A very short lecture on Philosophy and Religious Studies What you need to know before you walk in the Agora.

A very short lecture on Philosophy and Religious StudiesWhat 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/culture/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 SaliagosC 5000 BCE

“….. characteristic of the Neolithic period are the schematic marble figurines, the most famous of which is the so-called Fat Lady of Saliagos.” http://ezinearticles.com/?Santorini-History-of-the-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 1The 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 SocraticsThales of Miletus Pythagoras

The Old Man of Philosophy

Socrates (469-399 BCE)

The StudentsPlato (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.

Great debate

Thus begins the

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 SchoolsBut only one survives in the west

Plato’s AcademyFounded 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’sFounded 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 knowPart 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 ConventionJesus

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 knowPart 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 concerningPhilosophy

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