The Logos and Hellenistic Syncretism with Early Christianity

​ In Chapter 4 of An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity author Delbert Royce Burkett considers The Logos, “mean(ing) ‘word’ or ‘reason’” in the context of syncretism between Hellenistic and the emerging Christian religions.  He states that “In the New Testament, the Fourth Gospel authored under the name John calls Jesus ‘the Logos’ who existed ‘in the beginning’.” In fact, the concept of The Logos played a significant role in ancient philosophy, having acted as a stand-in for an objective law of the cosmos in argument, dialectic, and exposition.  As early as the sixth century the philosopher Heraclitus alluded to The Logos as the backdrop that is commonality in reasoned discourse. “For this reason, it is necessary to follow what is common. But although the Logos is common, most people live as if they had their own private understanding.”

Plato, Aristotle, Philo, the Epicureans, Gnostics, and Stoics would incorporate the general principle of The Logos.  Aristotle called The Logos “the argument” to illuminate on the notion that it was an objective base from which to launch lively debate or engaged introspection. Perhaps for Aristotle and Plato who were practicing philosophy under the watchful eyes of suspicious authorities and the ruling classes, The Logos was as an agnostic and default position from which to begin discussions about science and the metaphysical as was necessary to remain within the law. The fact that this principle of classic philosophy was redefined into the person of Jesus the Nazarene and subsequently lost its original meaning and intent is a curious development in early Christianity, indeed.

The Judeo-Christian Apologists in 2nd Century Rome

​ Persecution was pervasive in communities wherever early Christian sects settled across Asia, the Mediterranean and into southern Europe.  In response dedicated followers of early Christianity began to write apologies, one of the most interesting occurrences during the wildfire-like spread of Christianity during the first half of the first millennia.  A notable apologist known as Justin Martyr provides a case in point.

Martyr arrived in Rome during the second century CE with a small band of followers numbering fewer than ten.  During his brief time there he clashed with Roman philosophers over the traditions of the Cynics.  The cynic philosopher Crescens was outraged and reported this “atheist” to the prefecture overseen by one Junius Rusticus.  Martyr and his fellow missionaries were subsequently beheaded for rejecting the traditional Roman faith.  Rusticus decreed:

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“Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of the laws."

The apologists were numerous, and many are documented along with their dialogues and demises.  The apologists had an admittedly dicey mission and certainly were brave people knowing full well that their message of monotheism and compassion often fell on deaf, or worse, deadly ears.  In his Apology I Martyr was intent on portraying early Christianity in the Roman Empire as an extension of early Judaism and Hellenistic thought.  In the opening to his book “’Hellenization’ and Logos Doctrine in Justine Martyr” R.M. Price explained the purpose of Martyr’s Apologies (writ as dialogues from his mission) as “…offer(ing) Jew and Greek alike the pure and single teaching that was the origin as well as the goal of their own traditions.” (Preface 1) This bridge between the Hellenistic/Indo-European religious and philosophical tradition that was built by the apologists like Justin Martyr is a transformative and fascinating insight into the politics of ancient Christian philosophy.​

The Lost Gospels

​ Early drafts of pieces of the New Testament appeared in the mid-second century, 35-100 years after the death of Jesus the Nazarene.  It wasn’t until the third century that the authorized gospels were authorized by the early church and during this time a few other testaments to the life and words of Jesus the Nazarene were committed to papyrus and survive today.  Notably missing from the authorized New Testament were many other gospels written in the voice of apostles like Philip and Thomas, or lost prophets like The Shepherd of Hermas.

​ The lost gospels speak of female disciples and being Gnostic in origin perceive Jesus as non-corporeal, earning them scorn and status as heresy by even one of the earliest procurers of the New Testament, one Marcion.  In 144 CE Marcion developed a limited canon and chose documents that supported the notion that Jesus the Nazarene was a living person and not a pure spiritual being, a view loosely advanced in the lost gospels.

