Season 3 ~ Episode #34 - - - IKEA Horse Meatballs

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on March 1, 2013 at 12:20am

Watch me try to sound educated here . . .

I think Phil was referencing a sort of "biblical" form of CIVILIZED, as opposed to BARBARIAN. such as historically used by the Greek - - -

While the Greek city-states fiercely held onto their own independence, there was still an important sense of what it was to be Greek. Greeks were unified by a common language, culture, and religion. As Greeks came into contact with other cultures, they emphasized the difference between themselves and others. It is in Greek culture that the concept of the "barbarian" was invented. "Barbarian" ultimately is a Greek word. It was used by the Greek to identify a non-Greek speaker, one who speaks nonsense or "bar bar".

source: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/arth200/politics/greeks_...

The Bible reference that brought this to my mind is the following . . .

¹⁴ I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

¹⁵So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

~ Romans 1:14-16

Remember that the Apostle Paul was Jewish by birth, but also a Roman citizen, and being an very educated man (and member of the Pharisees) undoubtedly could speak and write in Greek - - - so to him, anyone outside those three groups was considered a barbarian.

Permalink Reply by Phil (Duckbilled Baronyx) on March 1, 2013 at 9:35am

Thanks, Gumbo

K-ModPermalink Reply by Victoria (Centauromadoose) on March 1, 2013 at 10:26am

Your source is correct about the ancient Greek concept of barbarianism; however, I would caution you against projecting that onto the Biblical concept of barbarianism. Based on cultural (including religious) differences, the ancient Greeks likely would have considered early Christians barbaric in their own way.

If you're going to go with the Greek concept, "barbarian" is a wholly subjective concept, defined as anyone who isn't like you/doesn't adhere to your own cultural precepts. So begone, all you barbarians here -- the lot of you! -_-

K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on February 28, 2013 at 3:48pm