rewindddd

hey guys! i wanted to start out with an apology for missing class on thursday. because, well, im sure i was incredibly missed and some tears might have been shed over my absence. i just dont want you guys to think i was blowing off the class because i was hungover or just didnt feel like coming to class- i was up with a delightful stomach flu-type deal all night and didnt feel like sharing it with you all. but no worries i will be there on tuesdayyy!

it was also brought to my attention that i have been sort of vague in my recent blogs about the readings, so im going to try and highlight better some info from the readings. enjoy!

in the batch of readings for tuesday i kind of was concentrating on what the changes meant to the people of jerusalem. its different to think of things from an abstract point of view- like oh yeah the CITY was taken over by alexander of macedon in 333 bce. but its not the buildings and streets that are important- the "city" should be thought of as the people living there. alexander really took all these people into his empire, became in charge of all of them. luckily for them at this time, life didnt really change for the Jews- they were allowed to practice their religion. but the clash between jewish and greek culture started here.

then when alexander died, a series of battles broke out to see who would be the ruler- jerusalem was conquered 6 times in 20 years. SIX TIMES!!! thats so crazy! these poor people were subjected to so many changes and were in constant turmoil. i, living here all my life, cant even begin to understand what that would feel like.

and it just kept happening! the ptolemies really changed the way of life for the jews because they lived secularly.

the destruction that i talked about in my last post is also sad for the people. these events, the takeovers and the events of destruction, happened over a long period of time, i get that, and an individual person wouldn't experience many changes in their single lifetime, but i bet some of them experinced too much for their own taste. And seeing something as sacred as a temple get torn down and destroyed must have been so hard and demoralizing.

by the time Titus' soldiers were done with Jerusalem, "visitors found it difficult to believe that Jersulame had ever been an inhabited city" (armstrong, 153). the jews had fought so hard and so long to keep their city, which had been utterly decimated. and was now basically a Roman headquarters. i couldnt imagine living in a city that no longer felt like my own.... but it was harder to relocate back then, so what could they do?

by 323 constantine was the emporer of the whole Roman empire. even though he did want to spread christianity, lucky for those of other faiths, it wouldnt be at the cost of their beliefs. he built himself a city (creatively titled Constantinople) that could be an entirely christian city.
as time went on, pagans became the new scapegoat, as christianity spread. though not entirely wiped out, many were pressured to convert. i wonder what it would be like to all the sudden, not entirely of your own will, to start to believe in something entirely different, to change your faith for someone else. it seems to me that some people probably just changed superficially so it would seem to any outsiders that they were christian, but still retained their own believes in their hearts.