Quote:
Originally Posted by SeattleUte
Beyond that, Hellenization of Christianity is itself what Talmage and others called a "great apostasy." More than just a mere tainting, don't you think? The concept of a great apostasy, I'm afraid, repudiates 3,000 years of history, which, for better or worse, made us what we are. It's not just that our society would not be as prevalent and successful without development of Greek thought; it's that our society is unimagineable without it. The same is true about Judaism, and the alloy of Judaism and Hellenism called Christianity. These are all the same statements.
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Some society would exist, it just wouldn't exist in its current form. Whether our society is better or worse, we can never know or appreciate.
To the extent Hellenic thought changed Christ's teachings in a way not intended, then that is apostasy. To the extent priesthood authority was lost, I don't see a relation to Greek thought. That would have been more a Roman effort during the first century, than a Greek effot.
Society would have existed, but we can't imagine its complexion without Hellenization.