What if: After his "resurrection" Jesus lead an anti Roman revolt

So, in The Bible, Jesus of Nazareth is executed by the Roman authorities and rises from the dead after three days. After his rise he performs several miracles and establishes the Christian Church as a distinct religion from Judaism.

Ignoring the historicity of the supernatural elements of the story, what if after Jesus "rises" from the dead he begins preaching not a docile spiritual doctrine, but incites a generalized Jewish (and in keeping with Christian universalism, anti Roman gentile) revolt). Assuming that the Roman's don't crush it like a bug, what would the spread of a militantly anti Roman religion mean? What The Christian Church were more like what Roman emperors imagined it to be when they sent thousands to the lions?
 
If Jesus did that he'd have actually been fulfilling some of the other Jewish prophecies about a kingdom on earth not only in heaven and would have been accepted by most or at least more of the other Jews. The split between Christianity and Judaism would not have really happened.

In reality it would have gone down in history not unlike the other jewish revolts that were crushed by the Romans and Jesus would just be one name in a line of jews who tried to revolt against Rome.
 

Philip

Donor
Assuming that the Roman's don't crush it like a bug, what would the spread of a militantly anti Roman religion mean?

Judaism at the beginning of the Common Era was filled with Messianic expectations and claimants. Those that attracted a following were crushed. Indeed, they led to the end of Second Temple Judaism. Your *christianity would be no different.
 
If he's the Son of God then he wins. Period.

Otherwise he loses and goes down in history as barely a historical footnote.
 

Skallagrim

Banned
As others have said:if he loses in his revolt (as is to be expected) he is just one of many failed claimants. The interesting immediate effect would be on Judaism, which actually defined itself in part in opposition to emerging Christianity. The destruction of the Temple will still be sufficient to prompt the development into Rabbinical Judaism, but without Christianity, some particulars of the resultic doctrine may well be different. In the long term, the absence of Christianity will have a major effect on Rome and on the future of Europe and the world, of course. Since there are countless directions thing could have evolved into, speculating on the specifics there is by definition more an exercise of the imagination than of counterfactual history.

Supposing for a second that Jesus succeeds in his revolt, this alone proves his legitimacy. Those Jews who condemned him will either beg for mercy and join him, or will be punished for their treason. Jesus will be widely considered the Messiah, and perhaps only some minority sects will refuse to follow him. Mainstream Judaism will evolve in a radically different direction, becoming... "Post-Messianic Judaism", I suppose. Jesus will be King of the Jews in any case. Again, the long-term effects on a larger scale will be vast by default, but impossible to accurately project.
 
As others have said:if he loses in his revolt (as is to be expected) he is just one of many failed claimants. The interesting immediate effect would be on Judaism, which actually defined itself in part in opposition to emerging Christianity. The destruction of the Temple will still be sufficient to prompt the development into Rabbinical Judaism, but without Christianity, some particulars of the resultic doctrine may well be different. In the long term, the absence of Christianity will have a major effect on Rome and on the future of Europe and the world, of course. Since there are countless directions thing could have evolved into, speculating on the specifics there is by definition more an exercise of the imagination than of counterfactual history.

Supposing for a second that Jesus succeeds in his revolt, this alone proves his legitimacy. Those Jews who condemned him will either beg for mercy and join him, or will be punished for their treason. Jesus will be widely considered the Messiah, and perhaps only some minority sects will refuse to follow him. Mainstream Judaism will evolve in a radically different direction, becoming... "Post-Messianic Judaism", I suppose. Jesus will be King of the Jews in any case. Again, the long-term effects on a larger scale will be vast by default, but impossible to accurately project.

Would it be possible to keep the universalistic element of Jesus’s message, like could he inspire gentiles to join his movement as an anti Roman rebel. I know that Christianity didn’t even begin to take on its character as a religion for all until 100 years after his death, so I’m doubtful.
 

