --> 00:57:04,867
All of that effort that they made shows

1027
00:57:04,950 --> 00:57:06,187
that that was a goal

1028
00:57:06,270 --> 00:57:11,270
was to have this Caesar
recognized as a divinity on earth,

1029
00:57:11,850 --> 00:57:14,253
as had predecessors been.

1030
00:57:15,540 --> 00:57:18,187
In fact, there was a
coin issued by Vespasian,

1031
00:57:18,270 --> 00:57:22,297
with Vespasian on one
side and the messianic star

1032
00:57:22,380 --> 00:57:24,847
of the Jews on the other side of the coin.

1033
00:57:24,930 --> 00:57:28,567
This is the only time
that the messianic star

1034
00:57:28,650 --> 00:57:30,667
was used on Roman coins.

1035
00:57:30,750 --> 00:57:32,137
It is different from the stars

1036
00:57:32,220 --> 00:57:35,167
that you would usually see on a Roman coin,

1037
00:57:35,250 --> 00:57:37,387
and it is identical to the messianic star

1038
00:57:37,470 --> 00:57:39,063
used on Jewish coins.

1039
00:57:39,899 --> 00:57:43,567
In Jewish symbolism the
star was the main image used

1040
00:57:43,650 --> 00:57:45,097
to represent the Messiah,

1041
00:57:45,180 --> 00:57:47,377
because in Hebrew prophecy it was said

1042
00:57:47,460 --> 00:57:50,167
that a star would come
out of the house of Israel,

1043
00:57:50,250 --> 00:57:51,783
a reference to the Messiah.

1044
00:57:53,430 --> 00:57:55,897
And at about this same time,

1045
00:57:55,980 --> 00:57:58,327
the gospels were being written.

1046
00:57:58,410 --> 00:58:00,907
Could they also have been a work

1047
00:58:00,990 --> 00:58:03,063
commissioned by the flavians?

1048
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:15,307
Well on the Roman side, to
avoid the same kind of ruckus,

1049
00:58:15,390 --> 00:58:18,917
the theory is that the Flavian dynasty,

1050
00:58:21,570 --> 00:58:26,570
they said, "suppose we
come up with a version

1051
00:58:26,910 --> 00:58:28,477
of their messianism,

1052
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:30,667
not only their Judaism,
but their messianism,

1053
00:58:30,750 --> 00:58:32,917
like the idea of the Messiah coming.

1054
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:36,667
Let's come up with a way of pacifying them,

1055
00:58:36,750 --> 00:58:38,527
saying, "oh yeh, yeh,
you should believe this."

1056
00:58:38,610 --> 00:58:40,147
I mean, Rome never really objected

1057
00:58:40,230 --> 00:58:42,933
to anybody's religion
unless it created trouble.

1058
00:58:44,370 --> 00:58:46,837
In order to avert a religious war,

1059
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:50,947
the Romans would launch
a propaganda campaign

1060
00:58:51,030 --> 00:58:54,813
to convert their enemy's
religion into a religion of peace.

1061
00:58:57,180 --> 00:58:59,167
Being a new dynasty of emperors,

1062
00:58:59,250 --> 00:59:03,307
who came upon the throne
sort of through a civil war,

1063
00:59:03,390 --> 00:59:04,927
they had to demonstrate themselves

1064
00:59:05,010 --> 00:59:07,507
to be saviors of the entire world,

1065
00:59:07,590 --> 00:59:09,997
projected themselves in their propaganda

1066
00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:11,737
as bringers of peace.

1067
00:59:11,820 --> 00:59:14,587
And they actually built a temple to peace,

1068
00:59:14,670 --> 00:59:17,287
the first temple to peace built in Rome,

1069
00:59:17,370 --> 00:59:19,657
and saw themselves as bringers of peace.

1070
00:59:19,740 --> 00:59:20,887
And even on their coinage,

1071
00:59:20,970 --> 00:59:24,847
they advertised the construction
of the temple of peace.

1072
00:59:24,930 --> 00:59:27,457
We can find on their coinage such things

1073
00:59:27,540 --> 00:59:31,567
as pax or pacis orbis
terrerum, peace on earth,

1074
00:59:31,650 --> 00:59:33,517
which is of course the very same language

1075
00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:35,917
that is reflected in the beautiful story

1076
00:59:36,000 --> 00:59:37,687
of Luke's nativity scene,

1077
00:59:37,770 --> 00:59:39,697
when the angels herald Jesus' birth

1078
00:59:39,780 --> 00:59:43,507
as bringing peace on earth
and good will toward men.

1079
00:59:43,590 --> 00:59:46,957
Even the good will toward men
can be found on Roman coinage,

1080
00:59:47,040 --> 00:59:49,803
minted at the same time
Luke was being written.

1081
00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:56,107
People often believe that
the Roman values and virtues

1082
00:59:56,190 --> 00:59:59,827
were opposite to those
reflected in Christianity.

1083
00:59:59,910 --> 01:00:04,567
However we see on Roman
coins that that isn't the case.

1084
01:00:04,650 --> 01:00:07,567
Coins that are minted
to concordia for instance,

1085
01:00:07,650 --> 01:00:11,917
which equals Harmony;
Or spes which equals hope;

1086
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:15,037
salus or salvation;

1087
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,367
and also things like
clementia which is mercy;

1088
01:00:18,450 --> 01:00:20,467
equitas which is fairness;

1089
01:00:20,550 --> 01:00:23,107
or felicitas which is joy,

1090
01:00:23,190 --> 01:00:26,407
all values that we see
throughout the new testament

1091
01:00:26,490 --> 01:00:30,573
are actually Roman values
throughout the empire.

1092
01:00:32,700 --> 01:00:35,977
In using the symbol
associated with Apollo,

1093
01:00:36,060 --> 01:00:39,217
with the salvation if
you will of an anchor,

1094
01:00:39,300 --> 01:00:42,007
the flavians were asserting themselves

1095
01:00:42,090 --> 01:00:44,887
to be the salvation of mankind.

1096
01:00:44,970 --> 01:00:47,587
The anchor became a symbol of the flavians

1097
01:00:47,670 --> 01:00:49,897
as saviors of the world.

1098
01:00:49,980 --> 01:00:51,787
So the flavians were not

1099
01:00:51,870 --> 01:00:56,017
just connecting themselves
with the Hebrew religion

1100
01:00:56,100 --> 01:01:00,457
in using the symbol of
the Greek sun god Apollo,

1101
01:01:00,540 --> 01:01:03,337
the flavians were connecting themselves

1102
01:01:03,420 --> 01:01:05,407
to the religion of the Greeks.

1103
01:01:05,490 --> 01:01:08,407
And they were also connecting themselves

1104
01:01:08,490 --> 01:01:11,403
to the religion of the Egyptians.

1105
01:01:12,300 --> 01:01:14,467
We also know from Suetonius and Tacitus

1106
01:01:14,550 --> 01:01:17,467
that Vespasian had gone to Egypt,

1107
01:01:17,550 --> 01:01:19,537
and he goes into the temple of serapis.

1108
01:01:19,620 --> 01:01:22,957
He comes out with a miraculous capacity

1109
01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:25,747
to heal the blind with spit.

1110
01:01:25,830 --> 01:01:29,137
And then we hear the same
story in the new testament,

1111
01:01:29,220 --> 01:01:34,027
which by all evidence
was not in existence at all,

1112
01:01:34,110 --> 01:01:36,787
even you know
conservative biblical scholars

1113
01:01:36,870 --> 01:01:39,397
will claim that the new
testament wasn't in existence

1114
01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:41,733
when Vespasian was doing this miracle.

1115
01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:47,594
There's no record of anyone saying,

1116
01:01:47,677 --> 01:01:51,937
"hey, there was a guy 40 years ago in Judea

1117
01:01:52,020 --> 01:01:54,727
who did the same miracle."

1118
01:01:54,810 --> 01:01:59,197
In fact, it was probably a stock miracle

1119
01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:02,463
that had been around
for centuries by that time.

1120
01:02:03,990 --> 01:02:06,067
Note what the flavians are doing,

1121
01:02:06,150 --> 01:02:08,377
we've already observed that serapis,

1122
01:02:08,460 --> 01:02:12,427
an Egyptian god was being
used on Flavian era coins,

1123
01:02:12,510 --> 01:02:14,587
and there you can see an Egyptian god

1124
01:02:14,670 --> 01:02:16,627
being identified with Roman emperors.

1125
01:02:16,710 --> 01:02:19,357
More than that, we have
both pagan and Jewish sources

1126
01:02:19,440 --> 01:02:23,377
identifying these flavians
as the true Jewish Messiah.

1127
01:02:23,460 --> 01:02:25,987
So again we have Roman
propaganda coordinating

1128
01:02:26,070 --> 01:02:27,847
various religious and cultural elements

1129
01:02:27,930 --> 01:02:31,923
throughout the empire,
Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish.

1130
01:02:32,970 --> 01:02:34,837
You could see the
dynamics of why Christianity

1131
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:35,797
had to be created then.

1132
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:37,927
It wasn't like some divine revelation,

1133
01:02:38,010 --> 01:02:40,747
it was purely contrived
by the political forces

1134
01:02:40,830 --> 01:02:42,367
that were extremely wealthy,

1135
01:02:42,450 --> 01:02:44,827
for a specific purpose of rolling

1136
01:02:44,910 --> 01:02:46,893
all these religions into one.

1137
01:02:49,650 --> 01:02:52,597
All of these
propaganda efforts after the war

1138
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:57,067
with the Jews resulted
in the rise of Christianity.

1139
01:02:57,150 --> 01:03:01,837
We can see the foundation
of Christianity is Judaism.

1140
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:04,267
But it differs by a reversal

1141
01:03:04,350 --> 01:03:08,227
of some key components of mosaic law,

1142
01:03:08,310 --> 01:03:11,977
the very practices that prevented Jews

1143
01:03:12,060 --> 01:03:15,517
from assimilating into the Roman world.

1144
01:03:15,600 --> 01:03:20,600
And Christianity also
incorporates new pagan ideas

1145
01:03:21,300 --> 01:03:24,367
which Judaism would never have allowed.

1146
01:03:24,450 --> 01:03:27,877
Who would be the people
the gospels were written for?

1147
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:32,013
Who would most benefit
from this new form of Judaism?

1148
01:03:42,900 --> 01:03:44,287
We were astonished to find

1149
01:03:44,370 --> 01:03:47,917
how many important Jewish
leaders and thinkers at the time

1150
01:03:48,000 --> 01:03:50,823
were closely associated with the flavians.

