A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem

A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem August 22, 2017

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For Jews the hot August week in A.D. 70 when Titus finally overcame the resistance, breached the Jerusalem city walls, and burned down the Temple, was one of the worst weeks in their entire history. For better or for worse it changed the nature of their religion from being a Temple-centered religion to being almost entirely a Torah-centered religion. It also eliminated most of the sects of Judaism (including Sadducees and the Qumranites) other than the Pharisees. All three or four major branches of Judaism today trace their origins back to the surviving Pharisaic sect.

But what exactly was the impact of the fall of Jerusalem on Christians? This is a pertinent question, not least because of the documents of the NT likely written after the fall of Jerusalem there is no post mortem to speak of! This is astounding considering the NT was almost entirely written by Jewish Christians, including of course Paul and John of Patmos. What happened to the Christians trapped in Jerusalem at the end of what Jesus had predicted exactly 40 years before would happen to Jerusalem ‘within a generation’?

My new historical novella, out today under the title A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem, tells the story of the brave Christian men and women who escaped the conflagration and headed to Pella, and points north, including Galilee. If you enjoyed A Week in the Life of Corinth, then I think you will enjoy this one as well, now available on Amazon.


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