Hellenism, Humanism, and the Value of Life: A Christian Response to Abortion and Ancient Ethics (Part 2)

Feb 19, 2019

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How the ancient Greco-Roman worldview around deformity, ability, and perceived human "worth" continues to influence our modern ethics on abortion, disability, and human dignity. Mike Erre returns to the cultural and spiritual roots of the abortion debate, drawing deeply from early Christian history, Hellenistic philosophy, and his own experience as the father of a child with Down syndrome. This episode (Part 2 of the abortion conversation) explores how early Christians responded to practices like infanticide and exposure—not with protest, but with sacrificial love—and what that could mean for Christians in today's world.

Key Takeaways: • Hellenism Then and Now – How the ancient Greek worldview placed human perfection and reason at the center of worth, and how that ethos lives on today in modern humanism and cultural values. • Exposure and Infanticide in the Roman World – Examining the brutal treatment of infants deemed “unfit” or “imperfect,” especially those with disabilities or born female, and the philosophical justifications behind these practices. • Early Christian Response to Abortion and Infanticide – How the early church countered cultural brutality not with politics or protests, but through rescuing and raising unwanted children as acts of love and defiance. • Human Value Beyond Utility – A powerful reflection on how the worth of Seth (Mike’s son with Down syndrome) challenges a society obsessed with IQ, productivity, and physical “perfection.” • Embryo Selection and the Return of Eugenics – Addressing emerging medical technologies like IQ-based embryo profiling and their disturbing parallels to ancient and modern eugenic thought.

Notable Quotes:

“We don’t call it Hellenism anymore—we just call it humanism.”
“The earliest Christians didn’t protest Caesar—they just walked into dump sites and rescued babies.”
“Any system that seeks to build a hierarchy of image bearers over other image bearers is demonic and from the pit of hell.”

Resources Mentioned: • Destroyer of the gods by Larry Hurtado – [Link] • The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark – [Link] • “The Eye of the Deformity” by Robert Garland – [Link] • Medical article on embryo IQ screening – [Link] • Book of the Didache – [Link] • Tertullian and Early Church Writings on Infanticide – [Link]

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

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Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

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