We’re starting off this blog, because we are very concerned about showing how Christianity – at its very beginning – was so much influenced by some ideas and thoughts, which are very stoic and cynic. Bearing this in mind, our aim is not somehow historical. We don’t have any historical claim to put forward. We just want to keep us thinking about how Christianity should be (and Christians as well), when lighting up the connection between Stoicism and Christianism, if any.
Let’s begin with our first parallel we want you to discuss. Here we have two quotations to start with.
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not
be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be
given to you; ….Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s
eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
According to the Gospel of Luke (6.37):
Source: http://www.humanistictexts.org/epictetus.htm
“If a man wash quickly, do not say that he washes badly, but that he
washes quickly. If a man drink much wine, do not say that he drinks
badly, but that he drinks much. For till you have decided what
judgment prompts him, how do you know that he acts badly? If you do
as I say, you will assent to your apprehensive impressions and to none
other.”
Epictetus, Stoic Philosopher
