Platonism played a central role in shaping Christian theology. Christian religion developed during the time of Rome and combined Platonism, some philosophical beliefs from the Stoics and Orphism, esoteric aspects traceable to cults of the Near East, and morals and history acquired from Judaism. Even Saint Augustine refers to Plato’s ideas as “the most pure and bright in all philosophy”. Christianity has undergone many changes during its long history and it is important to note that during the Middle Ages its philosophy revolved largely around ideas derived directly from the Greeks.
Across the millennia, the voices of the Greek philosophers have been shaping our minds, our institutions, our leaders and our civilization as a whole. These Greek thinkers have unquestionably proved that the same problem can be approached in different ways, that common sense is not as common as we like to believe, that considering unfamiliar possibilities can enlarge our thought and that imagination and ideas can be immortal.
Apollo Lyceus, the Vatican so loved this art with fig leaves & all, we can give them credit for keeping it safe, unfortunately we don't have all the 10,000 books, essays that we know came from Aristotle's Lyceum but we know what he had started. Don't blush now texan, the famed school/university in Athens was centered @ the Lyceum, named after the God of the Sun, after Aristotle returned from Asia with the first collection of plants & animals to be studied.
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