Outline Lecture One—Introduction: Religion within Empire
I) Spiritual Revolution in the Axial Age (roughly 7th to 4th centuries BCE)
a) Why “Axial”?
i) “Spiritual technology” to tap into human potential for good
(1) Eradicate egotism
(2) Promote empathetic ethos of the Golden Rule
(a) Stepping out of “self”—“ekstasis”
b) The Ethical Focus of Axial Age Spirituality
i) Emphasis less on dogma, but more on practice and self-reform
ii) How did religions evolve from a personal way of life into powerful institutions?
II) The Advent of Theocracy or the Fusion of Religion and State
a) Civilizations’ Trend towards Centralization and State Building
i) From 3rd century BCE on, global trend towards political integration and expansion
b) The Challenges of Size
i) Expansion inevitably undermines uniformity and coherence of a state
c) The Symbiotic Relationship Between Religion and the State
i) Functions of religions for the state
ii) The state can be conducive for the propagation of faith
d) Potential Antagonism between Religion and State
i) In this delicate marriage of convenience, how did religious traditions evolve?
III) Rome: From Republic to Empire
a) A Tenuous Balance of Power—The Roman Republic
i) Constitution for Checks and Balance
(1) Two Consuls—despotic power
(2) Senate—aristocratic power
(3) Assembly—democratic power
(a) Led by the Tribunes of the Plebes
ii) Why could this republican system not accommodate the gradual expansion of Rome?
b) Problems with the System—Patricians vs. Plebeians
i) System dominated by Patricians
ii) Religion as the most conspicuous and effective social barrier
(1) Sumptuary laws barred plebeians from key religious rituals
iii) Flawed checks and balances
(1) E.g. The Gracchi brothers—Tiberius and Gaius
c) Boiling Point of Social Tensions
i) Social-economic problems in the 2nd century BCE
(1) After Punic wars, severe economic imbalance
(a) Creation of latifundias—large rural estates owned by nobles
(b) Impact of economies of scale from sheer size of latifundias
ii) Rise of Personal Armies under Charismatic Commanders
d) Advent of Military Strongmen and Shift from Republic to Autocracy
i) First Triumvirate of Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus
(1) Julius Caesar’s “Crossing of the Rubicon”
(2) Centralized political and military power under his sole authority
IV) The Imminence of Centralized Rule
a) Why was the shift to imperial rule inevitable and necessary?
i) Provinces mismanaged
ii) Armies unreliable
iii) Senate incompetent and corrupt
(1) Example of Jugurtha, pesky King of Numidia in North Africa
b) Centralized Autocracy under Augustus (27 B.C.E-14 C.E.)
i) Imperium consolidated in one symbolic title—“Princeps” or “First Citizen”
ii) Religious authority as “Pontifix Maximus”
iii) Semi-divine title of “Augustus” or “The Revered One”
V) Imperial Infrastructure
a) Augustus’s Development of a Civil Bureaucracy
i) Creation of an “Imperial Household”
ii) Effective solution for managing the sprawling empire?
b) Infrastructure Befitting an Empire
i) Extensive commercial network
(1) Roman roads totaling 50,000 miles of paved roads
(2) Mediterranean as “Mare nostrum”
ii) Roman aqueducts and postal stations
iii) Public spectacles for the poor
c) Roman Legal Code—Pax Romana
i) Granting “Latin rights” based on “Twelve Tables” to foreign municipia
ii) Legal prerogatives granted to every Roman citizen
iii) Story of Paul in the “Acts of the Apostles”
(1) In 55 C.E., experience of Paul of Tarsus
(2) Protected by Roman law
(3) Remarkable degree of adherence to the letter of the law