George van Kooten - Pagans and Christians in Debate: Mythology, Philosophy and Religion in the first two centuries AD
Duration: 1 hour 28 mins
Share this media item:
Embed this media item:
Embed this media item:
About this item
| Description: | The speaker argues that from the time of Jesus the Christian movement consciously engaged with the broader Graeco-Roman world in many different ways. |
|---|
| Created: | 2014-05-21 22:50 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Collection: | Clare Hall Colloquium | ||
| Publisher: | Clare Hall | ||
| Copyright: | Clare Hall | ||
| Language: | eng (English) | ||
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
|
||
| Keywords: | Colloquium; New Testament; early christianity; Pagans; | ||
| Credits: |
|
||
| Categories: |
iTunes - Humanities - Religion |
||
| Explicit content: | No | ||
| Abstract: | In this informal talk I am going to argue that from the time of Jesus the Christian movement consciously engaged with the broader Graeco-Roman world in various ways.
Christian New Testament writings are usually approached from the background of early Judaism. This makes perfect sense, as the New Testament often shows its dependence upon, and roots in, Judaism. I broaden this picture by drawing attention to the larger Graeco-Roman world in which Jesus and the New Testament authors lived. According to the earliest Gospel of Mark, Jesus travelled to the Hellenized Decapolis, and probably spoke Greek there, as he did with the inhabitants of cities such as Tyre. There is also a remarkable similarity between Jesus’ parables and the fables of Aesop. Later, the Gospel of John thoroughly engages with the world of Greek mythology, symposia, and Platonic dialogue. The Christian communities arising from such encounters most commonly designated themselves, not as “synagogues” but as “ekklesiai”, i.e. as “assemblies”, in conscious imitation of the civic assemblies of the Greek cities of the Roman East. |
|---|---|