Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Philologus
a Christian at Rome to whom St. Paul sends his salutation. (Romans 18:15)
Philosophy
It is the object of the following article to give some account (I.) of that development of thought
among the Jews which answered to the philosophy of the West; (II.) of the systematic progress of
Greek philosophy as forming a complete whole; and (III.) of the contact of Christianity with
philosophy. I. THE PHILOSOPHIC DISCIPLINE OF THE JEWS.—Philosophy, if we limit the
word strictly to describe the free pursuit of knowledge of which truth is the one complete end is
essentially of western growth. In the East the search after wisdom has always been connected with
practice. The history of the Jews offers no exception to this remark: there is no Jewish philosophy,
properly so called. The method of Greece was to proceed from life to God; the method of Israel
(so to speak) was to proceed from God to life. The axioms of one system are the conclusions of the
other. The one led to the successive abandonment of the noblest domains of science which man
had claimed originally as his own, till it left bare systems of morality; the other, in the fullness of
time, prepared many to welcome the Christ—the Truth. The philosophy of the Jews, using the word
in a large sense, is to be sought for rather in the progress of the national life than in special books.
Step by step the idea of the family was raised into that of the people; and the kingdom furnished
the basis of those wider promises which included all nations in one kingdom of heaven. The social,
the political, the cosmical relations of man were traced out gradually in relation to God. The
philosophy of the Jews is thus essentially a moral philosophy, resting on a definite connection with
God. The doctrines of Creation and Providence, of an infinite divine person and of a responsible
human will, which elsewhere form the ultimate limits of speculation, are here assumed at the outset.
The Psalms, which, among the other infinite lessons which they convey, give a deep insight into
the need of a personal apprehension of truth, everywhere declare the absolute sovereignty of God
over the material and the moral world. One man among all is distinguished among the Jews as “the
wise man”. The description which is given of his writings serves as a commentary on the national
view of philosophy (1 Kings 4:30-33) The lesson of practical duty, the full utterance of “a large
heart,” ibid. 29, the careful study of God’s creatures,—this is the sum of wisdom. Yet in fact the
very practical aim of this philosophy leads to the revelation of the most sublime truth. Wisdom was
gradually felt to be a person, throned by God and holding converse with men. (Proverbs 8:1) ...
She was seen to stand in open enmity with “the strange woman”), who sought to draw them aside
by sensuous attractions; and thus a new step was made toward the central doctrine of
Christianity:—the incarnation of the Word. Two books of the Bible, Job and Ecclesiastes, of which
the latter at any rate belongs to the period of the close of the kingdom, approach more nearly than
any others to the type of philosophical discussions. But in both the problem is moral and not
metaphysical. The one deals with the evils which afflict “the perfect and upright;” the other with
the vanity of all the pursuits and pleasures of earth. The captivity necessarily exercised a profound
influence. The teaching of Persia Jewish thought. The teaching of Persia seems to have been designed
to supply important elements in the education of the chosen people. But it did yet more than this.
The contact of the Jews with Persia thus gave rise to a traditional mysticism. Their contact with
Greece was marked by the rise of distinct sects. In the third century B.C. the great Doctor Antigonus
of Socho bears a Greek name, and popular belief pointed to him as the teacher of Sadoc and Boethus
the supposed founders of Jewish rationalism. At any rate we may date from this time the twofold
division of Jewish speculation, The Sadducees appear as the supporters of human freedom in its
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William Smith