Do you happen to know, if early church Fathers (in particular, Origen and Athanasius of Alexandria) made a use of Philo of Alexandria? I do my Ph.D. in Patristics and was wondering, if you may give me some insight? Thanks a lot, Slavik.
I remind that on this link can be freely downloaded the RHETORES GRAECI;
They are surely useful for the exact understanding af the greek language, in particular the work by George Choiroboscos on the POETICAL TROPOI, volume III, contains citations from the Holy Scripture and one from St. Gregory of Natiantios. It explains some passages of the Holy Scripture with the aids of rhetorical science.
Here are some of my notes if you find them useful.
WHAT IS THE TRUE NATURE OF THE GOD THAT THE CHURCHES OF CHRISTENDOM WORSHIP?
The following material is not meant to be a long essay or a definitive or complete study in answer to the question above, but is more a collection of source materials on the pagan Egyptian/Greek philosophical origin of the trinity concept or to quote 'Bakers Dictionary of Theology page 36:
"The Alexandrian school with its Platonic emphasis was the popular school of its time. In its more moderate form it set the christological pattern for many centuries."
and how it, the "Platonic emphasis" or pagan Greek Traditions, were absorbed into and became 'Christian doctrine' as the "many centuries" extend down to our time, you will read how this became so-called orthodox understanding or the 'Creeds' on God's nature by the Churches and sects of Christendom; which is not the understanding to be found in true and uncontaminated Hebrew and Christian Theology as the following is an attempt to explain.
To answer the above question "What is the true nature of the God of Christendom's churches?" involves the study of THEOLOGY. This the term used for the study of God or the gods and the methods used therein to attain to the enlightenment of the person(s) of the nature God or the gods (Christian view is seen at Ephesians 1:15-23). Theology is defined in The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology page 915 as "the science of things divine", thus all Christians are or should try to be theologians as they are pursuing this knowledge, so as to apply it in their daily lives as they try to reflect God's image and in following the example of his First Son (the "Logos") the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:21). An interesting comment about this "science" is made by the late professor Werner Jaeger in his book 'The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers' page 4:-
"The word 'theology' is much older than the concept of natural theology and the Varronian trichotomy. But theology is also a specific creation of the Greek mind. This fact is not always rightly understood and deserves special emphasis, for it concerns not only the word but even more the thing which it expresses. Theology is a mental attitude which is characteristically Greek, and has something to do with the great importance which the Greek thinkers attribute to the logos, for the word theologia means the approach to God or the gods (theoi) by means of the logos."
Along a similar line, on the ancient Greek influence, but in this case one of a greater magnitude having more influence than any other, is the following quote made in the book entitled 'THE MYSTERY OF SALVATION' The Story Of God's Gift, A report by the Doctrine Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England on "The world-wide context of mission" in the relationship of "Christ and the world faiths" pp.148-419:-
"Mission is clearly an imperative everywhere, including Britain, but much can be learned from the practice of mission in a multi-faith context elsewhere, both at the present time and in the twenty centuries of Christian history. All we can give are a few glimpses from that history. As the Christian gospel encountered the gentile world questions inevitably arose about the relationship between the Christian faith and other religious traditions. In the writings of the Greek apologists, most notably Justin Martyr, there is a willingness to recognise the religious philosophy of Platonism in particular, as providing a preparation for the gospel. Just as the Jewish prophets pointed forward to Christ, so a preparation for the gospel can be traced in Greek philosophy. Just as the revelation of God to Moses at the burning bush was interpreted as the appearance of the divine Logos, so that the same was seen as present in the 'seeds' on the word in the truth witnessed to by pagan philosophers. Christ is therefore the fulfiller of other religious yearnings as he is of the Jewish prophets. Not all Christian theologians were willing to follow this line. Others, most notably perhaps Tertullian, drew a sharp line between Greek philosophy and the Jewish/Christian revelation, asking 'What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?' There were many who characterised pagan religion as 'demonic'. And even those like Justin who had a positive attitude towards pagan philosophy, tended to combine this with a clear condemnation of pagan worship."
In the above the synod of the Church of England admits its use of Greek philosophy in the formulation of its doctrines, in the following quote which is taken from the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' (pocket edition) copyright 1994 Geoffrey Chapmam-Libreia Editrice Vaticano page 59, It is worth bearing in mind that the Catholic Church established the Trinitarian doctrine:-
"251 In order to articulate the dogma of the Trinity, the Church had to develop her own terminology with the help of certain notions of philosophical origin: 'substance', 'person' or 'hypostasis', relation' and so on. In doing this, she did not submit the faith to human wisdom, but gave a new and unprecedented meaning to these terms, which from then on would be used to signify an ineffable mystery, infinitely beyond all that we can humanly understand'. (ftn, Paul VI CPG § 2.)"
