Platos The Republic and The Old Testament Essay - 2260 Words

Platos The Republic and The Old Testament A Buddhist teaching suggests that practicing Buddhism is like taking a raft over a great river. One riverbank represents the realm of ‘samsara,’ the cycle of suffering that we are all spinning around in. On the other side is ‘wakefulness,’ or ‘nirvana,’ an enlightened state of awareness characterized by an infinite sense of unity and bliss. The raft symbolizes Buddhism; its purpose being to help us cross over from samsara to nirvana. According to the teaching, however, a curious thing happens to the individual who manages to reach the ‘banks of enlightenment.’ Having climbed off of the raft, she turns around to discover that she cannot now see any riverbank on the side from which she†¦show more content†¦From such an understanding, it is well reasoned to develop an interpretive framework for analyzing such systems that is rooted in what Ken Wilber, borrowing from Leibniz and Huxley, refers to as the Perennial Philosoph y. (7-8) This is the idea that the world’s great religions and wisdom traditions possess a â€Å"transcendental unity†. That is, manuscripts and teachings the world over, spanning thousands of years of human history, can be viewed as together describing one unified vision of the cosmos. In this way, each text is like a section on a quilted tapestry, seeming to approach reality from a distinctive position due to the unique contextual medium out of which it emerges, but essentially congruent with the other sections in terms of certain key themes and ideas. This being the case, the entire tapestry, of course, is likely to provide us with a more acute representation of those themes and ideas than would any individual portion thereof. The Perennial Philosophy, then, is exactly the point of view I will work from as I elucidate the connections between Plato’s allegory of the Cave and the Judeo-Christian myths. Both of these accounts, I will argue, make reference to precisely the same state of wakefulness that we encountered in the Buddhist parable above, but each does it in a manner constrained by the historical and cultural situations that inform them. Furthermore, by examining the similarities between theShow MoreRelatedPlatos Belief that the Human Soul is Immortal1297 Words   |  6 Pagesat Pentecost, descending as the Spirit to share life with the Christian church.† Thus the Trinity Doctrine was born out of Plato’s triad. The Goodness is God; the ideas are Jesus; and the World-Spirit is the Holy Spirit. All were the same theory except reshaped in order to fit into Christian doctrine. While the divine aspects of Christianity are obviously derived from Plato’s theories, it is also important to discuss human nature – more specifically the idea of the immortal soul. Plato believed inRead MoreThis week’s reading centered on the social contract between God and the Israelites. The reader,600 Words   |  3 Pagesaspect is not that God controlled nature, but he did it on behalf of the Israelites. Boadt notes that, â€Å"science will state all the plagues occurred naturally, but the bible show the why and mystery of timing.† The reader’s impression of the â€Å"Old Testament God† changed from a God who is an all-powerful warrior God, to a God who is a loving protector after this week’s reading. Another central theme of Exodus the reader found was justice for good and evil, and the inevitable definition of what â€Å"good†Read MoreThe Influence of Platos Theories on Chrisianity1169 Words   |  5 Pagesof the founding fathers of Western philosophy. Living from roughly 428 BCE until 348 BCE, Plato’s theories predated Christianity by at least four centuries. Because of this, it can be assumed that early Christian worshippers used Plato’s teachings as a basis for their religion. It is evident that there is a surprising amount of similarities between Plato’s philosophy and early Christianity. By utilizing Plato’s theories and philosophy, early Christians were able to bridge the gap between paganism andRead MoreEssay about The Nature of Evil1552 Words   |  7 Pagesvaries in its distinctions of the two conceptions of morality, good and bad are cultural universals originating from Pre-Socratic philosophical notions. Morality in its absolute sense can be traced back to the dialogues of Plato. Book IV of Plato’s â€Å"Republic† laid the foundation that morality was in one’s best interest, holding that morality is just and good for both psychological and religious accord (Parry, 31). Whether in the form of Moral Absolutism or Relativism, the notion of evil has shapedRead MoreA Humanist Perspective And A Biblical Perspective3024 Words   |  13 PagesInternational Version). Since this time, many philosophers have developed their own theories of justice. One of these philosophers is Plato. Plato lived in the time of ancient Greece. Plato’s work is broken up into three time periods: Early, middle, and end. In the middle of his middle period comes Plato’s dialogue work ‘The Republic’ which is so long it is made up of ten books (Honderich, 2005). This dialogue work focused on two questions: â€Å"What is justice, and why should we be just?† (SparkNotes EditorsRead MoreThu cydide vs Plato on The Good Life Essay1927 Words   |  8 Pagesquestions, logical conversations, and conclusions by and between his central character, Socrates, and other players--to promote philosophy, self-sacrifice, and moderation as just and right methods to achieve the Good Life. In The Apology, one of Platos earliest dialogues, Socrates, on trial for his life, gives a lengthy speech in court. 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This ability to become a virtuous being is demonstrated throughout Plato’s Republic and Virgil’s Aeneid. Throughout The Holy Bible, Christians and the Jewish people continue to expand on certain qualities which make one virtuous. In the Republic, Plato sets out to define the components of a virtuous soul. Plato declares that the soul is divided into a tripartite, which consists of appetite, spirit, and reasonRead More Christianity According to St. Augustine and Machiavelli Essay1388 Words   |  6 Pagesdecline of the Roman Empire and the effect of this decline on the still faithful Christians. Augustine blamed the pagan gods and their lack of concern for the moral character which defined those who worshiped them. He also makes a reference to Plato’s Republic, in regards to the way Plato wanted to banish the poets from his city in speech. Augustine also felt that there should be strong censorship of the poets when writing about the gods because they made fools out of them. Augustine is also very concernedRead MorePolitical Philosophy and Plato Essay9254 Words   |  38 Pageschiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the pl ays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Platos dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. Through his portrayal in Platos dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who also lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic