Greek Philosophy in Christian Theology

Greek Philosophy in Christian Theology

Andrew Bohan
Strayer University
HUM 400 – November 2010
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Abstract

In this paper I will be exploring how Greek Philosophy helped shape Christian
Theology. We will be descending back in time to the Ancient Greek’s quest
for knowledge, and how it played a part in the movement for their thirst for
reason and inquiry. Along with that I will be tying in Christian Theology and
the earliest showing of this technique. After you read this paper you should
be able to walk away with a better understanding of this topic.
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Philosophy is the study of technical instruction and practical concepts.

Theology on the other hand is the practice, study, and experience on the

subject of religions.

During Ancient Greece, Socrates began the movement for his method known

as the Socratic Method, and was credited as a Classical Greek Philosopher,

who helped found Western Philosophy, and a reformer of education in the

fifth century BC. To Socrates his philosophy was centered on self-

development versus the material likes of this era.

After questioning those who had a reputation for wisdom and who

considered themselves wise, he concluded that he was wiser than they

because he could recognize his ignorance while they, who were equally

ignorant, thought themselves wise. (Encyclopedia of World Biography,

2009)

Little is known about Socrates' own beliefs, as he asked many more

questions than he himself answered. Those beliefs attributed to him were

called the Socratic Paradoxes:

• Nobody desires evil

• Nobody does wrong willingly or knowingly
• All virtue is knowledge
• Virtue is sufficient for happiness.

Although Socrates remains a mystery, and an impenetrable individual who

stuck by his ways, he was later convicted and executed on charges of

mockery towards the gods and corrupting the youth of the city. His life is
Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology 4

widely measured as excellence for the philosophic life and he has been

weighed down with the admiration which was normally reserved for the

figures of the religious supremacy.

Antisthenes, a student of Socrates in the late fifth century BC, created the

philosophy of Cynicism based on Socrates’ belief structure. Some of the

Cynic philosophy echoes and expands the beliefs held by Socrates, stating

that while virtue may be sufficient for happiness, a life of virtue will grant

self-sufficiency, which brings about happiness. A Cynic’s goal in life is to

achieve happiness in self sufficiency and living consistent with Nature. To do

so, one must get rid of any materialistic indulgences, such as wealth and

fame, which don’t exist in nature, a tenet also found in Buddhism’s Four

Noble Truths. The roadblock to this virtue was negative emotions, caused by

poor judgment of the value of things in life, such as materialism and pride.

In contrast with Buddhism, Cynicism did not direct its followers to abandon

civil life to meditation; instead, the Cynic was to evangelize constantly, and

show the populace the error of their ways. Some historians argue that the

Cynic philosophy was practiced by Jesus Christ during his teachings, as he

followed an ascetic lifestyle and preached to many communities during his

life. This philosophy was not widely accepted into Christian theology,

however, due to the inherent shamelessness going directly against the

Church’s dogma of humility. During the Hellenic period after the reign of

Alexander the Great, this philosophy spread throughout Europe and South

Asia, and formed the groundwork for Stoicism.

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In the late third century BC, Zeno of Citium took the beliefs of Cynicism and

applied it to the soul. Zeno, with his influential follower Chrysippus, held that

destructive emotions resulted from poor judgment, and that a morally and

intellectually perfect person would not be afflicted with such emotions. This

means that a virtuous person would by happy regardless of circumstance

because his will would be free and in accord with Nature.

Exclaims Epictetus, “Show me one who is sick and yet happy, in peril

and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace

and happy.” (Arendt, 1981, p. 73)

This philosophy reflects one of Socrates’ beliefs, as well as a main tenant of

Cynicism, in that virtue would make one self-sufficient, and thus happy in all

things. While this philosophy was started by Zeno in Athens, it thrived better

outside of Greece, particularly in Rome, with the influence of Epictetus and

Emperor Marcus Aurelius:

"Outward things cannot touch the soul, not in the least degree; nor

have they admission to the soul, nor can they turn or move the soul;

but the soul turns and moves itself alone." (Aurelius, reprint 1973,

p.51)

