On Early Christianity

Eyes to See · Apr 20, 2020

Rival said:
He would have used an Aramaic targum. Jews do not consider Greek a language appropriate for Torah reading.

Source?

The Jews read from the Septuagint. An example is Stephen.

"For example, when speaking with men from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia, the disciple Stephen said: “Joseph sent out and called Jacob his father and all his relatives from that place [Canaan], to the number of seventy-five souls.” (Acts 6:8-10; 7:12-14) The Hebrew text in Genesis chapter 46 says that the number of Joseph’s relatives was seventy. But the Septuagint uses the number seventy-five. Apparently, Stephen quoted from the Septuagint.—Genesis 46:20, 26, 27, footnote."

Also:

"WHEN Jesus called God his Father, his Jewish hearers knew the One about whom he was talking. They saw God’s name in the Hebrew Bible scrolls available in their synagogues. Such a scroll was handed to Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown, Nazareth. He read a passage from Isaiah that contained Jehovah’s name twice.—Luke 4:16-21.

Jesus’ early disciples also saw God’s name in the Septuagint—the translation of the Bible into Greek, which the early Christians used in teaching and writing. True, at one time it was thought that God’s name did not appear in the Septuagint, but it is now definitely known that this name was so respected that the Tetragrammaton (the term scholars use for the four letters with which God’s name is written in Hebrew) was copied in Hebrew letters, right into the Greek text.

Aquila wrote God’s name in Hebrew letters in his Greek text as late as the second century. In the third century Origen wrote that “in the most faithful manuscripts THE NAME is written in Hebrew characters.” In the fourth century the Bible translator Jerome wrote: “We find the four-lettered name of God (i.e., יהוה) in certain Greek volumes even to this day expressed in the ancient letters.”

Source
God’s Name in the Christian Scriptures — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

The divine name was in use in the Hebrew and the Greek while Jesus was alive on earth.

It appears it was the Hebrew Jesus read from, not Aramaic or Greek in the Synagogue.

Wandering Monk · Apr 20, 2020

Have you ever been to a synagogue service? I have been to many. The Torah is read during services in Hebrew. In times past, if the audience were not Hebrew speakers, there would be a translator who would read it in the colloquial.

METURGEMAN - JewishEncyclopedia.com

sayak83 · Apr 20, 2020

Mauricius Modestus said:
Since I’ve been studying early Christian history, I’ve become quite sympathetic towards it. Although, for various theological reasons (not least of which being my theistic orientation), I couldn’t identify as one. I’ve grown to understand what makes Christianity Christianity.

Though, I still have a two-part question that intrigues me:

1. Why did some of Yeshua’s people (Jews) – over and against their better judgment as to what they knew about the Messiah – choose to believe in Him? Even a few Pharisees, maybe some Sadducees, as well. They were waiting for a king, not a carpenter.

2. As to Gentiles who believed (specifically Greeks and Romans), they were polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. Heck, the Romans had a god or goddess each for, literally, every thing underneath the sun, with statues out the ***! Yet had decided to forsake all of those, for only one: The G-d of Israel. A god they couldn’t see with their eyes, a god that one wasn’t supposed to even utter the name of! Why? What caused this?

I don't think Christianity was prospering much before the incidents of 70CE when the temple was destroyed and official Judaic temple religion took a massive hit. That crisis of confidence caused some of the Jewish people to look at alternatives. And the sect of Jesus gained traction.

Sundance · Apr 20, 2020

Jayhawker Soule said:
Given our texts and traditions, as well as the quality of what passes for evidence, is not our decision to view the messianic claims concerning Jesus as being dubious if not wholly baseless at least understandable?

From your perspective, this is understandable.

Harel13 · Apr 20, 2020

Rival said:
He would have used an Aramaic targum. Jews do not consider Greek a language appropriate for Torah reading.

Worth checking these out:
https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/18822/20472
https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/68096/20472

Eyes to See · Apr 20, 2020

Mauricius Modestus said:
Since I’ve been studying early Christian history, I’ve become quite sympathetic towards it. Although, for various theological reasons (not least of which being my theistic orientation), I couldn’t identify as one. I’ve grown to understand what makes Christianity Christianity.

