ABSTRACT
Religion, that is, the cult and worship of a tribal source of life, of a divine progenitor, was the first form of detaching and distinguishing a non-self from a self, the first objectivation and subjectivation. The Stoic ideal of indifference and insensibility toward the pleasures and sorrows of life, the attitude of sublime aloofness and tolerance and of a life according to divine nature, not only prepared the atmosphere for Christianity but already contained an element of Christianity. The development from religion to world religion meant a gradual preponderance of the spiritual connection, a progressive spiritualization of a more universal god, and the increasing worldliness and individualization of man. Greek philosophy prepared the Hellenistic world for Christianity by creating the mental susceptibility to a unifying religion, a world religion, an acceptance of a one and all-embracing God and his moral commands, that is, commands concerning human relations as such.
