Comparing Christianity and Stoicism Essay -- Comparison Compare Contra

creative activity Over the get across of human history every society, even the most culturally uncaring of civilizations, has developed some form of assent-system for interpreting and understanding the spiritual and sensible worlds. Thousands of such systems have existed over the centuries, and as tribes and cultures expanded, these faith-systems inevitably met each different face-to-face and clashed. Two thousand years ago there was a particularly important collision one between the roman letters stoic and the gentile Christian. At this time in Western civilization, Christianity was just put its seeds and beginning to grow, whereas impassiveness was already legitimate in its foundation and substantial in its following (Stavrianos 100). 1 might wonder how Christianity ultimately replaced stoicism as the prominent and official religion in Rome. at that place atomic number 18 a few particular political and historical events that tell us exactly when and how it happened, but the curious man is more concerned with the psychology behind the transition. In other words, why would men tend to privilege one over the other? Before one can develop this, it is necessary to understand fully the particulars of each system. In general, most faith systems can be understood in three parts logic, physics, and ethics. There is a famous garden metaphor for understanding the relationship among the three. One should imagine a skirted garden where inside there grows a hotshot plant. This plant produces a fruit. Metaphorically, the wall symbolizes logic, the plant represents physics and the fruit symbolizes ethics. Accordingly, the wall of logic protects physics and ethics. Ethics is the fruit that results from studying physics, which is the cosmic effect of things. Ethic... ...erer from sin while stoicism offered man an internal battle against himself. It should take place as no surprise that Christianity prevailed. Works Cited Alighie ri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Translation and portal by Mark Musa. New York Penguin, 1995. Barker, Kenneth. The NIV Study Bible. Grand Rapids Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.Clarke, M.L. The Roman Mind. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1960.Metzger, Bruce M. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. 1993.Murray, Gilbert. Stoic, Christian and Humanist. London C.A. Watts, 1940.Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters From a Stoic. Translation and Introduction by Robin Campbell. New York Penguin, 1969.Stavrianos, L.S. A Global History From prehistoric culture to the Present. New Jersey Prentice Hall, 1988.Wenley, T.M. Stoicism and its Influences. New York Cooper even up Publishers, 1963.