# Philosophy and Plato



## T.A.G. (Dec 20, 2009)

my prof states that Christianity just copied all of platos ideas etc.
What is he talking about and why is he wrong?


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## Skyler (Dec 20, 2009)

I don't know what he's talking about. Christianity differs with Plato on a number of areas. For example, his Forms--one of his central teachings--is completely foreign to Christianity, as can be seen by his Euthyphroean Dilemma.


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## CharlieJ (Dec 20, 2009)

*Dumb*

In certain areas, there are some strong resemblances between Augustinian (Western) Christianity and the ideas of Pseudo-Dionysius, one of the noteworthy proponents of Neo-Platonism. However, the fact that two systems agree in certain points, or simply use similar vocabularies at times, is not evidence of their being identical. Your professor is way off, though, identifying Plato with Neo-Platonism.

Since almost every philosopher can be called a "Platonist" to some extent, that's an almost meaningless statement.


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## PMBrooks (Dec 20, 2009)

Actually, Christian theology has been strongly influenced by the LANGUAGE of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophical constructs. Notice I did not say Christian doctrines have been influenced, but rather the language we use. Plato has a strong influence on Augustine, since it was the reigning philosophy of the time, and then Aristotle has a strong influence on Thomas of Aquinas. After Thomas, Christian theology started using Aristotelian language. 

Secular academics will say that Christianity merely borrowed their ideas. Such is hard to prove, especially when our scriptures (OT especially) is much older than these philosophers. 

If you will PM me, I will send you, by email, some philosophy of religion notes I use to teach and it may help you.


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## Reformed Thomist (Dec 20, 2009)

Skyler said:


> I don't know what he's talking about. Christianity differs with Plato on a number of areas. For example, his Forms--one of his central teachings--is completely foreign to Christianity, as can be seen by his Euthyphroean Dilemma.



Augustine relied heavily on Plato's 'Forms' schema in devising his own schema for the Divine Exemplars.

Of all of the philosophers Calvin spoke most highly of Plato, seeing the Athenian's system -- despite its deficiencies -- as being the most compatible with Christian revelation (that is, the most _true_).

-----Added 12/20/2009 at 08:52:41 EST-----



T.A.G. said:


> my prof states that Christianity just copied all of platos ideas etc.
> What is he talking about and why is he wrong?



The influence of Plato's thought, of (Neo-)Platonism, on the development of Christian theology should not be underestimated. Your professor, however, is obviously overestimating and oversimplifying it.


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## T.A.G. (Dec 20, 2009)

PMBrooks said:


> Actually, Christian theology has been strongly influenced by the LANGUAGE of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophical constructs. Notice I did not say Christian doctrines have been influenced, but rather the language we use. Plato has a strong influence on Augustine, since it was the reigning philosophy of the time, and then Aristotle has a strong influence on Thomas of Aquinas. After Thomas, Christian theology started using Aristotelian language.
> 
> Secular academics will say that Christianity merely borrowed their ideas. Such is hard to prove, especially when our scriptures (OT especially) is much older than these philosophers.
> 
> If you will PM me, I will send you, by email, some philosophy of religion notes I use to teach and it may help you.


 I sent you the pm!

Oh great, I just realized the title of this thread lol
Philosophy *


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## Claudiu (Dec 23, 2009)

PMBrooks said:


> Actually, Christian theology has been strongly influenced by the LANGUAGE of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophical constructs. Notice I did not say Christian doctrines have been influenced, but rather the language we use. Plato has a strong influence on Augustine, since it was the reigning philosophy of the time, and then Aristotle has a strong influence on Thomas of Aquinas. After Thomas, Christian theology started using Aristotelian language.
> 
> Secular academics will say that Christianity merely borrowed their ideas. Such is hard to prove, especially when our scriptures (OT especially) is much older than these philosophers.
> 
> If you will PM me, I will send you, by email, some philosophy of religion notes I use to teach and it may help you.




I think it was after the Crusades that the West was influenced by more of the Philosophical works, or ideas, or rather language of the Greeks. Afterwords, Scholasticism came about, and Thomas Aquinas, and much of that language was used. 
"Philosophy in the West has its origins in Ancient Greece, ca. 600 B.C. After the fall of the Roman Empire, much of Greek philosophy was lost to the West, preserved only in the Arab world until the time of the Crusades and the Moorish conquest of Spain. Contact with Arab philosophers (especially al-Ghazali, who developed a version of the Cosmological argument and wrote more than 70 books, ibn Rushd, and ibn Sina) kick-started the largely dormant philosophical tradition in Europe, beginning the "Academic period", which ended with Descartes and the beginning of the Enlightenment." 
from: (Philosophy - Conservapedia)


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Dec 23, 2009)

See if you can find a copy of Gerald Bray's little book, The Doctrine of God at your university library. Reviewing the discussion therein will settle the matter and provide the necessary correction to your professor.

AMR


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