Christianity Unshackled

First Chapter
Section I: The Development of Our Western Worldview

How did we get to where we are? Let’s walk through Western history to see how our present thought patterns are the product of those who lived before us.

Chapter 1

The Birth of Western Thought

When Jesus stepped onto the stage of human history, it was into a Jewish family, surrounded by the Greek culture and Roman government. This is the foundation upon which Christianity was built. As we examine this foundation, we will see how it affected (and continues to affect) modern-day Western Christianity.

In Jesus’ time, the Greek culture was dominant throughout the Middle East due to the far-reaching Greek Empire, which had extended (circa 334–146 B.C.) from Greece to India. Starting with Alexander the Great, the earliest Greek rulers believed that they could most effectively bring foreign people under their rule by destroying the conquered nation’s native culture, including their art, literature, and consciousness of local history. As a result, a tremendous purging of culture took place during that period, and it was accompanied by the imposition of the Greek culture, now called the Hellenization of society.

Pressure to conform was particularly strong upon the Jews living outside of Israel. One result of the Hellenization of Judaism was the need for the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Jewish Bible. That translation became the most commonly read version of the Old Testament among Jews living outside of their homeland. We can read in the Book of Acts about the “Hellenistic Jews”—called “Grecians” in some translations (see Acts 6:1)—which referred to those Jews who had embraced the language, lifestyle, and culture of the surrounding Greek people.

Around 146 B.C., the Roman Empire (146 B.C.–A.D. 476) began displacing the Greek Empire and then expanded farther into Western Europe and Northern Africa. However, the Roman leaders were not interested in changing the local cultures of the various people groups. They simply demanded governmental control while maintaining much of the already established Greek culture. Romans respected Greek ways, taking on many of their gods and embracing the teachings of some of their great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (circa 500–300 B.C.).

This is the world into which Christianity was born. When local persecution and evangelistic efforts caused the early Christians to move out of the Jewish homeland, they came face to face with the Greek culture and Roman government.

In that environment Western thought took shape. Of course, these were not the only influences, as every people group influences those with whom they come in contact. However, it is the general patterns of thought that we will be identifying; and there is no doubt that by the end of the Ancient Period most of Europe had embraced some form of Christianity, yet the foundation of their thoughts was laid by the ancient Greeks.

Numerous divergent beliefs developed during the Hellenization of Christianity and Judaism, but one pattern of thought for which we can be thankful is the Greek philosophical manner of questioning everything. It was Socrates who asked so many questions of the people around him that they were left doubting whether they themselves actually knew anything. He was persistent, like a child asking his mother, “Why?” and then following her answer up with another, “Why?” and then another “Why?” and on and on.

Like a mother in frustration, the people around Socrates realized that they eventually are forced to admit that they simply do not know the answers to the most basic issues upon which their lives are based. The lesson from this was the realization that only after questioning all assumptions can people develop any sense of confidence that they truly know anything. Such a manner of pursuing truth is a fundamental thought pattern of the Western worldview.

That is a good thing. We will ask questions in the pages to follow. We will challenge our assumptions. We will seek truth.

What we will reject is the ancient Greek way of separating the spiritual world from the natural world (which I will explain in the next chapter). As we trace this thinking pattern from the Ancient Period through the Middle Ages, and then into the Modern Period, we will see that this way of thinking has influenced every nation on earth as Western thought and Western Christianity have spread around the world.

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think God chose to place the birth of Christianity at the crossroads of Judaism, Greek culture, and Roman government?