Second Temple Judaism & the Greco-Roman World

I believe this section comes down to something I have thought about before. I believe it comes down to different translations. These translations change the meaning of what is being said in these texts and can make it difficult to fully understand what is being said. There are so many languages in which texts were translated from and translated to, it is hard to wrap your head around it.

What I found to be refreshing and a good review was in Ehrman’s The Jewish World. The section that caught my attention the most was the section of Atonement. I took a class on it about two years ago with Professor Eberhart and it was an amazing class. The way the temple was set up was very interesting. There was somewhat of a hierarchy set up with the sections that the temple had. The highest, obviously, being “the Holy of Holies,” and then the lowest being outside the temple, where women and non-Jews were allowed to congregate. The striking thing about this setup is the “discrimination” that occurred back then. At church, I am constantly told how “lucky” or blessed we are to not have to worry about being in a specific place to reach God, for now he can be found inside all his followers. Viewing the differences with this in mind, we can see how his followers would feel grateful to have easy access to Him.

When it comes to the separation of Christianity and Judaism, I am honestly a little confused. I believe there is an explanation that is quite easy but I couldn’t really understand. I understood that belief v. practice is what matters. If someone has grown with Jewish customs, but follows Christian ways, then they would be considered as Christian. Once again, I am not 100% sure.