When Athens and Jerusalem "Meet": John Mark Reynolds

I like "Sitting on the Areopagus Listening to Greek Philosophers." That would be a real tear-jerker!

I pointed out at the start of the book that the the New Testament is an overwhelmingly Jewish book . . . but that this book was an attempt to explain the smaller, thought still vital, Greek background to the world of the New Testament. It is a brief tour (oh the things I had to cut!) of what was going on in Greek thought (particularly Plato) before Christ.

In any case, I hope it can help younger college students (a main market) understand those thinkers.

John Mark

Mixing Greek philosophy with Jewish wisdom is like mixing oil with water and it takes a whole lot of shaking and emulsifiers to get a presentable package. Jewish wisdom concentrated on an organic, dust-to-dust outlook on life while Greek philosophy, at least since Plato's interpretation of Socrates, emphasized a dualistic approach to nature and life. "Greek thinking" is fine when it concentrates on logical thought processes but not so fine when it falls back on a "spirit" vs "nature" dualism. A concern: is this a package deal?

I enjoy reading at scriptoriumdaily.com. When I read the review of the book here http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2009/05/25/lets-get-classical-reynolds-new-book-on-greek-thought/ I gathered that it was primarily about Plato vis-a-vis early Christianity. I cannot speak as a scholar, only a student, but I am in favor of getting more believers to think more about the backgrounds of Christianity. My impression was that this book is written to be accessible and to help inform of Greek backgrounds to Christian thought. If the same number of people who devour Dan Brown's works would consider books such as these, it seems to me the public would be more well-informed. But perhaps I misunderstand...

Hum...thanks for this pointer, ScottM. What might Nash's The Gospel and the Greeks have to contribute here?