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They believed that a great deliverer or messiah would arise to deliver Israel from its enemies and lead all Jews to a glorius new golden age.
他們相信，一位偉大的拯救者或者救世主會降臨，將以色列從敵手中拯救，引領所有猶太人進入輝煌的黃金時代。
This Messiahanic belief was especially strong in the days of the early Roman Empire,
在羅馬帝國早期，這種救世主的信仰尤其強烈，
just as Augustus was marketing the principate as the basis of Rome's golden age.
當時奧古斯都正在推行元首統治，為羅馬的盛世奠定基礎。
Different sects of Jews differed considerably on how the Messiah would carry out his function.
不同地區的猶太人對于救世主要怎樣拯救他們有著截然不同的看法。
Some Jews, like the Essen sect, believed in withdrawing as much as possible from everyday life to prepare for the judgment day and hopefully for eternal life.
埃森區的猶太人認為要從日常生活中盡可能地抽身出來，準備好迎接審判日，迎來永生。
Not that all Jews believed in an afterlife but the view was becoming more popular.
并不是所有猶太人都相信來生的存在，但是這種觀點越來越流行了。
Other Jews hoped that the Messiah would arrive as a great soldier who would drive those Romans out of Judea once and for all.
其他猶太人希望救世主能夠以戰士的形象出現，將那些羅馬人永遠趕出猶大地區。
The Christians accepted as their Messiah a carpenter named Jesus of Nazareth.
基督教徒認為一個名叫拿撒勒的耶穌的木匠是他們的救世主。
For a long time Jesus and his teachings escaped the notice of the Roman world,
很長一段時間里，耶穌和他的教義都沒有被羅馬世界注意到，
save for perhaps the legend, Pontius Pilatus, a historical figure by the way who is responsible for Jesus' crucifixion.
一直到羅馬帝國駐猶太的總督彼拉多，將耶穌逮捕并釘死在十字架上。
Because Jesus' teachings were collected only some time after his death establishing their precise meaning is extremely difficult.
耶穌的教義一直到他死后才收集起來，因此要確定它們的準確含義就變得極其艱難。
The process continues to this day and I am confident it always will,
一直到今天這種解釋過程還在持續，
and I will leave you to consider these matters yourself in keeping with your personal faith or your academic interest or whatever.
并且我相信還會繼續，我將留待你們自己去考慮這些問題，取決于你們自己的個人信仰，學術興趣之類的。
I do have to point out though that the New Testament's teachings are complex and sometimes paradoxical.
但是我必須要指出的是新約的教義是很復雜的。
These complexities in turn explain the extremely wide range of beliefs about what Jesus actually taught.
有時候還自相矛盾，這些矛盾之處又解釋了關于耶穌教義的不同信念的范圍何其之大。
For example, prior to the American civil war, to which we will be returning in a while, both the abolitionists and the slaveholders could support their causes with chapter and verse from the new testament.
例如美國內戰前，我們很快也會講到，廢奴派和蓄奴者都可以引用新約里的章節和詞句來為自己正名。
While irritating no doubt the people who had just rather be told what to believe Christianity presented its believers with spiritual and intellectual challenges.
基督教無疑讓那些只想知道去信仰什么的人不大愉快，它給自己的信徒帶來了精神上和智力上的挑戰。
Those who wished simply to believe could respond to Christianity's simple message of sacrifice and redemption.
那些只想有個簡單信仰的人可以僅僅回應基督教簡單的犧牲和救贖的訊息。
Those who wished to engage intellectually with the divine found Christianity equally satisfying.
而那些想要和神靈有心智上的交流的人也能從基督教中得到滿足。
Then is now, when believers found themselves frustrated by what they saw as a system of Christian worship they found unsatisfactory or inappropriate, they could appeal to their own study of the new testament and to what they saw as Christianity's true traditions and worship accordingly.
到了如今，當信徒們發現基督教崇拜體系讓自己感覺沮喪不滿或者不恰當的時候，就可以訴諸于自己所研究的新約按自己對于基督教的真正傳統和崇拜的理解來行事。
