Hellenism And Hebraism

The Catholic Times  On Reconciliation and Unification of the Peninsula column  gives us an Asian understanding of the place of Hellenism and Hebraism in the world society.

 

Today's Western civilization is said to have originated from the fusion of Hellenism and Hebraism. Hellenism refers to the Greek way of thinking, and culture. 

 

Alexander the Great of Macedonia advances to India in the East through an expedition to Persia, an enemy of Greece. As a result, the kingdom of Macedonia became a great empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coast. The culture that merged the  worlds of the Orient and Greece were merged into one called Hellenism, one of the pillars of Western culture, spreading to the entire territories of the Roman Empire.

 

On the other hand, Hebraism refers to the Jewish way of thinking, and culture. Hebraism originated in Judaism, but later blossomed in Christianity. Christianity spread to the Roman Empire through the Apostle Paul,  officially recognition in 313 and state religion in 392, forming another central pillar of Western culture. 

 

If the characteristics of Hellenism emphasize human reason earthly oriented, polytheistically oriented, objective and logical, Hebraism emphasizes the divine realm the  afterlife, monotheistic, intuitive, and emotional. If Hellenism based on reason developed European scientific civilization and humanism and resulted in the expansion of Europe externally, it is said that Hebraism sublimated the relationship between humans in society, religiously and morally. In this way, in the Renaissance era, Hellenism and Hebraism harmonized together and blossomed in Europe. 

 

In a way, the blending of two opposing flows during the Renaissance advanced Western civilization. 

 

This is a part that is difficult to understand at first glance for those of us who live in the era of extremes today. But this is the point where we learn that rapprochement rather than rejection can have bigger and better results [But this as with all things requires discretion and discernment].

 

We turn to look at our geopolitical position. The Korean Peninsula is said to be the intersection of continental and maritime powers, and I wonder if we can play a role in fusing the two currents that look like extremes— North and South—Hoping to say: "Violence will no longer  be heard of in your  county, nor devastation and ruin within your frontiers. You will call your walls  'Salvation' and your gates 'Praise'" (Isaiah 60:18).