Though, I still have a two-part question that intrigues me:

1. Why did some of Yeshua’s people (Jews) – over and against their better judgment as to what they knew about the Messiah – choose to believe in Him? Even a few Pharisees, maybe some Sadducees, as well. They were waiting for a king, not a carpenter.

2. As to Gentiles who believed (specifically Greeks and Romans), they were polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. Heck, the Romans had a god or goddess each for, literally, every thing underneath the sun, with statues out the ***! Yet had decided to forsake all of those, for only one: The G-d of Israel. A god they couldn’t see with their eyes, a god that one wasn’t supposed to even utter the name of! Why? What caused this?

1. Jesus gave evidence of divine origin and favor. He taught as no other ever taught. He showed love to the common people, something the Jewish religious leaders did not do. He effected miracles and fulfilled a score of Bible prophecies concerning the Messiah.

The Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees knew that he was from God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish high court said as much:

"This one came to him in the night and said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can perform these signs that you perform unless God is with him.”-John 3:2.

So it wasn't without basis or grounds that the Jews put faith in Jesus.

2. This is a good question. The first of such uncircumcised gentiles was Cornelius of course and his entire household. Although, while on earth very high Roman officials put their faith in Jesus. One such was rewarded when Jesus resurrected his daughter back to life. They were God fearing. And saw the evidence Jesus Christ gave as sufficient to put faith in him.

Even the Roman officer in charge of Jesus' hanging on the stake when he saw Jesus dying and the entire sky grow dark, and no doubt witnessed the earthquake that took place made the statement:

"But when the army officer and those with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and the things happening, they grew very much afraid and said: “Certainly this was God’s Son.”-Matthew 27:54.

Harel13 · Apr 21, 2020

Eyes to See said:
The Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees knew that he was from God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish high court said as much:

"This one came to him in the night and said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can perform these signs that you perform unless God is with him.”-John 3:2.

As this is not the debate section, I won't get too much into this point, but suffice it to say that this quote from Nicodemus just serves to reinforce what I stated previously on this thread:

Harel13 said:
I'll add to what @Rival wrote: Most Jews who are moderately-to-well versed in aggadic and Talmudic texts, upon hearing the name "Nicodemus" well probably say: "Huh? Who?" - Christians appear to make him out to be one of the "top" Pharisees because he spoke to Jesus, but it is unclear who the man was.

The reason Nicodemus believes in Jesus' claims, according to the NT, strongly contradicts various Talmudic sources on miracles - that miracles do not prove anything - and worse, contradicts the Torah itself...

Sundance · Apr 21, 2020

Vouthon said:
@Mauricius Modestus

The previous responses have already provided sound and convincing explanations for the appeal of Christianity in the Graeco-Roman world (i.e. relative egalitarianism of the Christians versus Roman hierachalism, radical social values, poor relief and care for the sick during the great plagues etc.)

One element missing thus far - in terms of the early widespread conversions in key urban centres throughout the Empire from Thessalonica to Ephesus and Alexandria (which gave the new faith its base from which to grow in the following centuries) - is the role played by the "Theosebeis" or God-Fearing Gentiles.

This had been quite a burgeoning movement in the Roman Empire and consisted of Greek-speaking Gentiles who were deeply attracted to the God of Israel, the Hebrew Bible and to the ethical values of the Torah yet did not seek to become actual proselytes. They didn't want to bind themselves to the full observance of the mitzvot. For males - in particular - there was significant reservation about undergoing the rite of circumcision (due to a a strong social stigma against it in classical culture, arising from the fact that many of the gymnasiums mandated customary nudity and Greeks didn't like looking at the uncircumcised penises, for aesthetic reasons).

To varying degrees of association with Jewish practice, God-Fearers increasingly attached themselves to synagogues throughout the diaspora by the first century whilst God-sympathisers began reading parts of the Septuagint (the Tanakh translated into Greek) or at least entertained Hellenised Jewish concepts. They represented fertile 'recruitment' ground for the early Christian movement and a number of scholars believe that many of the first generation converts were in fact God-Fearers or God-sympathisers, rather than outright pagans:

God-fearer - Wikipedia

God-fearers (Greek: φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν, phoboumenoi ton Theon)[1] or God-worshippers (Greek: θεοσεβεῖς, Theosebeis)[1] were a numerous class of Gentile sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism that existed in the Greco-Roman world,[2][3][4][5] which observed certain Jewish religious rites and traditions without becoming full converts to Judaism.[2][3][6][7][8] The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible.

