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Most scholars believe there is no historical evidence of any influence by Buddhism on Christianity. [verification needed] Leslie Houlden states that although modern parallels between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha have been drawn, these comparisons emerged after missionary contacts in the 19th century and there is no historically reliable evidence of contacts between Buddhism and Jesus. [28]
The idea of a Greek influence on the development of Buddhism has been particularly advocated by Étienne Lamotte [62] and Thomas McEvilley, who has speculated that “like the Gandharan art style, the Gandharan Buddhist style must have had a prominent Hellenic factor”, [63] although he does not employ the term "Greco-Buddhism" for this ...
As Christianity spread throughout the Hellenic world, an increasing number of church leaders were educated in Greek philosophy. The dominant philosophical traditions of the Greco-Roman world then were Stoicism , Platonism , Epicureanism , and, to a lesser extent, the skeptic traditions of Pyrrhonism and Academic Skepticism .
Although the prevalent romantic view on Buddhism sees it as an authentic and ancient practice, contemporary Buddhism is deeply influenced by the western culture. With the rise of western colonialism in the 19th century, Asian cultures and religions developed strategies to adapt to the western hegemony, without losing their own traditions.
Later Christian traditions about Jesus were probably influenced by Greco-Roman religion and mythology. Much of Jesus's traditional iconography is apparently derived from Mediterranean deities such as Hermes , Asclepius, Serapis , and Zeus and his traditional birthdate on 25 December , which was not declared as such until the fifth century, was ...
Still, in Greece and elsewhere, there is evidence that pagan and Christian communities remained essentially segregated from each other, with little mutual cultural influence. [ page needed ] Urban pagans continued to use the civic centers and temple complexes, while Christians set up their own, new places of worship in suburban areas.
Other art incorporated Chinese and Korean influences, so that Japanese Buddhism became varied in its expression. Elements of Greco-Buddhist art remain to this day, such as depictions of the Buddha with Greek style clothing folds. [46] Greek influence is also found in depictions of the wind god Fūjin, which shows similarities with the god ...
The widespread attempts to reconcile Hellenistic cultural outlets with Christianity were however often questioned and repelled in an outwardly devoutly Christian-dominated culture. The case of Byzantine monk and Hellenistic revivalist Michael Psellos raised serious questions concerning his religious beliefs and the suggestion of their ...