Greek Philosophy—Did It Enrich Christianity?
“Christianity, though hostile to pagan Greek and Roman culture, in fact absorbed much classical philosophy.”—The Encyclopedia Americana.
AMONG those who had a definitive influence on “Christian” thought, “Saint” Augustine holds an undisputed position. According to The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Augustine’s “mind was the crucible in which the religion of the New Testament was most completely fused with the Platonic tradition of Greek philosophy; and it was also the means by which the product of this fusion was transmitted to the Christendoms of medieval Roman Catholicism and Renaissance Protestantism.”
Augustine’s legacy is indeed enduring. Speaking of the extent to which Greek philosophy has influenced Christendom, Douglas T. Holden stated: “Christian theology has become so fused with Greek philosophy that it has reared individuals who are a mixture of nine parts Greek thought to one part Christian thought.”
Some scholars strongly believe that such philosophical influence enhanced Christianity in its infancy, enriched its teaching, and made it more convincing. Was this the case? How and when did the influence of Greek philosophy take place? Did it, in fact, enrich or did it pollute Christianity?
It is enlightening to trace a number of developments from the third century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E. through an examination of four strange terms: (1) “Hellenized Judaism,” (2) “Christianized Hellenism,” (3) “Hellenized Christianity,” and (4) “Christian philosophy.”
“Hellenized Judaism”
The first, “Hellenized Judaism,” is truly a contradiction. The original religion of the Hebrews, which was instituted by the true God, Jehovah, was not to be contaminated with false religious ideas. (Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:5, 6) Right from the start, however, purity of worship came under threat of corruption by the false religious practices and thinking that surrounded it—such as the influence from Egyptian, Canaanite, and Babylonian sources. Sad to say, Israel allowed its true worship to become deeply corrupted.—Judges 2:11-13.
Centuries later, when ancient Palestine became part of the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E., this corruption plumbed new depths and left behind a lasting and corrosive legacy. Alexander recruited Jews into his army. The contacts between the Jews and their new conqueror deeply influenced Jewish religious thinking. Judaistic education was penetrated by Hellenistic thought. High Priest Jason is reputed to have established a Greek academy in Jerusalem in 175 B.C.E. to promote the study of Homer.
Interestingly, a Samaritan, writing in the second half of the second century B.C.E., sought to present Bible history as Hellenized historiography. Apocryphal Jewish books, such as Judith and Tobit, actually allude to Greek erotic legends. A number of Jewish philosophers appeared who attempted to reconcile Greek thought with the Jewish religion and the Bible.
The figure that is most credited with this is Philo, a Jew of the first century C.E. He appropriated the doctrines of Plato (fourth century B.C.E.), the Pythagoreans, and the Stoics. Jews were profoundly influenced by Philo’s views. Summing up this intellectual infiltration of Greek thought into Jewish culture, Jewish author Max Dimont says: “Enriched with Platonic thought, Aristotelian logic, and Euclidian science, Jewish scholars approached the Torah with new tools. . . . They proceeded to add Greek reason to Jewish revelation.”
In time, the Romans absorbed the Greek Empire, taking over Jerusalem. This opened the way for even more significant changes. By the third century C.E., the philosophical and religious doctrines of thinkers who endeavored to develop and synthesize the ideas of Plato took their definitive form, known collectively today as Neoplatonism. This school of thought was bound to have a profound influence on apostate Christianity.
