Hellenization and Its Affects on the birth and spread of Christianity

Hellenization and Its Affects on the birth and spread of Christianity What is Hellenization? Hellenization is a term that is commonly used in describing the spread of the culture of the ancient Greeks as well as, to a smaller degree, the Greek language in particular. This issue includes the indication of the rate at which the culture spread was the highest among all the foreign nations conquered by Greece or within its sphere of influence.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Hellenization and Its Affects on the birth and spread of Christianity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is worth noting that Alexander the Great is the historical figure who can be largely linked to the spread of Hellenization. His contribution to the development and promotion of the Greek culture and language is done through his conquests of the new lands and other cultures, thus enabling the spread of Hellenization within the period of his life, which was the fourth century BC (Eraman 34). The whole concept of thi s is what has been referred to as Hellenism, a study of ancient Greece, in modern days. In what ways do you think it might have affected the birth and spread of Christianity? As it is evident from most of the scholarly articles studying and examining Greek philosophy, Hellenism was a cultural force that significantly affected many lands and countries within the Mediterranean region. Furthermore, basing on the fact that Christianity arose, developed and received a wide spread in the countries along the Mediterranean area, there are a lot of reasons to believe that Hellenism contributed much to its growth and consequent spread. In his book, Brief Introduction to the New Testament, Bart Ehrman (45) argues that the majority of the early Christians insisted on borrowing some ideas from the Greek cultural world as well as church terms are derived from the Greek language. The factors that made the early Christians address to the Greek culture and language may be explained in the following way. In order to help the first missionaries communicate and spread the gospel to those who surround them, they decided to use the language that would be understood by a wide majority of people who may be viewed as a future congregation of a new developing religion. Moreover, to attract more church members, the early Christians used to implement some views and ideas of Greek culture to their propagation. Thus, they made the alien religion become closer and more understandable to the people with the Greek influenced vision of life. As such, Hellenistic ideologies gradually infiltrated into the Christian setting. As a matter of fact, Bart Erman argues that the outstanding and well-known Greek philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, as well as some others, greatly influenced on as well as remarkably contributed to the development of the ideologies that are represented in the New Testament (78). Ehrman, Bart. A Brief Introduction to the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2 009. Print.Advertising Looking for report on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes By Mark Nichol Rules are made to be broken, but more often they are made to be followed, because violation of those rules, in writing as in any other human endeavor, often leads to unintended consequences. One case is the careless use of quotation marks for emphasis. Scare quotes, as quotation marks employed for this purpose are called, are often used to call out nonstandard or unusual terms, or merely to introduce a word or phrase. However, although this strategy used to be common, scare quotes have taken on a new role that has largely, at least among careful writers, supplanted the old technique: Now, they are better employed to convey derision, irony, or skepticism. For example, a writer who describes how â€Å"the institute offers workshops in ‘self-awareness therapy’† is widely presumed not to be gently preparing the reader for the appearance of an unfamiliar phrase; more likely, they are calling attention to what they feel is preciously New Age-y terminology. Meanwhile, the statement â€Å"The Pentagon’s strategy of ‘pacification’ certainly did make things quieter in the neighborhood† comments on the evasive military euphemism, while â€Å"The ‘new’ model strikes me as less sophisticated than the old one† calls attention to an unjustified adjective. Here are three types of superfluous usage of scare quotes: 1. The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets. Exoplanets is a term that has only recently entered the general vocabulary, but neologism is not a criterion for use of scare quotes; simply introduce the word, define it, and move on: â€Å"The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets.† (In the article from which this sentence is taken, a definition of exoplanet follows the statement.) 2. They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs. If you use an established term in an unfamiliar but analogous sense, trust readers to make the connection; don’t bracket the term in scare quotes: â€Å"They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs.† 3. So-called â€Å"notification laws† require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed. Never employ scare quotes around a term introduced by the phrase so-called. Yes, you may want to signal to readers your dissatisfaction with the term, but so-called performs that function, so scare quotes are redundant: â€Å"So-called notification laws require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Religious Terms You Should Know20 Pairs of One-Word and Two-Word FormsNarrative, Plot, and Story