Page 30 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

A.D. 36 Conversion of Paul

A.D. 41 Caligula’s death (he ruled from A.D. 37–41)
A.D. 41–54 Claudius’ rule ends the rule of procurators in A.D. 41 when
he made Herod Agrippa I king of Judea
A.D. 43 Paul and Barnabas at Antioch; James beheaded; Peter
imprisoned
A.D. 44 Death of Herod Agrippa I; Judea again made a
procuratorial province
A.D. 45–49 Paul’s first missionary journey

A.D. 50–52 Paul’s second missionary journey
A.D. 52–60 Antonius Felix served as procurator

A.D. 53–58 Paul’s third missionary journey
A.D. 54–68 Nero served as Emperor
A.D. 58 Paul was a captive at Caesarea

A.D. 60–62 Porcius Festus procurator; Paul journeyed to Rome

A.D. 64 Rome burned, Christians persecuted; Peter martyred in Rome
A.D. 67(?) Paul beheaded in Rome
A.D. 69 Vespasian became emperor

A.D. 70 Jerusalem destroyed by Romans

Table adapted from Kealy and Shenk, 15–17

Judaism offered hope for the coming of a messiah who would establish
a kingdom upon the earth, and the Jews openly proclaimed this hope
throughout the Roman world. Obviously, the wise men who came to
Jerusalem not long after the birth of Christ also embraced this hope. In
contrast to the prevailing worship of many gods, the Jews asserted that
there was only one true God. The Old Testament offered the world a
sacred book with the highest moral and ethical standards. Christ and the
Spirit-filled leaders of the early church were indebted to the Old Testament
and referred to it often.

When one examines the Jewish world as the Old Testament was
giving way to the New, the contemporary literature shows considerable
progress in Jewish thought in at least three directions:

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