Sep 21 Sat
Is Christianity to live in Christ?
Human life is within history, and Christianity is no exception. Each expression of Christianity exists within a particular system of thought and language, the garment.
However, Christianity is connected to history for an additional reason. Comparing Platonism to Christianity, specifically, Socrates to Jesus, helps illustrate this point. It is well-known that neither Socrates nor Jesus wrote any texts. Instead, their teachings were transmitted through their disciples. Furthermore, certain academic circles have questioned the historical existence of both figures, albeit unsuccessfully. Still, we note a fundamental difference between the two cases.
If it were somehow proven that Socrates was a fictional character created by Plato to convey his philosophical ideas, it wouldn't cause the collapse of his doctrine. This is because his teachings are not strictly tied to Socrates' life.
However, in Christianity, if it were hypothetically proven that Jesus never actually existed, the entire foundation of Christianity would crumble. This is because Christianity is not simply a set of teachings or ethics, but a significant "event."
The story of Jesus is not just a vehicle for a message; it is the message itself.
The essence of Christianity does not lie somehow “behind” the story of Jesus, because Jesus, his life, is what we proclaim.
The evangelists, inspired by the Holy Spirit, compiled the material about Jesus, which circulated among the churches, and presented it in the form of a biography. They did not aim to recreate Jesus' timeline day by day but to transmit the historical event of Jesus.
Therefore, Christianity is inextricably linked to history because it emerges from an event. It is not only the starting point of Christianity that anchors it to history but also its transmission and realization.
The life of Jesus took place within the Semitic culture, but in the second and third centuries, the Gospel was understood and expressed within the framework of Greek culture. Some theologians referred to this as the Hellenization of Christianity, viewing it as a process of corruption, as though the simple gospel of the Galilean prophet had been transformed into Greek metaphysics.
However, this interpretation fails to recognize that Jesus did not preach the Gospel as a mere theory, but rather expressed Himself through words and images that were historically situated in Semitic culture. In the third century, Origen of Alexandria expressed this idea by stating, "The Word of God is never presented without the appropriate garments."
Therefore, the transition from Semitic to Greek is not a corruption, but a necessary and inevitable process. Consequently, the continuity of Christianity does not reside in its external forms, but rather in its fidelity to its internal essence, which each generation is called to understand and express through a renewed attire.
Continuity –not rupture– is fidelity to Jesus, to his Revelation. Thus, the word of God with a new garment is kept alive and is handed down from generation to generation by the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
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