Before Alexander

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:13 NASB

Sound words – Systematic theology, so essential for doctrine, was simply impossible before Alexander the Great. Why? Because systematic theology requires a special kind of theological dualism, that is, the separation of mind from matter, of body from spirit, of thought from act. Theological dualism results in the idea of heaven in opposition to earth, of another life after this one, and especially in a God who is removed from the creation. “This dualistic doctrine in its generalized content was to be one of the great forces in the Hellenistic syncretism of ideas.”[1] Changing traditional religion into a theological system reshaped rabbinic thought in the creation of the Talmud as well as the later development of Christian ideas. When Alexander spread Greek ideas across the Mediterranean, he introduced a separation in life that was simply impossible in ancient cultures. We are still living with this today.

But what about before Alexander?

You might ask, “Why are we concerned about faith before Alexander? Paul was after Alexander. Paul was influenced by rabbinic thought. If rabbinic thought is post-Alexander, shouldn’t we just look at what Paul says?”

Paul follows Yeshua and Yeshua was a reformer. He exhorted the audience to return to the ancient ways. In fact, many of his conflicts with other Jewish sects were about the interpretation of the Mosaic instructions according to ancient views rather than the contemporary (1^st Century) views. While it’s probably true that Paul’s rabbinic flavor was influenced by Alexander’s Hellenism (like, for example, the ideas of reward and punishment in the next life), perhaps we also need to recognize the strong appeal to return to ancient ways. Not ancient theology. There’s a difference.

Faith before Alexander was not theological, that is, constructed from collections of statements about God, the world and men. Faith before Alexander was practical. It was about how to get along with your neighbor, how to dress, what to eat, how to worship, when to loan, when to give, who to marry—just the ordinary, customary things that every community does. In other words, faith was about how we act, not necessarily about how we think. Faith was a way of being in the world. If you were inclined to wax philosophical about that, Mazel tov, but what was necessary was community, responsibility and commitment. The rest is window dressing. This is why you can’t find the word “religion” in ancient ideas. There wasn’t any “religion” before Alexander. There was just “this is how we do things here.”

We are post-Alexandrians. We think faith is about what we believe. We have statements of faith, creeds, doctrines and dogmas. We like books about faith ideas. But perhaps that’s not what Paul meant and not what Yeshua intended. Perhaps we need to retreat to the time before Alexander conquered the world and ask, “How would I live if put all my theology books on the shelf?”

Topical Index: faith, words, creed, doctrine, religion, 2 Timothy 1:13

[1] Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, p. 16

Correction:  April 10.  The second verb is asah, not asher.  Thanks, Leslie, for catching this.  The definition is correct in the article.  The page on the web site has been corrected.