One could not tell by the onslaught of published books that the Preacher of Ecclesiastes dictum still holds true. There is nothing new under the sun.
So why rinse and repeat teaching Plato’s, Symposium?
Not me, of course.
That would be Gilmour.
Still Current, Not Nerdy
The first time Eric, Nathan and I invited Jason to a conversation on one of Plato’s works he responded that it was too nerdy. This time he was on vacation. There is a pattern here. In spite of missing the Tamed Cynic among us, we plodded on.
Today, human beings grapple with desire, with love. So did the Greeks. Then the Romans. The Symposium contains five encomiums, extemporaneous speeches in praise of love, of desire. Socrates follows with something of an amalgamation. Likely you and I could easily trace current ideas on love and desire in these verbal sparrings.
Some wonder if the Apostle Paul had read Plato. I don’t know. I have suspicions after this conversation that he did.
If so, it adds to the context of the times in which Paul applied the revolutionary Good News of Jesus.
Paul: Revolutionary
During our conversation Nathan trotted out this assertion, Paul was not a conservative, he was a revolutionary. We could modify that by suggesting Paul undercuts conservative and liberal. He was neither. He was revolutionary.
The import of this statement cannot be overstated. Too often Paul, and of course Jesus, are invoked to add weight to a person’s ideological convictions. One must beware that Paul, and most certainly Jesus, subverts our prized views of the world.
Husbands love your wives. Revolutionary, not conservative.
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