Judaising Gentiles and God-fearers are considered by modern scholars to be of significant importance to the growth of early Christianity;[27][28] they represented a group of Gentiles who shared religious ideas and practices with Jews, to one degree or another.[6][8] However, the God-fearers were only "partial" converts, engaged in certain Jewish rites and traditions without taking a step further to actual conversion to Judaism, which would have required full adherence to the 613 Mitzvot (including various prohibitions such as kashrut, circumcision, Shabbat observance etc.) that were generally unattractive to would-be Gentile (largely Greek) converts.[6][8] The rite of circumcision was especially unappealing and execrable in Classical civilization [28][29][30] because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising nude in the gymnasium and in Roman baths, therefore Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskins.[29][30] Hellenistic and Roman culture both found circumcision to be cruel and repulsive.[29][30]

The Apostle Paul in his letters fiercely criticized the Judaizers that demanded circumcision for Gentile converts,[31] and opposed them;[28][32][33][34] he stressed instead that faith in Christ constituted a New Covenant with God,[34] a covenant which essentially provides the justification and salvation for Gentiles from the harsh edicts of the Mosaic Law, a New Covenant that didn't require circumcision[28][32][33][34] (see also Justification by faith, Pauline passages supporting antinomianism, Abrogation of Old Covenant laws). Lydia of Thyatira, who became Paul's first convert in Europe, is described as "a worshipper of God" (Acts 16:14); the Roman soldier Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch are also considered by modern scholars as God-fearers.[27][35]

(continued....)

This is a ton of valuable info, @Vouthon! Thanks a ton! Also, I did know of certain gentiles who were drawn to Judaism in the Christian scriptures, I just had never known why!

Terrywoodenpic · Apr 21, 2020

Rival said:
I'm not aware of this. Evidence, please?

Mainly because Christianity offered them a better deal. It appealed to slaves, women, the down and out because it preached a message of comparative equality. The Pagan world relied on a strict system of hierarchy and messages such as 'No slave no free, no man no woman, all are one in Jesus' was quite revolutionary. It freed them from the strict confines of the Pagan morality.

Roman slaves were rather different to most others, before or since.
For the most part they were more like indentured servants. who after a time were freed and became Roman citizens them selves. Many rose in society to be come traders, skilled crafts masters and even senators and generals.

Rome never had a high enough birth rate to sustain it's growth or even maintain itself. A large majority of its population, though citizens, were of foreign origin. and became citizens though service. Rome had a very high death rate partly because it was rife with mosquito borne diseases.

Until Christianity became the state sponsored religion. all their religions had equal respect, as had all races and previous nationalities. Christianity and before that, Judaism were persecuted because they claimed to be the only True Religion and that all other gods were false. this went against the Roman ethos of equality. and not surprisingly caused resentment.

Vouthon · Apr 21, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
It's Pentecostal denominations that are mainly growing, displacing Catholicism and mainline Protestantism in Latin America, Africa and spreading to East Asia. This isn't a good sign, imo.

@Rival Not quite the full picture, Catholicism is growing as well in Africa and Asia, whilst it is losing ground to Pentecostalism in South America and it's numbers continue to drop in Europe/America:

Why Africa is the future for the Catholic Church

Africa has the fastest growing Catholic population in the world, while Western Europe, once regarded as the heartland of Christianity, has become one of the world's most secular regions , according to the US-based Pew Research Center.

In contrast, Christianity, in its different denominations, is growing across Africa. The Pew Research Center predicts that by 2060 more than four in 10 Christians will be in sub-Saharan Africa.

And a study published by the US-based Center for Applied Research showed that in the period between 1980 and 2012 the number of Catholics in the world had increased by 57% to 1.2 billion, but growth in Europe was just 6%, compared to 283% in Africa. It put the number of Catholics in Africa at almost 200 million.

"I think Africa is where the future is really [for the Catholic Church]," says Nicolette Manglos-Weber, Assistant Professor of Religion and Society at Boston University's School of Theology.

