Authors: Ronald H. Nash
ISBN-13: 9780875525594, ISBN-10: 0875525598
Format: Paperback
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Date Published: March 2003
Edition: 2ND
Dr. Ronald H. Nash is professor of philosophy and theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He is author or editor of more than twenty books, and has served as an advisor to the United States Civil Rights Commission.
If Christianity borrowed many of its basic beliefs from pagan systems of thought, as some modern scholars have declared, it is not what its adherents claim it to be. The Gospel and the Greeks examines the proposition that Christianity is dependent upon a number of Hellenistic philosophies, the Greco-Roman mystery religions, and Gnosticism. Dr. Nash's arguments for the uniqueness of Christianity are constructed with great care, and his conclusions are convincing.
1. | Introduction | 1 |
Part 1 | Hellenistic Philosophy | |
2. | Philosophy from Plato to Middle Platonism | 19 |
3. | Paul and Platonism | 48 |
4. | Stoicism and the New Testament | 57 |
5. | The Christian Logos | 70 |
6. | The Book of Hebrews: A Test Case | 78 |
Part 2 | The Mystery Religions | |
7. | The Mystery Religions: An Overview | 105 |
8. | The Specific Mystery Religions | 121 |
9. | The Mystery Religions and the Christian Sacraments | 139 |
10. | The Mystery Religions and Essential Christian Beliefs | 150 |
11. | Paul and the Mystery Religions | 171 |
Part 3 | Christianity and Gnosticism | |
12. | The Importance of the Gnostic Question | 191 |
13. | The Nature of Gnosticism | 200 |
14. | Bultmann's Gnostic Thesis | 211 |
15. | The Hermetic Writings and Paul | 226 |
16. | Pre-Christian Gnosticism? | 236 |
17. | Conclusion | 247 |
References | 255 | |
For Further Reading | 284 | |
Index of Persons | 287 | |
Index of Subjects | 291 |