Religion Assignment : The Dead Sea Scrolls

By the year 1000 B.C.E the Jews had founded Israel as their national state (“Jews”). They actively practiced a very distinctive religion, Judaism. Israel was conquered several times and eventually came under the rule of the Roman Empire (“Jews”). During this time, Jews were legal citizens of the Empire. However, the Jews and Christians diverged quickly; the Jews were marginalized for being different and strange. They rejected the belief that Jesus is the Messiah and other christian laws. Eventually the Jewish revolt in 135 C.E. drove the Jews out of Jerusalem (“Jews”). They then lived throughout the Roman Empire and the materializing medieval states. They lived in their own communities called ghettos because they were not allowed to own land

of the world and retreated into the heavens, leaving Shu to reign in his place.

In the Beginning: At the beginning of the universe. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. During those six days God spoke to the darkness and created the world, brought forth light, created the sky, land and animals and plants to inhabit them. However, even during this creation he was contemplating the creation of a being made in his own image.

The Sadducees were the wealthy members of Judea who welcomed the secular world into their heart and rejected any ideas that were not written down and resisted any form of change (Regev, 2006). Pharisees were the middle class members of Judean society that believed in good and evil and rejected those who did not meet their standards of behavior. The Zealots were the politically radical group that stood up to the Romans and attempted to overthrow the regime, but was not able to do so. Essenes rejected the views of all other groups and concentrated on living a spiritually purified life full of contemplation within a religious community.

Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are some of the religions that most individuals can relate to, being the three largest religions in the world. Like many religions they share many differences and also some similarities. One difference that these religions hold is their view of Jesus Christ. Similarities are surprisingly common to find among some religions because of the basis they put on one another. Some similarities between these religions include: belief of monotheism and the influence of Zoroastrianism had on each religion. Also another similarity carried out by these three religions would be the significance of Abraham. Some other differences include: religious texts and also how they approach God in prayer.

In Jerusalem, Jesus was treated fairly by everyone, but Romans and Jews didn’t except him, so he had to be executed. This shows that Romans and Jews would kill anyone who was dangerous, or threatening. Till this day, Jesus is a major part of believe and religion.

In regards to the Amish beliefs and customs, they live faithfully by the Bible. Evident from the previous information given, their religion conducts every act of their life. “A strong sense of community regulates the rhythms of Amish life. One of the tenets of Amish faith is care and

Compare and contrast the basic features of TWO of the following religious systems prior to 600 c.e.

You can tell whose home mass is at that week because you will see 15-20 buggies sitting outside. During mass the Amish will sing from their hymnal book the Ausbund. The Ausbund is a book filled with hymns that were written by some of the early Anabaptists when they were held prisoner (Erik).

The Sadducees believed that only the laws in the first five books of the Old Testament had to obey. They did not believe in the Resurrection; rejection of oral tradition; immorality of the soul; existences of a spirit world (Act23:8; Mark 12:18; Luke 20: 27). The Essenes are Jews by birth, and seems to have a better relationship with each other than the other sects have. They were highly apocalyptic with a stress on angels and the opposed temple

important and who are wondering how Jesus fits into history of the Jewish people. This problems means that Matthew’s community was largely Jewish Christian and needed to be reassured that being a Christian did not separate then from the Jewish heritage.

The Essenes was a group of holy men and woman which is better known as a brotherhood living in peace and harmony within a community in which they believe that they were the foundational seed of Christianity and the for other civilization in the future. The Essenes hold themselves in a separate group as to other people because of the brilliance of their inner life and ability of knowledge of unseen mysteries of nature that was not discovered by other man.

Studying the religion of the Ancient Israelite People must be done in a careful manner. The ways in which biblical scholars frame significant ideas can have a major effect on how their point is received. Today’s ideas about the religious lives of Canaanites have been drawn on primarily from The Hebrew Bible and archaeological evidence. In their respective works, biblical scholars Benjamin Sommer and Carol Meyers choose to interpret these pieces of religious evidence is varying ways; Meyers takes a more cultural approach while Sommer’s has a theological leaning. Recognizing these different perspectives, I prefer the approach that Meyers takes because of its focus in anthropology.

The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to

Jesus lived in Judea (later called Palestine), a Middle Eastern land ruled by the Romans. The Romans crucified Jesus about A.D. 30. Jesus' followers were convinced that He rose from the dead, and they soon spread Christianity to major cities throughout the