Stoicism promoted an individual will, and while it suggested freedom from

exterior pressures, it also advocated a relationship with Nature, or God,

which is a very fundamental principle in Christian Theology. There are

differences between the pagan philosophy of Stoicism and the tenets of

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Christian theology, as Stoicism puts forward that there is no existence after

death while Christian theology supports an afterlife. In 1584, Neostoicism

was founded in a new form by Justus Lipsius in an attempt to make a closer

connection between Christian philosophy and Stoicism, by accepting only the

tenets of Stoicism that coincided with Christian beliefs. This movement

lasted from the late 16th century to the mid-17th century, where it came

under fire from both Catholic and Protestant churches for stating that one

can achieve happiness without God’s grace, and by suggesting that its

determinism denied free will and miracles.

Another student of Socrates was Plato, from whom the philosophy of

Platonism was derived. While Socrates theorized about an individual life of

virtue, Plato spoke about the universe and that which it contains. He put

forward that everything that exists in this world is imperfect, due to constant

change from being affected by its surroundings. Due to this change, Forms

are no longer genuine, therefore imperfect. The perfect Form of an object

cannot exist in this state, therefore it must exist somewhere else. This is

known as the Form of the Good, the highest, most genuine Form from which

everything is derived, and of which everything is dependent. Platonist ethics

centered on recognizing this most supreme form, likened to the sun in that it

makes physical objects visible and enables life in the same way the Form of

the Good enables objects and life to exist. As intelligent beings, humans

seek to understand and recognize this Form, and Plato believed that such

understanding could not be reached without reasoning. He further

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suggested that the Form of the Good could not be detected by the normal

senses, as anything that does comes from imperfect objects. Any knowledge

and understanding of the perfect Form would come from the mind’s eye.

This ties in with Christian theology in that it is believed that all life comes

from one God, and that nothing could exist without God. In the same way

that one cannot perceive God with the normal senses, true knowledge would

come from a spiritual perception or conception.

In the third century, Greek philosopher Plotinus established Neo-Platonism,

which states that at the center of all exists sits the one source of all things.

It creates the nous, or reasoning, and a copy of that reasoning was made

into our existence. This existence is contained within that one source, which

follows along the Platonic idea of all things coming from the Form of the

Good and depending on the Form of the Good to exist. The human soul, as it

is of the nous and not of the imperfect creation, would naturally return to its

source, the Good, or God.

A figure that has been associated with the start of Christian Theology was

Titus Flavius Clemens, born 150 AD.

He maintained that philosophy brought the Greek mind to Christ, just

as the Law brought the Hebrew to him. (J. W. Jepson, 1999)

Clemens believed that the Christian God was Plato’s Form of the Good, and

that all of humanity strove to be closer to its source, God. Clemens also

believed in the importance of philosophy to bring about a fullness of

Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology 8

knowledge in God and existence. He held that faith, like philosophical virtue,

involved complete understanding in order to be absolute, as ignorance

challenged could bring about disbelief. In the third century, Bishop of

Antioch, Paul of Samosata, believed and taught that God could not

materialize on Earth but rather filled Jesus Christ with his soul and walked

the Earth that way. This coincides with the Platonist belief that perfection

cannot be found on this shadow of a world, and that true perfection must be

sought in the heavens.

To easily sum up the Platonist philosophy in modern Christian theology, C. S.

Lewis wrote in The Last Battle:

..But that was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was

only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia which had always been here and

will always be here...You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old

Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real

Narnia through the Door. And of course it is different; as different as a real

thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream.....

...The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that.

The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass

looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever

get there you will know what I mean.....

....It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He

stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried:

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the

land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The
Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology 9

reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like

this. (Lewis, 1994, p. 211-213)

Throughout the beginnings of Christian theology, many ideas and believes

were taking from earlier Greek Philosophy. As all philosophy changes over

time and adapts to social expectations, Christian theology is the next step as

it borrows tenets from Cynicism, Stoicism, Neostoicism, Platonism and Neo-

Platonism.

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Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology 10

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