/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

I'd put my money on Aristotle. Just because I've heard Clergy reference him more than Plato.

You cant say someone was "better" than the other, especially because they didnt even cover the same topics in general.

>>649348

They were both highly influental, so much that it depends on your theological-philosophical preference: Plato for Mysticism. Aristotles for Scholasticism.

Personally I prefer Plato. But I havent read anything from Aristotles other than metaphysics. Problem with Plato is obviously Neoplatonism that threatened the early church with some of its heretical views.

They are both important for different reasons but personally I think Socrates was closest to truth.

>>649361

The funny thing about neoplatonism is that it split in two. His author, Christian himself, had two pupils, one Christian (I think that it was Origen but I might not rember this right) one Pagan. And both Christian and Pagan branches of neoplatonic thought comes from them.

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>>649348

Plato because he had a pretty accurate conception of theodicy

>>649348

Plato's Symposium is quite decent as it describes the ascent of love which starts from romantic crushes in young adolescence that lead quickly to worshipping a celebrated person or an earthly ideal that you want to follow. Cut very short, the seeking of love ultimately ends at the single Idea (i.e. God), which is the only worthy object of worship. Plato's Symposium is essentially a commentary on the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Who do you worship? Who do you praise? Who do you love and desire the most? If it is not God, then you are desiring a lesser good and not worshipping the Good. If you deny the Good and fuflil earthly urges such as desire to pleasure and gratification, you are serving another god and not worshiping the single Idea, the Good, and you are placing your stomache above God.

Do you guys think there's any truth to what people like St. Justin Martyr and Eusebius said about Plato reading the Torah/Pentateuch in while studying in Egypt and taking some of his ideas from that?

>>649634

I don't think so, or at least not directly.

Since I don't think there were greek translations of the scriptures at this point, if he knew anything about it then it would possibly have come from other Greeks or Egyptians who could have probably passed it on incorrectly

Then again there is a lot to be said about ancient (particularly near eastern) cultures having recourse to Egypt as some kind of great archive of arcane wisdom, even "magic" kept by their priests. Could this have been some kind of holdover from the days of Moses and relate to Revelation? Even the Jews, according to the Talmud, believe that Jesus got His own "magic powers" from studying with Egyptian priests.

Plato. Theory of forms, analogy of soul excluding the reincarnation part, and platos rave.

>>649641

On other hand, there was community of Jews in Egypt since times of Jeremiah (they even had Temple because they misinterpreted Isaiah). Sure, they not translated Bible in form of LXX at times of Plato but they lived there and knew Greek.

>>649621

>>649348

If you follow plato's "rabbit hole", you end up in gnosticism…

If you follow aristotle's, you end up with thomas aquinas.

who do you think?

>>649561

>>649621

Two things of note come from sinope: marcion is one of them, so I don't have much taste for the ol' kynikos either.