Two thousand years ago : the world at the time of Jesus / Charles A. Frazee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frazee, Charles A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. New Testament.

First century, A.D.

Bible. New Testament--History of contemporary events.

Bible.

History of contemporary events.

Physical Description:

viii, 248 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans, [2002]

Summary:

Millions of people are familiar with the story of Jesus, but few could place the events of his life, as recorded in the New Testament, into the larger context of world history. Uniquely filling this gap, Charles Frazee's Two Thousand Years Ago offers an absorbing, unprecedented survey of peoples and events around the world at the time of Jesus. Even though first-century events outside of Palestine arguably did not play much of a role in the life of Jesus, it is significant that he lived his whole life in a land where a Hellenistic monarch ruled under the surveillance of Roman emperors. Both Greek and Roman culture, as well as Jesus' own Jewish heritage, had an effect on his life and mission. It is thought-provoking, too, to wonder how well Jesus' message would have fit into other cultures of his day, or how important the literacy of the Mediterranean societies was to Jesus' enduring legacy, or whether we in the twenty-first century would have known him at all had he been a member of, say, a Celtic, Pacific, or Native American society.

Drawing on historical records and the work of archaeologists and anthropologists, Frazee here explores the full sweep of human civilization contemporary with Jesus' own first-century Palestine. Each chapter looks at one of the world's major regions -- from the Arctic, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia -- and provides a short description of its history and its status at the time Jesus walked the earth. In presenting a bird's-eye view of the world at this pivotal point in history, Frazee gives readers a new perspective on the life of Jesus in the Holy Land, allowing them to compare and contrast it with life elsewhere on the globe.

Filling these pages are photographs of ancient artifacts, from the familiar but beautiful ruins of Greece to more exotic and obscure relics that sometimes constitute the only evidence we have of a culture's existence. Frazee's engaging, popularly written text is also enhanced with fascinating highlighted facts throughout, with numerous extracts from various source documents -- the Bible, the Dao-de Qing, the writings of great Greco-Roman historians, and others -- and with excerpts from the myths and folktales of cultures that left no written records. All in all, Two Thousand Years Ago is a splendid work that will appeal to anyone interested in the life of Jesus and world history.

Contents:

1. Mediterranean Europe 1

2. North Africa and Egypt 29

3. Southwest Asia 51

4. Europe beyond the Alps 81

5. Africa South of the Sahara 109

6. China 119

7. Korea and Japan 141

8. Inner Asia 147

9. India 159

10. Southeast Asia 179

11. The Pacific Islands and Australia 187

12. The Arctic 199

13. North America 209

14. Central America 225

15. South America 233.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0802848052

OCLC:

50554625