In the first year the research director concerned himself with the emperor cult in the hellenistic world. The theme of this project is “Civilization and Religion: the correlation of the Christianity and the Hellenistic civilization and the religion”. ...
In the first year the research director concerned himself with the emperor cult in the hellenistic world. The theme of this project is “Civilization and Religion: the correlation of the Christianity and the Hellenistic civilization and the religion”. This study is dealt with the conflict between the ruler (the emperor) cult and Judaism/ Christianity which occured in the process of the Alexander's Eastern Expedition. After the conqueror's death, he was worshiped as a god by his successors. Ptolemy dynasty in Egypt and Seleucid dynasty in Syria attempted the ruler(the emperor) cult.
A conflict of Hellenism and Judaism, especially the Hellenistic civilization and the ruler(the emperor) worship, took place from the revolution of the Maccabees(167 B.C.E.), the Zeloten(the Judaean war, 67-70 C.E.). The resistance against the emperor worship in Judaism continued throughout the Bar Kochba war(in the 129/130 C.E.).
Jesus' teaching is a little different from the traditional Jewish antagonism. Jesus emphasiz that God ruled the world. In his sermons, Jesus preached that God's reign had been already realized right in this world. However, in the resistance of Judaism, Jewish people expected the Jesus eschatological future to come. Over two to three centuries, Christianity had a conflict with the emperor worship. This would cause the persecution of the church. Christian apologetic documents showed that Christianity had suffered conflict with the emperor worship. Especially these documents showed that the state power under the Roman emperors was just relative. Its contents are summarized as follows.
First, the early churches argued that the Roman emperor was not a god. That is, human is the creature of God, so Christians denied the emperor to be a god. An Emperor was just a person for whom christians should pray.
Second, the churchfathers and christians defined the emperor worship as an idolatry. They refused to devote offerings to the spirit of the dead emperor because they believed that this act was an idol worship. Finally, christians proved their beliefs by rejecting to give sacrifices to the ruller cult. The Roman rulers regarded this activity as a resistance to the state power.
And in the seceond year the research director dealt with the subject "the comparison between an idea of benefactor of Greco-Roman world and the early christianity". The term 'euergetism' means a moral essence that a beneficiary should repay the benefactor for his beneficence. This theme represents the strict principle of reciprocity and a social structure in relationship with the power and the economy. This research will deal with the process of how the early christianity accepted this concept and improved itself. This term comes from Greek euergetes. A. Boulanger made this word the academic term. This concept means a reciprocal give and take in the milieu of socio-anthropology. The euergetism is related to the fact that a beneficiary should repay the benefactor for his good beneficence in the meaning of the strict reciprocity wether it is positive or negative. The principal concept of good deeds(euergesia/beneficium) has a presupposition that the reciprocative thanksgiving(charis/eucharistia/gratia) must follow good deeds. As a result the benefactors expected a thanksgiving or a honor from the beneficiaries as the reward of their virtue. The honor that is attained by beneficence must follow the rule of euergetism. So the euergesia depends on the intimate friendship between the people. And the relationship between the benefector and the beneficiary and the gods was based on the idea of euergetism that formed a social reciprocity.
This concept represented the relationship between the Greek states since the fifth century B.C.E. Also the euergetism was the decisive factor that recognized the outstanding status of the person who had given charity. Spontaneity and obligation was not differentiated in the process of the euergetism.
Through this idea the antiquity could maintain the stable system of the power and led the society for a long time. Also the research of euergetism give us an important perspective that understand the social and economic situation at that time in connection with the beneficence and repay.
In first year, the common researcher concerned himself with a relation between Christianity and the politics of Byzantine Civilization. His research aimed at a chronological investigation of the Codex Theodosianus. The Codex Theodosianus is an official code of the Christian period since Constantine the Great to 438. In this code, some two thousand constitutions are edited in sixteen volumes of which each has a specific theme. The Codex Theodosianus is a very considerable material that represents overall general aspects of politics, society and culture of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, this code of Christian period caused many difficulties to researchers, because it’s classified according to themes. In first year, the common researcher classified chronologically all the code, and his study which he calls <Genealogia Constitutionum Codicis Theodosiani> and he classified into an amount of 174 sheets (A4) in a form of PDF document would be an useful instrument or tool for the research of the early Byzantine Civilization.
In second year, his researches consisted of third fields. At first, he engaged himself into an international conference held on December 2012 in Korea. He invited two european scholars. One is Pierre Maraval, emeritus professor of University of Sorbonne, and the other, Christian Raschle, professor of University of Montreal. Professor Maraval presented an article entitled “Le Christianisme et le pouvoir politique dans les premiers siecles,” which is destined to a politico-religious relation of the fourth century. Professor Christian Raschle who concerned himself with the Byzantine culture, presented an article intitled “Teaching by exemplum- Culture and Rhetoric in the Pagan and Christian Tradition in Late Antiquity.”
Secondly, he tried to examine a cooperation for the poor of the early Byzantine Empire and Christianity. He published an article entitled “A Collaboration for the Poor of the Early Byzantine Empire and Christianity.” New Christian leaders called ‘Poor Euergetes’ came into existence in the 4th-6th century in the Byzantine World. The Poor Euergetes, monks or bishops who abandoned their property for Christ, were new heroes of the Christian period inaugurated by Constantine the Great in the 4th century. Nevertheless, they did not originate simply from Christian monastic spirituality. With the birth of the new leading class, the Poor Euergetes were also influenced by Hebrew-Jewish spirituality. This called for the care on the poor and the Greeko-Roman tradition of euergesia.
It is worthwhile to pay attention to the imperial constitutions written since the 4th century. These influenced numerous Christian institutions. Constantine the Great offered to the church a right of inheritance. This right was not a problem until the 6th century. On the other hand, several Emperors like Leo, Anastasios and Justinianus aimed at the growth of numerous of Christian institutions with a policy called ‘prohibitio alienandi.’ This policy helped them to engage in the establishment and operation of the hospitals of the Christian Euergetes for the poor. I presented a list of some hospitals administrated by monasteries and churches. The Poor Euergetes that Christian hagiography of the 4th-6th century described were not imaginary but a historical leading group which established these hospitals and cared for the poor. Consequently, the imperial policy and Christian institutions collaborated for the charitable care of the poor in Early Christian Civilization.
Thirdly, the common investigator studied a relation of the Byzantine culture and Christianity. In June, 2012, he presented, in an international conference held in the Catholic University of America, Washington, an article entitled “Christian Moses in the Transfiguration of Early Christian Art.” In his study, he tried to show, in a point of view of visual art, how to christianize ‘Moses, Jewish hero’ in 4th-6th century. He published also an another article entitled “Trinity represented in the visual art of the 4th-6th century.” The Christian dogma of the Trinity was a crucial issue of the ecclesiastical history of the 4th century. But the history of the trinitarian image of the 4th - 6th century was not investigated in Korea, and the common researcher synthesized the trinitarian images of this period.