1151
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:54,007
The emperor Titus for example it is said

1152
01:03:54,090 --> 01:03:57,247
was engaged to the
Jewish Princess Berenice,

1153
01:03:57,330 --> 01:04:01,177
who came from both herodian
and Hasmonean background.

1154
01:04:01,260 --> 01:04:03,727
Unfortunately, negative
propaganda against the Jews

1155
01:04:03,810 --> 01:04:06,787
made that politically
difficult for Titus in Rome.

1156
01:04:06,870 --> 01:04:09,367
But he himself was closely associated

1157
01:04:09,450 --> 01:04:11,227
not only with Berenice,

1158
01:04:11,310 --> 01:04:13,567
but with her brother Herod Agrippa II

1159
01:04:13,650 --> 01:04:17,317
Josephus the historian, Epaphroditus,

1160
01:04:17,400 --> 01:04:20,437
a leading courtier of
emperors in the late first century

1161
01:04:20,520 --> 01:04:24,097
who was likely to be a Jew
himself and a patron of Josephus.

1162
01:04:24,180 --> 01:04:27,037
And even nephews and relatives

1163
01:04:27,120 --> 01:04:30,757
of the Jewish philosopher
Philo were close associates

1164
01:04:30,840 --> 01:04:31,893
of the flavians.

1165
01:04:33,060 --> 01:04:34,897
And these particular people,

1166
01:04:34,980 --> 01:04:39,187
majorly powerful, incredibly
wealthy group of people

1167
01:04:39,270 --> 01:04:42,577
who could quite handily influence history

1168
01:04:42,660 --> 01:04:44,643
in any direction they wanted, really.

1169
01:04:45,780 --> 01:04:49,237
The people who were working
with Titus and Vespasian,

1170
01:04:49,320 --> 01:04:51,037
at least this family, this Alexanders,

1171
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:52,987
these were Jewish people.

1172
01:04:53,070 --> 01:04:57,333
They're in charge of Rome,
Alexandria, and Jerusalem.

1173
01:04:58,350 --> 01:05:02,107
So, this is not some,
you know, mere footnote.

1174
01:05:02,190 --> 01:05:04,567
And anybody who steps in
their way, they just slaughter,

1175
01:05:04,650 --> 01:05:07,357
in fact, they destroy an entire city

1176
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:10,023
in order to remove a power base.

1177
01:05:12,810 --> 01:05:15,997
And also I think that that destruction

1178
01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:18,667
was a clearing of a way,

1179
01:05:18,750 --> 01:05:20,827
if they were going to anchor

1180
01:05:20,910 --> 01:05:25,910
this mythical archetypal human
sacrifice son of god mythos

1181
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:31,327
into history where better
to put it than some place

1182
01:05:31,410 --> 01:05:34,953
that has been destroyed and
there's like no evidence left.

1183
01:05:36,540 --> 01:05:38,793
Nobody can attest that it didn't happen!

1184
01:05:41,100 --> 01:05:44,077
Many of these
prominent Jewish leaders

1185
01:05:44,160 --> 01:05:47,197
were already associated with the flavians

1186
01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:50,167
in the court of the emperor Nero,

1187
01:05:50,250 --> 01:05:54,547
and they're actually shown
giving assistance to Paul

1188
01:05:54,630 --> 01:05:56,073
in the new testament.

1189
01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:59,857
Jewish leaders are positively featured

1190
01:05:59,940 --> 01:06:01,327
in the book of acts.

1191
01:06:01,410 --> 01:06:03,610
Berenice, her brother herod Agrippa ii

1192
01:06:04,846 --> 01:06:07,717
are both positively
featured as helping Paul

1193
01:06:07,800 --> 01:06:09,457
in the course of his mission.

1194
01:06:09,540 --> 01:06:11,737
The Roman governors
that he appears in front of,

1195
01:06:11,820 --> 01:06:13,627
one of them, a man by the name of Felix

1196
01:06:13,710 --> 01:06:15,007
who is governor of Judea,

1197
01:06:15,090 --> 01:06:18,097
he was a brother-in-law of Berenice.

1198
01:06:18,180 --> 01:06:21,307
And people don't really
realize all the connections

1199
01:06:21,390 --> 01:06:24,937
between well-educated
high-ranking Jewish officials

1200
01:06:25,020 --> 01:06:28,207
who were pro-Roman
and their positive efforts

1201
01:06:28,290 --> 01:06:29,827
to help the mission of Paul,

1202
01:06:29,910 --> 01:06:32,610
which is explained in some
detail in the book of acts.

1203
01:06:33,540 --> 01:06:35,707
And after the death of Nero,

1204
01:06:35,790 --> 01:06:40,267
these same pro-Roman Jewish
leaders turned their support

1205
01:06:40,350 --> 01:06:45,350
to the new emperor, flavius
Vespasian and his son Titus.

1206
01:06:47,250 --> 01:06:48,337
And so there was a cadre,

1207
01:06:48,420 --> 01:06:52,357
a group of well-educated, wealthy Jews

1208
01:06:52,440 --> 01:06:56,347
who surrounded and populated
the court of the flavians.

1209
01:06:56,430 --> 01:06:59,343
The new testament wasn't
simply a Roman thing.

1210
01:07:00,210 --> 01:07:02,557
The Jews in the court of the flavians

1211
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:06,847
would have every reason to
believe in the new testament.

1212
01:07:06,930 --> 01:07:08,797
It gave them full license

1213
01:07:08,880 --> 01:07:11,437
to be loyal to the emperor of Rome,

1214
01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:15,157
while at the same time
be good practicing Jews.

1215
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:17,707
So the new testament actually relieves them

1216
01:07:17,790 --> 01:07:22,207
of their mosaic duties and
allows them to be in the court

1217
01:07:22,290 --> 01:07:25,653
of the emperor of Rome
with no problem whatsoever.

1218
01:07:26,610 --> 01:07:29,527
It's astonishing
that the new testament

1219
01:07:29,610 --> 01:07:32,137
would show actual Jewish leaders

1220
01:07:32,220 --> 01:07:35,407
in history in a positive light.

1221
01:07:35,490 --> 01:07:38,437
And what about the earliest Christians,

1222
01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:41,617
what do we know about them from history,

1223
01:07:41,700 --> 01:07:43,713
apart from the new testament?

1224
01:08:00,810 --> 01:08:03,367
The characters described
in the new testament

1225
01:08:03,450 --> 01:08:07,027
are very difficult to
identify as historical figures

1226
01:08:07,110 --> 01:08:08,587
in many cases.

1227
01:08:08,670 --> 01:08:11,197
When we come to figures who we can be sure

1228
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:14,257
are actually Christians in history,

1229
01:08:14,340 --> 01:08:17,377
they appear to be, and
some of the very earliest,

1230
01:08:17,460 --> 01:08:20,583
relatives of the imperial
Flavian family itself.

1231
01:08:21,810 --> 01:08:26,047
We mentioned the granddaughter
of Vespasian, Domitilla,

1232
01:08:26,130 --> 01:08:29,167
her burial site, the
catacombs of St. Domitilla,

1233
01:08:29,250 --> 01:08:32,047
are the oldest physical evidence

1234
01:08:32,130 --> 01:08:34,567
of Christianity that exists.

1235
01:08:34,650 --> 01:08:37,687
Her husband was actually a cousin of Titus

1236
01:08:37,770 --> 01:08:40,747
and a great-nephew of Vespasian,

1237
01:08:40,830 --> 01:08:43,837
and Titus flavius Clemens was his name.

1238
01:08:43,920 --> 01:08:48,037
Catholic tradition has assigned
him as St. clement of Rome,

1239
01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:49,717
who left us perhaps some of the

1240
01:08:49,800 --> 01:08:51,067
earliest Christian literature

1241
01:08:51,150 --> 01:08:53,197
found outside of the new testament,

1242
01:08:53,280 --> 01:08:56,287
the epistle of St. clement of Rome.

1243
01:08:56,370 --> 01:08:59,317
Curiously enough, he,
catholic tradition assigns,

1244
01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:01,593
as one of the earliest popes.

1245
01:09:03,180 --> 01:09:05,467
And this of course forms
another important piece

1246
01:09:05,550 --> 01:09:06,847
of that mosaic,

1247
01:09:06,930 --> 01:09:09,993
that tile puzzle that's
now coming into focus.

1248
01:09:11,730 --> 01:09:15,157
Perhaps this
explains why the fish and anchor,

1249
01:09:15,240 --> 01:09:17,707
a symbol used by the flavians,

1250
01:09:17,790 --> 01:09:20,797
was also the symbol used by Christians

1251
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:23,463
for the first three centuries.

1252
01:09:24,780 --> 01:09:27,937
And artifacts found from
the first three centuries

1253
01:09:28,020 --> 01:09:31,717
throughout the Roman
empire would show the dolphin

1254
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:35,467
and anchor and trident
symbols so frequently.

1255
01:09:35,550 --> 01:09:38,977
And today it is so common
a reference to Christianity

1256
01:09:39,060 --> 01:09:41,497
that archaeologists use those symbols

1257
01:09:41,580 --> 01:09:44,043
to identify them as Christian.

1258
01:09:46,140 --> 01:09:47,947
Christian tradition has misled us

1259
01:09:48,030 --> 01:09:50,137
about the nature of the catacombs.

1260
01:09:50,220 --> 01:09:52,027
Under the illusion that Christians

1261
01:09:52,110 --> 01:09:55,177
were being systematically
persecuted by the Roman empire,

1262
01:09:55,260 --> 01:09:57,367
they're often thought of
as places where Christians

1263
01:09:57,450 --> 01:10:01,267
could secretly go and engage
in their forbidden rituals.

1264
01:10:01,350 --> 01:10:05,497
But modern archeology has
come to the firm conclusion

1265
01:10:05,580 --> 01:10:08,737
that they were in fact burial places

1266
01:10:08,820 --> 01:10:11,617
with Christian symbols
openly displayed on them,

1267
01:10:11,700 --> 01:10:13,537
with access to the public.

1268
01:10:13,620 --> 01:10:16,057
So that they weren't
in fact secrets at all,

1269
01:10:16,140 --> 01:10:18,033
nor were they places of hiding.

1270
01:10:19,440 --> 01:10:21,637
The cross
that we now associate

1271
01:10:21,720 --> 01:10:25,087
with Christianity was almost never used

1272
01:10:25,170 --> 01:10:27,243
in the first three centuries.

