Introduction to Judaeo-Christianity
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THE NEW TESTAMENT AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY
Having emerged from the Roman Empire which adopted much of the Ancient Greek tradition, the New Testament is written in a Hellenistic context – it brings Greek philosophy into a Judaeo-Christian understanding of God. However, whilst this has lead to many parallels between Plato’s Form of the Good, Aristotle’s Prime Mover and the Judaeo-Christian God, the Ancient Greek approach to theology is markedly different to that of Judaeo-Christianity.
THE DIFFERENCE IN APPROACHES
The key difference is that the Greeks adopted a philosophical approach to solving the mystery of the divine. Their concepts of the Form of the Good and the Prime Mover have been devised as an attempt to logically explain the existence of mankind and provide a purpose for life. A Greek philosopher’s starting point therefore is to form a rational, coherent argument to explain why God may or may not exist. However the Judaeo-Christian approach is based on the premise of faith – an abiding trust in God and a belief in the events and teachings of the bible. The bible thus does not adopt a philosophical outlook; rather it is the culmination of written works by people who all share the same faith. Furthermore, biblical language adopts a non-cognitive approach – it uses metaphors, analogies and symbols usually in a narrative form to explain its concepts, which contrasts greatly with the constructive, well-reasoned lines of argument of Ancient Greek philosophy.
THE ANCIENT GREEK AND JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN CONEPT OF GOD
This has lead to very different understandings of God and of the divine. The monotheistic God of Judaeo-Christianity is concerned with the actions of man and makes demands; he intervenes in the world and is responsive to human behavior. This is very unlike Plato’s Form of the Good which is an impersonal and non-interactive entity that does not have the capacity to love. Aristotle’s understanding of an unmoved mover who is unaware of his creation and only has the capacity to think about himself is also a far step from the personal and interactive God of classical theism. In this section of the module therefore we shall explore the Judaeo-Christian concept of God and the differences between Greek and Christian ideas in order to come to a better understanding of the Judaeo-Christian influence on Religious Philosophy.
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