Building schools and hospitals

... the Catholic Church people are part of "a social institution that provides a lot of support and security in places where precarious living is very common and widespread," Dr Manglos-Weber says.

"The Church provides hospitals, schools, [and] other social services. [These are ] things that post colonial governments in… Africa have had a difficult time providing on a widespread scale."

The role of Catholics in offering such services "far surpasses what either Protestant churches or Islamic communities have been able to", Dr Manglos-Weber adds.

Catholics increasing worldwide, reaching 1.329 billion

Between 2013 and 2018, there was an increase of about 6 percent of Catholics worldwide, which went from almost 1,254 to 1,329 million, for an increase of 75 million people. Of the total number of Catholics, 48 percent live in America, 21.5 in Europe and 11.1 in Asia, where there was a particular increase. As of 2018, Catholics are just under 18 percent of the world's population.

The number of Korean Catholics is growing: up by 48.6 per cent in the last 20 years

Catholics increase in South Korea but marriages decline - UCA News

Catholics increased from 3.9 million in 1999 to 5.8 million in 2018, recording growth of 49 percent, statistics released by the Catholic Pastoral Institute of Korea show

The most interesting to me is the continued rise of Protestant Christianity in China:

China's Christians keep the faith, rattling the country's leaders

Growing ranks of churchgoers outnumber Communist Party members

BEIJING -- Christianity is on the rise in China, with the growing number of followers making Communist Party leaders nervous that the religion may soon undermine party dogma.

Officially, there are about 44 million Christians in the country. But according to Freedom House, a U.S. human rights group, this number is closer to 100 million if those belonging to "underground" or "house churches" are included. Of these, about 60 to 80 million are Protestant and 12 million Catholic.

And with the number of Christian converts increasing -- especially in economically distressed villages and cities where many feel alienated -- the party is trying to rein in the unsanctioned underground churches, fearing the spread of Western ideals, including those of human rights.

The country is poised to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest Christian nation, according to one estimate.

China is liable to become the world's global superpower at some point in the 21st cenrury. The growth of Christianity there could have particularly significant ramifications in the future.

Evidently, Christianity is pivoting from being - hitherto - a European and Western-centred religion to becoming a largely African and Asian phenomenon (and remaining on top in South America, only just more Protestant than Catholic). It's decline is overwhelmingly in the West.

Native · Apr 21, 2020

Mauricius Modestus said:
2. As to Gentiles who believed (specifically Greeks and Romans), they were polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. Heck, the Romans had a god or goddess each for, literally, every thing underneath the sun, with statues out the ***! Yet had decided to forsake all of those, for only one: The G-d of Israel. A god they couldn’t see with their eyes, a god that one wasn’t supposed to even utter the name of! Why? What caused this?

I guess pure Emperors powers and nothing more.

In the adoption of Christianity and the 1 invisible God, the Roman Empire "secured their multiple deities" - and their souls - by naming the planets instead. This gendering naming of planets have caused all kinds of confusion in astrology and in the ancient understanding of the myths of creation where archetypical deities of creation are ascribed to planets and the Moon.

Listen to this video: "Symbols of an Alien Sky" where this planetary confusion have lead to very strange astronomical ideas based on ancient myths.

Native · Apr 21, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
Er, excuse you, but those are ethics even the most rudimentary societies have. You seem to think that pre-Christian people lived in lawless chaos, when they had very advanced civilizations and philosophy. Christianity ripped off its virtue ethics from the pagan Greeks in the first place.

And "Christian missionaries" have destroyed lots of native cultures all over the world in the name of their God.

Native · Apr 21, 2020

lostwanderingsoul said:
Why did God send a flood to destroy all but Noah and his family? Because Noah was the only honorable man God could find. Why did God destroy Sodom? They were all wicked and depraved. Sounds like a very advanced civilization to you?

"The Flood" is a GLOBAL MYTH and it has nothing to do with a "divine revenge" on all on humans.

This Flood is a scholarly confusion for the ancient description of the Milky Way River which "runs" all OVER and AROUND the Earth and not ON the Earth. Ancient people resembled the whitish contours of the Milky Way as, amongst other names, a "river in the Sky".

The scholarly idea of a "divine revenge" derives partly from a perception of factual flooding and especially from the simple lack of mythical/astronomical insights.

