Скачать или смотреть How the Economy Worked in the Time of Jesus

Jesus did not emerge in a neutral or purely spiritual world. He lived inside one of the most extractive and unequal economic systems of the ancient Mediterranean.

In Roman Judea, daily life was shaped not by theology, but by taxation, debt, land dispossession, and institutional power. This video presents an economic history analysis of how the Roman financial system enforced through imperial authority, local elites, and Temple institutions systematically impoverished the population during the time of Jesus.

We examine how layered taxation drained peasant households, how debt functioned as a permanent trap rather than temporary hardship, and how land steadily moved from small farmers into the hands of elites and absentee landlords. The Temple, far from being only a religious center, operated as a financial authority that reinforced economic discipline and legitimacy.

Within this context, Jesus appears not simply as a religious figure, but as an economic and political challenger. His teachings, actions, and confrontations disrupted the moral narratives that justified extraction, hierarchy, and debt as “natural” or divinely sanctioned.

This is not a story about faith.
It is a story about money, power, legitimacy and how economic systems maintain order even under widespread suffering.

Key Facts & Insights:

• Roman Judea operated under multiple layers of taxation: Roman imperial taxes, Herodian and local levies, and Temple obligations.
• Most households lived one tax cycle or failed harvest away from debt bondage and land loss.
• Debt was framed as moral failure, reinforcing social control rather than offering relief.
• Land consolidation steadily transferred property from peasants to elites and absentee owners.
• The Temple functioned as a religious institution and a powerful financial authority.
• Jesus’ message economically and politically challenged the legitimacy of this system.
• Moral narratives were used to normalize inequality and extraction.
• These economic mechanisms did not disappear — they evolved and scaled across history.