Theology of the ancient Greek philosophers
HOME| Greek philosophers caused disruption within their community
with the ideas they introduced, often they were forced to be
exiled from their country, and others to be put to death
(Socrates). The broad scope of knowledge they had, was difficult
for the average man to comprehend. Thinkers, prophets and philosophers of the past suspected the existence and the power of an Almighty force, without however any proof. Democritus was certain about the structure of the atom and its behavior. The discovery of gravity by Empedocles, 'the prime mover' as called by Aristotle, is responsible for order and harmony in the universe, and this was inconceivable to people in ancient times. In Greek «Θεογονία«Theogony» (the origin or genealogy of the gods) the early Paleolithic Greeks of the mountains as soon as they reached the ability to think, they never imagined that some one from heaven created the world, they stood up and reviewed the facts and came to conclusion that no creature on earth is superior to them, for this they called them selves Θεοί (=Gods), the word «ΘΕΟΣ» (=God) meaning MAN because man is the only creature on earth to use logic and thorough knowledge can reach God (=logic), the word ΘΕΟΣ is a replacement of the ancient word «ΘΑΩ» meaning broad vision and mind, and did not resemble the God we know today. Long before the floods (cataclysm) they created the 12 Gods of Olympus (=heavens).Ancient Greeks created 12 Gods according to their needs, plus many demigods (half-gods), their beliefs where Idea-latric (latria =Greek for worship) and not idol worship. This Gods never make miracles but teach humans to use their minds to solve their problems. Gods did not create the world but they played an important role in improving it. Teaching the people through knowledge and awareness to reach the (Θείων = God-like). They worshiped the perfection of body and mind, art, music, mathematics, health and medicine, physics, and mostly the love of nature, all this based on justice that all people are equal.Each God representing a task like a ministry and that was a bond of law to the people, with festivals, and celebrations, expressing their gratitude to Gods. Asian beliefs are endless circle of dying and reborn. Judaism Islam and Christianity is to choose between punishment those who sin in hell, and those who don't go to heaven (everlasting fear). Monotheism (one God) «I am the only God and you shall not worship another» we read in the bible, (Those who are with me or those who are against me!!!) Greeks had a democratic choice and flexibility worshiping each God, (never been recorded religious fanaticism,because they supported the free religion) people choosing a God as a guardian angel as it is customary today with Christianity, in «Homer's Odyssey» we read the straggle of Odysseus in the seas, damned by Poseidon God of the sea, and at the same time receiving help from Goddess Athena. Greek philosophers accepted one true God but never worshiped him.Conflicting with the Hebrew philosophy of the Bible, to prohibit man eat from the forbidden tree, the tree of knowledge and wisdom.Greeks believed that all people are equal, and they should never bow, or kneel in front of a king a God, or another human, but stand and look at him straight in the eyes.Man's mind should be used to study and examine all things with no fear, including Gods, and Kings and criticize them. Islam and Christianity based on the Bible led humanity to dark ages, until the 14th century when Renaissance was most welcomed to the western world. Socrates once said there are two religions, one for the noble and wise, and one for the masses (religious blind-chauvinistic mob). There was no belief amongst the ancient Greeks of an evil deity, their belief was that the 'evil' existed only within one's soul and through self-exploration and self-awareness it could be overcome and expelled from within. This is why no evidence of statues and images of a 'devil' have ever been recovered. "Christianity to became a powerful religion had to be judged by the Greeks?" all holy scriptures and the New testament were written in Greek because the Greek language was the international language. |
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC) |
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Greek philosopher and scientist, who shares with Plato and
Socrates the distinction of being the most famous of ancient
philosophers. Aristotle suggested However, the Prime Mover, or
God, as described by Aristotle is not very suitable for religious
purposes, as many later philosophers and theologians have
observed. The Prime Mover does not, for example, take an interest
in what goes on in the world, and did not create the world.
