A very short lecture on
Philosophy and Religious
Studies
What you need to know before you walk in the Agora
Burial site some before 30,000 BP
Many of these sites are:
Oriented east west
Have grave goods
In some sites the
individual is covered in
some type of red
pigment
Most are on their sides
with the feet drawn up
and the arms pulled in
The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
This is an extensive cave
site discovered in 1994 in
southern France
The site is dated from
31,000 BP and was in use
for 1,300 years
For more information see:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/cult
ure/arcnat/chauvet/en/
“Life the universe and everything
in it”
These cave paintings are
unique and many of the
techniques will not be
duplicated with till the
early Renaissance.
The questions are many,
but the one that I ask
most is WHY?
Cave Bear Skull placed on rock
about 30,000 BP
One of many cave bear
skulls this one was picked
up and placed on this
rock in one of the back
chambers of the cave.
We know that its
placement was
intentional … But WHY?
A Fat Lady Saliagos
C 5000 BCE
“….. characteristic of the
Neolithic period are the
schematic marble
figurines, the most
famous of which is the socalled Fat Lady of
Saliagos.”
http://ezinearticles.com/?Santorini-History-ofthe-Cycladic-Islands&id=91898
What is this all about?
So is this religion or philosophy?
What is the difference?
Which are we going to study?
Which one is right?
Why do we need either?
What you need to know.
Part 1
The difference between religion and philosophy
Including a working definition of each
A working understanding of the Allegory of the Cave,
and the Simile of the Line
The differences between Platonic and Aristotelian
thought
Why Plato becomes the dominate philosopher and the
way that Alexander the Great plays in that proces
Religion
is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and
worldviews that establishes symbols that relate
humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral
values.[1] Many religions have narratives, symbols,
traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give
meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the
universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious
laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the
cosmos and human nature. (Wikipedia)
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental
problems, such as those connected with existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.[1][2]
Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of
addressing such problems by its critical, generally
systematic approach and its reliance on rational
argument.[3] The word "philosophy" comes from the
Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means
"love of wisdom". (Wikipedia)
Pre Socratics
Thales of Miletus
Pythagoras
The Old Man
of Philosophy
Socrates (469-399 BCE)
The Students
Plato (424-347BCE)
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Plato’s Allegory of The Cave
Plato says A--Aristotle say B
For Plato the essence of a something
determines it material “appearance”
Aristotle say the material appearance defines
and determines something's essence.
Essence is used here to denote property (ies) of
something that defines its nature and which
without that property (ies) it would not have
existence.
Thus begins the
Great debate
Enter stage center
Alexander of Macedonia
(356-323BCE)
Aristotle was one of his
teachers
338 BCE Philip II wins Battle
of Chaeronea ending Athens
independence.
Aristotle flees Athens in 322
BCE ending his teaching in
the Lyceum
Two Schools
But only one survives in the west
Plato’s Academy
Founded 387 BCE
Closed 86 BCE when
Romans sacked Athens
Reopened by Napoleonic in
410 CE closed by Justinian
in 528 CE
But even with the space
destroyed the teaching went
on. To the point that during
the Roman period it was
fashionable to study in Athens
at the Academy
Aristotle’s
Founded 334 BCE
Aristotle flees Athens in 322
BCE
His teaching falling in
disfavor because of his
Macedonian leanings
While out of favor in Athens
Aristotle’s teaching continued
in the rest of the Greek world
and would be a known
Philosophical teaching during
Islamic period.
The early Christian movement
The out come of this is that Plato became the
dominant philosophical school during the
development of Christianity in western
Europe.
Aristotle begins to have an impact in the
middle of the 13th century in the common era.
What you need to know
Part 2
Who the major players are in the early development of
the Jesus Movement
Jesus
Paul
The role of the Roman Empire on the development of
the early Church
How the Christian faith used Geek Philosophical
thought to support it theologies
A Simple Convention
Jesus
The human being who
lived and died in the first
century of the Common
Era
Who is understood as
being the founder of
Christianity
The Pre-Easter Jesus
Jesus the Christ
The Post-Easter Jesus
Who is defined by his
followers in the time
following the Easter event
The Pre-Easter Jesus
Joshua ben Joseph (aka
Jesus of Nazareth) (7-2
BCE-30-36 CE)
Teacher, healer, who’s
message concerned the
application of Jewish
Prophetic justice
Noted for his egalitarian
approach to society
Executed by the Romans
for sedition
Post-Easter Jesus
Birth of the Jesus Movement
Oral history of his teachings
and healings is spread by early
followers pushed on by the
story of his resurrection
Establishment of small house
gatherings where it appears
there was a common meal
which was a reenactment of
his last supper with follower
Persecution by Jewish
authorities seems to have
followed the spread of the
movement to other regions of
eastern empire.
