Given their singular significance to the development of Western culture, it is strangely appropriate that Jesus and Socrates led similar lives. Both lived simply. Both were esteemed as excellent teachers, though neither wrote an extant word. Both were regarded as traitors by the political and religious communities of their times. Both were executed for their beliefs. For some Enlightenment thinkers, these parallels suggested that Truth was not the sole property of the Christian religion, nor was it necessarily the result of a divine dispensation. The philosophy of Socrates was as liberating - perhaps as salvific - as the religion of Jesus. Not all scholars agreed. Some, like Joseph Priestley, argued that Socrates' thought was elaborate and beautiful, but Jesus' ideas and life were the very embodiment of God on this earth. Christian intellectuals, drawing on this idea, have often noted that they were students of Socrates and disciples of Jesus.
They were not political or religious leaders. They both were sublime teachers. Both advanced ideas of the individual over the Establishment. A threatened mob-guided Establishment executed both men for impiety, though neither had harmed anyone or infringed anyone's natural rights. .
The collectivist Establishment executed Socrates and Jesus for their individualistic, anti-establishment ideas.
No normal person can live reflectively without making some decision about Jesus' life-changing command, `Follow me!' No one can be called educated who has not thoughtfully responded to Socrates' famous assertion that the unexamined life is not worth living. What links Jesus and Socrates in our imagination is much more than a comparison of their lives and doctrines. It is the recognition that each one calls us to a life both difficult and pure, together with the nagging suspicion that it may not be the same life. Quod vitae sectabor iter? - what path shall I follow in life? - is surely the question that one would expect to dominate any comparative treatment of these two figures.
Throughout his endeavors Socrates found his virtue. ... "But Socrates, what is your occupation? ... Yet Socrates says he is not. ... In this respect, Socrates was wiser than any man. ... This is why Socrates did not cease his philosophy. ...
Although Socrates, Jesus, and Galileo later became great minds and spirits to millions of people, back when they lived they were widely misunderstood. ... Socrates was an Athenian philosopher and a teacher. ... Socrates had completely different views of the world than anyone ever had mentioned. ... Alike, was Jesus" approach to the roman life. Jesus believed in the goodness of people and their salvation from evil. ...
Socrates was born in 470 B.C. There is no record of Socrates work. ... Why did Socrates accept his fate? ... Plato's Aploogy has in fact made Socrates the chief martyr of reason as the gospels have made Jesus the chief martyr of faith." Socrates, to me, is an interesting person. ...
In The Apology and The Symposium we are introduced to a character called Socrates. In both of these readings, Socrates expresses prodigious moral ambition, in that he considered it his duty to question supposed "wise" men and to expose their false wisdom as ignorance. ... As for Socrates it lead to his demise. ... In the New Testament, Jesus denounces the Scribes for not being holy and just individuals but rather as pretenders to the throne who will receive a severe condemnation. ...
Found guilty and sentenced to death, Socrates is isolated to prison. ... In this, Socrates reconciles the imperative; to face his unjustly decreed execution, despite Socrates" previous insistence of his innocence. ... With that of the story, told by the bible, of Jesus" death. ... Nonetheless, Crito urges Socrates to consider escaping the quandary in which Socrates currently finds himself. ... There were no new rules added to single Socrates out. ...
Jesus, the model of all Christianity, was in fact a philosopher. We, as Christians, try to live out, to the best of our ability, what Jesus preached. Treating our neighbor, as we would want to be treated is an example of a form of conduct that Jesus preached. ... The first and greatest philosopher of all time, Socrates, didn't answer every question that was posed to him. ... Is Socrates alive today, He most certainly is. ...
Even if someone does you wrong and becomes your enemy, Jesus still tells us to love them. ... Socrates believed that no one knowingly does wrong. ... Nevertheless, his point and beliefs seem truer than Socrates because his thoughts weren't realistic (at least to me). ...
Beginning with Socrates and ending with Dostoevsky, our study of literature regarding human nature this quarter was quite extensive. ... First we covered Socrates by reading The Apology. This piece of literature was not actually written by Socrates, but it is all his content; it is actually a transcript of the trial of Socrates, written by Plato, who was his most prominent student. ... Once they started thinking, Socrates reasoned that the innate goodness in them would take over and lead them down the right road. ... This is why the Grand Inquisitor seems to hate Jesus so much; Jesus enco...
Capital punishment is a method of retributive punishment as old as civilization itself. Socrates and Jesus were perhaps the most famous people ever condemned for a capital crime in the old period. We do have death penalty here in the Faroe Islands, but only in military criminal cases. It is mostl...
