Starożytna Palestyna pod panowaniem Rzymu z perspektywy katechezy biblijnej

Abstract

The present paper deals with biblical catechesis concerning the situation of ancient Palestine kept under Roman dominion. This problem in its broad context refers to the interdisciplinary correlation between history lessons and biblical catecheses. The limitations of the civil authority in Palestine in times of Herod the Great and his successors have been described, as well as the circumstances of life in Judea as a Roman province. The Hebrew religious parties of the New Testament times, which should be presented to pupils during biblical catecheses, have been specified and the ancient Rome in the period of Principate has been depicted. To achieve a level of religious education comparable with the general level of education attained in other domains at a given school education period, a catechist should carefully choose the material and make use of the possibility of correlation between the biblical themes and other school subjects. The correct attitude towards biblical texts demands for the familiarity with the historical and cultural conditions of their origin. It is governed by catechetic rules of biblical text interpretation taking into account also the human author of the Scriptures. The school historical knowledge can provide catecheses with many interesting data, if only the catechist is able to show the proper direction of exploring some of its elements. Biblical times and countries being the place of important biblical events are presented during the ancient history lessons both in grammar and in secondary school. The catechist can make use of the information already gained by pupils enriching it with biblical references. Frequently it is sufficient only to show the pupils that the historical reality refers also to the persons and events met in Bible stories, and being familiar with this reality helps to understand the individual Bible books.