ABSTRACT
Barr and Collins have both argued that one factor in the resistance to theories of influence is the reluctance to admit influence from another religion on Christianity. Collins, like other scholars, repeatedly stresses the distinctiveness of Jewish thought. It is a matter of everyday experience that influence often works as a subconscious process involving the development or emphasis of some ideas already held and the neglect of others. The 'influence' of the West on India in the nineteenth century is a well-documented event that illustrates the point nicely. Christian missionaries and British officials alike frowned upon some of the practices they encountered in nineteenth century India such as suttee, child marriage and the idea of untouchability. Modi and Dhalla, following the majority of western scholars of their time, dismissed the Parthians as mere Hellenists, referring to the Parthian period as the dark ages of Zoroastrianism.