BilliardsBall · Apr 21, 2020

Mauricius Modestus said:
Since I’ve been studying early Christian history, I’ve become quite sympathetic towards it. Although, for various theological reasons (not least of which being my theistic orientation), I couldn’t identify as one. I’ve grown to understand what makes Christianity Christianity.

Though, I still have a two-part question that intrigues me:

1. Why did some of Yeshua’s people (Jews) – over and against their better judgment as to what they knew about the Messiah – choose to believe in Him? Even a few Pharisees, maybe some Sadducees, as well. They were waiting for a king, not a carpenter.

2. As to Gentiles who believed (specifically Greeks and Romans), they were polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. Heck, the Romans had a god or goddess each for, literally, every thing underneath the sun, with statues out the ***! Yet had decided to forsake all of those, for only one: The G-d of Israel. A god they couldn’t see with their eyes, a god that one wasn’t supposed to even utter the name of! Why? What caused this?

Answer to 1: Jesus fulfilled hundreds of Messianic prophecies.

Answer to 2: The true God demonstrated His love and power through Jesus Christ.

I don't know where you studied the early church, but I studied it in university AND through the BIBLE. The answers to 1 and 2 are very plain in the Bible.

MNoBody · Apr 21, 2020

these discussions always seem like what one would imagine the challenges of the jury would be in a case where the prosecution has destroyed and dismissed as much of the defence's evidence as they could, for centuries.
the few fragments that did survive sure seem to reveal a whole different story than the 'official' narrative, and the more one digs into these few scraps the redactive censors have missed, the less plausible the whole official story seems..
curious.

Tambourine · Apr 21, 2020

Terrywoodenpic said:
Roman slaves were rather different to most others, before or since.
For the most part they were more like indentured servants. who after a time were freed and became Roman citizens them selves. Many rose in society to be come traders, skilled crafts masters and even senators and generals.

Rome never had a high enough birth rate to sustain it's growth or even maintain itself. A large majority of its population, though citizens, were of foreign origin. and became citizens though service. Rome had a very high death rate partly because it was rife with mosquito borne diseases.

Like most things about ancient slavery, it likely depended a lot on where you ended up. Being a private house slave for a wealthy patrician was probably a pretty sweet deal by all accounts. On the other hand, being sent to the mines of Spain was effectively a death sentence, as life in the mines was usually nasty, brutish, and short.

Although one thing that one could see as a positive aspect of Roman slavery was that it wasn't based on race, religion or ethnicity, and that it was not uncommon for the children of slaves to be born as free people (although generally not as citizens, as citizenship, for most of pre-Christian Roman times, was considered a rare priviledge).

Until Christianity became the state sponsored religion. all their religions had equal respect, as had all races and previous nationalities. Christianity and before that, Judaism were persecuted because they claimed to be the only True Religion and that all other gods were false. this went against the Roman ethos of equality. and not surprisingly caused resentment.

I've read this a lot over time but there are a few instances in Roman history that make me dubious as to its general validity.

There have been several instances of the Roman Republic deeming specific religions a threat to the public order. One of the most prominent such instances was the cult of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine, whose festivities were quickly banned in Rome - any Roman citizen known to be a member of the cult would be barred from public office, and over time, the Roman Republic would extensively persecute the Dionysian cult.

Another instance where Romans persecuted religions was after the conquest of Gaul, i.e. modern day France. Practices of the Druidic faith common among the Gallic tribes were banned, and under Tiberius and Claudius, Druids would come to be widely persecuted.

Christianity, of course, would also become subject to frequent persecutions under the later Roman emperors. Even during Constantine's times, his rival emperors would hold on to the practice, even at a point where Christians were politically significant enough for the later Emperor Constantine to become their imperial patron.

Personally, I would argue that it may be a mistake to ascribe modern notions of "tolerance" to ancient empires as their priorities when it came to these policies were vastly different than in our modern age.

Native · Apr 21, 2020

BilliardsBall said:
Answer to 2: The true God demonstrated His love and power through Jesus Christ.

The entire "history of Jesus" and its connected dogmatism can very well be astronomical myths as the crucifixion, dead, rise and ascension is a common cultural myth of the Dying and Rising Deity.