1273
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:30,037
In terms of relative numbers,

1274
01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:35,120
we have at least 70 examples
of the anchor and fish image

1275
01:10:35,760 --> 01:10:37,477
in just one of the catacombs,

1276
01:10:37,560 --> 01:10:39,337
the catacombs of St. Priscilla,

1277
01:10:39,420 --> 01:10:42,097
whereas we have fewer than a dozen examples

1278
01:10:42,180 --> 01:10:45,157
in all the catacombs of a cross symbol

1279
01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:47,140
during the whole first four centuries.

1280
01:10:48,330 --> 01:10:51,997
Catholic scholars explain
the absence of the cross

1281
01:10:52,080 --> 01:10:55,687
as a function of their
persecution by the Romans.

1282
01:10:55,770 --> 01:10:59,527
The fact that they used
instead, and far more often,

1283
01:10:59,610 --> 01:11:03,577
anchor and fish symbols
is said to be a disguise

1284
01:11:03,660 --> 01:11:05,407
of their Christian nature.

1285
01:11:05,490 --> 01:11:09,127
But as we now know, the
Christians were not hiding the fact

1286
01:11:09,210 --> 01:11:10,957
that they were Christians at this time,

1287
01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:12,907
it's simply that the anchor

1288
01:11:12,990 --> 01:11:17,617
and fish were the common
original symbols of Christianity

1289
01:11:17,700 --> 01:11:20,917
that were used for the
first two to three centuries.

1290
01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:21,750
And it would take

1291
01:11:21,833 --> 01:11:25,567
the exact same inside knowledge by a pagan,

1292
01:11:25,650 --> 01:11:27,907
to know whether a cross or an anchor

1293
01:11:27,990 --> 01:11:29,977
is a Christian symbol or not.

1294
01:11:30,060 --> 01:11:33,307
Especially since the cross
was used far more seldom,

1295
01:11:33,390 --> 01:11:36,697
it would be far more common
for people to associate the fish

1296
01:11:36,780 --> 01:11:38,947
and anchor symbol with Christianity

1297
01:11:39,030 --> 01:11:42,573
than it would be the cross,
so it's hardly a disguise.

1298
01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:45,847
And of
course, before Christians

1299
01:11:45,930 --> 01:11:48,367
started using these symbols,

1300
01:11:48,450 --> 01:11:51,963
they were used by the
flavians and their court.

1301
01:11:52,890 --> 01:11:54,697
During the age of the flavians,

1302
01:11:54,780 --> 01:11:57,337
we find cameos for the wealthy

1303
01:11:57,420 --> 01:11:59,437
of the dolphin and anchor symbol,

1304
01:11:59,520 --> 01:12:01,747
we find other intaglios, for instance,

1305
01:12:01,830 --> 01:12:05,317
that were used to stamp
wax and seal documents,

1306
01:12:05,400 --> 01:12:08,317
that were also, have,
bore the Flavian symbol

1307
01:12:08,400 --> 01:12:10,597
of the dolphin and anchor.

1308
01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:14,257
The fact that they were
on seals or intaglio indicate

1309
01:12:14,340 --> 01:12:16,177
that they might have
been used by very wealthy

1310
01:12:16,260 --> 01:12:18,367
and perhaps politically connected Romans,

1311
01:12:18,450 --> 01:12:20,407
people perhaps officials
in the Roman state,

1312
01:12:20,490 --> 01:12:22,537
who were using them for official purposes

1313
01:12:22,620 --> 01:12:23,920
in the late first century.

1314
01:12:25,320 --> 01:12:27,637
And different
variations of the fish

1315
01:12:27,720 --> 01:12:32,163
and anchor symbol were
also used by early Christians.

1316
01:12:34,050 --> 01:12:36,097
Using a dolphin and anchor symbolism

1317
01:12:36,180 --> 01:12:39,397
ties into themes we see
in the new testament itself,

1318
01:12:39,480 --> 01:12:41,797
Jesus says, "I will make
you fishers of men".

1319
01:12:41,880 --> 01:12:46,387
And the anchor is like a hook
that a fisherman might use,

1320
01:12:46,470 --> 01:12:47,707
and the fish of course wrapped

1321
01:12:47,790 --> 01:12:49,837
around the hook is like the bait.

1322
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:53,587
And this symbol seems to
point to the act of evangelism

1323
01:12:53,670 --> 01:12:57,753
far more vividly than the
symbol of the cross itself.

1324
01:12:58,740 --> 01:13:00,427
The fish wrapped around an anchor

1325
01:13:00,510 --> 01:13:04,057
might be seen as a symbol of Jesus,

1326
01:13:04,140 --> 01:13:06,517
whereas fish approaching the anchor

1327
01:13:06,600 --> 01:13:08,887
would be seen as the converts,

1328
01:13:08,970 --> 01:13:11,977
the fish whom the hook
is catching if you will.

1329
01:13:12,060 --> 01:13:13,957
And of course in the Flavian era,

1330
01:13:14,040 --> 01:13:17,703
that dolphin was symbolic of
Titus himself on his own coins.

1331
01:13:19,020 --> 01:13:22,297
Another discovery that we
were truly astonished to make,

1332
01:13:22,380 --> 01:13:24,037
was that the earliest Christian symbols

1333
01:13:24,120 --> 01:13:26,857
frequently used a family of other symbols

1334
01:13:26,940 --> 01:13:29,737
that could only be seen as pagan symbols,

1335
01:13:29,820 --> 01:13:31,927
such as the trident with fish,

1336
01:13:32,010 --> 01:13:34,777
which were associated with
no less than the coliseum

1337
01:13:34,860 --> 01:13:36,577
in Rome, the Flavian amphitheater.

1338
01:13:36,660 --> 01:13:39,277
And you can see fish with a trident

1339
01:13:39,360 --> 01:13:42,007
in the architectural detail
of the coliseum itself,

1340
01:13:42,090 --> 01:13:43,447
which the flavians built.

1341
01:13:43,530 --> 01:13:46,057
And those symbols as well were adopted

1342
01:13:46,140 --> 01:13:48,517
in the second century by early Christians.

1343
01:13:48,600 --> 01:13:51,307
And it's amazing that
you would see such symbols

1344
01:13:51,390 --> 01:13:55,687
in both the coliseum and
in the Christian catacombs

1345
01:13:55,770 --> 01:13:57,393
only a few miles away.

1346
01:13:58,770 --> 01:14:02,017
Dolphin and anchor
pendants are still sold today,

1347
01:14:02,100 --> 01:14:04,447
and you can find them in catholic stores

1348
01:14:04,530 --> 01:14:06,787
and are used to symbolize Christianity.

1349
01:14:06,870 --> 01:14:09,604
There are also symbols
of Christ on an anchor.

1350
01:14:09,687 --> 01:14:11,857
And so these symbols have survived

1351
01:14:11,940 --> 01:14:15,457
and are completely related to Christianity,

1352
01:14:15,540 --> 01:14:18,783
and their Flavian connection
has been forgotten.

1353
01:14:20,010 --> 01:14:21,337
Anchor symbols can be seen

1354
01:14:21,420 --> 01:14:25,087
all over Christian
churches all over Europe.

1355
01:14:25,170 --> 01:14:27,337
The dolphin wrapped around an anchor

1356
01:14:27,420 --> 01:14:31,477
was used as an image by
Titus himself in his deification,

1357
01:14:31,560 --> 01:14:33,277
associated with his divinity,

1358
01:14:33,360 --> 01:14:35,077
and it was the earliest symbol

1359
01:14:35,160 --> 01:14:38,493
used by Christians to
represent Jesus on the cross.

1360
01:14:39,420 --> 01:14:41,257
It's
interesting that the dolphin

1361
01:14:41,340 --> 01:14:44,017
wrapped around an anchor could represent

1362
01:14:44,100 --> 01:14:49,027
both Titus flavius and
Jesus in the same era.

1363
01:14:53,880 --> 01:14:57,187
One of the most impressive uses of the fish

1364
01:14:57,270 --> 01:15:00,367
or converts swimming towards the anchor,

1365
01:15:00,450 --> 01:15:03,397
which represented the hope or salvation

1366
01:15:03,480 --> 01:15:05,917
offered by the Flavian emperors,

1367
01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:10,627
was found by Warren and
James in a dramatic floor mosaic

1368
01:15:10,710 --> 01:15:13,233
that was displayed in Herculaneum.

1369
01:15:14,460 --> 01:15:17,197
The most irresistible
archaeological sites

1370
01:15:17,280 --> 01:15:20,227
for finding connections
between the flavians

1371
01:15:20,310 --> 01:15:25,310
and the Christians, would
be Pompeii and Herculaneum,

1372
01:15:25,470 --> 01:15:29,813
which were buried by the
eruption of mt. Vesuvius in 79 ad,

1373
01:15:31,170 --> 01:15:36,127
exactly two months after Titus
became the emperor of Rome.

1374
01:15:36,210 --> 01:15:40,117
Herculaneum and Pompeii are time capsules

1375
01:15:40,200 --> 01:15:42,607
that perfectly capture what was going on

1376
01:15:42,690 --> 01:15:44,493
during the Flavian era.

1377
01:15:45,720 --> 01:15:49,297
This is where we discovered
the bottom of a pool

1378
01:15:49,380 --> 01:15:52,837
that depicts an anchor
surrounded by two dolphins,

1379
01:15:52,920 --> 01:15:56,377
and two people swimming towards the anchor.

1380
01:15:56,460 --> 01:16:00,277
The symbols that so perfectly
match symbols we would see

1381
01:16:00,360 --> 01:16:04,443
in catacombs for the next
three centuries are here.

1382
01:16:05,280 --> 01:16:08,467
This connection between fish as a symbol

1383
01:16:08,550 --> 01:16:12,187
and humans being the
fish, if you will, being caught,

1384
01:16:12,270 --> 01:16:14,347
is distinct to the gospels.

1385
01:16:14,430 --> 01:16:17,107
The missionary work of
Christians is being declared

1386
01:16:17,190 --> 01:16:19,623
by Jesus himself to be a form of fishing.

1387
01:16:20,670 --> 01:16:23,497
Of course, anchors are a symbol of safety,

1388
01:16:23,580 --> 01:16:24,907
a symbol of security.

1389
01:16:24,990 --> 01:16:27,997
And so people being
compared to fish seeking

1390
01:16:28,080 --> 01:16:30,217
the religious salvation of the anchor

1391
01:16:30,300 --> 01:16:32,017
would be very commonly understood

1392
01:16:32,100 --> 01:16:35,137
in that context as a Christian symbol.

