Tuesday, July 12, 2011

What are the things that I see in the Greco-Roman world as providential to Christianity?

In order to present the things that I see in the Greco-Roman world as providential to Christianity, let me pattern also my reflections to the format of my summary, namely: religion, philosophy, politics, culture and language.

Religion. When it comes to religion perspective of Christianity, here are the following points that I see in religion of the Greco-Roman world as providential to Christianity: the stressed of the importance of the prayers and sacrifices to the gods, the belief of One God, the belief in family’s guardian angel and the ways of discerning the divine will, performance of incantations and ritual acts in such a way as to compel supernatural forces to grant a person’s desires, the magic and mystery cults that can be seen as mysterious and secretive and socially marginal.

Philosophy. Here are the following points that I see in philosophy of Greco-Roman world as providential to Christianity: the well-being is a kind of inner peace that comes from living in conformity with nature, that living in harmony with the world as it was structured by the divine and that the important schools that time tried anything that might give them new hope in an uncertain world.

Politics. The following points that I see in poltics of Greco-Roman world as providential to Christianity: Roman administration in general as ruled by Pax Romana, provincial system of government, the procurator functions and the proconsul’s functions.

Culture and Language. Some of the writings in Christianity were written in Greek, The lingua franca of the day of Greco-Roman world.

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