The Greek Pen and The Roman Sword interact with Jewish Messianism. The textual documents of the New Testament. What was the context of their development. Where, Why, When. When were they written. What was the political and cultural pressures (context/matrix) when these religious documents were being written. Under the shade of Roman Swords.

"I have always thought of the historical Jesus as a homeland Jew within Judaism within the Roman Empire. For me, then, within Judaism within the Roman Empire has always been the absolutely necessary matrix rather than the annoyingly unnecessary background for any discussion of earliest Christianity."
John Dominic Crossan


The audience for the gospel writers. Centurions, Roman soldiers, Tax collectors, Imperial administrators, Gentile women mothers, outcasts of the law

Shema: the First Passage
Yeshua and Yaakov | Jewish Martyrs

“You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law."
Jerusalem Jesus movement according to Luke/Acts

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the empire of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”
The Gospel of Mark


"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
Jesus of Nazareth, Luke Q source

The original diversity of late second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity meets the bottleneck of the great clashes between the Jewish rebellions and the Roman Empire. Out of the Anvil and the Hammer will emerge a new religion and a new Judaism forged from this dynamic explosive mix of civilizations.

167 Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes introduces pagan rites at Jerusalem Temple, triggering the Maccabean revolt
Daniel

The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes directed a series of measures against Judaea which culminated in the suppression of Jewish worship. The Temple was desecrated, circumcision proscribed (forbidden) and abstention from pork was outlawed. Opposition from the Jews broke out all over the country.

"The Apostle Paul accomplished by his pen (also the Roman sword against the Jews) what Antiochus Epiphanes had tried to achieve by force: a religion detached from Torah, assimilated into common Hellenistic culture."
- Scholar Barrie Wilson


“The Maccabees won many of the battles, but in the end, they lost the war against Hellenism,” said Meyers, a retired professor of religion at Duke University and founding director of its Center for Jewish Studies.
“There is no doubt about the victory of the Maccabees over Antiochus IV,” said Meyers. “It was stunning and memorable. But what happened in the two revolts against Rome? Jews were soundly defeated.”
“While the Hanukkah revolt story is inspirational for rejecting foreign ways and bans against Jewish practice, the aftermath was very complicated,” he said. “Ultimately Hellenism triumphs in the sense that it led to accommodation to some ideas and customs of Greco-Roman culture.

The Roman Sword and The Greek Pen paved the way for the Church Fathers to condemn the Jewish people and nation. Defeat is an orphan and Victory has a thousand Fathers. The Jewish Jesus was abandoned and remade for the Roman world.