And this influence
of Jewish traditions was much facilitated by the existence of a Greek
translation of the Hebrew scriptures.
[Sidenote: Its Influence on Greek Philosophy.]
[Sidenote: To Inspire Devotion, Not Solve Problems.]
Now, what the Hebrew tradition did for Greek philosophy was, of course,
not to favour its Pantheistic trend, where that existed, but much more
to convert such semi-Pantheism from a mere intellectual speculation to
contemplative devotion. For Hebraism itself had become almost as
intensely monotheistic as the later Islam. And, though monotheism may be
a stage in the progress of religion from Animism to Pantheism, it may,
also, by the peculiar intensity of the personal devotion it sometimes
inspires, cause the very idea of any farther expansion of faith to be
counted a sin.
[Sidenote: Philo, the Jew of Alexandria.]
Perhaps the influence of Hebraism on Hellenism may be illustrated by the
Alexandrian Philo's pathetic endeavour not only to trace the wisdom of
the Greeks to Moses, but to show that this derived lore is much mightier
for good when re-invested with the spiritual power and ardent devotion
of the Jewish faith.
"If any one will speak plainly," he writes,[12] "he might say that the
intelligible world is nothing other than the word (se. [Greek: logos],
reason) of the world-making God. For neither is the intelligible city
anything other than the thought [Greek: logismos] of the architect
already intending to build the city.
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