Republic of the Philippines

Benguet State University

La Trinidad, Benguet
2601, Philippines

GRADUATE SCHOOL
REPORTER: SHIRLEY C. VENIEGAS
SUBJECT: PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE
PROPESOR: DR. CYNTHIA LUBITON
DATE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

MERGING OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION WITH HELLENISM

Guide Questions:
1. What is Hellenism?
2. What is Christianity?
3. What is “The Guide for the Perplexed”
4. How does the Biblical Interpretation merged with Hellenism?

Medieval Philosophy
“The Perplexing Nature of the Guide for the Perplexed” by Moses Maimonides
Moses Maimonides (1135-1204)
Question is: Was he a philosopher, heretic or a mystic?
• Description: Moses Ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the
acronym Rambam.
• He was a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and
influential Torah scholars of the middle ages.
• He was also a prominent astronomer and physician.
Maimonides mentioned about Aristotle on his book “The Guide for the Perplexed”

The Aristotle Problem…

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

• Aristotle was a Greek philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.
• The founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic School of Philosophy and Aristotelian tradition.
• Along with his teacher Plato, he has been called the "Father of Western Philosophy".
• Teacher of Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
2 Major Problem Religiously of Aristotle according to Maimonides
1. God did not create the world (which had always existed)
2. God was ignorant of anyone else’s existence and did not communicate with religious prophets of
any denomination.
Is Maimonides a philosopher, heretic or a mystic?

1) Maimonides the Philosopher

 He’s greatest philosophical work was his Dalalat-al-hairin or Guide for the Perplexed. He was wrote
it in Arabic, and it was translated twice in Hebrew and also in Latin (Dux Perplexorum) later into
Italian.
 On a straightforward reading Maimonides is sorting out the problems of those like the dedicatee of
the book-Joseph ibn Aknin-who are learned philosophically on the one hand-and thus know of
Aristotle’s proof above, but on the other hand wish to remain religious Jews.
His 3 books with an intriguing introduction
Book 1
• He starts off with a rigorous analysis of the descriptions of God in the Hebrew bible, showing how
they are too be taken allegorically rather than referring literary to God’s Hand, Eye, Throne etc.
• He then moves on to his version of the Via Negativa, arguing God cannot be accurately described
in language.
Book 2
• He consider the Creation of the World and Aristotle’s demonstration (proof) that matter is eternal.
• He concludes that the religious view of creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing) is not inferior to that
of the eternity of the world and that he can refute all objections to the religious view.
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 Book 3
• The beginning of philosophical analysis of the most mystical section of the bible.
• The description of the heavenly chariot at the beginning of the book of Ezekiel.
• (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) explains that they fall into 2 classes.
2 Classes
• Those concerned with the relationship between man and his fellows (w/c lead towards the
perfection of human society)
• Those dealing w/ the relationship bet. man and God w/c are intended to improve our moral and
intellectual faculties.
Conclusion:
 Maimonides concludes with an analysis of the varying forms of human perfection: possessions
(“I have the best philosophy magazine”), body (“I have the best biceps”), morality (“I am the most humble’)
and, finally intellect (the true perfection of man-the possession of such notions as lead to true metaphysical
opinions concerning God.)

 He still points out supposed problems with Aristotelian view and states that, while Aristotle’s
argument is the best, the possession of Divine Revelation from the Torah is the extra piece of
information necessary to decide the matter.

2) Maimonides the Heretic

 Argument: Maimonides agreed with the Aristotelian (heretical) position summarized at the start and
wished to communicate this covertly to his student ibn Aknin.
Why?
a) The first hint that the book is not necessarily what it seems is found at the end of the introduction where
Maimonides lists seven causes as to why inconsistencies are found in books.
Two Relevant causes:
1. 5th cause is that complex matter are usually simplified in an inaccurate form for purposes of reference
elsewhere and not corrected until the complex matter is dealt with a length.
2. 7thcause is “it is sometimes necessary to introduce such metaphysical matter as may partly be disclosed,
but must partly be concealed.

