That's an excellent link! (bookmarked) I already wrote out my assessment (and I spelled assessment correctly this time :-[ ) Here's one section from it. (I also used some sources about Clement of Alexandria, who seemed to be the one who started all this.) And where's Donnie? I'd really like to know what he thinks.The hellenization of Christianity had two major positive effects on the Church. Platonic philosophy held to a body-soul dualism. It was this belief that led to monasticism. ?Devout members of the church in the second and third centuries, who interpreted the Gospel in this heavily dualistic manner, sensed a grave danger to their souls from living in society.?[1] Cantor also explains how the monks helped spread Christianity throughout Europe. The Benedictine monks also spread learning and education throughout Europe, which leads to the second positive effect of Hellenized Christianity. The Greeks were about knowledge. They examined and questioned the natural world and the nature of man. By embracing this same thirst for knowledge, early Christians were able to logically argue their faith with unbelievers and defend it from heresy. Ancient Greek philosophers taught people how to think. If the early church went along with Tertullian?s thinking that ?after Jesus Christ we have no need of speculation, after the Gospel no need of research,? the church perhaps would have still been able to establish her own theology and tenets of faith, but it would likely not have become the institution of learning it was in Medieval society.[2] Requiring people to accept the Gospel on blind faith only, without allowing room for any questioning, could have been the demise of Christianity. 1. Norman F. Cantor, "The Civilization of the Middle Ages," (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1993), 147.2. Tertullian, "What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?"
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