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The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

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' Oomp. 9 ITaccTiia-<br />

•Oh.TiiSS-•Vt.S»-J4<br />

reconciliation with Greek philosophy. We notice<br />

this especially in <strong>the</strong> so-called Fourth Book <strong>of</strong><br />

Maccabees, so long erroneously attributed to<br />

Josephus,* <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> * Wisdom <strong>of</strong> Solomon.' <strong>The</strong><br />

first postulate here would be <strong>the</strong> acknowledgment<br />

<strong>of</strong> truth among <strong>the</strong> Gentiles, which was <strong>the</strong><br />

outcome <strong>of</strong> Wisdom—<strong>and</strong> Wisdom was <strong>the</strong><br />

revelation <strong>of</strong> God. This seems already implied in<br />

so thoroughly Jewish a book as that <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Son <strong>of</strong> Sirach»* Of course <strong>the</strong>re could be no<br />

alliance with Epicureanism, which was at <strong>the</strong><br />

opposite pole to <strong>the</strong> Old Testament. But <strong>the</strong><br />

brilliancy <strong>of</strong> Plato's speculatiotis would charm,<br />

while <strong>the</strong> stern self-abnegation <strong>of</strong> Stoicism would<br />

prove almost equally attractive. <strong>The</strong> one would<br />

show why <strong>the</strong>y believed, <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r why <strong>the</strong>y lived/<br />

as <strong>the</strong>y did. Thus <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Old Testament<br />

would find a rational basis in <strong>the</strong> ontology <strong>of</strong><br />

Plato, <strong>and</strong> its ethics in <strong>the</strong> moral philosophy <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>

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