Saul of Tarsus (c5-c67CE)
Also known as Paul or Paul the
Apostle or St Paul
Pharisaic Jew from Tarsus who is
purported to have been taught by
Gamaliel the grand son of Hillel
the Elder who is said "What is
hateful to you, do not do to your
fellow: this is the whole Torah;
the rest is the explanation; go and
learn" (Shab. 31a)
Part of the persecution
experiences a conversion event
that make him into one of the
major voices of the Jesus
Movement
7 Pauline letters that shape a
faith
The letters that most agree
are authentic
Romans, 1&2 Corinthians,
1Thessalonians, Galatians,
Philippians and Philemon
There is a a massive amount
of scholarship that support
these 7 as the genuine
writings of Paul
These letter were written
between 51 and 58 CE
Corinth
The Synoptic Gospels
Mark: written between
early 50’s and 60’s for a
largely non-Jewish
audience
Matthew: written middle
to late 50’s to late 60’s for
a largely Jewish audience
Luke: written late 50’s to
early 70’s for a
community of Jesus
followers and possible
followers
The Gospel of John
Unlike synoptic gospels John does
not have a birth narrative but rather
a retelling of the Genesis creation
story.
He do not have a last supper but
rather a long discourse by Jesus
about being the Bread of Life and
the Blood of a new Covenant
John is writing theology not a
narrative history
Written in the 90’s or maybe as late
as 100 CE
From Movement to a Church
First and second century movement
gathers followers especially among
the merchant and artisan classes but
it appears that the movement also
attracted woman, slaves and the poor
as well.
Leadership of small groups appears
to have been loose and not well
defined.
Although there were individuals who
began to express theological opinion
and were seen as movement leaders
This ended with the Edit of Milan in
313 and the Council of Nicaea in
325
Constantine the Great
Born in 272 Roman Emperor
306-337
Long list of achievements but
three are important to us
Edict of Milan 313
Religious Tolerance
Splits the Empire into two
administrative regions
Rome
Constantinople 330
Calls the First Council of
Nicaea 325
Relationship of Jesus to
God the father
The date of Easter
As the east and west drift apart
The Eastern Orthodoxy remained under the controlled
of local Bishops and Patriarchs who in turn were tied
to ethnic and regional ideates
After the rise of the Islamic empire in the early 600’s
Russia is the only gathering of the Orthodox
community not controlled by Islam
In areas of Islamic control national identity (language
and customs) are maintained by the Orthodox faith
The Western Church takes on the trappings and the
power of the Roman Empire and dominates the
religious development of Western Europe
The East – West Schism
Tensions grow between the East and West mainly over
two issues
The nature of Jesus is he one with God or is he the Son
of God. For the Eastern Church there can only be one
first cause and that is God alone
The Western Churches insistence on the primacy of the
Papacy in all things theological which the Eastern
Church sees as the destruction of their regional
authority system
The “last straw” was the Sacking of Constantinople in
1204 by the 4th Crusade
The outcomes of the Schism
There are three major expressions of the Christian
Faith
Orthodoxy
Roman Catholic
Protestants in many forms in fact there are reported to
be about 3,000 of them.
And those expressions over lap and intertwine in ways
that no one understands
So for all the hopes there is no one voice
What you need to know
Part 3
What role Constantine played in the growth of the
Christian Church
How did the moving of the capital effect the
development of the Christian Church
What the major arguments between the Eastern and
the Western Church are
The impact of Islam on Orthodoxy
"The trouble is, once
you make a
concession to the
empirical world,
once you let reason
rub up against faith,
there's no end to it.
Reason's a bully.”
Rev. Scot Sloan from the
cartoon strip Doonesbury
commenting on intelligent
design
For us and this Study Trip
concerning
Philosophy
Note how the Allegory of the Cave and the Smiley of
the Line are played out in the theology of the Christian
faith
Note how true the Doonesbury quote is and ask
yourself how do you see the world are you:
Platonic (Continental)
Aristotelian (English Rationalist)
Or just not sure or maybe could care less (But if the
later at what cost?)
While you are in Greece watch for:
The differences in Church architecture and how that plays
out in the styles of worship and theological understandings
Those of you who are Roman Catholic note the similarities
as well as the differences
For those of you who are Protestant note how many of the
issues your denomination hold as important don’t even
enter into the conversation in the Eastern tradition
For those of you who are not of any faith note how the
world has been shaped by Christianity