>pagan philosopher, with no contact from God, reasons out that there must be a perfect uncaused cause at the origin of the universe that exists outside of space and time>this description of God is so theologically satisfying that Christians would use it as proof of God's existence and even build upon it>ancient Hebrews, with constant direct contact with God, describe him as being in the shape of a human man, constantly unaware of his surroundings, and extremely emotional>theologically this has more in common with their surrounding pagan neighbors who described gods as powerful humansHow did this happen?
>>18448666Justin Martyr explained it by saying Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were all actually Christians, and even though they lived before Christ, the holy spirit sprinkled some of Christ's logos onto them>But lest some should, without reason. . .cry out against us as though all men who were born before [Christ] were irresponsible – let us anticipate and solve that difficulty. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who have lived [with the Word] are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus. . .and many others. . .And those who by human birth were more ancient than Christ, when they attempted to consider and prove things by reason, were brought before tribunals as impious persons. . .And Socrates, who was more zealous in this direction than all of them, was accused of the very same crimes as ourselves. (Apol 1.46, 2.10)
>>18448666>How did this happen?Through lots of coping, deception, and oppression.
>>18448666by the time of the Christians Jews were not describing God in that way anymore. Second temple literature follows the general trend of the centuries from the early iron age of moving away from anthropomorphic gods
>>18448666>with no contact from GodWrong>ancient Hebrews, with constant direct contact with GodFar less so than Greco-roman philosophers>pagan neighbors who described gods as powerful humansThis was only maybe true for dumb peasants, philosophers and their followers conceived of the Gods as fundamental pillars of nature and reality. They transcended the material world which reflected and emanated from them.
>>18448667Justin Martyr is great because he embodies all the smug nonsense Christians still peddle today and he lived 1900 years ago. Also, Clement of Alexandria claimed God revealed philosophy to the Greeks to prepare them for Christianity.
1 Corinthians 1:22"For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom"So God gave the Jews signs and God gave the Greeks wisdom.
>>18448667>>18448675Christians were always full of complete bullshit. There is no evidence to suggest that Greco-Roman philosophers were ever influenced by Judaism and in actuality, they were influenced by pagan theologians of the Middle East like Egyptian priests, Chaldean astrologers, and the Magi of Persia.As for their actual views on Judaism, well it was not a favorable one. They believed Jewish monotheism to be a backwards and incoherent superstition. They also considered Jewish law to be barbarous and perverse. They mocked the Sabbath, viewing it as laziness and they viewed circumcision as bodily mutilation that violated the Greco-Roman ideal of the perfect, intact human body. The only thing they respected about Judaism was its perceived age since in antiquity, there was a commonly-held belief that the older a religion was, the more true it was likely to be. Though of course as we now know, Judaism is not as old as it claims to be and if the Ancient Greeks and Romans knew this, they would have only been further convinced that Judaism was nonsense.
>>18448844And yet the synagogue as a cultural institution was such a popular and novel idea that it caused so many greeks to voluntarily convert to judaism that 1 in 10 roman subjects were jews prior to the 1st jewish roman war
>>18449075>t. believes in debunked claims made up by Flavius JosephusThe actual percentage of Jews in the Roman Empire would have been somewhere between 1–2%.
>666Nice try, now back to Tartarus.
>>18448670the second temple is non-canon
>>18449084What is your evidence for this?
>>18449125/thread
>>18448704Dont forget that wisdom is a man and he goes by Apollo sometimes.
>>18449138Seth Schwartz: Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E..Magen Broshi: Agriculture and Economy in the Land of Israel in Ancient Times.Leonard Victor Rutgers: Reflections on the Demography of the Jewish Community of Ancient Rome.Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones: Atlas of World Population History (noting lower regional totals for Judea).Sergio DellaPergola: Notes toward a Demographic History of the Jews (critiquing the "dodgy demographics" of higher figures).Simply put, Jews were a minority in the empire and were hated for their barbarous practices and beliefs.
>>18448666The origin of Pagan religions is thematically identical to Genesis 1. This is because the Yahwehistic Canaanite religions in the Levant which eventually became Judaism, are based on Proto Indo European mythos.In short... God = ManuIf you read John, 1:1 you should come to understand that Genesis, and in fact the Pagan Indo European creation myth both refer to the earliest form of epistemology. i.e. Understanding how we can know anything, from first principle.Later popularised by Descartes "I think therefore I am."
