世界小史 第168期:犹太人

Good news – or glad tidings – is a translation of the Greek eu-angelion, from which we get the word evangelical.

好消息或愉快的消息——是希腊语eu-angelion的翻译，从而我们得到了单词evangelical。

And this good and happy news of the mercy of God the Father – the unique and invisible God in whom the Jews had believed long before Christ had lived and preached among them – soon spread throughout the Roman empire.

这条关于天父之恩惠的好的、愉快的消息，一如犹太人——基督曾在这些犹太人中间生活和传教——当初曾教导过的那样，这天父是惟一的和看不见的，这条愉快的消息不久便在整个罗马帝国传播开来。

Roman officials began to pay attention.

这时罗马官员们警觉起来了。

As you know they hadn't previously involved themselves in matters of religion.

你知道，他们往常是不干预宗教事务的。

But this was something new.

但是这里有某种新东西，

The Christians, who believed in just one God, were refusing to scatter incense before images of the emperor, which had been the custom since Rome had had an emperor.

信仰惟一的神的基督教徒们不愿意敬奉皇帝像。但是自从罗马有了皇帝，这已经是流行的做法了。

Like the rulers of the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Babylonians and the Persians, Roman emperors allowed themselves to be worshipped as gods.

他们让人家像敬奉神灵一样敬奉自己，一如埃及的、中国的、巴比伦的和波斯的统治者们所做的那样。

Their statues were everywhere, and every good citizen was expected to place a few perfumed grains in front of these images as an offering.

在全国都有他们的塑像，谁是一个好公民，谁就必然会不时在这些皇帝像前焚上几柱香。

But the Christians were refusing to do so. And people wanted to make them.

但是基督徒不这样做，所以人们就想强迫他们这样做。