Would Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle be Christian if they were born after Christ?

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cpinatsi

Greeks embraced Christianity very early. And Socrates's teachings were very close to what Jesus thought, so I believe they would follow Him.

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Remember, Socrates and Plato both believed that there is a level higher and purer than even the Gods (or God in a Christian world): Socrates clearly makes the argument that morality and certain other concepts are above the Gods, and Plato takes a much larger step and argues for the Forms. Accordingly, Socrates and Plato certainly would not have been true believers. Socrates probably would have enjoyed the opportunity to use the ol' Socratic Method on Jesus. Now that would make for an interesting dialogue!

Aristotle perhaps might have been slightly more sympathetic, since he did argue for the "unmoved Mover" as the origin of the universe. But Aristotle really was a more down-to-earth, Science-minded kind of guy in general, so to what extent he might have truly believed in the Judeo-Christian God is a question, and Jesus is an even bigger question mark.

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The obvious reason that so many ideas and concepts of Christianity are similar to the teachings of these Greek philosophers is because Christianity was molded and developed predominantly in a heavily Hellenized part of the world by people who were more often than not Neo-Platonists. Don't forget these philosophers predate Christ by a good 300 years!

MAT

Sure, why not?

kansasfan

Well, my religion teacher in high school, told to the class that their ideas were very close to the ideas of Christianity and that he is sure that if they were alive at the time of Jesus they would be his supporters.
But I don't know...

T12

In a Christian world they would have been baptized Christians since they were kids. I can't imagine what they was going to think of Christ because they don't always agree in what they say. One thing is for sure, they were all a major influence on the western civilization.

Turkocop, Christ is not a Semite God. The whole idea of Christianity as a religion was shaped in the Greek speaking and Latin world. Europe took his message into a religion, the East and his fellow Jews rejected him.

Min Tous Kiklous Terates

thats ridicoulous..they where all free thinkers..i would say it its more unlikley to be happing...if that was the case then you can say if they where born after MOHAMMED THE PROHET..would they be ISLAMIST? or even BUDISHT..FOR THAT MATTER. they where born in thier ERA and should never be associated with any thing but thier own convictions and beliefs of thier TIME..

Linktothepast83

They would be atheists or agnostics probably. They weren't known for their strong believe in gods (at least the ancient ones), and Socrates was partly killed due to that, for corrupting the young people with his teachings and beliefs .

Kate J

Hard to say.

kendra h

If you have been thinking about this for a while, I imagine you know enough about their philosophies to answer that question yourself.

I think they might have followed Christianity as part of their culture, just as they participated in pagan religious festivals, but they would not have believed in him as the master of the universe.

Bleda The Mad

They would be atheists i think...

dvatwork

YES...........but I can't answer now in detail..... I'll elaborate when I''m on my own computer at home.

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