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Greek and Roman writers as Polyb–
ius, Cícero, Seneca, Strabo--and
even Plato hi mself- have led sorne
modero h istorians to ques ti on
whether Plato
real/y
personal ly
believed the immortal soul doc–
t r ine. They suggest that he may
have simply popularized what he
knew to be a fiction as a means of
keeping the citizenr y in line
through the fear of mysterious " un–
seen things" beyond this life.
The immortal soul concept, in
other words, was a necessary com–
panion doctrine to the doctrine of
the terrible torments of
parts of Hades or hell.
Such fearsome teachings,
sorne
philosophers
thought , were necessary
to scare the masses into
Old Testament scriptures, but rath–
er taken
from Plato!
As we shall see, the Old Testa–
ment takes a
complete/y di.fferent
view!
Another Surprlse!
But what of the professing Chris–
tian world ? Certa inly he re we
should find t he doctrine of an
immortal soul independent of any
Greek influence.
Now consider this fact:
Many of the early theologians
a nd scholars of t he pro fessi ng
The foremost advocate
itual nature of the human soul. But
notice the source of bis teachings.
The EncyclopaedJa Britannica
ad–
mits: " He [Augustine] fused the
religion of the New Testament with
the Platonic t rad ition of Greek phi–
losophy."
Why should those early profess–
ing Christian scholars have resorted
to the opinions of a pagan Greek
philosopher? Could it be that the
immortal soul doct r ine is not clear–
ly supported in Christian Scrip–
ture?
Notice the much later view of
Mart ín Luther, leader of
the Protestant Reforma–
tion in Germany. More
than a thousand years lat–
er, in 1522, he wrote:
being good citizens.
Regardless of his mo–
tives and personal beliefs,
Plato's teachings did have
among the ancient Greeks of
" lt
is probable, in my
opinion, that, with very
few exceptions, indeed,
the dead sleep in utter
a wi d e impact. They
spr ead throughout the
the idea of an "immortal
soul" was the Athenian
insensibility till the day of
judgment. ...
On what
authority
can it be said
known world and were
accepted as truth by mil–
lions.
philosopher Plato (428-348
B.
c.),
that the souls of the dead
may not sleep ... in the
the same way that the liv-
Plato and the Jews
the pupil of Socrates.
ing pass in profound
slumber the interval be–
The J ewish communi t ies
of antiquity were deeply
influenced by Greek phi l–
osoph ical ideas. Many
Plato was the founder of the
tween their downlying at
night and thei r uprising
in the morning?"
will suppose that the Pla-
ton ic view of the soul
imprisoned in the flesh
would have been nothing
new to the J ews. But
notice the testimony of
J ewish scholars them-
selves:
"The belief that the soul contin–
ues its existence after the dissolution
of the body is ...
nowhere express/y
taught in Holy Scripture.
...
The
bel ief in the immortality of the soul
carne to the J ews
from contact with
Greek thought and chiefly through
the philosophy of Plato,
its princi–
pal exponent, who was led to it
through Orphic and Eleusinian mys–
teries in which Babylon ian a nd
Egyptian v iews were strangely
blended"
(The Jewish Encyclope–
dia,
art icle, " lmmortality of the
Soul").
Many of you wi ll undoubtedly be
surprised to discover that the idea
of the immortality of the soul was
not derived by the Jews from the
November/ December 1982
Academy, an institute
for philosophical
and scientific research.
Chris tian religion- including such
men as Ori gen, T ertullia n and
Augustine- were closely associated
with Platonism.
Tertull ian (A.D. 155-220), for
example, wrote: "For sorne things
are known even by nature: the
immortality o f the soul , for
instance, is held by many ... 1 may
use, therefore,
the opinion of a
Plato,
when he declares: ' Every
soul is immor tal'
· ~
( The Ante–
Nicene Fathers,
Vol. 111).
Not ice, it is the opinion of Plato
that is cited!
Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-
430)-held to be the greatest
thinker of Christian antiquity–
also taught the immaterial and spir-
Luther himself encoun–
tered difficulty in finding
suppor t for the immortal
soul doct r ine in the pages
of Scripture. Notice that
h e as ked , "On wh a t
authority ... ?"
But t he d eep-seated
teac h ings of centu r ies
were not to be easily d islodged,
even by Protestan t reforme rs.
T heologians and churchgoers alike
persisted , for the most part, in
t heir unquestioning embrace o f
the ideas passed down from the
ancient pagan philosophers. As
the
Encylopaedia Britannica
sum–
marizes:
" Traditiona l Western philoso–
phy, s tarti ng with the a ncient
Greeks ... shaped the basic West–
ern concepts of the sou
l."
What the Blble REALLY Says!
Notice the warning of the apostle
Pa ul , who once personally con–
fronted Greek thinkers on Mars
Hill in ancient Athens (Acts 17: 15-
29