Faith Interface

The Influence of Jerusalem and Athens on Christianity

Christianity in the East and the West formed cultures that had roots both in the classical world of Greece and Rome and in the faiths of Jerusalem, Christianity and (less comfortably) Judaism. This is true in the Christian West, where both Greek and Jewish thought shaped the architectural ideas that produced the cathedrals of Paris. The parliamentary government of Britain has its roots in both the democracy of Athens and the law of Moses. It is also true in the Christian East. Eastern Christendom formed a new empire that shielded Western Europe from invasion and destruction. For one thousand years the great capital city, Constantinople, maintained an unbroken study of both ancient biblical and pagan texts. It honored both the “inner wisdom” of the faith and the “outer wisdom” of the Greeks and Romans. This fusion of Athens and Jerusalem can be seen in the buildings and books of cities in Britain, Ethiopia, Romania and the United States. It is no accident that the United States Supreme Court is housed in a building with biblical references carved onto a structure built in the classical style of Rome and Greece.

Athens and Jerusalem Separate

For centuries these two cities, Athens and Jerusalem, provided boundaries for intellectual and cultural growth. They formed one new kingdom. Tensions between the rationalism of Athens and the faith of Jerusalem always existed, but each recognized the contributions made by the other. Eventually, however, the citizens of both cities grew restless.

Blaise Pascal

One product of classical Christian civilization was modern science. Secular, scientific answers seemed to make religious truth and boundaries not only unnecessary but stifling. Athens began to pull away from Jerusalem. In the process, what was best in the old Greek and Roman tradition was also discarded. The moderation and humility so prized by the ancients was forgotten. Science would answer all questions and solve all problems. The old classical Christian civilisation began to crumble. Others have noted the decline of this classical Christian culture. The sort of society that produced John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas or C.S. Lewis no longer exists. Christians on the right and on the left have foolishly taken joy in the destruction.

Some Christians have moved to Athens while keeping a summer home in Jerusalem. For them, the rationalism of Athens, by now reduced mainly to science, dictates the nature of reality. Jerusalem provides these accommodating Christians with personal peace, as religion is seen as a vacation from the harsh realities of a Neo-Darwinian world. They allow for a shadowy divine providence to be unseen behind it all. Jerusalem is allowed this marginal existence as long as it promises never to interfere with science. Religion is kept firmly in line. Jerusalem, like many vacation homes, is filled with yesterday’s furniture. No one lives there; they just hang out there on weekends and holidays.

Some faithful Christian folk try to avoid reasoning altogether, only to end up reasoning badly.

Other Christians have condemned Athens and left it to burn. They do not mourn the death of classical Christian culture. These pious souls have locked themselves inside Jerusalem and are not coming out until the war is over. Armed with Bible verses, they glare over the walls and leave the rest of the world alone. When the world returns the favor, they complain that the truth is being ignored. I once spoke in a church about the sinful hatred many Christians have for Athens. After my talk, an older person came up to me and said that this hatred was a sign of revival! In her view, Christianity should be all about feeling and never about thinking. Thinking, she thought, leads to doubting, and doubting is the way of life in apostate Athens.

Such faithful Christian folk try to avoid reasoning altogether, only to end up reasoning badly. Any attempt to understand the Bible requires reason. Christians often go on for years after their conversion with a fully functioning mind but no guidance on how to use it. They have questions. They try not to reason them out, so they simply reason without training. Trapped in these walls, an inbred Jerusalem becomes a bit crazy.

Christians must recapture the middle way of Augustine and Chrysostom. Athens and Jerusalem are not two cities, but two districts in one city: the city of God. When allowed to coexist, Athens and Jerusalem create a cultural explosion. They have done so in the past and will do so again, if an attempt at revival is made soon. Christians must act quickly, for Athens and Jerusalem are dying an each needs the other to thrive. Athens has been sacked by barbarians who chain rationalism to materialistic science. Science can do useful things, but it knows nothing about truth, goodness and beauty. Science cannot subsume virtue to its limited methods, so it must deny the existence of virtue if scientists wish to control all knowledge. Athens, the rational mind, does not by itself have the resources it needs to deal with the most important things. The ancient greeks knew this, which was why so many of them were eager to embrace Christianity. We are learning the same lesson again, the hard way. The fashionable cynicism called postmodernism is merely the tired realization the rationalism without faith ends up destroying its own foundations.

Christians must recapture the middle way of Augustine and Chrysostom. Athens and Jerusalem are not two cities, but two districts in one city: the city of God. When allowed to coexist, Athens and Jerusalem create a cultural explosion.

Jerusalem, too, is sick. Its inbred residents, who cannot even do the classical theology that produced their own creeds, sit in their ghetto talking only to themselves.

Any hope of reviving Christian cultures must begin by understanding what they are and from whence they come. At one time every educated person was familiar with both Greek and Christian foundational ideas, but no longer. The renewed study of the ancients, both Greek and Christian, is vital for any new beginning for classical civilisation. Knowledge of ancient Athens is vital for Christians. Some see it as the starting place for the flowering of new classical Christians civilisations. Human reason, unscarred by an irrational desire to rid itself of Christianity, will flourish.

Taken from When Athens Met Jerusalem: An Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought (John Mark Reynolds, IVP Academic, 2009)