Hebraism and Hellenism

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how in his poetry and prose, the Victorian essayist and author Matthew Arnold frequently makes use of binaries, or the classical rhetorical style of constructing a series of two contrasting or opposing ideas, to illustrate the speaker's main point. The paper then reviews Arnold's essay on modern religion, which is based upon the contrasts of Hebraism and Hellenism.

From the Paper:

"The idea that Judaism is rigidly tied to the adherence to the law, sadly, can also be implicitly, if not explicitly connected to the Hebraic refusal to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. Not only does Arnold's analysis of the Hebraic impulse towards the truth sound reductive regarding Jewish culture but Stephen Prickett suggests that by creating such a binary opposition of the Hebraic and the Hellenic, Arnold attempts to filter out what he disliked in the Christian religion by creating the false binary of Hebraism, even while both the Greek and Hebraic ancient cultures were considerably more complex than Arnold's reading: "At the heart of Matthew Arnold's writings, whether literary, sociological, historical, or biblical, was the attempt to create an enlightened and forward-looking religion. For him this meant a Christianity that was 'scientific,' 'non-Semitic,' Indo-European, and Aryan in quality," that is, in Arnold's own words, containing "more of Plato and Socrates than Joshua and David." (Pickett, 2001; Arnold 1869)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Arnold, Matthew. "Hebraism and Hellenism." From Culture and Anarchy. 1869. Full e-text available on The Victorian Web. Last updated 2001. 5 Apr 2005. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/writings/contents.html
• Arnold, Matthew. "Dover Beach." 1867. Full e-text available on The Victorian Web. Last updated 2001. 5 Apr 2005. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/writings/doverbeach.html
• Prickett, Stephen. "Purging Christianity of Its Semitic Origins: Arnold, Kingsley, and the Bible." 2001. 5 Apr 2006. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/prickett1.html

More papers on Hebraism and Hellenism:

• Comparison Essay # 4760 : "Hellenism and Hebraism in Victorian Literature"
• Term Paper # 120063 : "Hellenism Versus Hebraism in Victorian England"
• Analytical Essay # 7523 : "Matthew Arnold: Late Victorian English Poet and Critic"

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