Theology of Andrew: Stoicism and Calvinism

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Stoicism and Calvinism

So I know basically every post is about Calvinism which will annoy the hell out of some people (if you can call arminians 'people' j/k). But I was reading about Stoicism and how they believe that logos or this unknown god holds everything together and that we are all part of a universal city. Their basic beliefs are kind of like Taoists which say that you have to live in submission to the will of God. This sounds a bit like Calvinism's acceptance of the ultimate divine will of God which is unchangeable. The Stoic's conception of the universe sounds alot like Calvinism's / Paul in Acts 17 's position. That in Him we live and move and have our being and that in Christ all is held together. I guess it would make sense to find lots of platonism and stoicism in Christianity but it always surprises me a bit when I see these fundamentals repeated. Which leads me to question, can you be a Christian Stoic? Controlling simply your reactions to a situation rather than trying to control the situation? I don't think you could accept Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Wisdom as your Cardinal virtues... maybe Faith, Hope, and Love? this is my pondering for today...

1 comment:

Michael W.February 28, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Well I just read the somewhat brief summary of stoicism on wikipedia (an invaluable resource). It seems like some of the ideas and thoughts very much pertain to Calvinism and Christianity. When you get into the ethics and virtues of it however, the world views don't really line up. So I guess in theory they could go together, but not so much in practice.

Also, it contradicts some of the ideas of the quantum physics going around in Christianity, which I am not going to explain because it makes my head explode, and I barely understand it.
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Quotes For Thought

"If baptism is the beginning of my life, and the day of regeneration is the first of days, it is obvious that the words spoken when I received the grace of adoption are more honorable than any spoken since....Through this confession I was made a child of God, I, who was His enemy for so long because of my sins. May I pass from this life to the Lord with this confession on my lips." - St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, par. 26.

"To know Jesus and Jesus crucified is the sum total of my philosophy." - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"Oh the extraordinary goodness of God toward man? The just of the Old Testament thank God in the weariness of long years; but that which they obtained, by means of a long and heroic service pleasing to God, Jesus gives to you in the brief time span of an hour. Indeed, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the lord, and that God had raised him from the dead, you will be saved and you will be introduced into heaven by the same one who introduced the good thief." - St. Cyril of Jerusalem

"He made us to believe in Christ, who made for us a Christ on whom we believe. He makes in men the beginning and the completion of the faith in Jesus who made the man Jesus the beginner and finisher of faith" - St. Augustine

"Nor must we trust in holiness of origin, in forefathers, or in
the gifts of God which we enjoy. We must look to the Word alone and judge thereby. Those alone who truly embrace the Word will be as immovable forever as Mount Zion. They may be few in number and thoroughly despised by the world, as were Noah and his children. But God, through these few, preserved to man the truth of that promised mastery when he had not even room to set his foot upon the earth." - Bl. Martin Luther "Commentary on Genesis"