Mormonism and Greek Philosophy

[Chris-WA]

I posted this in another thread, but thought it would make a good discussion on its own:

One of Mormonism’s base criticisms about early Christianity is their idea that Greek philosophy influenced, and therefore corrupted, the correct understanding of God in the early church. This story is often told at LDS General Conferences by Mormon Apostles as they try to explain to the membership why they are right and the rest of the Christian world is wrong about God.

Has any Mormon ever considered the possibility that God, in His wisdom and providence, actually intended for Greek philosophy to contribute towards a better understanding of Him? Is it just coincidence that many of the earliest converts were from the ancient Greek world? Is it possible that Greek ways of thought, when combined with the truths of early Christianity, actually enhance our understanding of God rather than corrupt it? After all, God does have a history of transforming pagan ritual and symbols, and then redeeming and consecrating them for Himself. Baptism is such an example. Similar ritual washings were part of ancient pagan religious ceremonies among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, and other cultures. In Stephen Ray’s book, Crossing the Tiber, he writes: The Roman mystery religions, before and during the time of Christ, worshiped the gods of the Isis mysteries, an oath of which is preserved on papyrus. “Before initiation, a confession of sins was expected. The candidate told…the story of the faults of his life up to the point of his baptism…It was believed the rite of baptism would wash away all the candidate’s sins, and from that point on, his life would be changed for the better, because he had enrolled himself in the service of the savior god.”
Sound familiar? Baptism didn’t appear out of a vacuum. I think the same may apply in reference to the influence of Greek thinking on Christianity, and I think Mormonism needs to take a deeper look to find out that this really may have been a good thing. After all, God gave us faith and reason. Perhaps Greek thinking helped enhance the reason side of the equation so we could all gain a better understanding of God. I would submit that God intended for Greek philosophy to contribute to the Christian religion. I don’t think it was any accident that many of the earliest converts were from that part of the world. God can and does use pagan ways of doing things by elevating them, transforming them, and consecrating them for His purposes.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I posted this in another thread, but thought it would make a good discussion on its own:

One of Mormonism’s base criticisms about early Christianity is their idea that Greek philosophy influenced, and therefore corrupted, the correct understanding of God in the early church. This story is often told at LDS General Conferences by Mormon Apostles as they try to explain to the membership why they are right and the rest of the Christian world is wrong about God.

Has any Mormon ever considered the possibility that God, in His wisdom and providence, actually intended for Greek philosophy to contribute towards a better understanding of Him? Is it just coincidence that many of the earliest converts were from the ancient Greek world? Is it possible that Greek ways of thought, when combined with the truths of early Christianity, actually enhance our understanding of God rather than corrupt it? After all, God does have a history of transforming pagan ritual and symbols, and then redeeming and consecrating them for Himself. Baptism is such an example. Similar ritual washings were part of ancient pagan religious ceremonies among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, and other cultures. In Stephen Ray’s book, Crossing the Tiber, he writes:The Roman mystery religions, before and during the time of Christ, worshiped the gods of the Isis mysteries, an oath of which is preserved on papyrus. "Before initiation, a confession of sins was expected. The candidate told…the story of the faults of his life up to the point of his baptism…It was believed the rite of baptism would wash away all the candidate’s sins, and from that point on, his life would be changed for the better, because he had enrolled himself in the service of the savior god."Sound familiar? Baptism didn’t appear out of a vacuum. I think the same may apply in reference to the influence of Greek thinking on Christianity, and I think Mormonism needs to take a deeper look to find out that this really may have been a good thing. After all, God gave us faith and reason. Perhaps Greek thinking helped enhance the reason side of the equation so we could all gain a better understanding of God. I would submit that God intended for Greek philosophy to contribute to the Christian religion. I don’t think it was any accident that many of the earliest converts were from that part of the world. God can and does use pagan ways of doing things by elevating them, transforming them, and consecrating them for His purposes.

Mormons, especially mormon apologists, will take anything and everything they can as long as it supports their beliefs, including ideas and texts that are very rooted in Greek philosophy.

The latest thing for them is to use early Christian writings. They cherry pick ideas out of them, and often the ideas they pick out to support their religion are rooted in Greek philosophies, that are themselves rooted in Greek paganism. And like all things mormonism, they twist these old ideas around and sort of lay mormonism over them. Like these early writers were mormons, if you just look long enough and hard enough.

Also, what you are saying is often used by atheists, to show that Christianity is just another belief system in a long line of belief systems. They criticize Christianity as being influenced by those belief systems and actually coming out of them. Atheists claim that nothing new was introduced, only rearranged somewhat.

 

[Chris-WA]

I would be interested in hearing from LDS how Greek philosophy corrupted the early Christian church. Thus far I have heard from many LDS that it did, but no specifics as to why this would be so. They just sort of assume it–even the LDS General Authorities. They state it as if it were fact, but provide little in the way of explanation.