The Greek, the Latin, and the Hebrew

At the risk of gross over-simplification, there are three primary ways of looking at reality, at least among those of us who reside in the West. Each is deeply important to grasp. 

 

First, there is the Greek way, which is largely descriptive and explanatory. The Greek way of looking at the world has an emphasis on rationality. Aristotle, for example, felt that once you defined a thing, you had exhausted its essence. When you approach something with Greek questions, you tend to be searching for shape and substance and definition. So one might approach “water,” and ask “What is water?” “What does it look like?” “What does it feel like?” 

 

A second way of looking at reality could be termed the Latin way, which is primarily concerned with method. A Latin question would ask, “how does this work?” So in terms of theology, a Latin question might be, “How is one saved?”

Greek and Latin questions form the currency of much of our thinking, including how we approach the Bible. The problem is that you can’t always ask Greek or Latin questions of the world – and certainly not of the Bible, namely because it’s not a Greek or Latin book.   The New Testament might have been written in Greek, but except for aspects of the apostle John’s strategy in the fourth gospel, it was not written from a Greek philosophical orientation.

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