CHAPTER VI

            LATER GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

FAN MINGSON

            The various cultures of the world form an organic whole as they not only conflict with each other, but mutually affect, assimilate and merge in their development.

            Over a long period of time Greek philosophy and Christianity with its theology occupied an important position in the development of the Western culture. Even now, they exert great influence on the literature, art, religion, philosophy and science of the Western world. Hence, it is nearly impossible to understand the past, pre-sent and future of the West without understanding Greek philo-sophy and Christianity.

            There is a close relationship between later Greek philosophy and Christian theology. Neo-Platonism, as represented by Plotinus and its pioneer Philo, was taking shape and developing along with Christian theology in almost the same political, economic and cul-tural context. Hence, a full understanding of Christian theology re-quires an understanding of Greek philosophy.

            With Alexander the Great’s invasion of the East in 334 B.C., and the establishment of a great Empire in Egypt and West Asia by his successors, politics, economy, culture, science, religion and a philosophy of the natural world began to take shape and develop in the entire Greek world. These were carried on in Imperial Rome from 30 B.C. Early Christianity as a worldwide religion took shape and developed in this context.

            Later Greek philosophy or hellenism which, except for the materialistic atomism represented by Epicurus and Lucretius, was the philosophy of the Roman Empire was characterized by Plato-nism and Stoicism. Later, Philo added Judaism to establish a Hel-lenized Jewish Theology. This was a pioneer of neo-Platonism and Christian theology: the neo-Platonism represented by Plotinus exerted great influence on Augustine, the founder of Christian theology.1

            Fundamentally, the Platonic tradition in philosophy was in-fluential in the development of idealism throughout all later Greek thought, not only in Philo and neo-Platonism, but also in Christian theology, and to such a degree that, as pointed out by D.F. Strauss, no Greek did more than Socrates’ student,1 Plato, to prepare for Christianity and its theology. Characteristically, the philosophical ideas of early Christian authors were influenced by those of Plato-nism, neo-Platonism and Stoicism as in philosophy the tradition of Plato continued to influence Christian thinkers.

            Philo, whom Engels called "the real father of Christianity", combined the doctrines of Platonism and Stoicism with the Jewish biblical sources to establish a Hellenized Jewish vision, which, however, had little influence the Jews. His theology joined Greek and Hebrew philosophy with The Old Testament. Knowledge of Philo could help to understand such important sections of The New Testament such as "The Gospel According to St. John" and "Epistle to the Hebrews", etc.

            Neo-Platonism, which emphasized the metaphysical and my-stical aspects of Platonism, is represented by Plotinus. It was transformed by Augustine under the influence of scripture and survived in Christian theology in the Middle Ages and the modern world. Even Thomas Aquinas, the founder of scholasticism and a main representative of Medieval thought, recognized the Platonism in Augustine’s work, who used Platonic phrases to convey his own original thinking. Of all philosophies he considered Platonism to be closest to Christianity, though non-Christian Platonists did not recognize Christ Jesus to be God: that "the Word was made flesh".

            Under the strong influence of Hellenism, Christian theology began to take shape with some early Stoic influences. Particularly from the beginning of the second century the doctrine of Christ-ianity was studied in the light of Greek philosophy. Early Christian authors, including the Christian apologists and Justin Martyr, con-sidered Christianity to be reconcilable with Platonic thought, which for Augustine served as an antidote to Manichaeism.

            The influence upon Christianity of Greek philosophy and the mutual interaction between the two are reflected in the following theoretical issues.

