Axial Age & Christianity
- James Collazo
- Jan 30, 2021
- 12 min read
Updated: Nov 17
Introduction
The Axial Age lasted roughly from 500 to 300 BC. During this time, major religious and spiritual traditions appeared in Israel, Greece, India, and China. However, many scholars of religion debate the concept of the Axial Age. They question its exact character and limits in both time and place. Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), an existentialist philosopher and psychiatrist, developed the Axial Age theory. He noticed that most world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Judaism, began in the first millennium BC. In his book The Origin and Goal of History (Routledge, 2021), Jaspers explained these ideas.
Confucius and Lao Tzu were living in China, and all the schools of Chinese philosophy came into being, including those of Mot Tzu, Zhuang Zhou, Lieh Tzu, and a host of others; India produced the Upanishads and Buddha and, like China, ran the whole gamut of philosophical possibilities down to materialism, skepticism, and nihilism; in Persia, Zoroaster taught a challenging view of the world as a struggle between good and evil; in Israel, the prophets made their appearance from Elijah by way of Isaiah and Jeremiah . . . Greece witnessed the arrival of Homer, of the philosophers—Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Plato—of the tragedians, of Thucydides and Archimedes. Everything implied by these names developed during these few centuries almost simultaneously in China, India, and the West (p. 2).
The Axial Age still shapes many modern religious, spiritual, and philosophical movements. These movements draw on the teachings of Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and the Hebrew prophets.
Cognitive Transformation
Jaspers observed, "Measured against the lucid humanity of the Axial Period, a strange veil seems to lie over the most ancient cultures preceding it, as though the man had not yet really come to himself" (2021, p. 7). In other words, humans had not yet reached their full potential. When we compare our technological age to prehistory, we can see that people gradually built more complex societies and developed better tools. Even between the Old and New Testaments, we notice significant changes. The harsh demands of the Law of Moses give way to a deeper, heart-centered practice of faith (Gal. 4:5–7). For this reason, Jesus adds, "with all your mind" to the standard Jewish summary of the Law: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut. 6:4–6; cf. Mark 12:29–31).
God did not yet trust the Israelites to follow his commandments from the heart, so he required only outward obedience to the Law. In contrast, the New Testament emphasizes spiritual renewal and inner transformation. The apostle Paul writes, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Rom. 12:2). While the Old Testament focused on strict legal obedience, the New Testament highlights discernment and understanding. Interestingly, Moses wrote the Torah (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; see "Moses' Authorship & Editors") before the Axial Age, while the New Testament authors wrote their works afterward..
The Hebrew prophets—like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel—bridged the gap between the strict legalism of the Law of Moses and the grace taught by Jesus and Paul. Religious scholars often include the prophets among Axial Age teachers. In general, the Hebrew prophets lived around the same time as the Greek philosophers, and their ideas sometimes overlapped. For example, the Jewish thinker Philo of Alexandria (c. 15 BC–AD 50) interpreted the Old Testament allegorically to make it understandable and respectable to Greek readers.
Unlike other world religious texts, the Bible records a total cognitive transformation from muthos (G3454, "myth" or "fable") to logos (G3056, "word" or "speech"). Because of this shift, humans moved from relying on stories and folklore to explain natural events to studying the evidence itself. The apostle Peter recognized this change when he wrote, "For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet. 1:16). In contrast, the Jewish sect known as the Sadducees rejected abstract knowledge, insisting on a strictly literal interpretation of the Law (Acts 23:8). The Axial Age even drew a line within first-century Judaism, separating the Sadducees from the Pharisees and the Jesus movement, who embraced both the Law and the heart.
The apostle John writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The Greek noun Logos, translated as "Word," refers to the Genesis creation narrative, where God created the universe through speech alone (cf. Gen. 1:3). John was testifying that Jesus is the divine Logos—the same Word God spoke at creation (see "Creation & Intelligent Design").
