Plato and Christianity

Many Christians view the Bible as the source of their religion. But to interpret any text, it has always been necessary to have an intellectual framework. While Christianity was founded many centuries after Plato, Christian thinkers built upon Plato and Neoplatonism to craft their theology.

In this live lecture, John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will explore the Hellenistic context and philosophies that influenced Christianity throughout late antiquity and the middle ages and to what extent Plato's ideas have shaped how Westerners understand their spirituality today.

A Q&A and discussion will follow the presentation. Please send your questions on the live chat.

Lecture topics include:

Platonism,
Theory of forms,
Greek Philosophy,
Hellenistic Judaism,
Plotinus,
Pseudo-Dionysius,
Gnosticism

#lecture #cofchrist

[josephcoyle-gm]

I used this lecture as basis to explain religion to my children. -- -- So much more advanced than their peers that attend church.

[johnniemack]

I learn soooo much watching these lectures. I don’t see how any serious person of faith, like myself, can go without this information. It can either add nuance to your faith or help you towards deconverting. But facts are important in the spiritual journey, not just faith.

[Slapsista]

Fantastic. Thank you. I am loving these lectures.

[blazinchalice]

Thanks again for making these excellent talks freely available to the public.

[DIBBY]

Blimey! A church where people can use their brains! I don't know of anywhere like this in the UK. Thanks for these lectures❤

[ethanstiles]

Absolutely love these presentations. John and Alejandro are both wonderful speakers and make the lectures very engaging. I love to see such a wholesome and well researched platform

[dark]

Even though I am not a believer in spirituality, I believe that this channel is an amazing change in the game. Being a pastor and a historian, doing religion when it's time for religion and talking objectively when it's the time for it is mind boggling!! Well done!

[beegee]

As a former Christian I find these lectures very interesting. In 60 years of church attendance and Bible studies no one ever taught anything about the history of religions. How is one supposed to make an informed decision without it? Discovering this information for myself makes me believe this is purposely kept from believers in order to keep them in the fold. That is nothing but deceptive. I appreciate the openness and truth being presented.

[andytuesday]

Awesome lecture. I Greatly appreciate the wisdom 🙏.

[christopherlord]

It is always a pleasure to hear an intelligent and knowledgeable speaker and especially talking about such important facts about our Western culture.

[maxsonthonax]

I like that this is part of a thematic lecture series. (Reminds me of the evolution of my ciné-club in the late 90s).

[winstonbarquez]

The concept of the immortality of the soul in the NT was an influence of Plato and Greek philosophy.

[arizonaboy]

Great overview and history of philosophy.

[canonjean-mignon]

Another great subject matter. Much appreciated.

[alexvince]

Thanks for another great presentation,

[paulrhome]

Thanks for another great lecture. I've been trying to make the case for a while that Jesus is a synthesis of Moses and Socrates. The more you learn about the time period and influences, the more it seems like Paul essentially took Judaism and tweaked it just enough to make it palatable to Greco Roman minds. The Romans had already partially "cleaned up" Greek mythology in the direction that Plato suggested, removing the tendencies towards patricide among their gods at least. With them, the more primordial gods retired and the newer versions assumed their place. Jesus seems tailor-made to fit this mold. Almost makes me suspect that the "virgin/young woman" issue wasn't a mis-translation but a deliberate change to fit with Roman mythology of virgin births.

[hantms]

When John gets to the most complex concept and then comes up with a Star Trek reference to help explain it, that's when I clicked the Like button. :) (22:33)

[dbarker]

Did I watch this lecture in reality? 🤔
Either way, good talk and discussion. Thanks.

[kimfreeborn]

Plato as far as I can remember never addressed directly the Sacred/Sacrificial issues in archaic Greek antiquity. However Plato did address the migration of the soul. He did address the issue of God as the Demiurge and Being as nonexistence. Plato did address piety and wrote his texts in large part to show Socrates as pious in a new philosophical way. The progressive Western Catholicism with the great schism broke away from the Eastern Orthodox Religion. Not that Byzantium was without philosophy but as it developed after the 10th century it did not follow the rational progressivism of the West. After the fall of Constantinople the Western philosophical tradition moves to the West. The philosophical character of Western Christianity and its' Pagan influence mediated by Platonism finds its revival in the Renaissance. From that time until now Christianity has continued its Sacred/Sacrificial and progressive philosophical mold up to the present. The divestiture of Science and Politics from Religion and Philosophy although stark has never been completed entirely as our Ontotheological ground in modern Western Culture would attest. As the West becomes more Anti-Christian it becomes more Pagan. Wokeism and Environmentalism are Pagan style Sacrificial cults that because of their sacrificial character pick up themes that look Christian but are actually Anti- Christian and Tribal Archaic Ontotheologies.

[originalblob]

In the analogy of the sun, the word "good" doesn't map neatly to our notion of moral good. There are different words in greek for good and all have different additional meanings like healthy, beautiful or noble. You would be hard-pressed in ancient greek to say something or somebody is morally good, yet neither healthy, not beautiful or otherwise competent in a non-moral sense.