/lit/ - Literature

>>18757506
Bump

>>18757506
Because it was still a thing in the early years of Christianity.

>>18757506
Both descend from Platonism, both centralize the moral dimension. Otherwise are there any particular similarities?

>>18757506

Name the similarities and compare them with the number of differences.

Also, look at the similarities between the Asian religions and other Greek philosophies, such as Aristotelianism or Pythagoreanism. Alexander likely had a lasting impact on Asian religions.

>>18758096
True

>>18757506
because you have to become a christian(not protestant)

Christianity is Hellenized Judaism.

>>18758686
beyond cringe

>>18758686
Gives a backward tribe too much credit, all philosophy is Hellenic, there is little thinking in Judaism before their encounter with the Greeks and from there they think of themselves in Greek terms with Greek ideas.

Christianity is Judaized Hellenism, Seneca and Plotinus with a Messiah.

>>18757506
Jesus was a Stoic Jew or at least he was heavily influenced by stoicism.

>>18759353
It's just what it is. You might not like it, it doesn't change the fact that Paul adapted judaism to Greeks.

>>18757506
121:6.3.
Though the Hellenized Jewish beliefs were very little influenced by the teachings of the Epicureans, they were very materially affected by the philosophy of Plato and the self-abnegation doctrines of the Stoics. The great inroad of Stoicism is exemplified by the Fourth Book of the Maccabees; the penetration of both Platonic philosophy and Stoic doctrines is exhibited in the Wisdom of Solomon. The Hellenized Jews brought to the Hebrew scriptures such an allegorical interpretation that they found no difficulty in conforming Hebrew theology with their revered Aristotelian philosophy. But this all led to disastrous confusion until these problems were taken in hand by Philo of Alexandria, who proceeded to harmonize and systemize Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology into a compact and fairly consistent system of religious belief and practice. And it was this later teaching of combined Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology that prevailed in Palestine when Jesus lived and taught, and which Paul utilized as the foundation on which to build his more advanced and enlightening cult of Christianity.
121:6.4.
Philo was a great teacher; not since Moses had there lived a man who exerted such a profound influence on the ethical and religious thought of the Occidental world. In the matter of the combination of the better elements in contemporaneous systems of ethical and religious teachings, there have been seven outstanding human teachers: Sethard, Moses, Zoroaster, Lao-tse, Buddha, Philo, and Paul.

>>18759499
121:4.3.
2. The Stoic. Stoicism was the superior philosophy of the better classes. The Stoics believed that a controlling Reason-Fate dominated all nature. They taught that the soul of man was divine; that it was imprisoned in the evil body of physical nature. Man's soul achieved liberty by living in harmony with nature, with God; thus virtue came to be its own reward. Stoicism ascended to a sublime morality, ideals never since transcended by any purely human system of philosophy. While the Stoics professed to be the "offspring of God," they failed to know him and therefore failed to find him. Stoicism remained a philosophy; it never became a religion. Its followers sought to attune their minds to the harmony of the Universal Mind, but they failed to envisage themselves as the children of a loving Father. Paul leaned heavily toward Stoicism when he wrote, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

>>18757506
Honestly the weirdest similarity to me is that ancient Judaism was saying dabar (word) and ruach (spirit) were what God used to create the world (it's put in those terms in the Psalms, but it's also common to see the "Word of the Lord" and "Spirit of God" throughout the Old Testament, while Stoicism totally independently also had its own two principles of the universe named logos (word) and pneuma (spirit). When the Greeks translated the Old Testament they picked logos to translate dabar and pneuma to translate ruach, and those are the words used in the New Testament, where of course Jesus is the incarnate Word and the Spirit takes on further roles as the Holy Spirit. But to my knowledge the Stoics didn't copy the Jews. The Jews couldn't have copied the Stoics since they were talking about dabar and ruach well before Stoicism was around.

>>18757506
Because Paul and early Christians were influenced by Stoicism. It’s already well known.

> The apostle Paul met with Stoics during his stay in Athens, reported in Acts 17:16–18. In his letters, Paul reflected heavily from his knowledge of Stoic philosophy, using Stoic terms and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of Christianity.[49] Stoic influence can also be seen in the works of St. Ambrose, Marcus Minucius Felix, and Tertullian.[50]

> The Fathers of the Church regarded Stoicism as a "pagan philosophy";[51][52] nonetheless, early Christian writers employed some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism. Examples include the terms "logos", "virtue", "Spirit", and "conscience".[28] But the parallels go well beyond the sharing and borrowing of terminology. Both Stoicism and Christianity assert an inner freedom in the face of the external world, a belief in human kinship with Nature or God, a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind,[28] and the futility and temporary nature of worldly possessions and attachments. Both encourage Ascesis with respect to the passions and inferior emotions, such as lust, and envy, so that the higher possibilities of one's humanity can be awakened and developed.