Starting with Heraclitus (c. 540–480 BC), Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (384–322 BC) used Logos to describe universal principles of order, absolute truth, and reason. Today, we express this concept through scientific laws, such as gravity and thermodynamics. Scholars of religion see the Axial Age development of Logos as a cognitive shift from myth to reason—a move from storytelling and allegory to logical analysis.
By identifying Jesus as the divine Logos, John reinterprets Genesis to convey the same truth Moses expressed, but in a more analytical way. Interestingly, Chinese translators of the New Testament use the word Tao to represent Logos. Tao comes from Lao Tzu (fl. fourth century BC), an Axial Age teacher who wrote the Tao Te Ching, the foundation of Taoism. In Chinese thought, Tao represents the governing rule of the universe, existing beyond human reason. It also forms the basis for modern East Asian understandings of science and a holistic, ordered view of reality.
Behavioral Transformation
Scholars in various fields of study—including Karen Armstrong (b. 1944), a religious historian; Nicolas Baumard (b. 1978), a cognitive scientist; Alexandre Hyafil (b. 1974), a neuroscientist; and Pascal Boyer (b. 1953), an anthropologist and cognitive scientist—argue that the Axial Age marked a behavioral shift rather than a cognitive one. They contend that environmental pressures and the move from hunter-gatherer groups to organized states changed how people behaved.
Before the Axial Age, human civilizations centered on collective survival and meeting basic needs. Afterward, people began focusing on individual virtues such as self-discipline and self-denial—values reinforced by nearly all major religions today. Jesus highlighted these virtues when he quoted Leviticus: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12; cf. Lev. 19:18).
This ethic of reciprocity, or the "Golden Rule," captures the heart of the behavioral transformation. Versions of it appear in nearly every Axial Age religion and philosophy, from the Mediterranean world to the Far East. One generation before Jesus, the respected Jewish rabbi Hillel the Elder (c. 110 BC–AD 10) taught the same lesson. When a Gentile challenged him to explain the Torah while standing on one foot, Hillel replied, "That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study" (Talmud, Shabbat 31a:6). Jesus, Paul, and James all taught that doing the Law, not just hearing it, leads to justification before God (Matt. 7:24; Rom. 2:13; James 1:22–25). In other words, knowledge must produce action—cognition must lead to behavior.
The fact that both Hillel and Jesus quoted Leviticus to teach reciprocity shows that a pattern of behavioral transformation already existed in pre-Axial Age literature. God planted the seeds of knowledge and wisdom in the Torah and then nurtured them through Israel's history. He watered those seeds through the reigns of David and Solomon, raised the Hebrew prophets as budding branches on this tree of knowledge, and brought the tree to full bloom through the teachings of Jesus.
Paul writes, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor. 5:17). Though God forbade Adam and Eve from partaking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden (Gen. 2:17), Revelation promises a new Tree of Life for all nations (Rev. 2:7, 22:2, 14, 19). Perhaps it was no coincidence that Mary Magdalene mistook Jesus for a gardener (John 20:15). In other words, it has always been God's will for humanity to live wisely and fully understand all that is good (see "Humankind & Ancestral Sin"). When God punished Adam and Eve for their sin, he also set in motion a plan to redeem humanity through his only Son, Jesus (Gen. 3:15; John 3:16).
Theologically, the Axial Age marked a period of God's mercy toward all people—Jews and Gentiles alike. During this time, God entrusted humanity with greater knowledge so that we might seek and find him wherever we are (Acts 17:27). Ironically, many scholars reject the term "Axial Age" because it suggests that a single source—a zeitgeist, or spirit of the age—inspired sages across the world to reach similar truths. As Christians, we understand this inspiration as the work of the Holy Spirit, who draws all people to himself (John 12:32). Paul expresses this divine culmination clearly: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9–11).
Paul also offers us this essential Christian view of history:
[Jesus] the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him, all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:15–17).