1393
01:16:35,220 --> 01:16:37,897
But that Christian symbol came at

1394
01:16:37,980 --> 01:16:41,797
or after this moment when
in a purely pagan context

1395
01:16:41,880 --> 01:16:46,087
the Flavian emperors themselves
are using the anchor, fish,

1396
01:16:46,170 --> 01:16:49,173
fish compared to people
as a religious symbol.

1397
01:16:51,900 --> 01:16:53,707
This discovery is so important

1398
01:16:53,790 --> 01:16:57,607
because what it does is
establish beyond any doubt

1399
01:16:57,690 --> 01:17:01,627
that these symbols pre-date
all uses by the Christians

1400
01:17:01,710 --> 01:17:04,263
in their catacombs by decades.

1401
01:17:05,250 --> 01:17:08,677
Like a legend of all the symbols
we have been discussing,

1402
01:17:08,760 --> 01:17:13,357
this site ties in the
coins with the catacombs,

1403
01:17:13,440 --> 01:17:16,507
with the other Flavian
architectural details

1404
01:17:16,590 --> 01:17:21,033
that we have seen all in
one original archaeological site.

1405
01:17:22,290 --> 01:17:24,127
For all practical purposes,

1406
01:17:24,210 --> 01:17:26,857
it might as well have been a
symbol in a Christian catacomb,

1407
01:17:26,940 --> 01:17:28,233
they're that identical.

1408
01:17:31,320 --> 01:17:33,397
It's hard to know if
that mosaic at the bottom

1409
01:17:33,480 --> 01:17:35,647
of that pool is a symbol of Titus,

1410
01:17:35,730 --> 01:17:39,067
a symbol of Apollo, a symbol of serapis,

1411
01:17:39,150 --> 01:17:40,250
or a Christian symbol.

1412
01:17:42,190 --> 01:17:44,407
Or perhaps
a symbol that started

1413
01:17:44,490 --> 01:17:48,037
as a pagan symbol and slowly evolved

1414
01:17:48,120 --> 01:17:50,167
through different variations

1415
01:17:50,250 --> 01:17:53,733
into finally becoming a Christian symbol?

1416
01:18:00,930 --> 01:18:03,847
After the death of flavius Vespasian,

1417
01:18:03,930 --> 01:18:07,957
his son Titus flavius ruled for two years

1418
01:18:08,040 --> 01:18:10,747
until his untimely death,

1419
01:18:10,830 --> 01:18:13,556
when his brother Flavius Domitian

1420
01:18:13,639 --> 01:18:17,027
took over the imperial throne.

1421
01:18:20,400 --> 01:18:23,707
The anchor and dolphin
image on Flavian coinage,

1422
01:18:23,790 --> 01:18:26,227
which was minted in the,
literally in the thousands

1423
01:18:26,310 --> 01:18:29,287
during the short two-year
reign of the emperor Titus,

1424
01:18:29,370 --> 01:18:31,627
was soon discontinued by his brother

1425
01:18:31,710 --> 01:18:34,357
who succeeded him on the imperial throne.

1426
01:18:34,440 --> 01:18:37,117
It's interesting to note
that Domitian began

1427
01:18:37,200 --> 01:18:39,967
what can only be described as a persecution

1428
01:18:40,050 --> 01:18:41,587
of the Christian and Jewish elements

1429
01:18:41,670 --> 01:18:43,627
within the imperial family.

1430
01:18:43,710 --> 01:18:47,493
He himself executed his
cousin, clement of Rome,

1431
01:18:50,100 --> 01:18:52,503
and banished his wife St. Domitilla.

1432
01:18:55,110 --> 01:18:58,177
He's also responsible for
executing Epaphroditus,

1433
01:18:58,260 --> 01:19:00,847
who was a patron of
Josephus' work and appears

1434
01:19:00,930 --> 01:19:04,597
to have been an associate
of St. Paul's decades earlier.

1435
01:19:04,680 --> 01:19:08,407
The actual reason for Domitian
persecuting his relatives

1436
01:19:08,490 --> 01:19:10,747
may have been that
they were a political threat,

1437
01:19:10,830 --> 01:19:13,207
having adopted the
mantle of Jewish leadership

1438
01:19:13,290 --> 01:19:14,123
at this point.

1439
01:19:15,570 --> 01:19:18,187
Domitian could not claim
to be the Jewish Messiah

1440
01:19:18,270 --> 01:19:21,007
as both his brother and his father could,

1441
01:19:21,090 --> 01:19:25,087
since he had no part to
play in the war with the Jews.

1442
01:19:25,170 --> 01:19:27,787
And it's well known by
historians that Domitian returned

1443
01:19:27,870 --> 01:19:29,770
to more traditional forms of religion.

1444
01:19:31,260 --> 01:19:34,957
It should be remembered of
course that becoming deified

1445
01:19:35,040 --> 01:19:38,887
by the Roman senate as
deities, official Roman deities,

1446
01:19:38,970 --> 01:19:43,970
both Vespasian and Titus
had a temple, and priesthood,

1447
01:19:44,490 --> 01:19:47,317
priests who would continue rituals.

1448
01:19:47,400 --> 01:19:49,477
And this must have
occurred for at least a century

1449
01:19:49,560 --> 01:19:52,147
or more following their deaths.

1450
01:19:52,230 --> 01:19:55,327
And part, as we've heard,
of their official propaganda

1451
01:19:55,410 --> 01:19:57,787
is that they were Jewish messiahs.

1452
01:19:57,870 --> 01:19:59,617
Part of that may have been indeed

1453
01:19:59,700 --> 01:20:03,247
an important aspect of the
imperial cult of the flavians

1454
01:20:03,330 --> 01:20:07,113
that existed in the century
or two following the flavians.

1455
01:20:08,700 --> 01:20:10,927
The flavians were dearly loved

1456
01:20:11,010 --> 01:20:13,327
by the people of the Roman empire,

1457
01:20:13,410 --> 01:20:15,934
and it's no surprise that Vespasian

1458
01:20:16,017 --> 01:20:20,137
and Titus continued to be worshiped as gods

1459
01:20:20,220 --> 01:20:23,017
and Jewish messiahs for centuries

1460
01:20:23,100 --> 01:20:26,797
after their deaths
through their imperial cults,

1461
01:20:26,880 --> 01:20:31,533
with their own temples,
priests, bishops, and rituals.

1462
01:20:32,370 --> 01:20:34,747
Especially since Vespasian was known

1463
01:20:34,830 --> 01:20:38,557
as a healer who performed the same miracles

1464
01:20:38,640 --> 01:20:41,223
that Jesus did in the gospels.

1465
01:20:42,780 --> 01:20:45,217
And what became of Christianity

1466
01:20:45,300 --> 01:20:48,110
after the end of the Flavian dynasty?

1467
01:20:53,250 --> 01:20:56,227
The very earliest
reference by any pagan writer

1468
01:20:56,310 --> 01:20:58,447
at all about Christianity,

1469
01:20:58,530 --> 01:21:01,747
is a letter written by Pliny
the younger to the emperor,

1470
01:21:01,830 --> 01:21:04,687
who was then trajan, in
the decades just following

1471
01:21:04,770 --> 01:21:07,293
the fall of the Flavian dynasty.

1472
01:21:09,150 --> 01:21:11,264
Pliny the younger writes to the emperor,

1473
01:21:11,347 --> 01:21:13,837
"what is our proper
policy about Christians?"

1474
01:21:13,920 --> 01:21:17,017
We hear that Christianity
had apparently enjoyed

1475
01:21:17,100 --> 01:21:21,097
a popular vogue a
couple of decades earlier,

1476
01:21:21,180 --> 01:21:24,577
precisely during the
height of the Flavian dynasty,

1477
01:21:24,660 --> 01:21:27,993
and that somehow in recent
years it had fallen out of favor.

1478
01:21:30,300 --> 01:21:32,527
Pliny the younger also
tells us that Christianity

1479
01:21:32,610 --> 01:21:36,217
by his time was affecting
all classes of Roman society,

1480
01:21:36,300 --> 01:21:40,267
not just Jews, but upper
class pagan Romans.

1481
01:21:40,350 --> 01:21:41,857
And perhaps most fascinating

1482
01:21:41,940 --> 01:21:44,077
is the response of the emperor trajan,

1483
01:21:44,160 --> 01:21:47,677
who specifically tells his
governor not to hunt out,

1484
01:21:47,760 --> 01:21:51,603
not to seek out, not
to persecute Christians.

1485
01:21:54,600 --> 01:21:58,297
The fact that the emperor
trajan would give such deference

1486
01:21:58,380 --> 01:22:02,227
to these new Christians
expresses some kind of

1487
01:22:02,310 --> 01:22:04,477
an imperial sympathy for them,

1488
01:22:04,560 --> 01:22:08,583
which could of course
suggest their Flavian origin.

1489
01:22:10,080 --> 01:22:13,237
The emperor
trajan ruled for almost 20 years

1490
01:22:13,320 --> 01:22:15,517
until his natural death,

1491
01:22:15,600 --> 01:22:19,687
when his adopted son
Hadrian took over the throne,

1492
01:22:19,770 --> 01:22:24,393
only to face another conflict
with the Jewish people.

1493
01:22:32,940 --> 01:22:37,267
What's interesting about
the symbol of the dolphin

1494
01:22:37,350 --> 01:22:39,607
and anchor being used by the flavians,

1495
01:22:39,690 --> 01:22:42,007
is that it wasn't picked up again,

1496
01:22:42,090 --> 01:22:45,307
and only used afterwards
by the emperor Hadrian.

1497
01:22:45,390 --> 01:22:48,217
Now what was going on in Hadrian's time

1498
01:22:48,300 --> 01:22:50,317
was the second Jewish war.

1499
01:22:50,400 --> 01:22:52,657
So the fact that he would
resuscitate this symbol

1500
01:22:52,740 --> 01:22:55,717
at that time is very significant.

1501
01:22:55,800 --> 01:22:59,427
It no longer symbolized
the flavians in Hadrian's time,

1502
01:22:59,510 --> 01:23:04,087
at that point it was an openly
used symbol by Christians.

1503
01:23:04,170 --> 01:23:06,307
This is a significant
evolution of the symbol,

1504
01:23:06,390 --> 01:23:09,427
going from an obviously Flavian symbol,

1505
01:23:09,510 --> 01:23:11,977
to then being used as a Christian symbol

1506
01:23:12,060 --> 01:23:13,537
in Christian catacombs,

1507
01:23:13,620 --> 01:23:16,207
and then being used as
a Roman emperor again,

1508
01:23:16,290 --> 01:23:18,517
as he fights the second Jewish war,

1509
01:23:18,600 --> 01:23:21,003
this time as a Christian symbol.

