It is
not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore,
friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and
of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task.
The early church had begun to experience significant growth.
Concomitant with this success, tensions arose between the Hebrews (Aramaic speakers from
Judea and Galilee who were steeped in Jewish tradition and worshipped in Hebrew) and the
Hellenists (Greek speakers from outside this area who worshipped in Greek). Integration of
outsiders was particularly difficult because of the Jewish community’s long-standing
resistance to such integration.
Rather than enmeshing themselves in the dispute over whether the
Hellenist widows were receiving a fair allotment, the Apostles invited the Hellenists to
appoint seven of themselves to manage this distribution. Stephen was one of the seven.
The subsequent synthesis of Judaism and Greek Rationalism made possible
by this resolution and the resultant integration of the Hellenists did much to enable the
growth of the church outside the Jewish community. Resolution of the dissonance between
these two different world views formed the basis for many of the theological debates of
the first half millennium of Christianity.
The Greek language facilitated the spread of Christianity by
communicating its tenets in the widely spoken language of a geographically dispersed
culture. Greek was the optimal language for achieving this. While Latin was the official
language of the Roman Empire, Christianity was not a religion that would be likely to grow
rapidly among the most powerful.
Perhaps more importantly, the structure and logical arguments of Greek
Rationalism were much more readily embraced by non-Jews than were arguments requiring an
understanding of Jewish history. That many teachers throughout the Roman Empire were Greek
provided a feedback loop, which both facilitated and reinforced this pattern.
A microcosm of the power of this synthesis is seen in the
transformation of Saul to Paul. Saul was one of those responsible for killing Stephen, a
leader in the Hellenistic Christian community, but as Paul he subsequently became the man
most responsible for spreading Christianity throughout the Hellenistic world.
Please help us to learn from those of other cultures and to
welcome them into our faith community. May we share our understandings with them, and may
all of us develop our faith through dialogue, respect, and synthesis. Amen.
Ted Vlamis
