I learned this single CORE idea from Jonathan Z. Smith, the greatest historian of religion of our time, during the first week of the first class I had from him at the University of Chicago called simply “Hellenistic Religion.” It remains the case that very few in my academic field understand this concept. As a result, my field of historical critical Biblical Studies, ancient Judaism, and earliest Christianity–not to mention over two millennia of the hegemony of dualistic religions to our own time–is accordingly impoverished.
I hope you will both enjoy and benefit from absorbing these key concepts. It is no longer relevant to ask how “Hellenized” this or that form of Judaism or early Christianity might have been. Any religion worth its salt in this period is primarily focused on cosmic “salvation,” about “getting out” or “escaping” this lower world of fate, sin, suffering, and death. And the powerful deities who offered such “astral immortality” could also confer health, guidance, blessings, and protection in this life as well. It was truly a package deal for this age, as well as the Age to Come, whether understood as a perfected eschatological new Creation, or heavenly ascent of the true Self to the perfected world Above.
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