In the statement above "with the help of certain notions of philosophical origin" this can be non other than pagan Greek philosophy as will be shown latter that the early Church fathers used it and admitted it into the Catholic Church. Also note the italics in the above quote; it says this use of philosophy was "not" a submission " to human wisdom", this cannot be the case as Greek philosophy means 'love of wisdom'; also it says "unprecedented", but if it was the use of Scripture then how can it be unprecedented and again as it -philosophy- is not from the Bible (the Bible is Theological) so it must be from a human source, so this is a blatant contradiction. We should remember that during the period in which the trinitarian doctrine was being formulated it was also a time of great syncretistic religious activity e.g. Gnosticism was a mix of Egyptian, Hellenistic philosophy and Judaic and Christian theology and likewise the Phibionites and others; this kind of thinking wrongly flooded into the Christian congregation as Jehovah's Witnesses claim for the origin of the trinity, also noted by John Gwyn Griffiths in 'Triads and Trinity' page 223:-
"The influence of Greek terminology is apparent from time to time in Christian writings about the trinity, and since these writings were mostly in Greek up to the time of Augustine, it was inevitable that the Greek philosophical and religious traditions should be reflected. Its philosophical rigour in unquestioned and at its best it rivals Plato himself."
If the above comment is erroneous, why should Quintus Tertullian (160-220 C.E.) the Carthaginian theologian and so-called 'Church Father', ask the questions "What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What has the Academy to do with the Church? what have heretics to do with Christians?" and then add "Away with all attempts to produce a Stoic, Platonic and dialectic Christianity" (see A new Eusebius Edited by J. Stevens SPCK London p.178) it is because in his day he perceived that pagan Greek philosophy was being exploited and added to Biblical teachings. As philosophy has its roots in pagan theology (spiritualism) it must not be amalgamated with the Bible's teachings, as confirmed by a comment in the book 'Students History of Philosophy' by Arthur Kenyon Rogers, Ph.D. page 195-196 which reads as follows:-
" The spiritualization of the world in which Neo-Platonism results, and the absence of any adequate feeling for natural law, opened the way for an appeal to non-physical agencies... The world is a great hierarchy of souls - Gods, demons, men, - and mystical affinities and relationships between souls, which find expression in divination, astrology, and magical rites, take the place of sober investigation... Historically, this last outcome of Greek thought gets an importance which it does not possess intrinsically, through the fact of its making itself the champion of Paganism, in the now losing struggle which this was carrying on with Christianity. The struggle was wholly unsuccessful. The future belonged to Christianity ; philosophy could hope to survive, not by antagonising it, and joining forces with its rival, but by accepting the new and vigorous contribution which it was making it the life of the world, and moulding this into its own form."
A further interesting comment can be found in the book 'Pentecostalism' A Theological Viewpoint by Donald L. Gelpi, S.J. [a Jesuit priest, who teaches philosophy at Loyola University, New Orleans. 1971] pages 108-109:-
"The Subordination theories of Origen and later, those of Arius were prepared for speculatively by the orthodox Platonism of Clement of Alexandria. Interpreting the gospel of John in frankly philosophical categories, Clement assimilated the Father figuratively to the Platonic One, who is the transcendent source of the universe. Then, taking a hint from Johannine theology, he likened the Word of God the nous, or intelligence, of middle Platonic thought. While Clement himself was cautious in suggesting possible speculative parallels between divine revelation and Platonic metaphysics, his suggestive description of the Son as a Platonic hypostasis, or subsistent entity, paved the way for more dramatic theological developments that were soon to follow."
In the afore sited texts we can see the idea of being enlightened about the ancient pagan Greek god(s) through the Philosophical or Metaphysical 'Logos' (Word, Reason, mind of god etc.); therefore in the above can be seen a definite influence of pagan Greek thinking on men of the past and today, as confirmed by the Synod of the Church of England, the Catholic Catechism and a Jesuit priest, in that many people are looking for God by studying theologies of one kind or another, and in some cases using God's written word whether Christian or not (supposed), and specifically through the 'Logos' (Jesus) in the Christian context. In a similar vain in the book 'Grammar of the Septuagint Greek' by F.C. Conybeare and St. George Stock page 162 they make this Comment on what the Greeks through when translating the Bible from Hebrew into Greek at Ex 3:14 - "'ho On: the difference of the gender between this expression and the Greek to on marks the difference between Hebrew and Greek philosophy in the conception of the Deity. To the one God was a person, to the other a principle."
Christianity is supposed to be a Greek religion. It is European. Jesus said himself that the Faith will be taken away and given to another race. Christianity was formed around Hellenism. Jerry Dell Ehrlich wrote a fantastic book, "Plato's Gift to Christianity", how Plato formed the milieu of Hellenism and Hellenism in its turn formed Christianity.
Christianity is not a 'biblical' religion. It is Spiritual. It is Truth. The concept of the Trinity is of the Doric Greeks which passed into Plato, which passed into Hellenism, which formed the concept necessary for the Church Fathers to recognize a new teaching of Jesus, and that of the Trinity. The Jews rejected the duality of Christ and the Trinity. The duality of Christ and the Trinity are Greek concepts that are totally foreign to the Semitic mind set.
(Off Topic. I have a new paper out if anybody is interested, www.ellopos.com/study/default.asp?h=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Macrocosm/Microcosm+in+Doric+Thought+Part+I-a01074347355&ttl=Microcosm" target="_blank">Macrocosm/Microcosm in Doric Thought. It is free and online. The Trinity and the institution of the clergy is proved along with Laws of Nature.)
Philo and the Incarnation of Logos
Posted - 09 Sep 2006 : 06:18:05
