WRW Mattfeld

The New Testament's Non-Hebraic, Hellenistic Greek Presuppositions


02 November 2000


As many are aware, the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible is looked upon as an important source of beliefs for both Judaism and Christianity. What is most remarkable is that these two monolithic faiths of the Western World draw different interpretations from the same body of literature. This article seeks to account for this difference, utilizing the findings of generations of Humanist scholars. In essence, I understand that Christianity is a syncretistic religion, that is, to some degree, the Early Christians were imbued with ideals and notions drawn from Hellenistic Greek metaphysics, which accounts for their reinterpretation of the Hebrew Bible in the books we now call the New Testament. Some of these Greek concepts had probably been absorbed in the course of the 3rd, 2nd and 1st centuries BCE by by various forms of Hellenistic Judaism, before the rise of Christianity. Other Greek concepts may have been drawn from the cultural environment of the 1st century CE.


Scholars have noted that a composition reflects the age in which it was created. Certain presuppositions exist in the author's mind that can be linked to certain beliefs current in his lifetime that he is unconsciously drawing from in his presentation. Given that Christianity arose in the 1st century CE, in a Hellenistic world, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, that certain beliefs which were current at that time might be what the Christian authors are drawing from in their understanding and presentation of their religious ideas about the Old Testament's message contra mainstream Jewish (Hebraic) perceptions.


"Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that any belief must carry the stamp of the age which fashioned it or conceived it..." (p.242, "Religious Life," Georges Contenau.
Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria. New York. St. Martin's Press. 1954)

Cf. the following url for the article

<a href="http://www.bibleorigins.net/Presuppositions.html" target="_blank">http://www.bibleorigins.net/Presuppositions.html</a>

All the best, Walter