Idea-Logos

            The doctrine of ideas is the core of Plato’s philosophical system. An idea "is everlasting; it neither comes nor goes, neither flowers nor fades." Ideas are absolutely real, whereas sensible things generated from the ideas are unreal or are located between absolute existence and absolute non-existence. They participate or imitate the idea which has the same name as the thing. Stoicism proposed the doctrine of Logos which it combined with Aristotle’s theory of form so that the Logos as the dynamic force explained the variety of the universe. It held Logos, like the seeds of a plant, to be the force or model on which all individuals depend in order to be able to develop. As the "Idea of Ideas" logos was considered to be imperishable and to pass through an everlasting cycle. Plato had shown the ideas to be objective or independent of men and gods, and the visible: the gods are the invisible residence of invisible Ideas. With this theory, Philo began to interpret Genesis, the first book of The Old Testament in terms of an "Idea" in a twofold sense: first, the Idea as the Idea of God is everlasting; second, the Idea as the model for God in creating is also immortal. As put into the world via creation this Idea is not everlasting. Philo then accepted the Stoic notion that there were differences between the inner Logos (which is equal to the Idea of God) and the outer Logos (which is equal to God’s word, that is to "God’s saying" in "The Old Testa-ment"). Later, Plotinus took the "Idea of Ideas" as having three Hypostases -- first as One or Good, second as intelligence or Nous, and third as the soul.

            This doctrine of the Idea-Logos developed by Plato, Aristotle, Philo and Plotinus played a role in the explanation of creation by Christian thinkers. Under the influence of these theories they saw the transition from the Old to the new Testament. For example, in the New Testament The Gospel According to St. John opens with the words: "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; it introduces Jesus Christ with the phrase "And the Word was made flesh". Early Apologists such as Justinian explained Logos with regard to the incarnation of Jesus. Tatianus held that God was Logos, that the Logos existed with and among God, and that it was the first Son of God and the beginning of the world. Clement of Alexandria and Origen empha-sized the supremacy of the Logos, considering it to be the bridge connecting God and the world, religion and science.

            The influence of the Catechetical school of Alexandria was also profound on Augustine. As Thomas Aquinas pointed out, Au-gustine Christianized Plato’s Ideas by understanding them as the model existing in the mind of God, according to which He created the world. Augustine himself believed the doctrine of the Idea-Logos to be an important element of the Christian creed reporting the early Christian recommendation that the sentence "In the be-ginning was the Word" be written in gold, engraved and hung in the most conspicuous place in all the churches.

            The theology of the Greeks held God to be superior to all things of this world so that it was impossible to express God as an object and predicates as these express the things of the world. Plato saw this to imply a negative theology, for "if the one is one"--the first hypothesis among those proposed in the second part of "Parmenides" -- then it is absolute and amounts to nothing, that is, it abstracts from all differences. Hence one could not say anything about it; it was unique and without any difference -- nothing positive or negative could be said of it. As a result "It is not named or spoken, nor an object of opinion or knowledge, nor perceived by any creature" (Plato, Parmenides, 142A). Such one is equal to nothing in that it lacks all definiteness, so that any knowledge or explanation of it is impossible.

            When neo-Platonism explained this as God, Plato, who was the original founder of the metaphysics of the Good became the founder of negative theology. Plotinus went on to prove this first existence to be the One, understood as the Good. The One had no relation with anything but was simply One. Even "to be" could not be used in its regard for God was unable to be known and could be expressed only by negative adjectives.

            This negative theology was close by Philo. To understand God a human being would have to become God -- which is im-possible. The divine nature could not be expressed by using the nature of limited objects, for God was absolute existence without any nature. God was pure noumenon: everlasting, self-dependent, better than good, and more beautiful than beauty. To attribute any nature to God, would make Him a being among limited objects. Therefore, one cannot say that God is so and not so, but should say God is not so and so, that is, we can describe God only through negative predicates in order to ensure the absolute loftiness of God who transcends the world. Augustine followed this train of thought, admitting that one could know more of what God was not, than of what God is.

            At the same time, a positive theology also was created God is everlasting, fixed, the measure of everything, absolute justice, best cause, and able to give life as the maker of the cosmos; He is the formal cause and origin of the good in things. Philo held that God was One, the ultimate source of the many things below, but inside everything, self-created and everlasting, perfect, self-sufficient, and unchanged in creating.