1510
01:23:22,980 --> 01:23:25,747
It's just curious that those
were the only two emperors

1511
01:23:25,830 --> 01:23:27,727
to really use this symbol,

1512
01:23:27,810 --> 01:23:29,737
and both of them were associated with each

1513
01:23:29,820 --> 01:23:31,323
of the two Jewish wars.

1514
01:23:33,510 --> 01:23:35,977
To indicate the importance of those wars,

1515
01:23:36,060 --> 01:23:38,107
the first war was the war responsible

1516
01:23:38,190 --> 01:23:40,147
for finally destroying the Jewish temple

1517
01:23:40,230 --> 01:23:43,027
and reducing it to the
wailing wall that it is today.

1518
01:23:43,110 --> 01:23:46,657
Some 60 years later a
second Jewish revolt broke out,

1519
01:23:46,740 --> 01:23:49,927
also a messianic revolt
led by a messianic leader,

1520
01:23:50,010 --> 01:23:51,967
son of the star bar Kokhba,

1521
01:23:52,050 --> 01:23:53,407
and at the end of that war,

1522
01:23:53,490 --> 01:23:56,647
all the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem.

1523
01:23:56,730 --> 01:24:00,397
And it was in fact the
final nail in the diaspora

1524
01:24:00,480 --> 01:24:02,647
that would keep Jews out of the holy land

1525
01:24:02,730 --> 01:24:04,657
until the creation of zionism,

1526
01:24:04,740 --> 01:24:07,177
the return of so many
Jews to the holy land,

1527
01:24:07,260 --> 01:24:09,860
and the creation of Israel
in the twentieth century.

1528
01:24:12,660 --> 01:24:14,557
Although it seems Christianity

1529
01:24:14,640 --> 01:24:18,757
had fallen out of vogue
after the Flavian dynasty,

1530
01:24:18,840 --> 01:24:20,977
with the second Jewish rebellion,

1531
01:24:21,060 --> 01:24:24,153
Hadrian had a reason
to bring it back again.

1532
01:24:30,750 --> 01:24:32,767
Okay, well, what I
think what happened is,

1533
01:24:32,850 --> 01:24:37,477
there's still this unruly
segment of Roman society,

1534
01:24:37,560 --> 01:24:39,637
it was basically the Jewish segment,

1535
01:24:39,720 --> 01:24:43,477
not only in Judea which
effectively was taken care of

1536
01:24:43,560 --> 01:24:44,887
by the destruction of,

1537
01:24:44,970 --> 01:24:47,587
first of Jerusalem, that diaspora,

1538
01:24:47,670 --> 01:24:51,157
and then there was a
second massive destruction

1539
01:24:51,240 --> 01:24:56,240
of more of Judea, you
know, around 135 ad/CE.

1540
01:24:56,520 --> 01:24:59,884
And that dispelled many more Jews,

1541
01:24:59,967 --> 01:25:02,287
and so now they're all over the place.

1542
01:25:02,370 --> 01:25:04,117
The ones who aren't hellenized

1543
01:25:04,200 --> 01:25:06,427
are bringing with them this fanaticism,

1544
01:25:06,510 --> 01:25:09,517
that is begging for a
new priestly creation.

1545
01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:10,957
And this has been done in the past,

1546
01:25:11,040 --> 01:25:12,637
they already tried it with serapis.

1547
01:25:12,720 --> 01:25:15,067
I'm sure there was a concerted effort

1548
01:25:15,150 --> 01:25:19,507
to synthesize paganism and
Judaism in the second century.

1549
01:25:19,590 --> 01:25:23,677
Of course Hadrian himself
had reasons to use Christianity,

1550
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:26,017
if not a Flavian Christianity,

1551
01:25:26,100 --> 01:25:27,847
perhaps some of the Christian literature

1552
01:25:27,930 --> 01:25:30,993
as a means of pacifying
the second Jewish rebellion.

1553
01:25:35,250 --> 01:25:37,237
Some have even suggested that Hadrian

1554
01:25:37,320 --> 01:25:39,067
ejected the Jews from Jerusalem,

1555
01:25:39,150 --> 01:25:41,947
and imported Christians
to take their place.

1556
01:25:42,030 --> 01:25:43,777
Eusebius, the early Christian historian

1557
01:25:43,860 --> 01:25:46,747
tells us point-blank that
the Jews were expelled

1558
01:25:46,830 --> 01:25:49,717
from Jerusalem, and that a Christian bishop

1559
01:25:49,800 --> 01:25:52,473
was appointed by Hadrian over Jerusalem.

1560
01:25:53,670 --> 01:25:56,197
In the earlier parts
of the second century,

1561
01:25:56,280 --> 01:25:58,147
we've got Egyptians, we've got Syrians,

1562
01:25:58,230 --> 01:26:01,087
we've got Greek efforts,

1563
01:26:01,170 --> 01:26:03,967
we've got Jewish efforts
and so forth going on here,

1564
01:26:04,050 --> 01:26:05,707
everybody's jockeying for position.

1565
01:26:05,790 --> 01:26:07,087
By the end of the second century,

1566
01:26:07,170 --> 01:26:09,457
you've got the Romans that are in charge,

1567
01:26:09,540 --> 01:26:11,137
it's the Roman catholic church now.

1568
01:26:11,220 --> 01:26:13,417
You know, it becomes the holy Roman empire,

1569
01:26:13,500 --> 01:26:14,557
it's no longer the Roman empire,

1570
01:26:14,640 --> 01:26:16,840
it eventually becomes
the holy Roman empire.

1571
01:26:20,250 --> 01:26:22,177
So it seems that Christianity

1572
01:26:22,260 --> 01:26:24,907
began to really take hold,

1573
01:26:24,990 --> 01:26:29,107
and that trajan, Hadrian
and other Roman rulers

1574
01:26:29,190 --> 01:26:30,967
were in favor of it.

1575
01:26:31,050 --> 01:26:34,777
And the dolphin and anchor
symbol no longer needed

1576
01:26:34,860 --> 01:26:37,417
to be associated with the flavians,

1577
01:26:37,500 --> 01:26:40,897
it now stood for Christianity.

1578
01:26:40,980 --> 01:26:45,067
How ironic that a symbol
which began as the symbol

1579
01:26:45,150 --> 01:26:49,027
for the sun god Apollo
ended up being the symbol

1580
01:26:49,110 --> 01:26:52,327
for the religion centered
around Jesus Christ,

1581
01:26:52,410 --> 01:26:56,467
who was perhaps a more universal sun god

1582
01:26:56,550 --> 01:27:00,667
to appeal to the diverse Roman empire.

1583
01:27:00,750 --> 01:27:05,697
After all, the meaning of
the word catholic is universal.

1584
01:27:08,070 --> 01:27:10,807
As time went on, any
connection to the flavians

1585
01:27:10,890 --> 01:27:12,757
was unnecessary for the Romans,

1586
01:27:12,840 --> 01:27:14,827
even though Christianity still served

1587
01:27:14,910 --> 01:27:18,667
important propagandistic
purposes in pacifying

1588
01:27:18,750 --> 01:27:21,813
and assimilating rebellious
or messianic Jews.

1589
01:27:25,050 --> 01:27:28,837
It certainly changed a whole slew

1590
01:27:28,920 --> 01:27:31,987
of what we would call Jews into Christians.

1591
01:27:32,070 --> 01:27:34,897
We have really basically
the pharisees surviving,

1592
01:27:34,980 --> 01:27:38,197
the samaritans and the
saducees disappear, and where?

1593
01:27:38,280 --> 01:27:39,727
I know where they disappeared into,

1594
01:27:39,810 --> 01:27:41,643
they became Christians essentially!

1595
01:27:42,540 --> 01:27:44,377
So once cut, if you will,

1596
01:27:44,460 --> 01:27:47,737
from the anchor of the Flavian origins,

1597
01:27:47,820 --> 01:27:50,857
it was still a ship that
served important purposes,

1598
01:27:50,940 --> 01:27:53,590
and would be continued to
be promoted by many Romans.

1599
01:27:54,540 --> 01:27:57,877
And now set adrift
from that Flavian origin,

1600
01:27:57,960 --> 01:28:01,987
Christianity was free to form
different sects and spread out

1601
01:28:02,070 --> 01:28:07,070
into a rather unorganized
variation of Christian themes.

1602
01:28:07,200 --> 01:28:08,707
One of the fascinating developments

1603
01:28:08,790 --> 01:28:12,697
of the second century are
the variety and differences

1604
01:28:12,780 --> 01:28:15,637
between the different forms
of Christianity that emerged,

1605
01:28:15,720 --> 01:28:20,720
of pagan-influenced, only
semi-Jewish forms of Christianity

1606
01:28:21,240 --> 01:28:22,837
that have lost their basic connection

1607
01:28:22,920 --> 01:28:24,997
to orthodox Judaism in any way,

1608
01:28:25,080 --> 01:28:27,937
and appear to be much more Hellenistic

1609
01:28:28,020 --> 01:28:30,427
in their philosophical orientation.

1610
01:28:30,510 --> 01:28:32,497
You know, we have
this gnostic effort going on

1611
01:28:32,580 --> 01:28:34,897
where they're dealing with
the Syrians and the Jews

1612
01:28:34,980 --> 01:28:38,793
and even Indian stuff is
making its way in there.

1613
01:28:40,651 --> 01:28:43,993
The gnostics don't
believe that Jesus Christ

1614
01:28:44,940 --> 01:28:46,957
appeared in the flesh.

1615
01:28:47,040 --> 01:28:50,617
In fact, that was contrary
to their belief system

1616
01:28:50,700 --> 01:28:55,057
that the divine could
ever take on earthly flesh

1617
01:28:55,140 --> 01:28:56,823
because it was corrupting.

1618
01:29:01,020 --> 01:29:04,177
And this has become
all the clearer in light

1619
01:29:04,260 --> 01:29:06,577
of the 1945 discovery

1620
01:29:06,660 --> 01:29:10,447
of the nag hammadi gnostic manuscripts,

1621
01:29:10,530 --> 01:29:15,530
this revealed an amazing
array of types of Christianity!

1622
01:29:16,140 --> 01:29:20,227
There were Jewish gnostic
groups like the sethians

1623
01:29:20,310 --> 01:29:24,697
who thought that Jesus was
Melchizedek reincarnated.

1624
01:29:24,780 --> 01:29:27,547
There were zoroastrian Christians,

1625
01:29:27,630 --> 01:29:32,107
and they thought that Jesus
was a new manifestation

1626
01:29:32,190 --> 01:29:35,433
of the heavenly light
like zoroaster had been.

1627
01:29:36,660 --> 01:29:39,517
And loads of different
types that were eventually

1628
01:29:39,600 --> 01:29:43,627
kind of stamped out
or just died on the vine.

1629
01:29:43,710 --> 01:29:45,817
Like Jewish Christianity,

1630
01:29:45,900 --> 01:29:47,800
and there were several types of that,

1631
01:29:47,883 --> 01:29:50,227
that the church fathers tell us about.

1632
01:29:50,310 --> 01:29:53,677
Jewish Christians were too
Jewish for gentile converts

1633
01:29:53,760 --> 01:29:56,017
and too Christian for other Jews.

1634
01:29:56,100 --> 01:29:58,747
So it took a couple of centuries

1635
01:29:58,830 --> 01:30:00,757
but that pretty much just died out.

1636
01:30:00,840 --> 01:30:04,443
And some of the others
were persecuted to death.

1637
01:30:05,400 --> 01:30:08,467
And this radical diversity lasted

1638
01:30:08,550 --> 01:30:12,003
for at least a couple more centuries.

1639
01:30:13,410 --> 01:30:15,277
What was the original Christianity?

1640
01:30:15,360 --> 01:30:17,407
You can't really tell.

1641
01:30:17,490 --> 01:30:20,227
You've got a garden of different flowers

1642
01:30:20,310 --> 01:30:24,363
and despite attempts
to stamp all but one out,

1643
01:30:25,890 --> 01:30:28,297
they thrived for a long time.

1644
01:30:28,380 --> 01:30:32,167
Today's denominationalism
is nothing compared

1645
01:30:32,250 --> 01:30:35,437
to the different types
of early Christianity,

1646
01:30:35,520 --> 01:30:38,887
some of which are being
revived here and there.

1647
01:30:38,970 --> 01:30:42,127
Some people are using these
nag hammadi gnostic texts

1648
01:30:42,210 --> 01:30:47,210
as their Bible, and I say
let a hundred flowers bloom!

1649
01:30:47,730 --> 01:30:50,737
That's easy for me to say,
I don't really have a dog,

1650
01:30:50,820 --> 01:30:53,343
or should I say a god, in the race anymore.

1651
01:30:55,410 --> 01:30:57,367
A sort of renaissance
in Christian literature

1652
01:30:57,450 --> 01:30:59,527
occurred in the second and third centuries.

1653
01:30:59,610 --> 01:31:01,687
And by the time we get to Constantine,

1654
01:31:01,770 --> 01:31:04,507
when it becomes the official
religion of the Roman empire,

1655
01:31:04,590 --> 01:31:08,047
a single orthodox version
of it has to be laid down,

1656
01:31:08,130 --> 01:31:09,427
and that was the principal function

1657
01:31:09,510 --> 01:31:12,303
of the council of Nicea
in the early fourth century.

1658
01:31:17,280 --> 01:31:18,607
They finally converted one of

1659
01:31:18,690 --> 01:31:21,457
the Roman military commanders, Constantine,

1660
01:31:21,540 --> 01:31:23,797
at some point, but he
wasn't really a Christian.

1661
01:31:23,880 --> 01:31:25,657
He never did a Christian thing in his life.

1662
01:31:25,740 --> 01:31:27,787
But he felt that he could get some help

1663
01:31:27,870 --> 01:31:30,487
in his military struggles.

1664
01:31:30,570 --> 01:31:35,570
So he said that fine, okay,
he has a vision or whatever,

1665
01:31:35,760 --> 01:31:37,267
he'll take Christ, you know.

1666
01:31:37,350 --> 01:31:40,687
But he gets the added troops
that help him secure victory.

1667
01:31:40,770 --> 01:31:43,657
And so, then it becomes
the official religion

1668
01:31:43,740 --> 01:31:45,967
of the Roman empire under Constantine,

1669
01:31:46,050 --> 01:31:47,557
and once that happens,

1670
01:31:47,640 --> 01:31:50,480
you're going to get a huge
amount of people coming in.

1671
01:31:50,563 --> 01:31:52,173
And that's what happened.

1672
01:31:55,170 --> 01:31:57,697
Christianity gained
more and more popularity.

1673
01:31:57,780 --> 01:32:00,157
And Roman leaders themselves would vie

1674
01:32:00,240 --> 01:32:04,117
over different attempts
at making a dominant cult,

1675
01:32:04,200 --> 01:32:07,567
the cult of Sol Invictus would
be at odds with Christianity,

1676
01:32:07,650 --> 01:32:10,687
or the cult of Mithras would
be at odds with Christianity.

1677
01:32:10,770 --> 01:32:12,937
Well this was resolved
with the military success

1678
01:32:13,020 --> 01:32:16,297
of the emperor Constantine
in the fourth century.

1679
01:32:16,380 --> 01:32:19,087
It was he who began
to legalize Christianity,

1680
01:32:19,170 --> 01:32:21,457
and it was his family
that made Christianity

1681
01:32:21,540 --> 01:32:23,437
the official religion of the Roman empire.

1682
01:32:23,520 --> 01:32:26,767
And after so many centuries at this point

1683
01:32:26,850 --> 01:32:30,547
of using the fish and
dolphin and trident symbols,

1684
01:32:30,630 --> 01:32:33,937
it was Constantine who
during a famous battle

1685
01:32:34,020 --> 01:32:35,827
saw an image of a cross in the sky,

1686
01:32:35,910 --> 01:32:37,837
which then would signal a change

1687
01:32:37,920 --> 01:32:40,147
of the tides of fortune in his favor.

1688
01:32:40,230 --> 01:32:42,997
And from that point
forward, he would replace

1689
01:32:43,080 --> 01:32:46,684
the otherwise common symbols
of Christianity with the cross.

1690
01:32:46,767 --> 01:32:49,417
And his own mother
even went to the holy land

1691
01:32:49,500 --> 01:32:52,443
to discover the original
cross and bring it back.

1692
01:32:54,060 --> 01:32:57,517
Of course the cross that
Constantine saw in his vision

1693
01:32:57,600 --> 01:33:00,457
was sort of the chi-rho cross,

1694
01:33:00,540 --> 01:33:03,217
but it's still a form of the cross.

1695
01:33:03,300 --> 01:33:04,567
From that point forward,

1696
01:33:04,650 --> 01:33:07,027
it would not have done Constantine any good

1697
01:33:07,110 --> 01:33:10,657
to continue using these Flavian symbols.

1698
01:33:10,740 --> 01:33:14,377
He wants to associate
Christianity with his reign,

1699
01:33:14,460 --> 01:33:17,120
and he doesn't want
it to be a Flavian cult,

1700
01:33:17,203 --> 01:33:21,157
a Flavian imperial cult,
he wants it to be his cult,

1701
01:33:21,240 --> 01:33:22,567
finally cutting the tether

1702
01:33:22,650 --> 01:33:25,957
between the Christians and the flavians.

1703
01:33:26,040 --> 01:33:29,947
However, the
flavians remained widely loved

1704
01:33:30,030 --> 01:33:32,617
by Romans and Christians alike,

1705
01:33:32,700 --> 01:33:35,317
and many emperors used their name.

1706
01:33:35,400 --> 01:33:38,347
In fact, starting with constantius,

1707
01:33:38,430 --> 01:33:40,777
the father of Constantine,

1708
01:33:40,860 --> 01:33:45,860
a total of 56 out of 70
subsequent Roman emperors,

1709
01:33:46,920 --> 01:33:51,393
that's 80%, used the name flavius.

1710
01:33:52,530 --> 01:33:54,607
According to the Flavian propaganda,

1711
01:33:54,690 --> 01:33:57,967
they had so many virtues,
deeds and other parallels

1712
01:33:58,050 --> 01:34:01,027
in common with Jesus,
that the flavians themselves

1713
01:34:01,110 --> 01:34:03,187
were respected and venerated

1714
01:34:03,270 --> 01:34:05,797
by Christian Romans centuries later.

1715
01:34:05,880 --> 01:34:07,867
Even in Christian medieval times,

1716
01:34:07,950 --> 01:34:11,137
the flavians were looked
at as positive emperors,

1717
01:34:11,220 --> 01:34:13,237
even though they were pagans.

1718
01:34:13,320 --> 01:34:15,127
Christian writers during the middle ages

1719
01:34:15,210 --> 01:34:18,097
and the renaissance praised the flavians

1720
01:34:18,180 --> 01:34:19,803
in the highest terms possible.

1721
01:34:21,000 --> 01:34:24,157
After
Constantine made Christianity

1722
01:34:24,240 --> 01:34:28,057
the official religion of
the holy Roman empire,

1723
01:34:28,140 --> 01:34:31,807
the rulers who came after
him also found it useful

1724
01:34:31,890 --> 01:34:33,423
for their purposes.

1725
01:34:35,400 --> 01:34:37,297
We've gone over Romans 13

1726
01:34:37,380 --> 01:34:40,687
and its command that people obey the state

1727
01:34:40,770 --> 01:34:42,470
as god's appointed agent on earth.

1728
01:34:45,840 --> 01:34:49,957
After Constantine, subsequent
rulers throughout Europe

1729
01:34:50,040 --> 01:34:54,037
would use Romans 13
to justify the divine right

1730
01:34:54,120 --> 01:34:57,243
of their rule, known as
the divine right of kings.

1731
01:34:58,260 --> 01:35:01,357
This is the textual origin
for the religious authority

1732
01:35:01,440 --> 01:35:04,237
given to Christian kings
for the last 2,000 years,

1733
01:35:04,320 --> 01:35:07,293
and even dictatorships unto our own time.

1734
01:35:09,750 --> 01:35:13,957
The truth is, the new
testament is Roman propaganda

1735
01:35:14,040 --> 01:35:17,827
written for a very specific period of time.

1736
01:35:17,910 --> 01:35:21,547
It has long since outlived its purpose,

1737
01:35:21,630 --> 01:35:23,587
and has been used ever since

1738
01:35:23,670 --> 01:35:26,493
by other rulers for their own purposes.

1739
01:35:27,330 --> 01:35:28,530
What's fascinating about that

1740
01:35:28,613 --> 01:35:33,487
is that this particular passage
also justifies pagan rulers,

1741
01:35:33,570 --> 01:35:37,357
who were not Christians
but were still recognized

1742
01:35:37,440 --> 01:35:40,087
as god's agents on earth.

1743
01:35:40,170 --> 01:35:43,417
Therefore, the subjects of these rulers

1744
01:35:43,500 --> 01:35:47,647
were expected to be
Christian but not their rulers.

