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periods of t ime adopted as their
own" (from
Euterpé,
the second
book of Herodotus'
History).
The pagan Grceks got the con–
cept of an immortal soul from the
Egyptians!
The foremost advocate among
the ancient Greeks of the idea of an
"immortal soul" was the Athenian
philosopher Plato (428-348 B.C.),
the pupil of Socrates. Plato was the
founder of the Academy, an insti–
tute for philosophical and scientific
research jus t outside of Athens.
The pre-Socratic Greek philoso–
phers had no real conception of any
nonmaterial element in man. The
philosophers Socrates and Pythago–
ras were among the first of the
Greeks to adopt the Egyptian view.
They subseque ntly had a great
influence on the thought of Plato.
lt
was Plato who popularized the
immortal soul concept throughout
the Greek world .
In the
Phaedo-one
of Plato's
most famous works- Plato re–
counts Socrates' final conversation
with his friends on the last day of
Socrates' life. Socrates declared to
them:
" Be of good cheer, and do not
lament my passing.. . . Whe n you
lay me down in my grave, say that
you are burying my body only, and
not my soul."
Socrates' statement is little dif–
ferent from the teachi ng of most
churches today!
Notice also the following asser–
tion from Plato, again taken from
the
Phaedo:
" The soul whose inseparable
att itude is life will never admit of
life's opposi te, death. Thus the soul
is shown to be immortal, and since
immortal, indestructible.... Do we
believe there is such a thing as
death? To be sure. And is this any–
thing but the separation of the soul
and body? And being dead is the
attai nment of this separation, when
the soul exists in herself and sepa–
rate from the body, and the body is
parted from the sou l. Tha t is
death. ... Death is merely the sep–
arat ion of the soul and body."
In Book X of
The Republic–
another of Plato's majar works- he
again wrote: ' 'The soul of man is
immortal and imperishable."
Statements by such a ncient
G reek and Roman wri ters as Polyb-
November/ December 1984
ius, Cícero, Seneca, Strabo-and
even Plato himself- have led sorne
modero historians to question
whether Plato
real/y
persona lly
believed the immortal soul doc–
trine. They suggest that he may
have simply popularized what he
knew to be a fiction as a means of
keeping the citizenr y · in l ine
through the fear of myster ious "un–
seen things" beyond this life.
The immor taJ soul concept, in
other words, was a necessary com–
panion doct rine to the doctrine of
the terrible torments of parts of
Hades or hell. Such fearsome teach–
ings, sorne philosophers thought,
were necessary to scare the masses
into being good citizens.
Regardless of his motives and per–
sonal beliefs, Plato's teachings did
have a wide impact. They spread
throughout the known world and
were accepted as truth by millions.
Plato and the Jews
The Jewish communities of antiq–
uity were deeply influenced by
Greek philosophical ideas. Many
will suppose that the Platonic view
of the soul imprisoned in the flesh
would have been nothing new to
the J ews. But notice the testimony
of Jewish scholars themselves:
"The belief that the soul contin–
ues its existence after the dissolu–
tion of the body is ... nowhere
expressly taught in Holy Scrip–
ture. ... The belief in the immor–
tal ity of the soul carne to the J ews
from contact with Greek thought
and chiefly through the philosophy
of Plato its principal exponent, who
was led to it through ·orphic and
Eleusi nian mysteries in which
Babylonian a nd Egyptian views
were strangely blended" (The
Jew–
ish Encyc/opedia.
art icle, " Immor–
tality of the Soul").
Many of you will undoubtedly be
surprised to discover that the idea
of the immortality of the soul was
not derived by the J ews from the
Old Testament scriptures, but rath–
er taken
f rom Plato.
As we shall see, the Old Testa–
ment takes a
complet e/y different
view!
Another Surprise!
But what of the professing Chris–
t ia n wor ld ? Certainly here we
should · find the doct r ine of an
immortal soul independent of any
Greek influence.
Now consider this fact:
Many of the early theologians
and scholars of the profess ing
Christian religion- including such
men as Origen, Tertullia n a nd
Augustine- were closely associated
with Platonism.
Tertullian (A.D. 155-220), for
example, wrote: .. For sorne thi ngs
are known even by nature: the
immo rtality of the soul , for
instance, is he ld by many ... 1 may
use, therefore,
the opinion of a
Plato,
when he declares: 'Every
soul is immortal'"
(The Ante–
N icene Fathers,
vol.
111).
Notice, it is the opinion of Plato
that is cited!
Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-
4 30)-held to be the greatest
thinker of Christian antiquity–
also taught the immaterial and spir–
itual nature of the human soul. But
notice the source of bis teachings.
The
Encyclopaedia Britannica
ad–
mits: " He [Augustine] fused the
rel igion of the New Testament with
the Platonic tradition 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 doctrine is not clear–
ly suppor ted in Christian Scrip–
ture?
Notice the much later view of
Martín Luther, leader of the Prot–
estant Reformation in Germa ny.
More than a thousand years later,
in 1522, he wrote:
" It is probable, in my opinion,
that , with very few exceptions,
indeed , the dead sleep in utter
insensibil ity ti ll the day of judg–
ment. .. .
On what authority
can it
be said that the souls of the dead
may not sleep ... in the same way
that the living pass in profound
slumber the interval between thei r
downlyi ng at night and their upris–
ing in the morning?"
Luther himself encountered dif–
ficulty in finding support for the
immortal soul doctrine in the pages
of Scripture. Notice that he asked,
"On what authority ... ?"
But the deep-seated teachings of
centuries were not to be easi ly d is–
lodged, even by Protestant reform–
ers. Theologians and churchgoers
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