Hellenism and Christianity

The Meeting of Two Worlds

2025

Translated by:

Fr Gregory Edwards

This is the latest book in the Doxa & Praxis series co-published by WCC and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies

In this book, published originally in Greek in 1976 and translated by Fr Gregory Edwards, the late Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas of Pergamon, Ecumenical Patriarchate, provides the reader with a very well-informed and nuanced critical approach to the various issues related to the meeting of Hellenism and Christianity, with a particular focus on what he sees as the first three formative centuries of the early church. In this work, Zizioulas considers the special role played by Judaism in this development, along with how various church intellectuals and fathers of the early church (Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon, etc.) addressed this new situation, striving to articulate a distinctive Christian worldview while expressing their own faith in the trinitarian God as it was experienced in the eucharistic life of the ecclesial communities. (From the foreword to the English edition)

Specs: pages; 6” x 9” size; PDF and print; 4-colour cover
ISBN: 978-2-8254-1890-1
eBook ISBN: 978-2-8254-1891-8
Shelving/Topics: Religion/Ecumenism/Orthodox
Rights: World, all languages
Price: $24.95 GBP 19.50 € 22.95 20.20 CHF

Historical Origins of Christianity

The problem of the historical origins of Christianity per se does not interest us here, but rather only as it relates to the broader purpose of our inquiry, which is the relationship between Christianity and Hellenism in the first three centuries. Thus, the question of Christianity’s historical origins leads us specifically to the following series of questions: What role did Hellenism play in the initial historical appearance of Christianity? Was there any trace of the Greek spirit in this historical setting that aided in the emergence of the first Christian communities, together with their faith in the person of Jesus Christ? What was the relationship between Hellenism and Christianity at the historical origins of the latter?

(from the introduction)

The Author

John D. Zizioulas (1931-2023) was a modern Eastern Orthodox theologian and Metropolitan of Pergamon (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). From 1968 to 1970, he served as secretary of Faith and Order. He taught theology at the Universities of Edinburgh (1970-1973), Glasgow (1973–1987), Geneva, King’s College London (during 1984, and then 1989–1998), Gregorian University, Rome (1984), and Thessaloniki (1984–1998). He was consecrated as a bishop on June 22, 1986. Zizioulas was for years a member of the joint committees for dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.