Greek Rhetorical Origins of Christian Faith: An Inquiry

What is the origin of Christian faith? Are the roots of the concept the same in both the Old and New Testaments? With the support of semantic, historical, and analytical evidence, Kinneavy develops a controversial and persuasive hypothesis that the origin of the Christian concept of faith can be traced to Greek classical rhetoric. The author examines the notions of faith formulated by eight major Christian and Jewish theologians, presents a meticulous case for the historical influence of Greek rhetoric on Hebraic thought, and concludes with a novel rhetorical study of the several hundred occurrences of the Greek terms for "faith" and "to believe," emerging with overwhelming support for the Greek influence on Christian faith.