Since Christ was a Jew, I kind of thought that Christian theology would be extremely similar to Jewish theology. Looking at the major Christian theologians like Eusebius, Tertullian, Irenaeus and especially Origen however, it appears that the arguments are essentially Greek philosophy repackaged.
Is this due to some unofficial copyright on Jewish theology, something else, or is the premise just wrong?
It’s because, after Jesus’s death, Christianity spread into Asia Minor, Greece, and throughout the Mediterranian, and didn’t get very many converts among Jews. So, the theology that developed was highly influenced by Greek thought, especially Platonism.
It also found a welcome within the Stoic framework that was popular with the Roman upperclass.
Sounds about right.
Modern theology is a mixture of quite a few traditions. A great part of Protestant theology derives from the Germanic mindset, as expressed through Renaissance and Enlightenment philosophers. Catholic theology, not surprisingly, owes a lot to Roman thought, in particular its attitude on the placement of rectitude within a metaphysic that is largely presumed rather than defined. Orthodox theology derives from the Greek tradition, of course, but from an aspect of it that most metaphysically-oriented philosophy classes don’t get into. But compare Socratic-Platonic ethics and the more mystical aspects of Greek thought with hesychasm and theosis. (Note too the Slavic influence, as of “finish carpentry” on the Greek structural timbers.)
Only gradually are Christian scholars beginning to re-examine Christian concepts with an eye to their Hebrew origins – and sometimes the finds are rather intriguing.
I haven’t read Philo but his work in Judaic & Platonic thought has been thought to have been influential to the Gospel of John & perhaps the writings of Paul.
Jewish “theology” is a difficult problem. The greatest Jewish literature from the classical age, the Talmud and the Midrash, are not systematic, theological kinds of work. These works are much more discursive, poetic, imagistic, mystical and, at times, intentionally wry.
Jewish systematic theology only comes about as a response to Islamic systematic theology, and as defense against the Karaite heresy. The greatest Jewish theologian, Maimonides, wrote his “Guide for the Perplexed” in Arabic.
One could argue that the midrashic method of the Talmud and Midrash are more faithfully carried on in the Zohar and mystical texts than in Jewish systematic theology,.
What I have found among Christian scholars is that very, very few have developed even the most basic level of textual skills to study Talmud and Midrash (or the Zohar) in the original, and therefore really don’t understand the inner life of traditional Jewish spirituality