            Plotinus described God or One in nearly the same way, holding God to be the sole fundamental source of everything, abso-lutely transcendent, beyond and above everything, not being but reality, absolute and originating truth, good and beauty. Augustine later used these phrases to describe the God of the "Bible", holding that there was no essence limiting God who was absolute god, pure, great without or beyond quantity, transcending time and space, the unchangeable noumenon, omnipotent and ultimate source of all things. Thus Philo and Augustine transformed Plato-nism under the influence of the Jewish and Christian doctrine of God as Creator.

Teleology

            Moved by Anaxagoros, Plato took up the issue of teleology as the motive cause and purpose of the movement of sensible objects. This extends the idea of the Good as the super-idea and ultimate effect sought by all things. In the Timaeus he connected the idea of the good with the making God, claiming that God formed the sensible world in which human beings live, endowed with soul and reason. Plato emphasized that it was because God was super-good that He formed the world and that, as he did this on the basis of ideas it must also be most beautiful and best. The effect of Plato’s theological teleology on the whole of Greek philosophy and Christ-ianity was very profound and lasting.

            Like Plato, Aristotle’s search for the real cause or explanation of things was not for their beginning, but for their purpose. He took pure form without matter to be the cause of all movement, super-existence itself, and the final goal of everything. Further, he took the pure form as God who was not only the first mover, but also the ultimate principle and explanation of all movement.

            Stoicism, however, stressed God’s will and a fatalistic theolo-gical teleology in terms of Logos-reason. This held that God had neither birth nor death, but was the creator of the order in all things, absorbing everything and then drawing out all from himself. The universe itself was under the control of reason and fate. Philo insisted that the unique God not only created the world in the beginning through the Logos as instrument, but also had continuing concern for the existence and happiness of the world created by Him. He developed Plato’s idea of the good in terms of a theological teleology, holding the One as the ultimate good or God to be the final source, first principle and cause of causes. All things emanated from the One and returned back to the One. Thus the design of all things and their existence were produced at the same time; things were not produced by chance, but had their own purpose.

            The above insights had an effect on Christian theology from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas. Augustine believed the order and arrangement of everything in the universe to be from God; each thing from angel to beast and bird, even every leaf, was given their purpose and fitted with their own nature by God. Thomas Aquinas mentioned plato’s theological teleology, holding the will of God to be of the divine essence; with Aristotle, however, he held God to be moved only by himself, and to be the first mover.

The Trinity

            The doctrine of Trinity is one of the basic doctrines of Christ-ianity. It states that there is only one God who is Father, Son and Spirit. This entails a Tri-personal God, of which the second person, the Son, is incarnate in Jesus Christ, who saves human beings. There was some notion of triadism in Greek philosophy.

            The early Pythagorean School thought that the number Three could be generalized to all things in the universe because all numbers were provided with a beginning, middle and end. So they took the number Three out of nature, considered it as a law, and admired it as a divine number to be worshipped. Seeing that the theory of ideas could not make the connection between the Idea and individuals, Plato proposed a triad of three fields (principles, sources) and of their mutual relations, especially in his second Letter, holding that they were equal respectively to the One, Intelligence and Soul. Numenius of the neo-Pythagorean school advocated a corresponding sacred hierarchy including three Gods. The first God referred to the original God or super-god; the second and third Gods related to the world.

            On this basis, Plotinus proposed the three realities (the One, Nous, the Soul) and developed a detailed system with these three fields, all of which had the same source, that is, the One. Plotinus taught that the souls in the higher world desired to go down and thus fell into the lower world of matter and being joined to a body. The further they were from this source the less perfect they were. Hence, the Soul contacted the sensible world and was stained by it, resulting in the fall of the Soul. Plotinus argued that the task of human beings was to improve themselves by getting rid of all desires and thereby purifying themselves so as to be like and to integrate with God by exerting the goodness of their nature. Human beings must not let themselves be absorbed by interests and thus forsake their power to contemplate the One. In this way they can reach the state of forgetting both objects and subjects, and of being with God.

