The purpose of this research is to examine the query what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens, with reference to early Christian theology regarding the connection between faith and reason. The plan of the research will be to set forth the basis for the statement and then to examine the views of early commentators that are meant to resolve difficulties associated with the tensions implied by the dialectical metaphor.
The first several centuries of Christian history were marked not only by tension between prevailing Roman rule and the peoples of the Levant but also by tension between the emerging religious orthodoxy associated with Christian thought and the philosophical traditions of classical Greece. Concern for the spiritual integrity of the Christian cult can be traced to the first exponent of Christianity, Paul. In I Cor. 1:10, Paul beseeches the Corinthian brethren "that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you." Paul's overriding concern is the community of souls, although, to be sure, Paul wanted all Christians to conform as to ritual, attitude, faith, and works. In Paul's era, however, such issues were elaborated in the context of what was thought to be an imminent second coming. In this regard, Campbell cites Paul's career as Christianity's first organization man.
It could be said that in turning from Pharisee to Christian, Paul simply transferred his temperament to the other side of the line and that the Christian Church that he founded thus inherited and carried into Europe the stamp of his Levantine regard for the monolithic consensus. The first principle of his doctrine was that in Christ the [old] Law had been abrogated. . . . "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Those are burning, wonderful words. But in the very next letter we read that a new enforcement was in operation (Campbell 379)...