Abstract
This article investigates how Judeans responded to Hellenism in order to maintain the integrity of their ethnic identity. Judeanism and Hellenism are regarded as alternative “symbolic universes”. It is shown that Judeans used various approaches to maintain their symbolic universe. This included Berger and Luckmann’s notions of theology, nihilation and therapy, but also accommodation, adapt-ation, appropriation of Hellenistic elements, collective opposition (or ethnicism) and a reinforcement of primordial sentiments.
Highlights
In 587 BCE many citizens of the kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylonia
At least two waves of Babylonian Judeans returned to Judea in the 530’s and 520’s
Alexander the Great set the stage for the clash of symbolic universes – Judeanism vs Hellenism – which perpetuated itself for several centuries
Summary
In 587 BCE many citizens of the kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylonia. The Persians conquered Babylonia in 539 BCE, and the Judeans[2] were permitted by Cyrus the Great to return to their homeland. Alexander the Great set the stage for the clash of symbolic universes – Judeanism vs Hellenism – which perpetuated itself for several centuries. Contact between Judeanism and Hellenism inevitably lead to the following cultural battles: Yahweh vs Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus; circumcision vs participation in the gymnasium; education in the Torah vs Greek education; territorial independence vs foreign domination; purity vs impurity; ethnic particularism vs cultural universalism and/or syncretism. A clash of symbolic universes theoretically in terms of concepts belonging to your own universe Both these examples of nihilation are evident in Judeanism due to its contact with Hellenism and are mutually complementary. In the pages that follow it will be shown that the maintenance of the Judean symbolic universe involved other approaches as well This includes accommodation, adaptation, and appropriation of elements of Hellenism.
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