            By reading St. John’s gospel Augustine went on to articulate the doctrine of Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit. God as spirit had complete self-knowledge, thus generating his Image, the Son; from the one of Father and Son proceeded the Holy Spirit, whom Au-gustine called Love. This theology is, however, unlike any previous Greek thought. In no Greek philosopher were the three principles equal to each other, so that there is one God in three persons.

Other Areas of Platonic Influence

            Time. Because the concept of time is involved in the origin of the world through creation by God it received special attention from Greek philosophy and Christianity. In explaining the concept of time, Augustine studied what others had said about the world and time as co-existing. Plato held that time was not everlasting, but occurred with the occurrence of the celestial bodies, sun and moon, which were the measure of time. Augustine believed that, created by God, time arose with the occurrence of the sensible world. But there were some differences between the thinkers, e.g., whereas Plato thought that as soon as time was produced it became objective like an idea, Augustine considered time to be subjective and to change with the subject of cognition and will.

            The Immortality of the Soul. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul of Pythagoras and Plato had profound effect on Augustine. Augustine often mentioned the idea of the Phaedo that the soul was everlasting because it shared in the life of the Idea, and of the Meno that the soul in this life shared everlasting truth. Because it had knowledge of ideas as everlasting he concluded that the soul was everlasting. Holding a view identical to Socrates (actually Plato) in the Phaedo, Augustine opposed the materialist notion that the soul was the harmony of the body and accepted a tripartite soul (reason, passion and desire) as proposed by Plato. He emphasized that the human soul worked through sensation and reason, but did not accept Plato’s dualism of soul and body. As he denied any pre-existence of the soul, he rejected Plato’s doctrine of remembrance.

            The Ideal Society. Plato was the first to suggest the doctrine of an ideal society of human beings, and even the concept of a "Republic" where philosophers are kings as a pattern in heaven, "the only state in whose politics he can take part" (Republic, 592B). Later, the Stoics proposed the idea of a secular city. Posidonius proposed two kinds of city, comparing the secular city with the one in which God resides. Combining this with the "City of God" recorded in the Bible, Augustine proposed two kinds of city: one the secular and evil city of Babylon, the other the city of God sym-bolized by Jerusalem. He related these to two kinds of love, and thought that the two cities were not sharply separated, but inter-twined in certain persons. Members of the Church mingle as a unity until the Last judgement when they will be recognized as belonging either to the city of God or the ungodly city.

            Allegorical Interpretation. How to defend religious theology through philosophical theory was an issue of method, among which allegorical interpretation was most representative. Early Greek philosophers had insisted that there was a "hidden meaning" be-hind ancient mythology. Stoicism later developed this anti-rational subjective idealism, seeking philosophical meaning in the epics of Homer and Hesiod. On this basis, Philo systematically developed and applied allegorical interpretation, contrasting mythology with Logos, which he considered to be real, reasonable and analytic. He emphasized that instead of taking the literal meaning of the Pentateuch, we should dig out a more profound message. His starting point was that God was both the direct or indirect source of the truth of both the Mosaic law and Greek philosophy. Because the minds of human beings and God were akin, human beings had the ability to accept and discover real truth transcending space and time: religion and the best Greek philosophy were not irrecon-cilable. For example, Philo believed that Adam, Eve and Cain re-corded in the Old Testament book of Genesis should be understood as mind, sensation and gain, and that combining mind and sen-sation produced evil thought. In this way, Philo established a re-ligious theology with rich implications and great flexibility.

            Philo’s method had some influence in the interpretation of the scriptures. For instance, the author of New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews" interpreted the temporal secular world as a reflection or copy of the real world, namely, heaven; the author of "The First Epistle to the Corinthians" interpreted the Spiritual Rock as Jesus Christ. Early Christian theologians often defended Christianity using this method. For example, they held that every word in the Bible was sublime and had deep meaning, commonly called sacred wisdom. Much in the Bible had a symbolic meaning. The Christian Fathers Tertullian, Jerome, and Augustine were fond of applying this method in their interpretations of scripture. Until Thomas Aquinas proposed a scientifically structured theology, allegorical interpretation was dominant in Christian theology.