Axial Epilogue: Paul at the Areopagus
The Areopagus was the court of Athens, meeting on Ares' Hill (Greek: Arieos Pagos, G697) near the Acropolis and the Parthenon. This council judged criminal cases and debated civic, religious, and philosophical issues. The Athenians believed that Zeus' son, Ares, was tried there for killing Poseidon's son, Halirrhothius, which gave the hill its name. The philosopher Socrates (470–399 BC) once taught at the Areopagus, and the same court later condemned him to death for ideas they deemed dangerous.
Ares' Hill became a symbol of the Axial Age, where reason, justice, and faith collided. Centuries later, the apostle Paul stood on that same hill to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 17:16–34). In that moment, around AD 50, Christianity had its day in court, facing the philosophies and powers of the ancient world.
When Paul visited Athens, he preached about Jesus' resurrection in Jewish synagogues and pagan marketplaces. He was deeply saddened by the city's idols, especially the altar inscribed "to an unknown god" (Acts 17:23). Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him and brought him before the Areopagus for trial. The same court had condemned Socrates about 450 years earlier, so Paul faced a genuine threat of death.
The Epicureans and Stoics called him a "babbler" (spermologos, G4691). The insult was ironically fitting because God used Paul to clarify the truths of the Axial Age and to undo the confusion at Babel, when God divided the nations into different languages (cf. Gen. 11:1–9). The Greek word spermologos literally means "word-seeder," describing a bird that picks up random seeds. A "babbler" was someone who gathered scraps of knowledge and repeated them without understanding. In a city like Athens, where nearly every wind of Axial Age transformation blew through, ignorant babblers seeking quick profit were very common.
Paul quoted Greek poets such as Epimenides of Knossos (fl. c. 600 BC), Aratus of Soli (c. 315–245 BC), and Cleanthes of Assos (c. 330–230 BC) when he declared, "In God, we live, move, and exist. As some of your own poets [i.e., Aratus and Cleanthes] said, 'We are his offspring'" (Acts 17:28). In his poem Cretica, Epimenides criticized the people of Crete: "They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one, Cretans; always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. But you are not dead: You live and abide forever, for in you we live and move and have our being." Paul also quoted Cretica when he warned Titus: "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons" (Titus 1:12).
Aratus declared:
All the streets and marketplaces of humanity are full of Zeus. The sea and the harbors are also full of him, and everywhere, we all need Zeus, for we are also his offspring (Phenomena, 2–5).
Likewise, Cleanthes wrote:
The beginning of the world was from you, and with law, you rule over all things. To you, all flesh may speak, for we are your offspring. Therefore, I will lift you a hymn and sing of your power (Hymn to Zeus, frag. 537).
However, Paul was not promoting religious pluralism or comparative religion. He took the fragments of truth from Greek literature and redirected them to the one true God. What offended the Athenians was not his teaching about one God, but his mention of the resurrection (Acts 17:32). The Greeks did not believe in the soul's immortality, which lies at the heart of the Christian gospel.
Paul referred to the centuries before the Axial Age when he explained:
Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed [i.e., Jesus]. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:29–31).
Paul affirmed God's transcendence and immanence, drawing on the Epicurean and Stoic ideas of divinity. He showed the Athenians that they understood some truths about God but had not grasped the complete knowledge needed to know him as the objective truth lived through personal faith. God rules as both King of the universe and Lord of our individual lives. By knowing Jesus, everyone can experience the resurrection.
Conclusion
The concept of the Axial Age continues to spark debate among historians and scholars of religion. Karl Jaspers argued that between roughly 800 and 200 BC, central religious and philosophical ideas emerged across the world—in China, India, Persia, Israel, and Greece. While the exact dates and definition remain uncertain, the Axial Age framework helps us see how thinkers such as Confucius, Lao Tzu, the Buddha, Zoroaster, and the Hebrew prophets shaped religion, philosophy, and ethics, and how their influence continues to shape us today. Studying the Axial Age gives us a clear view of how human ideas and beliefs developed, intersected, and connected across cultures and centuries.
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of heaven and earth. You created all people and sent your Son to bring peace to those far and near. Soften our hearts, gather all of the nations, pour out your Spirit, and lead us toward your kingdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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