 Therefore, on one occasion the object which the author has in view may demand that the
metaphysical problem be treated as solved in one way, it may be convenient on another occasion
to treat it as solved in the opposite way.
• The author must endeavour, by concealing the facts as much as possible, to prevent the
uneducated reader from perceiving the contradiction.”
• Maimonides then claims that all contradictions found within the Guide will be due to only these two
causes.
b) Second Consideration,
 Leo Strauss explains in his Persecution and the Arts of Writing, is that in religious societies those
who hold heretical views are usually persecuted.
• Whilst in a short article there is no space to indulge in a deep analysis of all the contradictions in
the Guide.
• Maimonides refers to God’s providence (God’s caring guidance of worldly affairs) several times in
his Guide.
• Another fundamental principle taught by Torah/Law of Moses:
“ Wrong cannot be ascribed to God in any way whatever; all evils afflictions as well as all kinds of
happiness in man, whether they concern one individual person or a community are distributed
according to justice, they are the result of strict judgement that admits no wrong whatever.
• Even when a person suffers pain in consequence of a thorn having entered into his hand, although
it is at once drawn out, it is a punishment that ha been inflicted on him (for sin), and the least
pleasure he enjoys is a reward (for some good action of his); all this is meted out by strict justice.”

Maimonides point of view

• He do not rely on demonstrative proof.
• He is agree with Aristotle as regards all other living being, and a fortiori as regards plants and all
the rest of earthly creatures.
• He do not ascribe to God ignorance of anything or any kind of weakness, he hold that Divine
Providence is related and closely connected with the intellect, because providence can only
proceed from an intelligent being, from a being that is itself the most perfect intellect.
• Those creatures, therefore, which receive part of the intellectual influence, will become subject to
the action of Providence in the same proportion as they are acted upon by the intellect.

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 • Those who, perfect in their knowledge of God, turn their mind sometimes way from God, enjoy the
presence of Divine Providence only when they meditate on god, when their thoughts are engaged
in other matters, Divine Providence departs from them.
• Those who have no knowledge of God are like those who live in constant darkness and have never
seen light; the sun does not shine for them on account of the loud that intervenes between them
and God.
• Maimonides argues that animals and plants are not subject to divine providence but that all of
humanity is.
• At the end of the Guide, stuck in the middle of a chapter about the worship of God, Maimonides
argues that only a handful of philosophers are affected to Divine Providence
• And when they only think of God and let’s not forget according to Maimonides how do you truly
think of God? By thinking of what God is not, Is that thinking of God or thinking of ‘not God’?

3) Maimonides the Mystic

 The same analysis of his introduction and the contradictions in the Guide, combined with the
interest in mysticism shown by some of his family joined with disbelief that Maimonides who was
knowledgeable about all the other areas of Judaism could have been ignorant of and reject the
Kabbalah,
 Has led a number of Kabbalists over the centuries to see the Guide as a work of mysticism.
 Maimonides is seen as arguing for the Kabbalistic understanding of the relationship between God
as God really is and God as we perceive him, his explanation of the Work of Chariot is seen as
Kabbalistic rather than philosophical and there are also Kabbalistic interpretations of his views in
prophecy etc.
Conclusion
• It is remarkable that a book can be prone to so many uttery conflicting interpretations. This has
contributed to Maimonides’ continuing appeal within all sections of the Jewish world.
• He appeals to those in the more progressive groupings whose views of God have more kinship
with Aristotle’s than those of the Bible.
• This is course ignores his appeal to those who have studied philosophy in the American schools
under one Strauss’s students or those who appreciate intellectual endeavor for its own sake.
What is Hellenism?

