Sunday, May 5, 2024

Logos Theology is Semitic in Origin

Neither Heraclitus, Plato or Aristotle uses the word Logos for any aspect of the Divine.  

Stoicism was the first school of Greek Philosophy to use the word Logos for an aspect of the Divine. The Stoic School was founded by Zeno of Citium who was a Phoenician, Chrysippus was also a Phoenician and some other notable early Stoics may have been as well. Phoenician was a term the Greeks used for all the native residents of the Mediterranean coastal regions of Lebanon and north western Israel, both Canaanites and Israelites with the Tribes of Asher and Dan both having particular ties to that region.

The first Platonist to use the word Logos in a Similar way was Philo of Alexandria who was Jewish. Aristobulus was an earlier Hellenistic Era Greek Speaking Jewish Philosopher but we don’t have his writings so can’t know if he used the word Logos or not.

The Biblical Hebrew Basis for Logos Theology arguably begins with God Creating the World by Speaking in Genesis 1.  But mostly I think Greek speaking Jews like Philo and the Early Christians (who I believe were originally more Stoic then Platonist) mainly used Logos as a Greek translation of the Hebrew word Dabar, Strong’s Number 1697-1698.  Dabar first appears in Genesis 15 where the Dabar of God seems to be a very tangible manifestation of God.  We likewise see throughout The Prophets “The Word of YHWH came” unto a Prophet speaking a Prophecy that the Prophet then writes down.  Psalm 33 is also believed to be an important influence on the Fourth Gospel’s use of the word.

In Rabbinic Literature the Aramaic word Memra becomes a synonym for this same concept.

So no The Logos is not an example of Greek Philosophy influencing the Judeo-Christian Tradition, it’s the other way around.

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