The Lost Letters of Pergamum by Bruce W Longenecker

There are certain countries that are ran through dictatorship, they abuse the power they have to the country. In the story, The Complete Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi, she changes the view towards Iran through occurrences and eastern fundamentalist ideas. In 1979, there was the Islamic revolution in Iran. This year was the year that was going to have many changes to the country. In chapter one of the Veil, there are characters and their freedom of expression being repressed as well as the movement of repression where the Iranians were repressed in public spaces and by public figures.

¨There was a law against luke. Not him personally everyone like him, kids who were born after their parents already had two babies (pg 6)¨. Would you like a law against you? Among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix clearly shows that dictatorship is horrible. In this novel Luke is not allowed to leave the house or be seen. Luke leaves the house in cover and meets a girl the same as him she can't go anywhere so she tries to convince luke to rebel to be like regular people with her but he is to nervous. Luke shows the character traits of brave, jealousy and adventurous as he hides in the shadows.

On Doc A, It explains one of the many reasons the Romans persecuted the Christians. “As Christianity spread through the Roman world, some local officials feared that Christians were conspiring against them.” This quote not only shows why the Romans did what they did but it also kind of explains a little bit of background from the Romans side. It also says how there were some rulers that came to see Christianity as a threat to them and of course, they began to persecute the people who practiced it.

• Refers to rapid spread of Christianity among all classes of people, as well as Roman citizens that are sent to Rome for trial. “They have high ethical standards and if they repeatedly admit they honor Christ as God they are executed”.

Longenecker’s The Lost Letters of Pergamum encapsulates the socio-historical, cultural, and political atmosphere of the first-century setting in which Mark’s Gospel would have been experienced. Understanding Jesus in context of this background alters the way I understand the Gospel of Mark. Specific passages in Mark can be reflected upon based on the socio-historical, cultural, and political aspects of the setting described in Longenecker’s book. In The Lost Letters of Pergamum, readers see Euphemos and Antipas admonishing Luke against associating himself with Christians for they worship and follow a different lord than the emperor as well as endorse an empire other than Rome.

Luke was an eyewitness of some of the events in chapters 16-28, where he changes his 'they' statements to 'we' statements. An example of this is in Acts16:10-11, 16: " (10) And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. (11) Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia and the next day to Neapolis. (16) And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit

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.

The Roman Empire, in which the early Church rises in the wake of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, is complex cultural melting pot. Rife with hedonism, the honor/shame structure of the Roman Empire encourage the worship of the Emperor as God and the Empire as his Holy Empire. Against this narrative, the early Church was a counterculture to the ways of the empire and it is against this backdrop that Bruce Longenecker’s The Lost Letters of Pergamum takes place. The Lost Letters of Pergamum is a historical narrative following Antipas and encounters with Luke through an associate in a neighboring town. Antipas, named after his relative Herod Antipas, has come to great wealth and influence in the Roman empire. Antipas is introduced to

As he learned more about Jesus Christ and Christianity through Luke he learned that that was not true. Luke showed that Christians were not harmful to Roman society, but just bringing truth to the Romans. Antipas began to view Christians as friends but was still not ready to call himself a Christian. Eventually after many letters back and forth with Luke and meetings with Christians, and despite what the Roman Empire thought, Antipas accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Antipas accepting Christ may have taken a long time, but his transformation was dramatic. Antipas ended up showing in an extreme way how big his faith was by giving up his life for his friend Demetrius.

As I read this article, I was immediately reminded of the political situation of Jesus’ day. On one front, the Romans had conquered the

Antipas and his friends occasionally write to Luke with him clearly had a good understanding of the roll of God and spiritually. They were noblemen, scholars, and philosophers. Their lives where steeped in knowledge of things higher than themselves, and as Antipas alluded, they even had a basic knowledge of Christ and the great disrupter of society. What they did not understand was the relational and

Try thinking about every time you have been bullied or feel segregated from a group of people. There are countless amounts of times where we can recall a time where we feel like the odd person out or the last person picked to play kickball. “Oh, they have John! We are definitely going to win now!” are never words you want to hear about you ever. Our natural instincts as humans is bottle up all of our negative energy and attempt to forget about what had just transpired and move forward. For some people, this may be very difficult due to the fact that their life depends on it. Apartheid in South Africa segregated races in order to purify their country. It can be easily seen that most of these blacks would have been very unhappy with the government they are apart of. The negative energy doesn’t always get bottled up in this case and sometimes it leads to revolt, such as in Sophocles’, Antigone, and in The Island by Athol Fugard. Unfortunately, many people get killed when this such event occurs. Since the entire country of South Africa is under racial prejudice, similar to Creon’s rule in Antigone, the characters in both The Island and Antigone feel the obligation to protest authority and change the course of their lives in similar methods.

These famous lines of the Christian Bible describe the first mention of a Roman Emperor and would be remembered throughout history with the birth of Jesus Christ ,the symbol of christianity. Though his life was short and he was crucified at an extremely young age, Jesus developed a cult following due to his presumed miracles and of his preaching of eternal peace and everlasting life. His crucifixion resulted in the spreading of his faith throughout the Roman empire and in the beginning of the end of traditional Roman religion. Ironically enough it was the Romanization of Europe that allowed the Christian faith to easily spread. By the death of Christ, the whole Roman empire was connected with well constructed roads and inns which allowed the prophets to spread their message easily and safely.

In this article Harold Attridge examines Luke’s background, the scriptures Luke wrote, Jesus’s values, the context and purpose of Luke’s gospel and the treatment of Christians at the time of Luke’s writings. The article expresses that Luke’s Gospel was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and at a time when Christians were being persecuted for practicing their faith so consequently the purpose of his Gospel was to show an ethical example and imply that Christians could be good citizens. This source is relevant to the topic as it suggests the purpose of Luke's Gospel and the treatment of Christians before the fall of Jerusalem. A limitation of the website is that it has not been recently published, it’s publish date is April 1998 so it may not be up to date with the latest, accurate information. Nonetheless, this source is very beneficial and appropriate to the task as it provides facts and research on the chosen sacred text. This source will not be the cornerstone of my research but will add a good understanding to the purpose of the sacred text.

The theme of the gospel of Luke talks about the journey of the life of Jesus, Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection. Moreover, his ministry, teachings and parables. As a historian, and physician, Luke was not only eloquent in his writing about Jesus; he also took interest in his early life. The Gospel of Luke also depict Jesus as compassionate, caring, and loving. Likewise, Luke not only put Jesus at the heart of the Jewish world during the first century, but also at the heart of the Roman world, where with the Christian gospel exploded.