 Hellenism (Hellenization) in the bible refers to the spread of Greek culture that had begun after the
conquest of Alexander the Great in the fourth century, B.C.E
 Hellenist culture was influenced by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle as well as other non-philosophical
ideas (religion)
 The term Hellenism refers to both the period of time and the Greek-dominated culture that
prevailed in the three Hellenistic Kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt.
 The Hellenic religion is a traditional religion and way of life, revolving around the Greek Gods,
primarily focused on the Twelve Olympians, and embracing ancient Hellenic values and virtues.
 In 2017, Hellenism was legally recognized as a "known religion" in Greece, granting it certain
religious freedoms in that country, including the freedom to open houses of worship and for clergy
to officiate weddings.
 Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age.
 The word Hellenistic comes from the root word Hellas, which was the ancient Greek word for
Greece. The Hellenic Age was the time when Greek culture was pure and unaffected by other
cultures.
 The word “Hellenistic” comes from the Hellazein, which means “to speak Greek or identify with the
Greeks”
 Even before Alexander began his conquest of the known world in 336 BCE, Greek culture had
spread through the Mediterranean region.
 Alexander was Macedonian, a nationality related to but self-consciously distinct from the Greeks.
He was himself a Hellenized person.
Hellenism (Hellenization)
Alexander saw Hellenization as a desirable imperial policy, why?
1. He believed Greek culture to be the best available.
2. To build cohesion in his rapidly expanding dominion.
Result
• He established a number of conquered cities as “Greek” cities. These cities were intended as
centers of colonial settlement and transformation into the Greek cultural and political order.

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 Significance of Hellenistic Culture
 It created widespread blending of cultures.
 After Helen left with Paris, many wars occurred.
 It encouraged the invasion of Rome.
 It preceded the dark ages, which lasted for hundreds of year.

FOUR PHILOSOPHICAL WAYS OF THINKING

(commonly associate with Hellenism)
1) Cynicism
 The Cynics were an ascetic sect of philosophers beginning with Antisthenes in the 4th century BC
and continuing until the 5th century AD. They believed that one should live a life of Virtue in
agreement with nature.
 This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, or celebrity, and living a life
free from possessions.
PHILOSOPHERS (Cynicism)
1) Antisthenes (445–365 BC)
2) Diogenes (412–323 BC)
3) Crates of Thebes (365–285 BC)
4) Menippus of Gadara (c. 275 BC)
5) Demetrius (10–80 AD)

2) Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium in the 3rd century BC. Based on the ethical ideas of the
Cynics, it taught that the goal of life was to live in accordance with nature. It advocated the
development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions.
PHILOSOPHERS (Stoicism)
1. Zeno of Citium
2. Cleanthes
3. Chrysippus
4. Panaetius
5. Posidonius
6. Seneca
7. Epictetus
8. Marcus Aurelius

3. Epicureanism
 Founded by Epicurus in the 3rd century BC. It viewed the universe as being ruled by chance, with
no interference from gods. It regarded absence of pain as the greatest pleasure, and advocated a
simple life. It was the main rival to Stoicism until both philosophies died out in the 3rd century AD.
PHILOSOPHERS (Epicureanism)
1. Epicurus
2. Metrodorus
3. Hermarchus
4. Zeno of Sidon
5. Philodemus
6. Lucretius
4) Neo-Platonism
 Neoplatonism or Plotinism, was a school of religious and mystical philosophy founded by Plotinus
in the 3rd century AD and based on the teachings of Plato and the other Platonists.
 The summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things. In virtue and meditation
the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One, the true function of human
beings. It was the main rival to Christianity until dying out in the 6th century.
PHILOSOPHERS (Neoplatonism)
1. Plotinus (205-270 AD)
2. Porphyry (233-309 AD)
3. Lamblichus of Chalcis (245-325 AD)
4. Proclus (412-485 AD)
What is Christianity?

 Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of
Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
the savior of all people, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called
the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament. (Wikipedia.org)

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  History of Christianity

 According to the Bible, the first church organized itself 50 days after Jesus's death on the Day of
Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit was said to descend onto Jesus's followers. Most of the
first Christians were Jewish converts, and the church was centered in Jerusalem.

Beliefs and Practices

(Hellenism)
Ancient Greek Religion

• Hellenic polytheists worship the ancient Greek Gods, or the Hellenic pantheon, including the
Olympians, nature divinities, underworld deities (chthonic gods) and heroes.
• Both physical and spiritual ancestors are honoured.
OLYMPIANS GOD AND GODDESSES
 Hera was goddess of marriage and the queen of Olympus
 Poseidon was god of the sea
 Hades was king of the dead
 Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, and the protector of sailors
 Apollo was the god of music and healing
 Ares was the god of war
NATURE DIVINITIES
• Actaeon - God of the wilderness, wild animals, the hunt, and male animals
• Artemis - Goddess of the hunt, the dark, the light, the moon, wild animals, nature, wilderness,
childbirth, fertility, and health
• Dryads - Tree and forest nymphs
• Demeter - Goddess of the harvest, crops and the fertility of the earth
• Dionysus - God of wine, vegetation, pleasure, and festivity
UNDERWORLD DEITIES
• AEACUS (Aiakos)One of the three judges of the dead in the Underworld. He was originally a king
of the island of Aegina who obtained his position as a reward from the gods.
• ACHERON (Akheron) The god of the underworld river of pain whose brackish stream guarded the
borders of Hades. Charon ferried the souls of the dead across his waters.
• AMPHIARAUS The prophetic Daemon of a subterranean oracle at Oropus in Boeotia.
HEROES
• Abderus
• Academus
• Achilles
• Acrisius
• Aeneas
• Agamemnon
• Alcon (mythology)
• Alcyoneus (son of Diomos)

Another beliefs

 It is primarily a devotional or votive religion, based on the exchange of gifts (offerings) for the gods'
blessings.
 The ethical convictions of modern Hellenic polytheists are often inspired by ancient Greek virtues
such as reciprocity, hospitality, self-control and moderation.
 The Delphic maxims, Tenets of Solon, the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, or even Aristotle's Ethics
each function as complete moral codes that a Hellenic Polytheist may observe.
 Key to most ethical systems is the idea of kharis (or "charis", grace), to establish reciprocity
between humanity and the gods, between individuals, and among community members
 Another key value in Hellenic Polytheism is eusebeia, often translated as piety. This implies a
commitment to the worship of the Hellenic gods and action to back this up.
 Individual worshipers are generally expected to perform their own rituals and learn about the
religion and the gods by reference to primary and secondary sources on ancient Greek religion and
through the personal experience of the gods.

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 CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
Christians are monotheistic…why?
• They believe that there’s only one God, and he created the heavens and earth.
• This divine Godhead consists of three parts: the father (God himself), the son (Jesus Christ) and
the Holy Spirit.
Origins
 Early Christianity had its roots in Hellenistic Judaism and the Jewish messianism of the first century
and Jewish Christians were the first Christians.
 Christianity started eschatological expectations, and it developed into the veneration of a deified
Jesus after his earthly ministry, his crucifixion, and the post-crucifixion experiences of his followers.
 Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity, from the start of the
ministry of Jesus, including his death and up to the death of the last of the 12 Apostles.
 The period subsequent to Jesus’s death, resurrection, and the Great Commission is, according to
Christian tradition, distinguished as the Apostolic age.
HELLENISTIC INFLUENCES

 Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin has argued that Paul’s theology of the spirit is more deeply rooted
in Hellenistic Judaism than generally believed in.
 Boyarin argues that the Apostle Paul combined the life of Jesus with Greek Philosophy to
reinterpret the Hebrew Bible in terms of the Platonic opposition between the ideal (which is real)
and the material (which is false)
 Judaism is a material religion, in which membership is based not on belief but rather descent from
Abraham is physically marked by circumcision and focusing on how to live this life properly.
 By appealing to the Platonic distinction between the material and the ideal, Paul showed how the
spirit of Christ could provide all people a way to worship the God who had previously been
worshipped only by Jews, Jewish proselytes and God-fearers although Jews claimed that he was
the one and only God of all.
 Boyarin roots Paul’s work in Hellenistic Judaism and insists that Paul was thoroughly Jewish, but
argues that Pauline theology made his version of Christianity appealing to gentiles.
 Boyarin also sees this Platonic reworking of both Jesus’s teachings and Pharisaic Judaism without
Jewish Law.
PLATO 428-348 BCE
• Plato was an Athenian Greek philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of
the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the
Western world.
• Student of Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE), teacher of Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

What is Platonism?
Any various revivals of platonic doctrines or related ideas, especially NEOPLATONISM and
Cambridge PLATONISM Century attempt to reconcile Christianity with humanism and science.
The theory that numbers or other abstract objects are objective, timeless entities, independent of
the physical world and of the symbols used to represent them.
Christianity and Platonism
 Many churchmen, including Augustine of Hippo, have been influenced by Platonism.
 Platonism was considered authoritative in the Middle Ages.
 Platonism also influenced both Eastern and Western Mysticism.
 Platonism influenced various philosophers.
 Aristotle became more influential than Plato in the 13 th century.
 St. Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy was still in certain respects fundamentally Platonic.
 Plato’s ideas influenced many religious thinkers.
 Orthodox Protestantism in continental Europe, however, distrusts natural reason and has often
been critical of Platonism.
 An issue in the reception of Plato in early modern Europe was how to deal with the same –sex
elements of his corpus.
 Christoplatonism is a term used to refer to a dualism opined by Plato, which holds spirit is good but
matter is evil. Which influenced some Christian churches, though the Bible’s teaching directly
contradicts this philosophy and thus it receives constant criticism from many teachers in the
Christian Church today.
 According to the Methodist Church, Christoplatonism directly contradicts the Biblical record of God
calling everything he created good.

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What Is Plato’s Theory Of Forms or Ideas?
Concept of body/soul distinction (directly related to his two realms theory *Physical & Spiritual *)
The “psyche”-Greek-translated to mean ‘soul’ but may more accurately refer to ‘life-principle’
Religion-Plato’s ideas about the body and soul have been adopted by CHRISTIANITY which does
not have explicit teaching on such duality in the Bible.
Physical world is not really the “real” world; instead, ultimate reality exists beyond our physical
world.
Physical Realm is the material stuff we see and interact with on a daily basis. It is changing and
imperfect.
Spiritual Realm exists beyond the physical realm, realm of ideas or the realm of ideals.
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
The Cave: people in the cave are seeing illusions, the lower part of the line. If they break their
chains (ignorance), they can then see the puppeteers, the fire. When they see this, they’re seeing
the physical world and the causes of illusions.
But to truly become enlightened, they have to start the journey up the slope out the cave, which is
to become acquainted with principles, theories, science etc. once out the cave, they then see the
sun, the one form, the form of the good. The truth.
Conclusion:
Open your eyes to the world around you. Get in the habit of seeing in the dark. When you have
acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the den. You will
see truth and beauty.

Life after Death

-The soul is immortal and continues after the death of the earthly body as pure intellect, where it is free to
dwell in the “heavenly” realm of ideas/forms.
Socrates on death;
-In Plato’s work Phaedo Socrates talks of looking forward to death because it marks an escape from the
transient, unreal and distracting world of the body in favour of the realm of pure thought.