Aristotle limited his "theology", however, to what he believed
science requires and can establish Aristotle believes: God is a universal force (The prime Mover does not, for example, take an interest in what goes on in the world) |
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SOCRATES 470 - 399 BC |
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Greek philosopher who initiated a question-and-answer method of
teaching as means of achieving self-knowledge. His theories of
virtue and justice have survived through the writings of Plato,
his most important pupil. Socrates was tried for corrupting the
minds of Athenian youth and subsequently put to death (399 bc). Socrates accepted the existence of one God, truly wise and immortal. He believed: Socrates excepted the existence of one God, truly wise and immortal God is knowledge, logic, comprehension, apperception |
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THALES OF MILETUS 624-546 B.C. |
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Greek philosopher who is traditionally considered the first
Western philosopher and a founder of geometry and abstract
astronomy. He maintained that matter is composed of water. Thales
was the first to suggest a single material substrum for the
universe. The entire universe is a living organism. To Thales, that "the magnet has soul because it attracts iron, "and that" all things are full of gods. He believed: The entire universe is a living organism God is the entire universe |
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XENOPHANES 570- 475 B.C |
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Greek religious thinker and reputed precursor of the Eleatic
school of philosophy. Xenophanes discuss theology, cosmology,and
epistemology. "There is one God, "he wrote, "greatest among gods
and man, who neither in shape nor in thought resembles
mortals....Yet men imagine gods to be born and to have raiment and
voice and body, like themselves. "Carrying his criticism of such
anthropomorphism a step further, he asserted that "oxen, lions,
and horses, if they had hands wherewith to grave images, would
fashion gods after their own shapes and make them bodies like to
their own. Xenophanes' teaching in the formula "That all is one
and the one is God," He believed: There is one God, he wrote, greatest among gods and man, who neither in shape nor in thought resembles mortals Xenophanes' teaching in the formula "That all is one and the one is God" God has no image |
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PYTHAGORAS sixth century B.C. |
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Greek philosopher and mathematician who founded in southern
Italy a school that emphasized the study of musical harmony and
geometry.He proved the universal validity of the Pythagorean
theorem and is considered the first true mathematician "all is
number," meaning that all existing things can be ultimately
reduced to number relationships; the dependence of the dynamics of
world structure on the interaction of contraries, or pairs of
opposites, the first of which is the even-odd relationship
essential to numbers. He believed: All is number God is mathematics, geometry, architecture, chemistry, color |
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PARMENIDES 500 B.C. |
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Parmenides, Greek philosopher, considered by many scholars to
have been the greatest member of the Eleatic school. He is said to
have visited Athens at the age of 65, and on that occasion
Socrates, then a young man, heard him speak. Parmenides expounded
his philosophy in verse form, his only surviving work being large
fragments of a didactic poem, On Nature. This work argued for the
existence of Absolute Being, the non-existence of which Parmenides
declared to be inconceivable, but the nature of which he admitted
to be equally inconceivable, since Absolute Being is dissociated
from every limitation under which human beings think. Parmenides
held that the phenomena of nature are only apparent and due to
human error; they seem to exist, but have no real existence. He
also held that reality, True Being, is not known to the senses but
is to be found only in reason. This belief makes him a precursor
of the idealism of Plato. Parmenides' theory that being cannot
arise from nonbeing, and that being neither arises nor passes
away, was applied to matter by his successors Empedocles and
Democritus, who made it the foundation of their materialistic
explanations of the universe. He believed: Parmenides' theory that being cannot arise from nonbeing, and that being neither arises nor passes away God existed, exists, and will continue to exist (nothing can be created from 0 but from 1+ can) |
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HERACLITUS (Heracleitus) 500 B.C. |
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Greek philosopher who maintained that strife and change are
natural conditions of the universe, in which fire forms the basic
material principle of an orderly universe. In his system, God was
neither a creator nor omnipotent but was limited to an
identification with the opposites, for example, good and evil, hot
and cold, and other opposites are similarly related. The soul
consists of fire and endures the same cycle of change that other
things experience, and death brings the soul's complete
extinction. He stated that a person could not step into the same river twice, because the water continually changes, meaning that all things in the universe change from one stage to the other. He also stated that without quarrels and anger (opposites) there wouldn't be harmony in the world. Mans character and morale is his fate and destiny. «Γνώθι σ' αυτόν» (gnothi s' eauton)= know thyself, learn who you are, search in your conscience, and try to became emotionally a perfect human being. He believed: God was neither a creator nor omnipotent God is a universal law that all things in the universe are continually changing |
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DEMOCRITUS (460-370 B.C.) |
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Greek philosopher, who developed the atomic theory of the
universe that had been originated by his mentor, the philosopher
Leucippus. Democritus was born in Abdera, Thrace. He wrote
extensively, but only fragments of his works remain. According to
Democritus's exposition of the atomic theory of matter, All things
are composed of minute, invisible, indestructible particles of
pure matter (atoma, = "indivisibles"), which move about eternally
in infinite empty space (kenon, "the void"). Although atoms are
made up of precisely the same matter, they differ in shape, size,
weight, sequence, and position. Qualitative differences in what
the senses perceive and the birth, decay, and disappearance of
things are the results not of characteristics inherent in atoms
but of quantitative arrangements of atoms. Democritus viewed the
creation of worlds as the natural consequence of the ceaseless
whirling motion of atoms in space. Atoms collide and spin, forming
larger aggregations of matter. Democritus also wrote on ethics,
proposing happiness, or "cheerfulness", as the highest good-a
condition to be achieved through moderation, tranquillity, and
freedom from fear. In later histories, Democritus was known as the
Laughing Philosopher, in contrast to the more sombre and
pessimistic Heraclitus, the Weeping Philosopher. His atomic theory
anticipated the modern principles of the conservation of energy
and the irreducibility of matter. Aristarchus Greek philospher to unravel the celestial plan Empedocles Greek philospher to unravel the gravitational field of the universe He believed: All things are composed of minute, invisible, indestructible particles of pure matter (atoma, = "indivisibles") God is the universal matter |
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EMPEDOCLES (495 - 435 B.C.) |
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Empedocles thought that the 4 substances fire, solids, liquids,
and air are elements of the universe that causing the universe to
die and reborn, (today we know that earth elements can change with
appropriate temperature to solid, liquid, and air). He believed: God is a circle whose center is everywhere and its periphery is nowhere,
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| Στρατής Χατζηβλάστης‚ |
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