Kind of sad that middle-Platonism is forgotten considering Philo of Alexandria (sort of a Jewish middle-platonist himself) and his immense influence on Christianity and how it somewhat paved the way for the Alexandrians. Excellent video as always!
Thanks Dr. Cooper. I recently had a frustrating conversation with a Catholic Priest about the philosophers and I made the scriptural claim that apart from faith, their virtue merited nothing and they could not have been saved according to the natural Law. I used scriptures like those that talk about the corruption of the heart and conscience or how we are enemies to God before regeneration, as well as all of the Augustine quotes that Chemnitz uses against Andrada in Exam 1, yet he kept saying that by following the natural law you follow Christ and can be saved in your earnestness. Do you have a book recommendation on the distinction between civil works and good works in scripture, or one that pertains strictly to the ancient philosophers and salvation that I could use to introduce the idea of two righteousnesses to him? Thanks as always for the great video and God bless.
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Isn't that priest basically pelagian? I know that Cyril of Alexandria states that though faith without works is dead, the reverse is also true. Works without faith are dead.
Thanks, and I’ll bring that up next time. Yes he is, and my fear is that he shepherds all of my young Roman Catholic friends and they just blindly follow him. The most frustrating part of the conversation was when he told me that the Middle Ages church at some points referred to them as saint Plato and Saint Aristotle, as if that were a vindication of their lack of faith. I replied with the Tertullian quote on how the philosophers were the fathers of heresy and polluters of doctrine and said that whatever someone calls them at some point or another doesn’t matter, but only their faith or lack there of does before God as seen in Hebrews 6 and everywhere else. If it were only him, I’d have given up on the conversation because it was proving fruitless but since he leads all of my theologically ignorant peers, I feel like I have to run damage control and challenge it in Bible studies🤦♂️
It’s almost like Catholics have their own version of Augustine. The fact that you have saints immediately after him repeating what Protestants are saying though helps our case a lot
I consider myself a Middle Platonist Christian in the tradition of Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, etc. Makes far more sense of Scripture and the concerns of the NT writers than the Neoplatonist Augustinian or Aristotelian Thomist junk.
I’ve been fascinated while I’ve been reading Justin martyr for the first time lately. But what do you mean though of middle platonist in his tradition?
@@Mason_O Justin's conception of God, ie his theology proper, is shared with other Middle Platonists, whether pre-Christian like Philo of Alexandria, or Christians like Athenagoras. He teaches as the Bible does there is One God, the Father, who is totally transcendent and invisible who uses mediators to interact with the natural world He created. You see this all throughout Justin's writings. That is why he discusses Jesus being God's Logos, just as Philo described, as the mediator between God and man. All these things coincide with the Scriptures from Paul, John and the author of Hebrews.
Thank you for continuing this series. Very needed and useful!
Kind of sad that middle-Platonism is forgotten considering Philo of Alexandria (sort of a Jewish middle-platonist himself) and his immense influence on Christianity and how it somewhat paved the way for the Alexandrians. Excellent video as always!
Thanks Dr. Cooper.
I recently had a frustrating conversation with a Catholic Priest about the philosophers and I made the scriptural claim that apart from faith, their virtue merited nothing and they could not have been saved according to the natural Law. I used scriptures like those that talk about the corruption of the heart and conscience or how we are enemies to God before regeneration, as well as all of the Augustine quotes that Chemnitz uses against Andrada in Exam 1, yet he kept saying that by following the natural law you follow Christ and can be saved in your earnestness. Do you have a book recommendation on the distinction between civil works and good works in scripture, or one that pertains strictly to the ancient philosophers and salvation that I could use to introduce the idea of two righteousnesses to him? Thanks as always for the great video and God bless.
Isn't that priest basically pelagian? I know that Cyril of Alexandria states that though faith without works is dead, the reverse is also true. Works without faith are dead.
Thanks, and I’ll bring that up next time. Yes he is, and my fear is that he shepherds all of my young Roman Catholic friends and they just blindly follow him. The most frustrating part of the conversation was when he told me that the Middle Ages church at some points referred to them as saint Plato and Saint Aristotle, as if that were a vindication of their lack of faith. I replied with the Tertullian quote on how the philosophers were the fathers of heresy and polluters of doctrine and said that whatever someone calls them at some point or another doesn’t matter, but only their faith or lack there of does before God as seen in Hebrews 6 and everywhere else. If it were only him, I’d have given up on the conversation because it was proving fruitless but since he leads all of my theologically ignorant peers, I feel like I have to run damage control and challenge it in Bible studies🤦♂️
It’s almost like Catholics have their own version of Augustine. The fact that you have saints immediately after him repeating what Protestants are saying though helps our case a lot
Great video! Just a note, the title should read: (A History of Western Thought 20). It currently says 21 in the title.
I consider myself a Middle Platonist Christian in the tradition of Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, etc. Makes far more sense of Scripture and the concerns of the NT writers than the Neoplatonist Augustinian or Aristotelian Thomist junk.
I’ve been fascinated while I’ve been reading Justin martyr for the first time lately. But what do you mean though of middle platonist in his tradition?
@@Mason_O Justin's conception of God, ie his theology proper, is shared with other Middle Platonists, whether pre-Christian like Philo of Alexandria, or Christians like Athenagoras. He teaches as the Bible does there is One God, the Father, who is totally transcendent and invisible who uses mediators to interact with the natural world He created. You see this all throughout Justin's writings. That is why he discusses Jesus being God's Logos, just as Philo described, as the mediator between God and man. All these things coincide with the Scriptures from Paul, John and the author of Hebrews.
Videos on Justin Martyr and Irenaeus are coming soon!
No mention of Philo of Alexandria?
Both Platonism and Eastern pantheism have an antagonism to material reality.
That is quite different from the Jewish/Christian heritage.
True! It's enough to make one wonder as to whether there is any material connection between the two....
Christians believe the fall brought disorder to creation so it’s not as if Christians don’t have antagonism to material reality