By imaging a celestial star constellation which have a human form, this constellation is observed in different positions in the night Sky. Laying down (dead), rising from this position (resurrection) ascending in the Sky and again descending to the realm of the dead (position) again. (Also the cultural myth of "the returning deity" which also is connected to the "story of Jesus".

It´s all just an astronomical telling which also is why several cultures had the similar myth/story. It was "written" in the same night Sky.

Tambourine · Apr 21, 2020

Native said:
The entire "history of Jesus" and its connected dogmatism can very well be astronomical myths as the crucifixion, dead, rise and ascension is a common cultural myth of the Dying and Rising Deity.

By imaging a celestial star constellation which have a human form, this constellation is observed in different positions in the night Sky. Laying down (dead), rising from this position, ascending in the Sky and descending to the realm of the dead (position) again.

It´s all just an astronomical telling which also is why several cultures had the similar myth/story.

Not just that, Christianity was far from the only cult worshipping such a divine figure during the times of Jesus of Nazareth. Off the top of my head, you have the cult of Orpheus/Eleysian Mysteries, the cult of Isis, and the cult of Sol Invictus, all popular among Romans during the same era as early Christianity.

One could even argue that the Sol Invictus/Mithras cult would become the blueprint for many Christian monastic orders - it was a religion that primarily appealed to men that preached asceticism, ritual fasting, and chastity, possibly even celibacy in some cases. (Interestingly, its major iconography, e.g. the Tauroctony, also features analogies to astronomic signs that were considered mythically significant)

Rival · Apr 21, 2020

Eyes to See said:
1. Jesus gave evidence of divine origin and favor. He taught as no other ever taught. He showed love to the common people, something the Jewish religious leaders did not do. He effected miracles and fulfilled a score of Bible prophecies concerning the Messiah.

The Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees knew that he was from God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish high court said as much:

"This one came to him in the night and said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can perform these signs that you perform unless God is with him.”-John 3:2.

So it wasn't without basis or grounds that the Jews put faith in Jesus.

2. This is a good question. The first of such uncircumcised gentiles was Cornelius of course and his entire household. Although, while on earth very high Roman officials put their faith in Jesus. One such was rewarded when Jesus resurrected his daughter back to life. They were God fearing. And saw the evidence Jesus Christ gave as sufficient to put faith in him.

Even the Roman officer in charge of Jesus' hanging on the stake when he saw Jesus dying and the entire sky grow dark, and no doubt witnessed the earthquake that took place made the statement:

"But when the army officer and those with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and the things happening, they grew very much afraid and said: “Certainly this was God’s Son.”-Matthew 27:54.

You can't use the NT to prove the NT...

Brickjectivity · Apr 21, 2020

Mauricius Modestus said:
Though, I still have a two-part question that intrigues me:

1. Why did some of Yeshua’s people (Jews) – over and against their better judgment as to what they knew about the Messiah – choose to believe in Him? Even a few Pharisees, maybe some Sadducees, as well. They were waiting for a king, not a carpenter.

Many religions of the time had inner traditions. I wouldn't expect to find it spelled out on paper.

Some people think it was a political movement. I don't know if that was the case, but I'm sure there were political elements or perhaps anti-political ones. Religion and politics are not always separate.

Mauricius Modestus said:
2. As to Gentiles who believed (specifically Greeks and Romans), they were polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. Heck, the Romans had a god or goddess each for, literally, every thing underneath the sun, with statues out the ***! Yet had decided to forsake all of those, for only one: The G-d of Israel. A god they couldn’t see with their eyes, a god that one wasn’t supposed to even utter the name of! Why? What caused this?

I think you have a lot of assumptions. You'd need many models to cover them all. For example you assume that pagans are polytheists, but in fact many pagans both then and now often believe in facets of a system comprising a single reality or unity of forces to which they ascribe personalities. Some don't strictly believe in separate gods but rather facets of a single underlying force. Some believe in separate gods arranged in a hierarchy. Some don't believe and merely use gods as philosophical variables. If you examine the Greek gods family tree you'll see that there is a kind of philosophy to it, perhaps and attempt to see the world as an orderly system. I wouldn't consider it true polytheism. Its true there are genuine polytheists, however 'Worshipped many gods' is a hollow phrase unless filled in by what you mean. What is worship?

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