Plato's Cave Myth

[kalawine]

Though I realize I'm taking Plato out of context (besides, Plato was BC), isn't it almost uncanny how his Myth of the Cave seems to parallel with the Gospel? This animation fails to finish the story of how the men in the cave passed a death sentence on the freed prisoner. But doesn't the world do the same to us by either martyring us and just ignoring the testimony of our revelation after we've been freed?

[video=youtube;69F7GhASOdM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM&feature=PlayList&p=2A5434E201CB55EF&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12[/video]

 

[AThornquist]

How funny. I remember the Allegory of the Cave well from high school and, now that you mention it, it really does remind me of the gospel and new birth!

 

[Reformed Thomist]

The comparison is apt. It is one reason why I believe that Platonic philosophy was a kind of proto-Christianity, which came about when it did in order to 'pave the way' (help prepare the Gentile mind) for things to come.

The character, 'ministry' and martyrdom of Socrates, as told by Plato, also has significant parallels with the work of Jesus Christ. What has come to be called "The Last Days of Socrates" (or "The Trial and Death of Socrates") -- the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and the 'Death Scene' of the Phaedo -- is a protreptic to philosophy in the form of a sort of gospel narrative.

 

[Gesetveemet]

Kevin,

Thank you for the post. Below is a illustration from a book "Godly Sorrow" by Gerard Wisse which might be helpful.

Reformation Heritage Books


We could use Plato's well-known representation of a person in a cave as an illustration. A man sits with his face turned towards the inner wall of the cave, and away from the opening to the light. When others pass by the opening of the cave, they cast there shadows on the cave wall on which the man's eye is focused. When he sees the shadows against the cave wall, he turns to look at who is passing by the opening of the cave. Similarly, the human soul, fallen from God, lives in a cave, and has her face turned from God. The soul must be moved to turn around. God casts His shadow on the wall through the revelation of His grandeur, holiness, righteousness, love, grace, and all-sufficiency, in short, what He is and what He will be to fallen man. Thus, the inward application of the Spirit is the means by which the soul turns around. O blessed moment, when the soul experiences that God exists, that God reveals Himself, that God moves her, that God is near! To experience this, to turn around, is, however, not yet full salvation; nevertheless, the soul looks outside the cave to another world. How will she come to posses it? How will she escape the cave? How will she receive God and how will God receive her? This is a grand moment, though more is yet to come. The love of God causes her to long for God that she becomes sorrowful. A cry of emotion over the grandeur and majesty of this divine touch is born in the heart.





Have a good Lord's day,
William

 

[Wayne]

Speculative, to be sure, but there are those who think that Solomon had great influence on the Greeks, as well as others in his era.

For one example of this, see The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble

and

The Parthenon Code Up Close The Xenohistorian Weblog

Please keep in mind that I am not advocating for the above material or that theory, but just use this as one illustration of the idea that Solomon and ancient Biblical/Israeli culture in general probably had a wider reach than we might usually think. They were, after all, situated right at the crossroads of the ancient world.

 

[kalawine]

The comparison is apt. It is one reason why I believe that Platonic philosophy was a kind of proto-Christianity, which came about when it did in order to 'pave the way' (help prepare the Gentile mind) for things to come.

The character, 'ministry' and martyrdom of Socrates, as told by Plato, also has significant parallels with the work of Jesus Christ. What has come to be called "The Last Days of Socrates" (or "The Trial and Death of Socrates") -- the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and the 'Death Scene' of the Phaedo -- is a protreptic to philosophy in the form of a sort of gospel narrative.

Yes, it does seem (though we have no revelation such as the Bible to prove it) that the Lord was opening up the Gentile mind to what was to come. I think it is an important fact that the phliosophers (particularly the presocratics) were risking life and limb by moving slowly away from their "gods." They began trying to explain the world without the superstitions that they had been taught. I realize that some of them still added the "gods" to some of their theories. But they still seem to have been begining to understand that there are much better explanations of the world.