1745
01:35:47,730 --> 01:35:49,807
These pagan rulers could continue

1746
01:35:49,890 --> 01:35:54,337
their hedonistic lifestyles,
worshiping pagan gods,

1747
01:35:54,420 --> 01:35:55,957
and yet still, their subjects

1748
01:35:56,040 --> 01:35:58,417
were expected to be Christians.

1749
01:35:58,500 --> 01:36:02,437
Christianity therefore is for the ruled

1750
01:36:02,520 --> 01:36:04,473
and not for the rulers.

1751
01:36:06,030 --> 01:36:07,597
How could this religion,

1752
01:36:07,680 --> 01:36:10,927
which emerged over 2,000 years ago,

1753
01:36:11,010 --> 01:36:14,433
still be strong and thriving today?

1754
01:36:16,500 --> 01:36:19,867
It's very attractive, it
was made to be attractive.

1755
01:36:19,950 --> 01:36:21,453
The scrolls aren't attractive,

1756
01:36:22,410 --> 01:36:25,087
we're not trying to convert people,

1757
01:36:25,170 --> 01:36:28,207
this is what the people
writing the scripture are doing.

1758
01:36:28,290 --> 01:36:31,653
That doesn't mean the character
is a real character as such.

1759
01:36:32,610 --> 01:36:34,774
They're trying to live
within the Roman empire

1760
01:36:34,857 --> 01:36:36,637
and the power of the state,

1761
01:36:36,720 --> 01:36:39,397
and produce this sympathetic
person who the people

1762
01:36:39,480 --> 01:36:40,357
are always being bad to,

1763
01:36:40,440 --> 01:36:43,507
but he's always accepting
and you know being meek,

1764
01:36:43,590 --> 01:36:46,717
this is not what's happening
in Palestine, I'm sorry.

1765
01:36:46,800 --> 01:36:48,183
This is not Palestinian.

1766
01:36:56,640 --> 01:36:59,527
One of the ways in
which Christianity has thrived

1767
01:36:59,610 --> 01:37:03,487
and succeeded is its
ability to adapt and change

1768
01:37:03,570 --> 01:37:07,417
to changing circumstances
politically and culturally.

1769
01:37:07,500 --> 01:37:08,977
Everything from Mormons

1770
01:37:09,060 --> 01:37:12,067
to Episcopalians to Lutherans,

1771
01:37:12,150 --> 01:37:15,067
the wide range of
different types of Christianity

1772
01:37:15,150 --> 01:37:16,987
for different contexts is one of

1773
01:37:17,070 --> 01:37:20,947
its most adaptable and surviving qualities.

1774
01:37:21,030 --> 01:37:23,947
Consider the radical
changes made by Hollywood.

1775
01:37:24,030 --> 01:37:26,407
Filmmakers such as Cecil
B. Demille for example,

1776
01:37:26,490 --> 01:37:29,977
or other filmmakers who tell
"the greatest story ever told"

1777
01:37:30,060 --> 01:37:31,177
or "the story of Jesus,"

1778
01:37:31,260 --> 01:37:33,187
have turned the Romans into the heavies,

1779
01:37:33,270 --> 01:37:36,247
and precisely the opposite
intention of the gospels.

1780
01:37:36,330 --> 01:37:37,527
And so in effect the message of the gospels

1781
01:37:37,610 --> 01:37:40,957
in the 20th century
became turned on its head

1782
01:37:41,040 --> 01:37:42,997
by Hollywood filmmakers.

1783
01:37:43,080 --> 01:37:45,967
Post holocaust, of
course, it was very important

1784
01:37:46,050 --> 01:37:48,427
for Hollywood to not depict the Jews

1785
01:37:48,510 --> 01:37:50,827
in the same way that the
Bible itself shows them.

1786
01:37:50,910 --> 01:37:53,377
And so that is where
we start to see the flip

1787
01:37:53,460 --> 01:37:56,887
of the Romans becoming
the heavies of the story,

1788
01:37:56,970 --> 01:37:59,013
and the Jews as the victims.

1789
01:38:01,080 --> 01:38:02,677
And people have been drawn

1790
01:38:02,760 --> 01:38:05,437
to the philosophy of Christianity,

1791
01:38:05,520 --> 01:38:10,027
which contains the spiritual
wisdom of the Platonists,

1792
01:38:10,110 --> 01:38:12,397
the stoics and others,

1793
01:38:12,480 --> 01:38:16,803
providing a moral compass
and inspiration to many.

1794
01:38:21,750 --> 01:38:23,887
Is the creating Christ theory

1795
01:38:23,970 --> 01:38:27,873
saying that Jesus as a person didn't exist?

1796
01:38:33,840 --> 01:38:35,947
In creating Christ,
we do not take a stand

1797
01:38:36,030 --> 01:38:38,737
on whether or not there
was a historical Jesus.

1798
01:38:38,820 --> 01:38:40,387
To many scholars in the area,

1799
01:38:40,470 --> 01:38:43,387
it is the most important
and burning question.

1800
01:38:43,470 --> 01:38:45,937
But of course, the important Jesus

1801
01:38:46,020 --> 01:38:48,127
is the Jesus of the new testament.

1802
01:38:48,210 --> 01:38:50,497
That's the Jesus that affected history.

1803
01:38:50,580 --> 01:38:53,407
That's the Jesus that
Christians believe in.

1804
01:38:53,490 --> 01:38:56,617
We cannot know for
sure if a Jesus ever existed,

1805
01:38:56,700 --> 01:38:59,917
but we do know that
everything we know about Jesus

1806
01:39:00,000 --> 01:39:05,000
has been borrowed from
historical or pagan or other sources,

1807
01:39:05,820 --> 01:39:08,197
stories of other men or other gods,

1808
01:39:08,280 --> 01:39:11,287
and there does not need
to be an actual Jesus

1809
01:39:11,370 --> 01:39:14,497
to create the Jesus that
we see in the gospels

1810
01:39:14,580 --> 01:39:15,843
and in the new testament.

1811
01:39:17,130 --> 01:39:20,377
On the other hand, if there
was a Jesus who was crucified

1812
01:39:20,460 --> 01:39:21,847
in the early first century,

1813
01:39:21,930 --> 01:39:23,977
he is not likely to have been crucified

1814
01:39:24,060 --> 01:39:28,297
because he advocated paying
your taxes, or peace with Rome.

1815
01:39:28,380 --> 01:39:30,787
He might have been stoned
by the Jewish authorities,

1816
01:39:30,870 --> 01:39:32,107
who would have stoned him,

1817
01:39:32,190 --> 01:39:34,987
but he certainly wouldn't have
been crucified by the Romans.

1818
01:39:35,070 --> 01:39:38,587
So we believe with many
scholars, if there was a Jesus,

1819
01:39:38,670 --> 01:39:39,757
a historical Jesus,

1820
01:39:39,840 --> 01:39:42,397
he was likely to have
been a torah-orthodox,

1821
01:39:42,480 --> 01:39:44,857
militant nationalist Jewish rebel,

1822
01:39:44,940 --> 01:39:47,073
crucified for those reasons.

1823
01:39:48,930 --> 01:39:50,497
How could there be a Christianity

1824
01:39:50,580 --> 01:39:53,347
if there wasn't a Jesus to start it?

1825
01:39:53,430 --> 01:39:56,587
Paul Tillich said that it must
have started with somebody.

1826
01:39:56,670 --> 01:40:00,667
Maybe not, because
Christianity is heavily indebted

1827
01:40:00,750 --> 01:40:05,750
to contemporary religions
like the mystery religions,

1828
01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:08,557
which just means the initiation religions,

1829
01:40:08,640 --> 01:40:09,967
and there were plenty of them.

1830
01:40:10,050 --> 01:40:12,727
The idea was that you could pass

1831
01:40:12,810 --> 01:40:16,447
into a higher spiritual condition,

1832
01:40:16,530 --> 01:40:19,627
there is a myth of the divine savior,

1833
01:40:19,710 --> 01:40:23,467
often including his death and resurrection,

1834
01:40:23,550 --> 01:40:28,297
and the ritual baptism,
the Eucharist, lord's supper.

1835
01:40:28,380 --> 01:40:30,607
They had various things like that in them,

1836
01:40:30,690 --> 01:40:32,707
like the Osiris religion.

1837
01:40:32,790 --> 01:40:36,877
There was a sacred meal
where you would eat bread

1838
01:40:36,960 --> 01:40:41,197
because it was the body of
Osiris who was the grain god,

1839
01:40:41,280 --> 01:40:44,287
and you would drink wine or beer

1840
01:40:44,370 --> 01:40:48,213
because that was the
blood of the grain god.

1841
01:40:49,470 --> 01:40:53,017
When you look at the
last supper in the gospels,

1842
01:40:53,100 --> 01:40:54,787
it's supposed to have something to do

1843
01:40:54,870 --> 01:40:56,977
with passover but it doesn't really.

1844
01:40:57,060 --> 01:40:58,664
Whereas when Jesus says,

1845
01:40:58,747 --> 01:41:01,657
"this bread is my body,
this wine is my blood,"

1846
01:41:01,740 --> 01:41:04,627
you think, "this doesn't
sound like Judaism to me."

1847
01:41:04,710 --> 01:41:08,227
This is one of the reasons I
say I think the burden of proof

1848
01:41:08,310 --> 01:41:09,607
is on the person that would say

1849
01:41:09,690 --> 01:41:12,127
there was a historical founder,

1850
01:41:12,210 --> 01:41:14,497
could have been, too late to tell now,

1851
01:41:14,580 --> 01:41:19,033
but you don't really need
that as a factor in starting it.

1852
01:41:23,880 --> 01:41:25,117
This is what is,

1853
01:41:25,200 --> 01:41:28,327
something else rationally
we must keep in mind as well,

1854
01:41:28,410 --> 01:41:33,277
that we have mythology in other cultures

1855
01:41:33,360 --> 01:41:36,457
that is clearly taken as mythology.

1856
01:41:36,540 --> 01:41:37,507
The Greek gods,

1857
01:41:37,590 --> 01:41:39,967
very few people today
believe that they ever existed,

1858
01:41:40,050 --> 01:41:41,467
or they were living on planet earth,

1859
01:41:41,550 --> 01:41:42,547
and that they were real people,

1860
01:41:42,630 --> 01:41:45,273
and that any of their adventures were real.

