DO YOU HAVE A BIG FAT GREEK MINDSET?

[Ron J. Weiss]

You will discover the Truth in the following article:

My Big Fat Greek Mindset
Part 2
Tim Hegg • TorahResource
©2007 All rights reserved
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Part 1 of this article, I outlined several of the major differences between the Greek and
Hebrew worldviews. We noted two fundamentals of the Greek worldview: (1) that the world of
ideas reigns supreme over the physical world, and (2) that truth exists in the realm of linear logic
in which the law of non-contradiction exists as a universal reality. In contrast, the Hebrew worldview does not consider the physical world to be inferior to the world of ideas or beliefs, but
views both as necessarily integrated. Moreover, for the Hebrew, block logic rather than linear
logic modeled the obvious tensions expressed in the Scriptures between the infinite wisdom of
God and the finite wisdom of man. While the law of non-contradiction exists within the confines
of each block of logic, it cannot function universally since mankind’s intellectual capabilities are
insufficient to comprehend the full, complete, and integrated wisdom of God.
In this second part of the article, I want to show how the Greek worldview, which was
foundational for the early emerging Christian Church, helped to shape and form a theological
paradigm for Christianity, a paradigm that that was at odds with the Torah and its thorough-going Hebrew worldview.
The Creedal Nature of Christianity
The development of doctrinal creeds is a well attested phenomenon in the early Christian
Church. These creeds were doctrinal confessions of faith formulated to give self-identity to the
Church and especially to distinguish orthodoxy from heresy. It seems very likely that baptismal
confessions as well as liturgical elements (particularly in the ceremony of the eucharist) represent the earliest stages in the evolution of the later ecumenical creeds.1
One of the earliest is the
“Apostles’ Creed,” which though found in various forms, had become standardized by the 4th
Century. Other well known creeds from the early centuries are the Nicene Creed, the Creed of
Chalcedon, and the Athanasian Creed.
What makes the appearance of creeds in the emerging Christian Church important for our
study is the obvious fact that they constituted the accepted “confession of faith” necessary to be
received into the Church. In other words, the creed listed the ideas or theological axioms that
formed the boundary markers distinguishing Christians from non-Christians. Or to put it another
way, one gained the status of being “saved” by agreeing with a particular doctrinal statement. In
practice, therefore, faith was understood as an intellectual agreement with a set of formulated
1. See D. F. Wright, “Creeds, Confessional Forms” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament (IVP, 1997), p. 259–
60; Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 3 vols. (Harper & Row, 1931), 1.16.
1