Hellenism and Christianity
The Meeting of Two Worlds
By (author) John D. Zizioulas Edited by Nikolaos Asproulis Translated by Gregory Edwards
Paperback (Published)
(January 2025)
ISBN: 9782825418901
Price: $22.95
On back order
This is the latest book in the Doxa & Praxis series co-published by WCC Publications and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies.
In this book, published originally in Greek in 1976 and translated by Fr Gregory Edwards, the late Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas of Pergamon, Ecumenical Patriarchate, provides the reader with a very well-informed and nuanced critical approach to the various issues related to the meeting of Hellenism and Christianity, with a particular focus on what he sees as the first three formative centuries of the early church. In this work, Zizioulas considers the special role played by Judaism in this development, along with how various church intellectuals and fathers of the early church (Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon, etc.) addressed this new situation, striving to articulate a distinctive Christian worldview while expressing their own faith in the trinitarian God as it was experienced in the eucharistic life of the ecclesial communities. (From the foreword to the English edition)
Doxa & Praxis: Exploring Orthodox Theology
Foreword to the English Edition
Part 1: Hellenism at the Historical Roots of Christianity
Introduction
Chapter 1: Hellenism’s Penetration into the Judaism of Palestine and the Diaspora
The Jewish Element in the Kingdoms of the Diadochi
The Ingress of Greek Education into Judaism
The Influence of Greek Philosophy on the Jews
Jewish Resistance to Greek Influence
Jewish Apocalyptic and Greek Thought
The Jewish Character of Apocalyptic
The Greek Influence on the Hebraic Character of Judaism
Chapter 2: Christianity in Greek-speaking Judaism
The Question of the Historicity of Jesus
The Problem of the “Hellenists” in the New Testament
The Early Christian Communities of Jews and Greeks
The Greek Language and Early Christology
Chapter 3: Christianity in Paganistic Hellenism
The Transmission of Christianity to the “Gentile” World
Paul’s Position on the Issue of the Relationship Between Greeks and Jews
Greeks Assume Leadership of the Church
Paul’s Missionary Journeys
Paul and the Greek Intellectual Tradition
Paul and Greek Categories of Thought
Hellenism in the Gospel of John
The Greek View of the World and the Concept of the Incarnation
Greek Cosmology and Early Christology
Connecting Christ with the Greek Idea of the World
From Greek Cosmology to Christian Creationism
The Mysteries
Ethical and Social Ideals
The Organization of the Church
Part 2: Hellenism at the Beginning of the Patristic Era
Introduction
Chapter 4: Forms and Trends in the Hellenization of Christianity
The Fundamental Hellenization of Christianity
The Heresies
The Moderate Hellenization of Christianity
The Apologists
The First Apologists
Justin
The Emergence of a Christianized Hellenism
The Apostolic Fathers
Clement of Rome
Ignatius of Antioch
Irenaeus
Conclusion: The Birth of a New World
Selected Bibliography
Index
John D. Zizioulas (1931–2023) was a modern Eastern Orthodox theologian and Metropolitan of Pergamon (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). From 1968 to 1970 he served as secretary of Faith and Order. He taught theology at the universities of Edinburgh (1970–1973), Glasgow (1973–1987), Geneva, King’s College London (1984, then 1989–1998), the Gregorian University, Rome (1984), and Thessaloniki (1984–1998). He was consecrated a bishop on 22 June 1986, and was for years a member of the joint committees for dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Nikolaos Asproulis edited the volume and wrote the foreword to the English edition. Gregory Edwards translated it from the Greek.
- By (author) John D. Zizioulas
- Edited by Nikolaos Asproulis
- Translated by Gregory Edwards
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