​ It is striking that the people that have selected the ancient works that constitute the New Testament, from Marcion and the early orthodox members of the small Christian sect to King James I in 1604, to translators of the NIV today have been so instrumental in setting the stage, selecting the actors, choosing the lines, and cutting the final story of Jesus the Nazarene. There is a history in these lost gospels missing from the New Testament that could potentially add context, subtext, and new stories for consumption in a modern age, and the dimension that they add to the history in the text is notable for its scope and themes.

Oral Tradition and the Changing Narrative of Jesus the Nazarene

​ In considering the genesis of the Christian religion it is important to note the environmental, political, and geographic conditions of early Judea.  The Roman Empire had conquered these nomadic and heavily dispersed peoples.  There were hardly any people in the region that could read or write.  The inhabitants practiced ritual sacrifice and ancient polytheism, were low-technology pastoralists, and the whole of the countryside of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean were rife with the cries of woe of countless, unnumbered prophets lamenting the changing and often deleterious world order. In fact, Jesus the Nazarene never wrote anything about himself or his life that survives today, and the earliest evidence of the sayings and activities of Jesus the Nazarene are not recorded in human history until at least 35 years after his execution. Instead, it is oral tradition, in the form of periscopes, or snippets, of allegories, sayings, and descriptions of events, which form the basis for the gospels.

​ As the renowned physicist and religious apologist John Polkinghorne writes in his tome Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion, the three synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the Johannine Gospel of John differ wildly in their timelines, verbiage, and extemporaneous additions.  For just one of many examples, Polkinghorne refers to Jesus the Nazarene’s “cry of dereliction from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” made famous in the passion narratives of the gospels.  In the Gospel of Mark, the phrase is writ in Aramaic, contrasting sharply with the rest of the Greek prose, as an attempt to emphasize the visceral reality of the passion for an early Christian audience thirsting for such vivid images.  By the time the author of Matthew is treating the same event in the Gospel of Matthew, he “tones it down a little, thereby suggesting a quotation from Psalm 22.” In Polkinghorne’s treatment of the gospels he points out that the author(s) of the earlier Gospel of Mark added editorial to clarify rules, specifically the rule that Christians were not subject to Jewish food restrictions. That this was a controversial issue long after the execution of Jesus the Nazarene indicates that the gospels were living documents that changed with the political and social climate throughout the first three hundred years of the early Christian movement.

Conclusion

​ The Christian concept of the man Jesus the Nazarene is the product of oral tradition and hundreds of years of revised snippets on papyrus that have survived the ages and so reflects an abiding endearment of religious peoples from all levels of society, everywhere around the world today where Abrahamic religious traditions persist.  The appropriation of Hellenistic philosophy, the copious amounts of early material that historically has been left out of the official New Testament, and the extreme measures that apologists undertook to bridge the divide between Jewish, Greco-Roman, and the early Christian movement serve as indicators of a tumultuous shift in ancient times from a pan- and polytheistic worldview to the monotheistic religions that are embraced by a broad section of human society today.

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References

​Anonymous. "Martyrdom of St. Justin-eyewitness Account." Martyrdom of Saint Justin.

Aslan, Reza. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. New York. Random House. 2013.

Burkett, Delbert Royce. An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity. Cambridge, United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. 2002.

Diels-Kranz. N.p. MS 22B1. N.d.

Polkinghorne, J. C. Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion. New Haven. Yale University Press. 2005.

Price, R. M. "'Hellenization' and Logos Doctrine in Justin Martyr." Vigiliae Christianae. Vol. 42. ed. 1 1988

Rapp, Christof. "Aristotle's Rhetoric." Stanford University. 2002.

Roberts, Alexander, James Donaldson, A. Cleveland Coxe, and Justin Barnabas. The Apologies of Justin Martyr. Suzeteo Enterprises. 2012.

"The Shepherd of Hermas." The Shepherd of Hermas. Trans. J.B. Lightfood. Peter Kirby. 2016.