CHAPTER II


POST-CHRISTIAN PANTHEISM.

In speaking of Neo-Platonism I incidentally mentioned its apparent
subjection to "extraneous influences," These, of course, included the
rising power of Christianity and its Jewish traditions.

[Sidenote: The Hebrew Tradition.]

Even before the advent of the new revelation, the Jewish settlements
existing in all great cities of the Graeco-Roman world excited interest
at any rate among sentimentalists touched by the fascination at that
time beginning to be exerted by oriental religions. 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