Quote:
Originally Posted by Socialite
At the time of Jesus, Hellenism was the predominant culture. Cultures were pretty well syncretized at that time. But in the flow of human history, and conceiving the "thought life" it was pretty well Eastern. This describes the writers and their audience.
The distance between us and them is vast! I think one of the biggest struggles in interpretation is that many readers don't really realize just how vast it is.
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You said "us and them"..and I said I was not using the word "Western" in the modern use of the term.
As I said before I was using it as the difference between Roman/Greek backgrounds and Semitic backgrounds. Western and Eastern.
Not all Jews were Hellenized. Arabia and other Semitic cultures were not Hellenized.
In any case I think your idea that "western culture" can only refer to modern cultures does not make sense. European states have always been considered "Western culture" regardless of the date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture
Hellenism is the spread of Greek culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_civilization
And being specific here, what we are really referring to is Middle eastern culture not merely eastern culture
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