The Power of the Past

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness”;  1 Corinthians 3:19 NASB

Foolishness – Pay attention to Richard Lim’s insight: “Christians, in particular, bore the brunt of such polemical assaults because they lacked the protective armor of tradition and antiquity that shielded the Jews from its most grievous blows.”[1]  Lim goes on to note: “ . . . the difference between logismos and pistis, between reasoned conviction and blind faith.  Christians were considered by many contemporary critics to be incapable of rendering a satisfactory defense of their extraordinary beliefs.  Some Christians, unable to prove their claims by scriptures because pagans—who relied on them only in polemics against Christians—would not assent to their authority, even asserted, after the fashion of the apostle Paul, that the wisdom of the world was mere foolishness to the faithful.”[2]

Two critical ideas emerge from these insights.  First, no one in the ancient world was inclined to accept a new philosophy.  If a way of life (which is what philosophy meant in the first few centuries) did not have history, did not come with a long and admirable lineage, then it was suspect.  Why?  Because in the pagan saturation of the Roman Empire, accepting a new religious way of living (and thinking) would certainly offend some of the ancient deities who would take their revenge on everyone connected with such a conversion.  Family, clan, tribe, and city were all at risk (as Fredrickson has shown) when conversion was contemplated.  The past meant security.  The future meant risk.  This is why the emerging religion of Christianity had to co-opt Jewish history.  Christianity needed a past in order to be acceptable, and the past they absorbed was Jewish, modified to fit the new agenda.  Judaism, of course, already had a venerable past.  Its past was well-known, even if grossly misinterpreted, and that made its claims legitimate.

Second, the Messianic/Christian apologetic appeared to be nothing more than self-fulfilling declarations to a Greco-Roman world.  The Greeks built their paradigms on rational argument—logical conclusions from observable evidence.  The claims of the Messianic community, even within the Jewish world, appeared to be fideism (you might have to look that up).  In fact, since the shift in Western government from politics to religion (with the replacement of the original Roman Empire with the Holy Roman Empire), justifying Christian religious claims became an essential epistemological concern.  Thus, the litany of documents aimed at “proving” the legitimacy of Christian theological claims.  You might reflect on the fact that this sort of apologetic doesn’t occur in Judaism.  Notice that Paul’s statement in the letter to the Corinthian assembly appears to be fideism if it is read as a Christian statement with its Greek foundation, but if it is read as a Jewish statement, it does nothing more than tip the hat toward a very long practical tradition.  That is to say, it is not an epistemological claim.  It is an actionable observation.  When the Church converted Paul into a Christian apologist, it painted itself into a corner which it has never been able to escape.  Even today the claims of the religion of Christianity are often viewed as “blind faith” in the face of logical fact.  A brief reflection on the problem of evil is a good example.  The Torah never attempts to resolve this problem.  It confidently asserts contradictory statements on the issue, without apologies.  Christianity, on the other hand, has stumbled over the existence of evil for centuries, and since Christianity attempts to speak into a Greco-Roman world even today, rational thinkers find its justifications riddled with holes.

In the end, we are confronted not with two exegetical methodologies or with two competing historical interpretations.  In the end, we are confronted with two completely different paradigms; one based in a non-logical commitment to divine revelation and the other based on an attempt to make divine revelation logical.

“There is a difference between truth and fiction.  Fiction has to make sense.”

Topical Index: fideism, truth, logic, logismos, pistis, foolishness, wisdom, 1 Corinthians 3:19

[1] Richard Lim, Public Disputation, Power, and Social Order in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1995), p. 8.

[2] Ibid., p. 9.