It seems to me that the important question is not when European civilization became Christian (and not "Judeo-Christian") but why. Euroipeans might eagerly adopt Greco-Roman philosophy, law, architecture, and more, but not religion. Something in Christianity appealed far more than the pagan pantheon. Many others have discovered the same. The reasons are no douibt many, starting with monotheism, which most people choose over polytheism, despite (or perhaps because of) its undoubted "intolerance". And Europeans did refer to their civilization, after all, as "Christendom".
Cyril and Metod, christian agents brought in 9th century enormous brutality and violence against pagan religion. 9 centuries we knew about jesus, some followed him, majority did not care about jewish hero.mCyril and Metod changed status quo with violence
Both can be true. When we speak of Judeo-Christian civilization, we speak of the collective memory of a people (or a continent?), and the values that are common to them. I could point to several practical aspects making Europe Judeo-Christian, and that's unrelated to whether people believe in God or not.
One is the collective memory. Even in relatively recent centuries, people across Europe, in England, France, Germany, Poland, knew who King David was, could trace Moses leading his people out of Egypt, and knew the story of the Nativity of Jesus in considerable detail, while if asked what happened among their own ancestors two thousand years earlier, they largely did not know. Some of those long-forgotten local traditions were later recovered and brought to light by late-nineteenth century scholars and Romantic writers.
Secondly, almost all in Europe have historically agreed on core values of our civilization, things like truth, honesty, loyalty, and so on. These were rooted in the Greek tradition (notably Aristotle), later reworked by Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas within the Christian tradition, so admittedly, as the author acknowledges, the more accurate label would be Greco-Judeo-Christian, or perhaps, as the author himself suggests, Helleno-Christian.
Thirdly, the strong respect for truth, humanity, and later the scientific method, as brought by the Age of Enlightenment, was built partly on the foundation of, and partly in reaction against, the Judeo-Christian tradition.
When I travel outside Europe, I come to understand strongly that those values are not universally shared across cultures and civilizations. So while the old Indo-European roots are certainly there and worth rediscovering, and the author makes a compelling case for taking them seriously, we cannot deny the fundamental impact of Judeo-Greek-Christian thought on what Europe has become.
You haven't proved your point here. That many European nations have had Jewish populations, whose individuals contributed mightily to European culture, they have done so on European terms, within a larger Christian cultural context. (Think Spinoza.) And when they weren't being slaughtered in pograms, Jewish life flourished in Europe as nowhere else, so perhaps the greatest influence of Judaism in Europe is the question of minority rights. Europeans intent on rediscovering their 'roots, will go back to Aristotle, not the Talmud. Even those of us here now, in a Post-Christian era, work and live within that framework, however critically,
I certainly went too far in saying ‘as nowhere else’ without more extensive knowledge of Middle-Eastern, Russian and Asian history and traditions. Those are things I don’t know.
Without pinpointing the exact nascence of this yoked abbreviation (Judeo-Christian), the term was first introduced in the United States Post-WWII as a way of creating a tolerant religious front, i.e., not as a religious idea but a social one (recovery from the Holocaust, domestic tranquility, and perhaps, solidarity with Israel). It was later expanded yet again to include Islam, at which point the idea itself breaks down while it becomes an article of social faith.
Très intéressé par vos travaux ! Flamand parlant une langue Germanique à la maison, j'ai conçu une toute autre vision pour l'Europe de l'Espace Hanseatique, de Bruges à Novgorod. Vous en trouverez un avant-goût sur www.Nordlandia.nl sur lequel je vous souhaite la bienvenue.
The Judeo-Christian term always annoyed me. Another term that annoys me is Faith community or worse interfaith.
Agreed. The term has always annoyed me as well and reminds me of this other hoary old lie foisted on Christians: https://i.imgur.com/YMhoeS5.png
It seems to me that the important question is not when European civilization became Christian (and not "Judeo-Christian") but why. Euroipeans might eagerly adopt Greco-Roman philosophy, law, architecture, and more, but not religion. Something in Christianity appealed far more than the pagan pantheon. Many others have discovered the same. The reasons are no douibt many, starting with monotheism, which most people choose over polytheism, despite (or perhaps because of) its undoubted "intolerance". And Europeans did refer to their civilization, after all, as "Christendom".
