THE SILENT YEARS: Culture

So the Jews come back with a renewed vigor for the Text. But there’s one more major historical shift that sets the stage for the arrival of Jesus.

There was a cultural change that affected the course of human history more (in my opinion) than any other shift in history. We saw this shift just begin to peek it’s head through the curtains during the reign of the Persians, but it never really made an entrance. We spoke of the kingdom of Persia and the differences inherent in their methods of ruling the world. They sought to rule through your surrender and acceptance of their rule, rather than destruction and domination of everybody and everything. This is because the Persians were at least somewhat influenced by the Greeks to the West.

The Greek philosophers had been contemplating some of the most complex questions that mankind had ever considered. It was a completely different way of thinking and asked radically different sets of questions. While most of the world had been focused on the concrete and practical things, this new Western world was asking big questions about the abstract and the unknown. This led to some new convictions.

At the heart of this new worldview lay a core premise and belief. One can find many different Greek philosophers who mention this idea, but Protagoras is often given credit for stating that “man is the measure of all things.” Now, that may not strike you as all that loaded of a statement, but this became the fundamental shift that brought about the worldview known as Hellenism. Hellenism (named after “Helles”) is usually used to speak of the spread of the Western worldview that had made a major shift. No longer were the gods or God at the center of man’s existence; now, MAN stood at the center of his own existence.

Hellenism certainly never did away with the gods — that would be foolish. Hellenism simply shifted their place from the center of the universe to one of many other categories of thought. Man was now at the center; man is the measure of all things. This idea quickly begins to bear fruit in the world. No longer is man made in God’s image, but the gods are made in man’s image (think of Greek mythology and how the gods are often pictured as foolish super beings who look and act a whole lot like men). At this point, our worldview begins to revolve around ourselves and a different set of priorities begin to emerge: power, pleasure, luxury, leisure, and comfort.

When Greece took over, their greatest weapon was not their military — it was their new worldview. Greece came bringing what they called euangelion. We translate this word “gospel” or “good news.” Greece had a gospel. They had good news to share. This good news was that the kingdom of Greece was here. We often talk about Alexander the Great as an amazing military commander (and he was), but Alexander was much more than a military officer; Alexander was an evangelist. And no, that’s not me waxing eloquent; I mean that Alexander was an evangelist. He was convinced that if he could take control of an area and simply build his Greek cities, the indigenous people would flock to this newfound worldview.

If you build it, Alexander said, they will come.

And it worked. Alexander changed the world forever.

And please don’t hear me as trying to be dramatic. I’m trying to make a point that sits right under our noses. If you are an American, you live in the most Hellenistic culture in human history. The Greco-Roman world is still the world that serves as our blueprint for society. In the universities I work with, we are unashamed to teach the Greco-Roman way. From our economics, to our politics, to our architecture, athletics, art, and social infrastructure — we are Greek.

Now, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it’s essential to understanding what is happening in history when God wraps Himself in flesh and joins the story. It’s critical to realize that we are no longer dealing with “some other ancient culture.” We have now entered OUR world.

“You deserve a break today.”
“Have it your way, right away.”
“Just do it.”
“You’re worth it.”
“You deserve the best.”

I hate to break it to you, but Alexander the Great won. There are Golden Arches in every country I’ve ever been in — even in countries where a cheeseburger isn’t kosher! The Greeks had traded the immortal God for the images of mortal man, and they loved it.

And the world loved it.

They couldn’t get enough of it. They welcomed the Greco-Roman world with open arms. This new day was bringing power, security, comfort, leisure, pleasure, and entertainment. It brought a new kind of infrastructure that provided healthcare and education. It entertained you with media, art, and competition. This same competition called out the best of humanity and drove us to continue to become better and better and better.

And it still is. We’re still breaking world records.

Isn’t mankind amazing?

And yet, somewhere, God got lost. And don’t worry, people have found Him again; every now and again we try to dust Him off and make sure we give Him the prominent place on our mantels where He belongs. We even use Him to try to get more stuff and bigger houses with better mantels to put Him on.

There’s a word for this: idolatry.

But there were a few groups of people who saw this all coming. They refused to buy the greatest lie of human history and fought to stand against the kingdom of self. Some of them missed the point, and all of them struggled. Every attempt to stand against it was flawed, but there were groups of faithful God-followers who sought to hang on to the way God was trying to redeem the world.

The world Jesus was born into was deeply entrenched in cultural struggle and in the midst of a battle of worldviews. Before we start to look at the New Testament, we need to understand how some different Jewish groups were responding to this new worldview shift. It will help us realize who Jesus is working with and talking to in the gospel accounts.

And it just might help us find our place in the story.