Hellenism

Background

The term Hellenism derives from Hellen (plural Hellenes), the name by which the Greeks called themselves. The Korean Revised Version, Revised Edition (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) of the Bible renders Greece as Hella and a Greek as Hellain, terms that come from the same word. The term came into wide use after the nineteenth-century German historian Johann Gustav Droysen applied it to the period following Alexander the Great. Alexander, king of Macedon (reigned 336–323 BC), overthrew the Persian Empire and took control of territory stretching from Egypt to northwestern India.

Development

• Division of the empire: When Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, his generals divided the empire among themselves. The principal dynasties were the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, the Seleucid dynasty in Syria and Mesopotamia, and the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon.
• Greek-style cities and a common language: The new kingdoms founded Greek-style cities throughout their territories and built gymnasia and theaters. Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria were leading centers. Koine (meaning "common") Greek became the common language of a vast region.
• Judea: Judea was at first ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty and then passed to the Seleucid dynasty around 200 BC. Under Antiochus IV (reigned 175–164 BC), a gymnasium was built in Jerusalem. In 167 BC observance of the Jewish law was prohibited, and pagan sacrifices were offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. These events sparked the Maccabean Revolt, and in 164 BC the Temple was rededicated. This rededication is commemorated by the Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah) (John 10:22). These events are recorded in the books of Maccabees, which the Catholic Church classifies as deuterocanonical and Protestants classify as apocryphal.
• End of the era: With the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt by Rome in 30 BC, the Hellenistic period in the political sense came to an end. Hellenistic culture, however, persisted in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Results and Influence

• Translation of the Scriptures into Greek is believed to have begun in Alexandria around the third century BC, starting with the Pentateuch. This translation is known as the Septuagint.
• Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews emerged (Acts 6:1), and Philo of Alexandria explained the Jewish faith in the language of Greek philosophy.
• The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. Paul used the synagogues of Greek-speaking cities as bases for his evangelistic work, and in Athens he debated with Stoic and Epicurean philosophers (Acts 17:18). The Logos of John 1 was likewise a philosophical term familiar to readers of the time.
• The early church's controversies over Gnosticism and the Church Fathers' formulation of doctrine also took place against the background of Hellenistic philosophy.

Assessment

• Hellenism as preparation for the gospel: This view holds that the common language and the Septuagint laid the foundation for the rapid spread of the gospel. In Korean church preaching, this idea is often linked to the phrase "when the fulness of the time was come" (Galatians 4:4).
• Critique of the Hellenization of the gospel: The German theologian Adolf von Harnack argued that the doctrine of the early church resulted from a "Hellenization" of the gospel through Greek philosophy. In response, others have contended that the Church Fathers borrowed philosophical terminology but reshaped its content according to Scripture.
• Hebrew thought and Greek thought: Explanations contrasting these two modes of thinking are widely used in Korean church preaching and Bible study. However, James Barr and others have criticized this contrast as an oversimplification that reduces linguistic differences to differences in ways of thinking.
• Interpretation of the Book of Daniel: Many interpreters connect the "king of the north" and "the abomination that maketh desolate" in Daniel 11 with Antiochus IV. The latter expression also appears in the words of Jesus (Matthew 24:15). Conservative interpreters regard this section as prophecy given in advance, while historical-critical scholarship holds that the Book of Daniel was written in the second century BC.