If we say that early Christianity (both in Mark and in Paul) is fundamentally apocalyptic, why did it appeal to non-Jews? Was there anything analogous floating around in the ancient world that might have primed a gentile audience to be receptive to this movement?
Apocalypticism was well established as a general trend or movement in first-century Judaism, but it seems to me that it is a pretty distinctively Jewish thing. You sort of need a Jewish context for it to make sense (Daniel, Enoch, Hosea, and so forth).
It just seems to me, on first glance, that there would be a pretty significant problem translating that movement to a gentile audience in a way that would be appealing or plausible. So, was there something equivalent or analogous already floating around in the gentile world? Am I just wrong to think that Jewish apocalypticism really only makes sense in a Jewish context?
Porphyry said
If we say that early Christianity (both in Mark and in Paul) is fundamentally apocalyptic, why did it appeal to non-Jews? Was there anything analogous floating around in the ancient world that might have primed a gentile audience to be receptive to this movement?Apocalypticism was well established as a general trend or movement in first-century Judaism, but it seems to me that it is a pretty distinctively Jewish thing. You sort of need a Jewish context for it to make sense (Daniel, Enoch, Hosea, and so forth).
It just seems to me, on first glance, that there would be a pretty significant problem translating that movement to a gentile audience in a way that would be appealing or plausible. So, was there something equivalent or analogous already floating around in the gentile world? Am I just wrong to think that Jewish apocalypticism really only makes sense in a Jewish context?
Perhaps because it was exotic — an offshoot of a foreign religion, not unlike Mithraism, which arose around the same time.
Perhaps I’m the only one who didn’t know this, but after asking this question, I learned that Zoroastrianism has a strong apocalyptic element, which was documented by Roman authors.
Whether that would have, in any meaningful sense, tilled the ground for Christianity, I don’t know. I mean, Zoroastrianism, including it’s apocalyptic aspects, was apparently known to and written of by Romans, but whether general knowledge of and respect for it would have been sufficient to make the people of the empire more open to to an apocalyptic early Christianity is another thing altogether.
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