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Article: Up against Caesar: Jesus and Paul versus the empire.
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- February 8, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE "KINGDOM" OF God and "gospel" are usually thought of as terms unique to Christianity. And who else but Jesus was called not only "the son of God" but 'also "Lord" and "Savior"?
In fact, say biblical experts, these terms and concepts were already familiar to residents of the Roman Empire who knew them as references to the authority and divinity of the emperors, beginning notably with Caesar Augustus before the dawn of the first century.
Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC. When a comet was later visible on July nights, Octavius, the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar, promoted the idea that it was a sign that the divine ...