Reincarnation; Immortality in on life leads to an unfavourable rebirth in the next life For the soul
and vice versa.
THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON (AD 451
 Complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of
reasonable soul and body.
 The distinction of nature’s being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of
each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as
parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten God the word,
Lord Jesus Christ.
 At the Council of Chalcedon, the church explicitly defined the relationship between Jesus’ divine
nature and his human nature, and how they manifested in his being. They determined he was “truly
God and truly man,” and that he is “like us in all things, sin apart.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)

• Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar, Philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the
Church.
• He is an immensely influential philosopher, Theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism,
within which he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis.
• Aquinas begins his theory of self-knowledge from the claim that all our self-knowledge is
dependent on our experience of the world around us…instead Aquinas argues, our awareness of
ourselves is triggered and shaped by our experiences of objects in our environment.
• Man is the point of convergence between the corporeal (means things pertaining to the human
body) and spiritual substances.
• In other words, Man is “one substance body and soul”.
• In Thomistic physics, man is a substantial unity of body and soul.
• Man is an embodied soul not a soul using body. (as Plato claimed).
• Man is substantially body and soul, and definitely, only the soul is the substance while the body is
actual.
• Believed, as against several interesting objections, that God’s existence can (and needs to be)
‘demonstrated’ (‘proved’, in the modern sense).

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 By this he meant 2 things:
1. That God exists is not ‘self-evident’ or axiomatic or a matter of definition.
2. That God exists is something which we can be completely sure of, as a matter of reason (and not
simply of faith)

 Spirit of man in medieval philosophy

 Following view of Plato but adds Christianity
 Man is of a bifurcated nature
 Part of man dwells in the world and yearns to be with divine
 Other part is capable of reaching immortality
 Body-dies on earth; soul-lives eternally in spiritual bliss with God

SYNCRETISM
 Union of differing systems of belief or opposing principles, practices, or parties in philosophy or
religion.
 Religious syncretism exhibits blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new one.
The Impact of Syncretism on Religion
 Believers sometimes see syncretism as betrayal of their pure truth.
 Adding an unsuited belief corrupts the original religion, making it no longer true and distort the
original faith.
 People sometimes use the word “syncretism” as a disapproving description.
 Common feature between the new religions created during Hellenism period: frequently contained
the teachings about how mankind could attain salvation from death.
MYSTICISM
 Experiencing mysticism is an experience of merging with God or the “cosmic spirit. Many religious
emphasize the gulf between God and Creation, but the mystic experiences no such gulf. He or she
has experienced being “one with God” or “merging” with him.
 When this fusion happens, the mystic feels as if he is losing himself, disappearing into God or is
lost in God in the same way a drop of water is lost in the sea.
 When this fusion happens, the mystic feels as if he is losing himself, disappearing into God or is
lost in God in the same way a drop of water is lost in the sea.
 When this fusion happens, the mystic feels as if he is losing himself, disappearing into God or is
lost in God in the same way a drop of water is lost in the sea.
 Mystical trends are found in all the great world religions and these mystical experiences show a
remarkable similarity across all cultural boundaries.
MYSTICISM & RELIGIONS
 It is in the mystic’s attempt to provide a religious or philosophic interpretation of that experience
that his cultural background reveals itself.
 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
 The mystic emphasizes that his meeting is with a personal God. Although God is present in nature
and in the human soul, he is also far above and beyond the world.
WESTERN MYSTICISM
 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
 The mystic emphasizes that his meeting is with a personal God. Although God is present in nature
and in the human soul, he is also far above and beyond the world.

References

https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&source=hp&ei=Of9tXf7BIMvm-
AaE8rr4Ag&q=hellenism&oq=helle&gs_l=psy-
ab.1.5.0i131l2j0l3j0i131j0i10l2j0l2.2255.4019..9472...0.0..0.369.1547.2-2j3......0....1..gws-
wiz.PsSu9JjZcgI

http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/wphil/lectures/wphil_theme04.htm
https://www.philosophybasics.com/historical_hellenistic.html
https://www.slideshare.net/nadiasarsam/hellenism-11850644?qid=60ed1ce8-34fa-448a-830a-
d5b42bd936ea&v=&b=&from_search=2