1861
01:41:48,450 --> 01:41:50,737
But with the Jewish stories,

1862
01:41:50,820 --> 01:41:54,160
there's a special pleading that,

1863
01:41:54,243 --> 01:41:54,993
well you know,

1864
01:41:55,076 --> 01:41:57,307
all these supernatural
events actually occurred,

1865
01:41:57,390 --> 01:42:01,987
the red sea was parted, Elijah
was taken up in the chariot,

1866
01:42:02,070 --> 01:42:03,217
we have to accept that

1867
01:42:03,300 --> 01:42:05,643
or we're gonna be
punished with eternal hell.

1868
01:42:09,270 --> 01:42:12,367
We have seen
how Christianity developed

1869
01:42:12,450 --> 01:42:15,127
and evolved over the centuries,

1870
01:42:15,210 --> 01:42:19,867
and how it was shaped by
rulers to suit their purposes,

1871
01:42:19,950 --> 01:42:24,950
which is one reason it has
survived so strongly to this day.

1872
01:42:25,080 --> 01:42:28,237
The important 20th century discoveries

1873
01:42:28,320 --> 01:42:32,617
of the dead sea scrolls
and the Nag Hamadi texts

1874
01:42:32,700 --> 01:42:36,187
may perhaps be the very
reason that Christianity

1875
01:42:36,270 --> 01:42:41,047
began to be scrutinized and
looked at more from a historical

1876
01:42:41,130 --> 01:42:43,717
rather than a theological perspective

1877
01:42:43,800 --> 01:42:46,267
in the past few decades.

1878
01:42:46,350 --> 01:42:50,467
These ancient texts have revealed a history

1879
01:42:50,550 --> 01:42:52,567
surrounding this religion

1880
01:42:52,650 --> 01:42:56,077
that stands at odds
with Christian tradition,

1881
01:42:56,160 --> 01:42:59,707
and our scholars feel the true history

1882
01:42:59,790 --> 01:43:03,817
is important for people
to understand precisely

1883
01:43:03,900 --> 01:43:07,327
because we're still being affected today

1884
01:43:07,410 --> 01:43:12,153
by a war that took place
nearly 2,000 years ago.

1885
01:43:14,250 --> 01:43:16,357
One can really only understand the theory

1886
01:43:16,440 --> 01:43:18,577
of Roman provenance by assembling

1887
01:43:18,660 --> 01:43:20,377
all the pieces of the mosaic,

1888
01:43:20,460 --> 01:43:23,737
and only when you put each
piece in its appropriate place

1889
01:43:23,820 --> 01:43:27,273
can you pan back and then
accurately see the entire picture.

1890
01:43:28,470 --> 01:43:30,787
Throughout the course
of the last 30 years

1891
01:43:30,870 --> 01:43:33,847
in which we have been
researching and writing this book,

1892
01:43:33,930 --> 01:43:37,207
we had hoped to uncover
the truth about the history

1893
01:43:37,290 --> 01:43:40,263
of one of the most
important world religions.

1894
01:43:41,160 --> 01:43:44,587
At the crossroads of
western history was a conflict

1895
01:43:44,670 --> 01:43:48,787
between world views that
were exclusive on one side

1896
01:43:48,870 --> 01:43:50,947
and universal on the other.

1897
01:43:51,030 --> 01:43:53,677
That they would come
into conflict was inevitable,

1898
01:43:53,760 --> 01:43:57,183
and this is when the new
testament was written.

1899
01:43:58,170 --> 01:44:01,777
Today, we are
still in conflict with each other

1900
01:44:01,860 --> 01:44:05,587
because of seemingly opposing world views.

1901
01:44:05,670 --> 01:44:09,187
What can we learn from
this ancient period of history

1902
01:44:09,270 --> 01:44:13,567
to come to the best solution
for our modern world?

1903
01:44:13,650 --> 01:44:16,537
Is the answer some form of synthesis

1904
01:44:16,620 --> 01:44:21,620
or integration of these
seemingly opposite perspectives?

1905
01:44:22,320 --> 01:44:24,547
Nothing we have discovered
and demonstrated here

1906
01:44:24,630 --> 01:44:26,587
challenges a belief in god

1907
01:44:26,670 --> 01:44:29,283
or indeed the important need for morality.

1908
01:44:30,540 --> 01:44:31,627
In my teaching,

1909
01:44:31,710 --> 01:44:36,710
I am not trying to make disciples of price.

1910
01:44:37,089 --> 01:44:39,607
There would be no point to that,

1911
01:44:39,690 --> 01:44:43,717
in fact, I don't care if
anybody holds my opinions,

1912
01:44:43,800 --> 01:44:45,127
I'm just interested in it

1913
01:44:45,210 --> 01:44:48,393
as a fascinating intellectual pursuit.

1914
01:44:50,370 --> 01:44:52,417
What am I trying to do in teaching?

1915
01:44:52,500 --> 01:44:56,077
I'm just trying to give
people access to information

1916
01:44:56,160 --> 01:45:00,097
and perspectives they
may not already know of.

1917
01:45:00,180 --> 01:45:02,857
And I assume they're gonna make use

1918
01:45:02,940 --> 01:45:04,957
of what they think is worthwhile

1919
01:45:05,040 --> 01:45:07,477
in creating their own synthesis.

1920
01:45:07,560 --> 01:45:09,037
I mean, that's all I'm doing,

1921
01:45:09,120 --> 01:45:12,217
and that's all I want to help people,

1922
01:45:12,300 --> 01:45:15,063
more socratically than dogmatically.

1923
01:45:18,000 --> 01:45:20,617
If Christianity had not been foisted

1924
01:45:20,700 --> 01:45:22,717
upon millions of people,

1925
01:45:22,800 --> 01:45:25,144
we quite likely would not be facing

1926
01:45:25,227 --> 01:45:30,217
this almost apocalyptic development

1927
01:45:30,300 --> 01:45:32,313
of destruction of the planet.

1928
01:45:34,020 --> 01:45:38,617
I mean, for one example
before the technological age,

1929
01:45:38,700 --> 01:45:42,157
a major example was that in certain parts

1930
01:45:42,240 --> 01:45:44,767
in the so-called pagan world,

1931
01:45:44,850 --> 01:45:48,727
it was a capital punishment
to cut down forests.

1932
01:45:48,810 --> 01:45:51,577
This is one of the
reasons that I am motivated

1933
01:45:51,660 --> 01:45:53,857
is because I looked at the destruction

1934
01:45:53,940 --> 01:45:56,647
that occurred to my
culture, northern European,

1935
01:45:56,730 --> 01:46:00,577
and it was so defamatory and so vile,

1936
01:46:00,660 --> 01:46:02,193
it put the fire in my belly.

1937
01:46:05,640 --> 01:46:07,747
In the natural religions,

1938
01:46:07,830 --> 01:46:10,477
you're connected to the earth, you're free,

1939
01:46:10,560 --> 01:46:14,467
you don't have this domineering
monotheistic character

1940
01:46:14,550 --> 01:46:16,447
controlling you like a puppet master.

1941
01:46:16,530 --> 01:46:19,777
It's not there, it's very empowering,

1942
01:46:19,860 --> 01:46:20,767
it's earth-based.

1943
01:46:20,850 --> 01:46:22,687
You got your feet planted.

1944
01:46:22,770 --> 01:46:25,387
You're drawing wisdom into yourself

1945
01:46:25,470 --> 01:46:28,147
from your own observation.

1946
01:46:28,230 --> 01:46:29,647
And they had to sever that

1947
01:46:29,730 --> 01:46:34,173
in order to get this power
coming from the top down.

1948
01:46:36,450 --> 01:46:39,877
All this is concocted by people overseas,

1949
01:46:39,960 --> 01:46:43,027
in order to establish
a pro-Roman literature

1950
01:46:43,110 --> 01:46:46,297
for these apocalyptic
groups, and they succeeded.

1951
01:46:46,380 --> 01:46:48,847
This pro-Roman literature that we have,

1952
01:46:48,930 --> 01:46:51,097
which is why the church is in Rome today,

1953
01:46:51,180 --> 01:46:54,217
this has survived for almost 2,000 years

1954
01:46:54,300 --> 01:46:56,137
and it was extremely successful,

1955
01:46:56,220 --> 01:46:58,807
probably one of the most
successful literary efforts

1956
01:46:58,890 --> 01:47:02,103
ever undertaken and produced.

1957
01:47:05,190 --> 01:47:08,197
Today we're still
governed by moral precepts

1958
01:47:08,280 --> 01:47:11,947
from documents that are
almost 2,000 years old,

1959
01:47:12,030 --> 01:47:14,077
ideas that were developed in a cultural

1960
01:47:14,160 --> 01:47:17,287
and political context not our own.

1961
01:47:17,370 --> 01:47:20,707
By the 21st century and
the dawn of the third millenia,

1962
01:47:20,790 --> 01:47:24,427
it is time to re-evaluate
these dusty doctrines

1963
01:47:24,510 --> 01:47:27,397
that no longer serve our context,

1964
01:47:27,480 --> 01:47:30,993
but were devised for a
context long since forgotten.

1965
01:47:31,890 --> 01:47:34,057
Over the last few centuries,

1966
01:47:34,140 --> 01:47:36,907
beautiful art, beautiful poetry,

1967
01:47:36,990 --> 01:47:39,577
beautiful architecture has been constructed

1968
01:47:39,660 --> 01:47:43,987
on the imagery and
the ideas of Christianity,

1969
01:47:44,070 --> 01:47:47,797
and that in itself gives
Christianity an authority

1970
01:47:47,880 --> 01:47:51,037
and a beauty that no one
would want to get rid of.

1971
01:47:51,120 --> 01:47:54,097
But it is time for us to
re-evaluate doctrines

1972
01:47:54,180 --> 01:47:57,247
that were developed for a political context

1973
01:47:57,330 --> 01:47:59,467
that is 2,000 years old

1974
01:47:59,550 --> 01:48:02,193
and may no longer be
applicable to our own times.

1975
01:48:04,530 --> 01:48:07,507
Our scholars
have certainly provided us

1976
01:48:07,590 --> 01:48:10,657
with a variety of interesting perspectives

1977
01:48:10,740 --> 01:48:13,777
on the history of Christianity.

1978
01:48:13,860 --> 01:48:16,207
And now it's our turn,

1979
01:48:16,290 --> 01:48:19,597
in view of all that was presented here,

1980
01:48:19,680 --> 01:48:23,227
how will we evolve our philosophical ideas

1981
01:48:23,310 --> 01:48:26,883
to best create the
meaning of our own lives?

1982
01:48:28,080 --> 01:48:31,927
In the words of the great
transcendentalist writer,

1983
01:48:32,010 --> 01:48:33,854
Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1984
01:48:33,937 --> 01:48:35,907
"make your own Bible."