Michelle Nailon Csb

Is There a Critique of Greek Philosophy in the Gospels? Michelle Nailon Csb

Is There a Critique of Greek Philosophy in the Gospels? (488 pages). This question was asked some time after doing a Sociology of Religion course with Noel Ryan SJ in Melbourne. During the course we considered major social philosophers in Western society. On later reflection about these writers, it appeared that some of them took a Platonic approach to social structures. Others adopted an Aristotelian approach. Broadly speaking there was a continuum line that went from a focus on democracy to an allowance of totalitarianism. The book considers this spectrum. The book then goes on further into the question being raised. After doing more studies on the New Testament this question had arisen as follows. Plato and Aristotle lived 500 years before the gospels were written. A history of first century Palestine shows that the Judaism of the day was grappling with the challenges and deficiencies of the Hellenism (cf. Greek philosophy) of the Roman Empire. Did the gospel writers, who would have had access to Greek thinking, weigh up the merits and deficiencies of this type of society within the structures of their gospel?A semiotic and sociological analysis of the gospels was then made. The details of this analysis have been put up onto the web sites related to www.realitysarch.com.au. The book provides an overview of this analysis and its findings. Over the years, further reflection and discussion about the analysis and its implications have been made. These are also available on the web sites.