Great Ideas of Philosophy

Lecture SixteenThe Stoic Bridge to ChristianityScope: The Jewish Christians, whether “Hellenized” or orthodox, defended a monotheistic source of law renderingboth the cosmos and the human condition intelligible. The spread of Christianity occurred in a world longdominated by Rome and Rome’s own “Hellenized” philosophical worldview. To establish Christianteaching on grounds that would make sense to those Hellenized intellectuals, the early fathers of the churchwould find the central tenets of Stoicism serviceable, though in Christian interpretation, these tenets raisedproblems for the future to deal with.OutlineI. The Hellenized Jews of the 1 st century A.D., including Paul and Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C.–50 A.D.),attempted to integrate systematically the thought of the major Greek philosophers and the scriptural truths ofthe Old Testament.A. When the early Jewish Christians began the formulation of what would come to be called Christianity, theirappeals were within a philosophically competitive context that included Stoicism at its center.B. Thus, in the writings of Paul, one will find ideas drawn from Stoic teaching (for example, I Corinthians11:14). So, too, are Stoic influences evident in his treatment of one’s belief in God as similar to a “natural”inclination, not unlike the Stoic theory of affinities.C. Indeed, that Stoicism was recognized as perhaps the worthiest adversary is clear from the arguments of theearly fathers of the church against such ideas as the physicality of God.1. The early church fathers had to reconcile the teachings of the church, the message contained in the lifeof Christ himself, with a philosophy respected as one of the great achievements of human thought,even if “pagan” thought.2. There is not, therefore, an unbridgeable distance between the lessons of faith and the lessons ofphilosophy. Indeed, there is much intellectual energy devoted to having the philosophical light—primarily the Stoic light—brought to bear on the authority of faith.II. We begin, then, by considering some of the features of Stoicism as these might be promulgated at the time ofthe Jewish Christians and incorporated into the writings of Philo and others. There are obvious points ofcompatibility, but also problems that must be dealt with.A. First, what might be called the “god of the Stoics” is not a personal being concerned with human welfarebut a powerful “divine fire” working through physical and material modes of operation. Nonetheless, thisforce is rational in its essential nature and immortal.1. The defining features of the creative power of the universe are its inexhaustibility and its rationality.Stoicism offers the obvious proof for this: Consider only the lawfulness of the cosmos itself.2. In Stoic teaching, then, particularly later Stoic teaching, knowledge of this kind of divine influence isone of the preconceptions that a rational being has.3. In other words, a rational being, recognizing the orderliness and lawfulness of the cosmos, must matchthat up, without further deliberation, with the notion of some rational agency behind it, recognizingthat nothing of this sort occurs accidentally.B. The god of the Stoics, however, is material, and the god of a material universe must have the power towork in it. Further, the events of the physical and natural world are dynamic, and these attest to theconstant participation of the divine fire, the logos, the creative force.C. Putting these notions together, we reach the possibility of a physically present and knowable God. That is,we discover a power not unlike the God of the Hebrews, having a rational plan and order of things, beingpresent in the world, revealing himself through his works, and working on matter in a divine way to realizedivine purposes.1. However, the Jews, the Christians, and the Jewish Christians deny the materiality of God as envisagedby Stoic philosophy; thus, this aspect of Stoic teaching had to be transformed.2. The material incarnation of Jesus—the son of God—reconciles, if awkwardly, the Stoic theory of thedivine presence and the Judeo-Christian theory of the immateriality of the divine.10©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership