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Two Cultures: How Two Blended in Western European Culture 4000BC - 1400 AD

Two Cultures: How Two Blended in Western European Culture 4000BC - 1400 AD. Indo-Europeans / Semitic People. Hellenistic Age: A Mixing. Alexander the Great - 300sBC Roman Might Emerges - 200sBC Alexandria, Egypt a locus of mixing multiple cultures…two in particular…. “Insight”

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Two Cultures: How Two Blended in Western European Culture 4000BC - 1400 AD

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  1. Two Cultures:How Two Blended in Western European Culture4000BC - 1400 AD Indo-Europeans / Semitic People

  2. Hellenistic Age: A Mixing • Alexander the Great - 300sBC • Roman Might Emerges - 200sBC • Alexandria, Egypt a locus of mixing multiple cultures…two in particular…

  3. “Insight” Vidya – Sanskrit Idea – Greek Video – Roman/Latin Wissen – German (“v”) Wisdom - English Vision - English “God” Huta - Sanskrit Deva – Sanskrit - Dyeus Daeva – Persian Dios – Greek - Zeus Deus – Latin Tivurr – Norse – Tiwaz -Tues. Divine Gott – German Deity – English Gosh, Golly Geez - Jesus Our Indo-European Roots Etymology is fun!!!

  4. Indo-Europeans Visual Cyclical view of history Transmigration of soul polytheistic Visions – Insight Buddhist/Hindu religions Unity with god(s) through insight Meditation, self communion Sculptures of gods Semitic Oral and auditory Linear view of history Monotheistic Judaism, Islam, Christianity “Hear O Israel” God speaks through the prophets. Muslim call to prayer. Jewish cantor – sings the Torah Recitation Sermons Discouragement of pictorial or sculptural representation. Two Cultures Effect Philosophy

  5. Neo-Platonism: Plato as Mystic Plotinus of Alexandria, 205-270AD Nonreality or the Not… The Divine in all things… Raw Unshaped Matter Everything has a faint glow of God. Touched by degrees… Man should seek a mystical oneness with god God, Eternal Ideas Man’s Soul

  6. Plotinus on the World • The world is not a planned creation by a God, but the self-expression of the Intelligence, or the Soul of all. • Good and Evil were not created; but the world is an expression of that Soul’s experience of itself.

  7. “It is an illusion that makes you think that your neighbor is someone other than yourself”

  8. Some Mystery Cults of the Roman Empire • Mithraism – Persian, “cult of light” • Manicheanism – universe between 2 equal forces, good and evil • Neoplatonism – a singular universe touched by degrees of the One (the Good)

  9. The Christian Mystic Becoming one with the Divine… “Every drop becomes the sea when it flows oceanward, just as at last the soul ascends and thus becomes the lord.” - Angelus Silesius, 1600s, Christian mystic

  10. A promise broken Eden Noah’s ark The Covenant with Abraham Jacob - Israel Saul, David and Solomon – 1000BC Mistakes made Babylonian Captivity 580-540BC – Prophets: Restore Kingdom of David Awaiting the Messiah, Anointed one Roman occupation 64BC – Indo-European culture clashes with Semitic Distrust of monotheism Imperial Cult emerges with Augustus 29BC The Semitic View: History asRebinding the Covenant with God

  11. Jesus, mediator: “Born of the House of David” • Son of God, forgiver of sins • “Abba” – Father! • We are all brothers and sisters – family of man • A new covenant: Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind; AND, love your neighbor as yourself. • Love your enemies: they’re family • Forgive those who spite you 70 times 7… • Obviously a dangerous man…

  12. This Man, Antonio Ciseri, 19th c The Passion • God suffers for us Resurrection • God as man overcomes the trial and opens a bigger path for God to work in the world and in the afterlife • Easter…Christianity Resurrection of Christ, Grunewald, 16th C

  13. Paul (Saulof Tarsus) On the road to Damascus… Acts Epistles - (letters) Christianity first spreads westward…WHY? Crucifixion of Paul by Caravaggio

  14. Christianity’s Power as Philosophy • God became man • Jesus not demigod, a lesser god; • We see Indo-European influence, not Semitic, in insistence that Jesus was born of God-woman relationship • This man endured in humanity and prevailed • Jesus as a true man, the best of us….. • Semitic idea: God is a God of the human family • Inherent equality of all: brothers and sisters • There is always Hope • Forgiveness transcends worldly competition • Love is the most powerful force

