A Jewish Attempt to Evolve Once Again
When the Romans gained control, they destroyed not only the homes of many Jews but the Second Temple built by Herod. Despite their efforts to expel Jews from Jerusalem and their conquering of the city, some Jews remained on Mount Zion and built several synagogues. For these Jews yet again, losing this temple and this connection to heaven threw them into a confused state where they needed to find a way to interpret all that had happened in respects to God and Judaism. Armstrong describes this process as them trying to "evolve their own mythology about Jerusalem" (page 155), and a segment of this mythology was in response to Jesus. It is known that Jews present day do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, but some of them during this time joined the church- Armstrong states that the belief that a crucified Jesus had come back to life to help them gave them "hope for the revival of their old cult" (page 155). Some other Jews converted to "asceticism," which consisted of banning things that could no longer be sacrificed in the temple and involved new rituals of mourning. Many others lost their faith entirely.
Even though some Jews reverted to Christianity and the two religions shared many things in common, hostility between Christians and Jews began to grow. The Jews had believed sacred space could only be found in a temple for a long time, but Christians like John believed that God could no longer be found in a temple- instead, he was to be found in a divine man. This refers back to Eliade and sacred space, as Jews have to redefine sacred space yet again after yet another destruction of their temple and livelihood. However, Rabbis who remained after the destruction of Herod's temple still had hope for a new temple. This hope was almost destroyed when Hadrian came and announced he was to build a temple to Jupiter on Mount Zion. After dealing with many attempts to destroy Jewish Jerusalem and coming back from it, the Jews fought once again to defend their Jerusalem- and failed. Even though they fought hard and "won the respect of Rome" (page 164), Jews were banned from Jerusalem. This allows Christianity to grow significantly in Jerusalem.
Even though some Jews reverted to Christianity and the two religions shared many things in common, hostility between Christians and Jews began to grow. The Jews had believed sacred space could only be found in a temple for a long time, but Christians like John believed that God could no longer be found in a temple- instead, he was to be found in a divine man. This refers back to Eliade and sacred space, as Jews have to redefine sacred space yet again after yet another destruction of their temple and livelihood. However, Rabbis who remained after the destruction of Herod's temple still had hope for a new temple. This hope was almost destroyed when Hadrian came and announced he was to build a temple to Jupiter on Mount Zion. After dealing with many attempts to destroy Jewish Jerusalem and coming back from it, the Jews fought once again to defend their Jerusalem- and failed. Even though they fought hard and "won the respect of Rome" (page 164), Jews were banned from Jerusalem. This allows Christianity to grow significantly in Jerusalem.
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