Well seeing as how he grew up in a very Hellenistic society he must’ve been familiar with the kind of philosophy accessible to the every day man. The ascetic commands of Jesus to the apostles do resemble the practices of the Cynics. But I like to think that Stoicism had a huge influence on him; this was the philosophy of the working man, a man that lived in society. — Dermot Griffin
A Platonist take on the teachings of Jesus would be found in the Johannine literature, specifically the Gospel of John. What does everyone else think of this? I think the connections are logical. — Dermot Griffin
I don't know if Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and the several Roman Senators who considered themselves Stoics can be considered working men, or even Musonius Rufus for that matter. — Ciceronianus
Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected any travels by Jesus to India, Tibet or surrounding areas as without historical basis:
What does everyone else think of this? I think the connections are logical. — Dermot Griffin
Moreover, especially if Jesus was the son of God and planned to establish a new religion — Apollodorus
Rabbi said: Why use the Syrian language in the land of Israel? Either use the holy tongue or Greek! But is Greek philosophy forbidden? Behold Rab Judah declared that Samuel said in the name of Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel, There were a thousand pupils in my father's house; five hundred studied Torah and five hundred studied Greek wisdom (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 49b)
There's no indication Jesus planned to establish a new religion (or saw himself as "the son of God"- — Seppo
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill ... (Matthew 5:17)
one of the first steps would be separating whoever Jesus the man was (around whom a complex myth was constructed in the decades/centuries after his life) and the religion of Christianity, which borrowed freely from traditions as the Romans spread the nascent faith around their territories. — Tom Storm
Well, I did say "IF he was the son of God", etc. — Apollodorus
From the perspective of those early Christians, absolutely. Jews appear to have taken a different view, even from the beginning; as Paul notes, the idea of a crucified messiah was always a tough pill for the Jewish audience to swallow, since a dead (let alone crucified) messiah was basically a contradiction in terms (the messiah, in Jewish thinking at the time, was to be a glorious political/military figure, the person who would defeat the Romans... not get squashed by them) and the early evangelists had more success converting pagans than Jews for precisely this reason.Plus, even for the early Christians, Jews included, Christianity was not a "new" religion but the restoration of the eternal Law of God. — Apollodorus
Judea proper was most likely not a bastion of Hellenistic philosophy- at least not in the Jewish living areas (perhaps coastal cities and parts of Nabatea were exceptions). — schopenhauer1
Jews appear to have taken a different view, even from the beginning; as Paul notes, the idea of a crucified messiah was always a tough pill for the Jewish audience to swallow — Seppo
But this didn't apply to all Jews. Otherwise, the existence of figures like Paul would have been impossible. — Apollodorus
especially Greek-educated ones like Paul, or even uneducated ones who were unfamiliar with official objections to Christian teachings, would have found it easier to accept the new religion. — Apollodorus
If the majority of converts were non-Jews, it doesn't follow that all of them were non-Jews. — Apollodorus
If the majority of converts were non-Jews, it doesn't follow that all of them were non-Jews. — Apollodorus
How and why and to what extent Greek culture was absorbed into the ancient Jewish world is not always clear, but that it was is undeniable. From the time of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E., Jews lived in a world in which Greek culture carried a certain prestige and offered a route to political influence.
Hellenistic and Roman-era art from the biblical world shines a spotlight on Judean identity and cultural influences during a formative period in the region’s history. From Hercules as trendy Israeli bathhouse décor to mosaics celebrating Helios, the sun god, in ancient synagogues, Greek culture permeated Judea.
It is even thought by some scholars that Jews in ancient times considered Helios a minor deity to whom they could offer prayers! Scholars are now weaving together evidence from archaeological sites and early Christian texts. Notes Lucille A. Roussin, A connection between the Jewish worship of angels and astrology is attested by many early Christian writers. According to the Preachings of Peter, referred to by Clement of Alexandria, the Jews, “thinking that they only know God, do not know him, adoring as they do angels and archangels, the months and the moon.” Origen writes in Contra Celsius that "what is astonishing about the Jews is that they adore the sky and the angels that inhabit it.”
As Professor Martin Goodman notes, “Outside of Jerusalem and Judea, Jews rarely treated Greek culture as a threat to their Judaism.” The lovely zodiac mosaic floors of Palestinian synagogues tell us that Jews had simply adopted those Hellenistic features that complemented their own worship, including Hebrew labels on the zodiac signs, and—according to some scholars—used images of the Greek sun god Helios to represent Yahweh, who has no form and cannot be represented in art, but is described in Jewish texts from biblical times as fiery like the sun.
Because the centuries immediately surrounding Jesus’ birth were such a formative period in Judean history, studying the Hellenization of Jewish and early Christian culture during this period is crucial in understanding biblical history.
For the LORD God is a Sun and shield ... (Psalm 84:11).
the Jews who weren't inclined towards the new Christian religion certainly wouldn't have seen it as a continuation or restoration of the Jewish faith. — Seppo
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the Law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as any of you here today (Acts 22:3).
Now there came a man of the Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus, a member of the council. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could do the miraculous signs that you do unless God were with him”(John 3:1-2).
It follows that in addition to uneducated Jews (farmers and fishermen), there were educated Jews that would have been open to "unorthodox" ideas. — Apollodorus
Those who rejected Christianity out of hand would have been members of the clergy who felt that the new religion undermined their position of authority in Jewish society (and their income). — Apollodorus
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