  15. Indo-European and Semitic Cultures • Neoplatonism is a key intellectual step • Many of Plato’s top students interpreted and wrote about Plato’s ideas and came up with different conclusions. • Attests to Plato’s universality • 2 Cultures Blended through Christianity in Europe

  16. Neo-Platonism: Plato as Mystic Plotinus of Alexandria, 205-270AD Nonreality or the Not… The Divine in all things… Raw Unshaped Matter Everything has a faint glow of God. Touched by degrees… Man should seek a mystical oneness with god God, Eternal Ideas Man’s Soul

  17. St Augustine 354-430AD • A Christian with a Neo-Platonist background • Welds Plato into Christian theology • Two realms • God could not create evil...evil is a turning away from the good, absence of good • The City of God v. The City of Man • The state is a remedial function; not originally intended as it is • The state is full of selfish, ungodly motives • Why was the Roman Civilization falling apart?

  18. City of God / City of Man The divine in all things… • City of Man • A product of the human condition; necessary due to the fall of man. • A product of our struggle • Lacks the divine Man’s Soul City of God Eternal Ideas Nature

  19. Augustinian Philosophy • The ideas for all things existed within God always but were at a given time created out of the Void. • There is a clear division between spirit and body • The City of Man manifests in the absence of God. • Eternal competition exists between God and worldly forces inside and outside, until judgment day

  20. Why did the Middle Ages begin?(400-1400 AD)What was life like then? • Roman Empire broke into three cultures • Greek philosophy took an important backseat in those cultures… • RC (Western) Middle Ages - Neoplatonism • Byzantine (Eastern) Middle Ages - Plato • Islam’s Formative Period – Aristotle

  21. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 • Reexamination of Aristotle • On the foundation of Averroes, a Muslim from Toledo, Spain • Faith and Reason are compatible • 5 Proofs for the existence of God • Read Falcone: Chapter 8; On Aquinas

  22. Aquinas (1225-1274) • “As fat as he was indefatigable” • Beginning at age 5 studied with Benectine monks in Naples • Aristotle: Greek pagan • Averroes: Spanish Muslim • Maimonides: Spanish Jew • Joins new Dominican order • Parents kidnapped him! • Attended University of Paris 1245 • Professor of Philosophy 1256 • Summa Theologica

  23. Aquinas questioned prevailing concepts, such as…? • Is the Platonic form of a being the same as his spirit or soul? • If our spirit is form or essence, then where does the universal humanness end and individual character begin? • Were we meant to ignore the Earthly City w/ blinders on, focusing only on the afterlife – as in Augustine’s City of God? • How does the body connect with the soul if the body belongs to the realm of the City of Man and soul to the City of God? Is the body evil? • Since the pagan Aristotle had been interested in the natural world is there anything problematic with a fascination in the natural world?

  24. Which Aristotelian Views Does Aquinas Take? • Man can’t help but want supreme happiness, which is … • God-Man relationship: “vision of God” • Summon Bonum: action in accord with reason (divine gift) to achieve salvation • So Virtue is: • Intellectual virtue - knowing it • Moral virtue - doing it Intellect Will Appetite

  25. What is the relationship between reason and faith? • Reason and Faith are not contradictory but symbiotic • Reason depends on premise • Faith is strengthened by Reason • If reason could prove faith false, there would be no faith • Yet faith comes first when we assume many things…

  26. Man is joiner of two universes “Like a horizon of the corporeal and the spiritual” • As long as man has both spirit and body, both parts must be understood • Man needs education to deal with temptations of the world • With God’s grace and both types of reason, Man can achieve the happiness of both realms. Requires Superior reason spiritual Brings joy corporeal Brings pleasure Requires Inferior reason

  27. Aquinas’ 5 proofs of God Argument from: • Motion • Efficient cause • Necessity • Gradation • Design • Which are most reasonable? Least reasonable? Why?

  28. Good Actions Must Meet All 4 parts… • Intrinsic “material” or value of act • Intention of actor • Circumstances which affect actor/action • End results (Sort of like Aristotle’s 4 causes…) • Make up a hypothetical situation… • “Alfred and the old lady with the flat tire…” • Or…think of your own situation and analyze… • Do these criteria make sense? Why or not?

  29. 4 types of law • Eternal law- God’s way; abstract, but discernable through reason • Natural law – seen in nature; reflection of eternal law and extension of it in our world; points the way on how man should shape his own laws • The Enlightenment thinkers would run with this in late 1600s ; ie Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau • Human law- man’s laws made by state; necessary to keep man’s fallen nature in check • Divine law – as revealed by prophets, scripture

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