What is ancient philosophy's relationship to Catholicism

[The_Wanderer]

How do the philosophers (and their various beliefs) of classical times, i.e. Heraclitus, Posidonius, Socrates, Zeno, and so forth, relate to Catholicism? I know that some of the early supporters of Catholicism, Justin for example, were schooled in philosophy.

I’m somewhat aware of what the Catholic position is on the metaphysical speculations of the ancients. I’ve made it a hobby to study these philosophers, such as I can understand, and many of the doctrines of these sages, especially the doctrines of the Stoics (universal brotherhood, following providence, and so forth), are essentially sound to me.

Does anyone have any thoughts and/or observations?

 

[Rocinante]

How do the philosophers (and their various beliefs) of classical times, i.e. Heraclitus, Posidonius, Socrates, Zeno, and so forth, relate to Catholicism? I know that some of the early supporters of Catholicism, Justin for example, were schooled in philosophy.

I’m somewhat aware of what the Catholic position is on the metaphysical speculations of the ancients. I’ve made it a hobby to study these philosophers, such as I can understand, and many of the doctrines of these sages, especially the doctrines of the Stoics (universal brotherhood, following providence, and so forth), are essentially sound to me.

Does anyone have any thoughts and/or observations?

the key ancient greek philosopher for catholicism is aristotle as repackaged for christianity by aquinas.

 

[Curious_Hobbit]

St. Augustine, Justine Martyr and other Christian philosophers were platonists. If you want to get a good feeling for Christian philosophy, read about the Scholastics in the Middle Ages like Aquinas, Anselm, Bonaventure, Abelard, Lombard, etc.

 

[tomarin]

I’m somewhat aware of what the Catholic position is on the metaphysical speculations of the ancients. I’ve made it a hobby to study these philosophers, such as I can understand, and many of the doctrines of these sages, especially the doctrines of the Stoics (universal brotherhood, following providence, and so forth), are essentially sound to me.

Does anyone have any thoughts and/or observations?

I’ve read that there is a relationship between ancient Stoicism and Christianity; but also that the few remarks that Marcus Aurelius made about the Christianity of his time indicates that he had little use for it.

I also know that when Christianity became the dominant religion in both the eastern and western halves of the Roman world it set about assimilating as much as possible of the intellectual and philosophical heritage of both places; problem was that this intellectual heritage was very different in both places, more Hellenistic Greek in the eastern half and naturally more Roman and oriented toward law in the western half, so that many of the profound and enduring differences that define Roman Catholicism vis-a-vis Eastern Orthodoxy can be traced to these pre-Christian philosophical differences.

 

[The_Wanderer]

I’ve read that there is a relationship between ancient Stoicism and Christianity; but also that the few remarks that Marcus Aurelius made about the Christianity of his time indicates that he had little use for it.

I believe that the one Christian reference by Marcus Aurelius in To Myself (aka the Meditations) has the emperor holding Christians in disdain because he felt that that they had a preoccupation with death.