View source for Philosophy:Dehellenization

[[File:Papa Benoît XVI.jpg|thumb|Pope Benedict XVI]]
'''Dehellenization'''  is a term used in 2006 by [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]] in a speech called ''Faith, Reason, and the University: Memories and Reflections'' (the [[Religion:Regensburg lecture|Regensburg lecture]]) to refer to attempts to separate [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] from [[Philosophy:Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosophical thought]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 9}}.</ref> The speech advocates the harmony between faith and reason, arguing that Christianity is fundamentally a [[Social:Hellenization|Hellenized]] religion.  

The term had been used earlier by [[Biography:Leslie Dewart|Leslie Dewart]] in his 1966 book ''The Future of Belief: Theism in a World Come of Age''.<ref>{{harvnb|Lonergan|1967}}.</ref>

==Hellenization==

[[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]] (born Joseph A. Ratzinger) argues that several key ideas in Christian thought reveal the [[Social:Hellenization|Hellenization]] of Christianity:
# According to Benedict XVI, [[Biography:Paul the Apostle|St. Paul]]'s vision of the Macedonian man pleading with him to travel to Macedonia to help his people specifically foreshadows the necessary marriage of Biblical and Greek thought.
# To demonstrate the fusion of Greek and Biblical thought, Benedict XVI refers to the opening verse of the gospel of John: "In the beginning was the word." Here "Word" translates the Greek word "logos" (λόγος), meaning not only "word" but also "reason", so the verse can be paraphrased as "in the beginning there was reason."<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 5}}.</ref>
# Benedict XVI also points to the concept of ''voluntarism'', proposed by the Franciscan [[Biography:Duns Scotus|Blessed John Duns Scotus]] and developed by later scholars into the premise that we can only know God through a voluntary decision to do so.<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 7}}.</ref>

Although [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus]]'s followers were reluctant to succumb to the Hellenistic rulers' attempts to force them into Greek idolatry and customs, Benedict XVI argues that they were nevertheless able to extract the most enriching element of [[Philosophy:Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic thought]], namely that man has not only the ability but also the obligation to think rationally.<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 6}}.</ref>

==Causes of dehellenization==

Pope Benedict XVI proposes that a dehellenization of Christianity has stemmed from three different sources. The first stage of Christian dehellenization can be attributed to the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Reformers believed that faith had turned into a mere element in abstract philosophy, and that the religion needed to return to the idea of ''[[Religion:Sola scriptura|sola scriptura]]'' (scripture only).<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 10}}.</ref>

The second stage occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to the theology of Adolf von Harnack. Harnack advocated focusing on the simple life of Jesus Christ, and his humanitarian message in particular. Theology and belief in a divine being, according to Harnack, was a scientific history completely separate from the modern reason of humanitarian aid.

The last stage, occurring currently in the twenty-first century, is a product of modern cultural pluralism. Cultural pluralism encourages other cultures to simply return to the simplicity of the [[Religion:New Testament|New Testament]], and infuse it with their own culture. Benedict XVI affirms that such a method cannot work because the New Testament "was written in Greek and bears the imprint of the Greek spirit."<ref>{{harvnb|Ratzinger|2006|loc=para. 11}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|last1=Chia|first1=Roland|year=2007|title=Protestant Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Faith, Reason and the University|journal=Dialog|volume=46|issue=1|pages=66–77|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6385.2007.00309.x}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dewart|first1=Leslie|year=1966|title=The Future of Belief: Theism in a World Come of Age|location=New York|publisher=Herder and Herder}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Garland|first1=Daniel M. Jr.|year=2013|title=Faith, Reason, and Scripture|journal=Angelicum|volume=90|issue=4|pages=799–820|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26392426}}
* {{cite book|last1=Guerra|first1=Marc D.|year=2010|chapter=Good and bad de-hellenization|editor1-last=Cowan|editor1-first=Bainard|title=Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason|publisher=St. Augustine's Press|isbn=9781587313257}} 
* {{cite journal|last1=Lonergan|first1=Bernard|year=1967|title=The Dehellenization of Dogma|journal=Theological Studies|volume=28|pages=336–351|doi=10.1177/004056396702800206}} (review of Dewart 1966)
* {{cite journal|last1=Maher|first1=Daniel P.|year=2009|title=Pope Benedict XVI on Faith and Reason|journal=Nova et Vetera|volume=7|issue=3|pages=625–652|url=https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=philosophy-faculty}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Markschies|first1=Christoph|year=2012|title=Does It Make Sense to Speak about a “Hellenization of Christianity” in Antiquity?|journal=Church History and Religious Culture|volume=92|issue=1|pages=5–34|doi=10.1163/187124112X621581}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Miceli|first1=Angela C.|year=2012|title=Alternative Foundations: A Dialogue With Modernity and the Papacy of Benedict XVI|journal=Perspectives on Political Science|volume=41|issue=1|pages=19–29|doi=10.1080/10457097.2012.641446}}
* {{cite web|last1=Ratzinger|first1=Joseph A.|title=Faith, Reason, and the University: Memories and Reflections|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.html|access-date=5 January 2016|location=Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg|format=speech|date=12 September 2006}}

[[Category:Christian philosophy]]
[[Category:Rationalism]]

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