(February 27, 2016 at 1:36 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: Edit to Add: It dawns on me that this may have been the primary motivation for the reforms of guys like Paul, in trying to reconcile the brutal war-god of the ancient Hebrews with the Hellenic values he picked up, growing up as a Jewish Roman in a Greek-populated area. The entire New Testament boils down to trying to make those two competing value-sets work harmoniously, with obvious success... since people like us pointing out the clash seems to have no effect upon the believers.
That's a very good point. That might also explain the unusual success of the Christ narrative, in that it was appealing to Hellenistic Jews. But what in particular of the narrative is specifically Hellenistic?