Exactly. My ancestors abandoned Thor for Christ with good reason.
Cyril and Metod, christian agents brought in 9th century enormous brutality and violence against pagan religion. 9 centuries we knew about jesus, some followed him, majority did not care about jewish hero.mCyril and Metod changed status quo with violence
I wrestle with this notion because it has important implications for white nationalist organization against the anti-white forces.
I am Slav, my Gods are from slavic pantheon, Mother Earth yes, jewish god no!
I refuse going to church every sunday and listen about fake jewish constructs there.
Thank you for this article
peter from bratislava
It's always so crass and reductive to use "judeo-Christian".
It's just Christian.
Likewise, everything positive we identify with europe comes from after the period of eating people, when Christianity awakened europe to the good.
If you think pagan society is good because it's older, there's no reason to stop there. Be a retarded caveman, that's the real europe.
Both can be true. When we speak of Judeo-Christian civilization, we speak of the collective memory of a people (or a continent?), and the values that are common to them. I could point to several practical aspects making Europe Judeo-Christian, and that's unrelated to whether people believe in God or not.
One is the collective memory. Even in relatively recent centuries, people across Europe, in England, France, Germany, Poland, knew who King David was, could trace Moses leading his people out of Egypt, and knew the story of the Nativity of Jesus in considerable detail, while if asked what happened among their own ancestors two thousand years earlier, they largely did not know. Some of those long-forgotten local traditions were later recovered and brought to light by late-nineteenth century scholars and Romantic writers.
Secondly, almost all in Europe have historically agreed on core values of our civilization, things like truth, honesty, loyalty, and so on. These were rooted in the Greek tradition (notably Aristotle), later reworked by Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas within the Christian tradition, so admittedly, as the author acknowledges, the more accurate label would be Greco-Judeo-Christian, or perhaps, as the author himself suggests, Helleno-Christian.
Thirdly, the strong respect for truth, humanity, and later the scientific method, as brought by the Age of Enlightenment, was built partly on the foundation of, and partly in reaction against, the Judeo-Christian tradition.
When I travel outside Europe, I come to understand strongly that those values are not universally shared across cultures and civilizations. So while the old Indo-European roots are certainly there and worth rediscovering, and the author makes a compelling case for taking them seriously, we cannot deny the fundamental impact of Judeo-Greek-Christian thought on what Europe has become.
You haven't proved your point here. That many European nations have had Jewish populations, whose individuals contributed mightily to European culture, they have done so on European terms, within a larger Christian cultural context. (Think Spinoza.) And when they weren't being slaughtered in pograms, Jewish life flourished in Europe as nowhere else, so perhaps the greatest influence of Judaism in Europe is the question of minority rights. Europeans intent on rediscovering their 'roots, will go back to Aristotle, not the Talmud. Even those of us here now, in a Post-Christian era, work and live within that framework, however critically,
I certainly went too far in saying ‘as nowhere else’ without more extensive knowledge of Middle-Eastern, Russian and Asian history and traditions. Those are things I don’t know.
Have a look on www.Nordlandia.nl
Without pinpointing the exact nascence of this yoked abbreviation (Judeo-Christian), the term was first introduced in the United States Post-WWII as a way of creating a tolerant religious front, i.e., not as a religious idea but a social one (recovery from the Holocaust, domestic tranquility, and perhaps, solidarity with Israel). It was later expanded yet again to include Islam, at which point the idea itself breaks down while it becomes an article of social faith.
Très intéressé par vos travaux ! Flamand parlant une langue Germanique à la maison, j'ai conçu une toute autre vision pour l'Europe de l'Espace Hanseatique, de Bruges à Novgorod. Vous en trouverez un avant-goût sur www.Nordlandia.nl sur lequel je vous souhaite la bienvenue.
Cordialement, Andre-Hans von BREMEN.