Prostitution was tolerated all over the gentile world—even became a part of their religious ceremonials.
Slavery was general—human life was cheap. Crucifixion and burning at the stake were common among the Romans.
Christianity took a strong stand against all this—even tried to improve the status of the slave.
Rome granted religious freedom-except for persecutions now and then of Jews and Christians.
Philosophy was an important aspect of Hellenic culture. The Greeks were seeking for ultimate truth.
In the Orient the cultural leaders were prophets—Moses and Zoroaster.
Plato’s theory of ideas—the true reality—intrigued Christians. It was like the idea of the material being the shadow of the heavenly reality.
Christians shared in Plato’s search for “absolute truth” as the pattern for living.
Plato’s belief in immortality of the soul charmed Christians—although Plato did not believe in survival of the physical body.
Aristotle, Plato’s pupil and tutor of Alexander, taught that every object was composed of substance and attributes.
Motion, he taught, proves the existence of a “prime mover.” This prime mover is infinite and is what religionists call God.
Thomas Aquinas taught that the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Lord’s Supper was based on Aristotle.
Epicureanism was an attempt to ignore both science and religion—the simple fulfillment of natural desire. But it was not a sensual philosophy.
Stoicism was widespread during this period. Paul was something of a Stoic —”I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.”
Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic, also Seneca. They dwelt on unity and reason.
Reason was the world-soul. Man’s intelligence is a fragment of universal and living reason.
All men are sons of God—the universal brotherhood. They sought to ignore emotion.
Evil is but the belief of ignorance. Conscience is the voice of “Divine Reason”—somewhat like Jeremiah’s doctrine of God’s law written on the heart. Jer 31:33.
Stoicism was a religious naturalism—rationalistic pantheism. But it did produce a valiant sort of ethics.
The Second Isaiah had been leading the Jews away from nationalism toward universalism.
In Egypt there was a revolt against Jerusalem. The Jews built a temple on the island of Elephantine, whose ceremonials were like those of the Jerusalem temple.
A third temple was built by the Samaritans at Shechem. This temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 129 B.C.
At the time Antiochus tried to destroy the temple services at Jerusalem (167 B.C.), the Samaritans named their temple on Mt. Gerizim for Zeus.
Even Paul attended the temple ceremonials when he was in Jerusalem.
But after A.D. 70 Jewish religious life was centered in the synagogue. This is the era of Jewish eschatology—belief in the coming of the Messiah and the “new age.”
The Egyptian Greeks wanted the Scriptures in their own tongue. This led to the translation, at Alexandria, of the Hebrew Bible into Greek.
Both Jews and Christians all over the Greek-speaking Roman world could now read the Scriptures in Greek.
These were the Old Testament scriptures that were read by Jesus and his apostles.
Greek thought was making inroads into Jewish thought. See the wisdom literature—Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—as well as the wisdom of Solomon.
Philo, at Alexandria, began to make allegories out of the Old Testament. Example: When the heaven and earth were created, it means “mind and sense-perception.”
Early Christians, at the Alexandria school, were influenced by Philo—including Clement and Origen.
Greek, art gained ground among Jews. Synagogues are elaborately decorated with Bible scenes.
Anti-Semitism is aroused by the refusal of Jews to be assimilated—their racial isolation.
Jews suffered persecution in both Egypt and Rome.
The early Christians were persecuted in Rome because the Emperor regarded Christianity as a Jewish sect. Later they suffered because they clung to the idea of “the kingdom of heaven.”