Philip

Donor
A seditious cult like the zealots who threatened Roman authority and plotted armed uprisings across the empire.

i don't think that represents the consensus of the emperors' opinions.

Would it be possible to keep the universalistic element of Jesus’s message, like could he inspire gentiles to join his movement as an anti Roman rebel.

The problem you face is that the universal message is based on his ultimate return and victory. As soon as you put the onus of defeating Rome on the followers, you are doomed to fail. You need a series of Jewish victories to establish that this earthly messiah is legitimate. Achieve that, and maybe you can get some gentiles onboard. I don't see how you do this without Rome crushing it.

. I know that Christianity didn’t even begin to take on its character as a religion for all until 100 years after his death, so I’m doubtful.

Paul was writing of the ingrafting of the gentiles within a decade or three.
 
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Philip

Donor
The destruction of the Temple will still be sufficient to prompt the development into Rabbinical Judaism but without Christianity, some particulars of the resultic doctrine may well be different. In the long term, the absence of Christianity will have a major effect on Rome and on the future of Europe and the world, of course. Since there are countless directions thing could have evolved into,

Agreed. Arguments have been made (with greatly varying scholarly merit) that theological disputes with Christians motivated Jewish sages to be more precise in their ideas of scripture. It may have also reduced the number of threads in Jewish thought as some were either absorbed into Christianity or excluded as too foreign.
 
It would be quiet difficult to Romans lost some small very local rebel which residents of the capital wouldn't even notice. So if you keep gods and other supernatural things away Jesus would need either full-blown Roman Civil War or strong support of Parthians. And in both case Kingdom of Judea would be just puppet of some stronger nation.
 
I think Jesus wanted to spread his faith to non-Hebrews, and a revolt would be counter productive.

I don't think the Emperors at this time would have been accommodating to a negotiated peace with a small rebel province. For this revolt to succeed, they would need an alliance with Parthia, and until then the Romans would need to be very unfortunate. The Jesusian Revolutionary Front would make overtures to Parthia through the client kingdom Adiabene. I think these events would give Aratbanus III clout to secure his throne better. This would also come on the heels of the purge of Sejanus' rebellion so it might make Tiberius completely lose his mind. The Jews within the empire may be put to death.

How would a Parthian aligned Israel interact with the Nabateans? Would Syria be lost? What would happen in Egypt? Christianity would have a hard time spreading west, but perhaps not so hard a time spreading east. Armenia may still well convert.
 
The (actual) Jewish revolt around 70AD was crushed with extreme brutality by the Romans. Jerusalem was razed to the ground and thousands slaughtered. The Jews were dispersed, and even the very name of the city was changed.

I think the results of the hypothetical are the same.
 
Shouldn't this be in ASB?

Why ? It doesn't take an alien space bat to convince Jesus of leading an uprising. Making him have an epiphany, a dream, or whatever reasoning for him is not impossible.

In any case, as others have said, the so-called uprising would fail and he along with his close followers would be executed for going against Roman authority.
 
Supposing for a second that Jesus succeeds in his revolt, this alone proves his legitimacy. Those Jews who condemned him will either beg for mercy and join him, or will be punished for their treason. Jesus will be widely considered the Messiah, and perhaps only some minority sects will refuse to follow him. Mainstream Judaism will evolve in a radically different direction, becoming... "Post-Messianic Judaism", I suppose. Jesus will be King of the Jews in any case. Again, the long-term effects on a larger scale will be vast by default, but impossible to accurately project.

If the revolt succeeds then this is very likely only temporary (Rome circa AD 30 has no major distraction and will eventually crush Judea). Let's say that the forces mustered IOTL to invade Britain in 43 are sent to Judea instead. While this short-lived New Kingdom of Judah will (at first) seem, from the Roman point of view, only a speed bump in establishing the Mare Nostrum, its 10 years of existence are more than enough for Ieshua to be validated as Messiah, Son of Man, King of the Jews, Heir of David etc. So indeed Judaism will be very much transformed by this.
 
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