"The object and aim of the Hebrew system is Knowledge of God: da'ath elohim. Man can never know himself, what he is and what is his relation to the world, unless first he learn of God and be submissive to God's sovereign will." -Norman Snaith, The Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament, Pp. 184-5.
Snaith says that the Greeks are just the opposite. "Know thyself...However, we find this approach of the Greeks nowhere in the Bible. The whole Bible, the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, is basd on the Hebrew attitude and approach.
Furthermore, Marvin Wilson states that "the Hebrews did not view a life of true piety and godliness as an impersonal relationship to a structure of thought, but as a personal relationship renewed each day with the living God. Its true locus was not found in an array of dogmas or cultic regulations, but in the response of one's whole person in love and total obedience to the Creator." -Our Father Abraham, Pp. 320
This is why I call myself first a follower of Jesus Christ, then a Christian, etc. Thinking in this way helps me to cut the links from the chains that would otherwise bind me to institutionalized religion, a religion, albeit, in which I have been raised and formed. Therefore, I believe that truly following Christ must necessarily over-reach Christianity as that institutionalized religion. Da'ath elohim, knowledge of God, can only be vaguely hinted at by systematic theologies and dogmatic creeds, just as any intimate relationship cannot be adequately expressed in words.
In the ancient Greco-Roman context, religion and philosophy were generably separable. Religion was about appeasing the gods. Sacrificial liturgy pleasing to the gods staved off disaster. Philosophy was about how to live the good life. One's relationship with the Divine and living the good life were separate issues.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of Christ as the "perfect sacrifice" and "perfector of our faith" an intersting challenge to that system. On the one hand, Christ's sacrifice makes irrelevant all religious sacrifice, thus bringing an end to religion itself (which was all about the sacrifice). On the other, Christians sought to live the good life according to their exemplar, which turned their religion effectively into a philosophy.
And the big 'ole question is: what does it mean to be a part of an official religion that actually was called to herald the end of religion?
So many thoughts. So little space on the internet to write them all out.