New Testament Influences On The Greco-Roman World

Osemwenkhae Osemwengie (Ni100403),

New Testament Environment (Mrs 140),

Module 1 Research Assignment ,

12-06-2017.

GRECO-ROMAN WORLD OF THE FIRST CENTURY

The Greco - Roman World were the regions and countries influenced by the advanced social, political and religious developments of the Greeks and the Romans . It was the Mediterranean World which included the Palestine -the land between the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The Ancient Greco- Roman World were groups of regions and countries under the governments of the Greeks and the Romans. There were never a time the Greeks and Romans co-ruled the Mediterranean World but one government collapsed and another one took over. The Greek Empire formed by Alexander the Great

And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”(Acts 17:18-20). The Stoicism was an ancient Greek school of thought founded by Zeno of Citium in the early part of the 3rd century. The school taught that virtue , the ultimate good is based on Knowledge. They taught that everything was rooted in nature hence to live a good life one must understand the law of nature. ( Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy). Epicureanism was also an ancient school of philosophy started by Epicurus circa 307 BCE. The Epicurean philosophy advocated pleasure as the ultimate good of man and rejected divine intervention and superstition. It was a materialistic philosophy rejecting anything that has to with religion such as the fear of the gods and the idea of an after life (www.religiousfacts.com/epicureanism). Eclecticism was founded by Potamon of Alexandria. His goal was to examine existing philosophies and find a common ground between them. Neopythagreanism was a Graeco- Alexandrian school of philosophy that sought after the resuscitation of Pythagoras philosophical system. The

People participated religious practices common in the society. The cults were mostly formed to maintain loyalty to the emperors. Civic cults. Personal beliefs were unintended and syncretistic. The emperors did not create Imperial cult or worship but the cult took shape and was more pronounced in Asia Minor. Temples were built in grandeur styles and strategically sited.Members of the cult maintained their own priests and the imperial priests could not perform identical functions with the local and well know priests in the Roman and Greek religions. The presence of the Imperial cult posed some threats to the Christian faith. If the letters to the seven churches in Asia minor in Revelation 2:1-3:22 are taken into proper view or if the underlying circumstances are studied, there is the possibility of finding the fact that the Imperial cult and practices crept or were in the verge of entering into some of the churches. “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ...But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual