Q: What does Greek philosophy have to do with Christianity?
A: Socrates was a proto-martyr, because he was opposed to "the way of sheer power", and by his witness he became "the prophet of Jesus Christ".
"At this point, the whole radicality of today's dispute over ethics and
conscience, its center, becomes plain. It seems to me that the parallel in the
history of thought is the quarrel between Socrates-Plato and the sophists in
which the fateful decision between two fundamental positions has been rehearsed.
There is, on the one hand, the position of confidence in man's capacity for
truth. On the other, there is a worldview in which man alone sets standards
for himself. The fact that Socrates, the pagan, could become in a certain
respect the prophet of Jesus Christ has its roots in this fundamental
question. Socrates' taking up of this question bestowed on the way of philosophizing
inspired by him a kind of salvation-historical privilege and made it an appropriate
vessel for the Christian Logos. For with the Christian Logos we are dealing
with liberation through truth and to truth. If you isolate
Socrates' dispute from the accidents of the time and take into account his use
of other arguments and terminology, you begin to see how closely this is the
same dilemma we face today. Giving up the idea of man's capacity for truth leads
first to pure formalism in the use of words and concepts. Again, the loss of
content, then and now, leads to a pure formalism of judgment. In many places
today, for example, no one bothers any longer to ask what a person thinks. The
verdict on someone's thinking is ready at hand as long as you can assign it
to its corresponding, formal category: conservative, reactionary, fundamentalist,
progressive, revolutionary. Assignment to a formal scheme suffices to render
unnecessary coming to terms with the content. The same thing can be seen in
more concentrated form, in art. What a work of art says is indifferent. It can
glorify God or the devil. The sole standard is that of formal, technical mastery.
We now have arrived at the heart of the matter. Where contents no longer count,
where pure praxeology takes over, technique becomes the highest criterion. This
means, though, that power becomes the preeminent category whether revolutionary
or reactionary. This is precisely the distorted form of being like God of which
the account of the fall speaks. The way of mere technical skill, the
way of sheer power, is imitation of an idol and not
expression of one's being made in the image and likeness of God. What characterizes
man as man is not that he asks about the "can" but about the "should"
and that he opens himself to the voice and demands of truth. It seems to me
that this was the final meaning of the Socratic search and it is the profoundest
element in the witness of all martyrs. They attest to the fact that man's
capacity for truth is a limit on all power and a guarantee of man's likeness
to God. It is precisely in this way that the martyrs are the great
witnesses of conscience, of that capability given to man to perceive the "should"
beyond the "can" and thereby render possible real progress, real ascent."
-- Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger (now Pope
Benedict XVI), in "Conscience and Truth", Presented at the 10th
Workshop for Bishops February 1991 Dallas, Texas: <http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/ratzcons.htm>.
Q: How is Socrates relevant for religion and theology today?
A: He shows us the proper role of reason. Reason takes the claims of revelation seriously. Socrates provides the classic example.
Lee Harris, "Socrates or Muhammad? Joseph Ratzinger on the destiny of reason", Weekly Standard 12:3 (10/02/2006): <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/736fyrpi.asp?pg=2>.
Benedict XVI, "The Regensburg Lecture" (on the alleged need for a dehellenization of Christianity).
Q: If God can only ever will in accordance with reason, doesn't that mean that God is measured by an independent standard?
A: No. Because God's pure undiluted existence is the measure of all things, it is His absolute rationality that is the source of the intelligibility of anything actually existing in nature.
Edward Feser, "God, obligation, and the Euthyphro dilemma " (Oct 26, 2010).
Q: What can I read to begin to learn more about Socrates' way of thinking?
A: Some classics...
Peter Kreeft, Philosophy 101 by Socrates (Ignatius Press, 2002).
Romano Guardini, The Death of Socrates (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1948). <http://books.google.ca/books?id=992pUj7Z2B0C>.
Q: What exactly were Socrates' religious beliefs? Was he really a monotheist?
A: God only knows. But he definitely spoke of "God" (ho theos). However, the topic is controversial. Yet it is certain that Socrates used reason to challenge the common religious beliefs of his day, in an attempt to foster a spiritual renewal in the souls of those he encountered in the city of Athens.
Michael Pakaluk, Review of Mark L. McPherran, The Religion of Socrates, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review (97.12.11): <http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1997/97.12.11.html>.
Q: He said he was poor, but wasn't Socrates really wealthy? How else could he afford to fight as a hoplite warrior in Athens' wars?
A: The same way that other citizens of humble means were able to fight.
Victor
Davis Hanson, "Delium"
The entire ensemble might cost a citizen-soldier well over a hundred drachmas.
That was the equivalent to about three months’ wages. Later in the war,
small factories — like the shield-works in Athens run by the family of
orator Lysias — could turn out the standard wooden elements of the panoply
en masse. As the war became more desperate in its second and third
decades, the old idea of hanging up inherited ancestral arms over the hearth
was becoming passé; the state armed thousands of the poor, regardless
of their particular social status.
György Németh,
Kritias und die Dreissig Tyrannen
To be a member of the hoplite class, a citizen must have been able to purchase
a set of armour. But once purchased, what further was required in order to maintain
the status? Németh continues to speak of the number of citizens who could
"afford" a set of armour, but this overlooks the fact that the purchase
was likely a one-time event. If a hoplite already had a set of armour, and the
census status of being a hoplite, why would he need cash? Also, we cannot dismiss
the possibility that armour could be loaned or that the money to purchase armour
could be loaned by family and friends, to be repaid at a later date.
Q: Who is a great scholar from whom I can benefit most in my study of Plato?
A: When you are ready, you will want to read and learn from Eric Voegelin's book on Plato.