OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
  • Home
  • What's Going On?
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
  • Donate
  • More About Us
    • Location
    • Quaker Links
    • Renting the Meeting House
  • Meeting Life
    • Meeting Business
    • Meeting Directory
    • Miscellaneous Documents
    • Document Archive
    • Worship Sharing
    • The Role of Ministry and Counsel
    • Friends Burial Ground at Rayville
    • Photo Archive
  • Covid Policy
  • OCMM Visibility Strategy Survey
  • Blog
  • Sanctuary Documents
  • OPJ Documents
  • Solitary Housing Unit
  • Memorial Minutes

Jesus and Epictetus

1/7/2022

6 Comments

 
Everyone knows who Jesus was, but many people have never heard of Epictetus, a Stoic philosopher who lived about 50-135 CE. Christianity took over a lot of Stoic ideas; but, in their totality, the two systems of thought are quite different. The Stoics believed that God was immanent in the universe as a corporeal Logos, Divine Reason materially co-existing with ordinary matter. Alexander Pope (approximately) expresses the idea in this couplet:

                   All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
                   Whose body Nature is, and God the soul.

Christianity, of course, sees God as transcendent, existing apart from the creation. Also, Christians want to achieve union with God, mediated by the action of Love. For Stoics, on the other hand, Virtue is the supreme goal and is to be achieved by the exercise of that Reason implanted in us by God. Nevertheless, it is here, in the domain of ethics, that Jesus and Epictetus hold similar concepts.    

For example, Epictetus told his students, “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Jesus expressed a similar sentiment when he said, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life…. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” For Epictetus, Virtue and happiness are attained by concentrating on what we can—in fact—do something about. For Jesus, human beings should “seek first” God’s Kingdom and his righteousness, putting aside useless worries about the future.

Epictetus also joked to someone who had insulted him, “You do not know my other faults, or you would not have mentioned only these.” In other words, Epictetus responded to criticism with gentle irony. Jesus did the same thing when the Pharisees criticized him for eating with tax collectors and sinners. He remarked, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The pharisees no doubt assumed that Jesus was sincere about calling them righteous. We know he wasn’t. By his table companionship with sinners, Jesus was modeling the wise man’s version of righteousness. Or, as Epictetus said, “Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

So, Jesus and Epictetus were kindred spirits. He who follows Epictetus’ advice will not have much trouble following Jesus. Yes, these two men are on different paths—but perhaps those paths lead to the same goal. Perhaps Virtue is The Kingdom of God.

~ Richard Russell
6 Comments
Bob Elmendorf
1/13/2022 01:25:56 pm

I enjoyed this, learned a lot. I first heard the Epictetus quote from Bill about faults.

Reply
Richard Russell
1/13/2022 06:05:07 pm

Hi, Bob.

I also first heard the quote from Bill Thompson.

Reply
Dr. Joseph Olejak
1/14/2022 06:13:20 am

Logos is a term in Western philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, and religion derived from a Greek word variously meaning "ground", "plea", "opinion", "expectation", "word", "speech", "account", "reason", "proportion", and "discourse".

Let us just take "word" -- We worship in silence, but consider the power of word coming out of the silence. And the world was void and without form and then God spoke.

We humans do a lot of talking, but it is mostly sound and fury amounting to nothing. And then there is logos. Word coming out of silence.

I propose there is a great power in that. The power to transform. God gave us the word. We should honor it and use it wisely.

Reply
Richard Russell
1/16/2022 06:33:51 am

Hi, Joseph.

Yes, call it Logos, Inner Light, or God--in meeting we should always (ideally) speak from the Source of our Being.

Thank you.

Reply
Donald Newman Lathrop
1/14/2022 09:22:35 pm

Interesting.
Don

Reply
Richard Russell
1/16/2022 06:36:07 am

Hi, Don.

I'm still curious as to whether you ever taught (or mentioned) Stoicism in your Ethics course.

Richard

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    ​This blog was set up to post content of interest to Old Chatham Quaker members and attenders. Posts related to one's own personal spiritual journey, reports based on interviews with others, and reflections on Quaker-related topics are welcome. Posts by individuals are personal expressions and do not necessarily reflect those of the Meeting as a whole.
    Guidelines for posting on website blog:
    Submit to member of Communications committee; committee has editorial oversight over all content posted on the Meeting website.

    Be respectful of the nature of vocal ministry given in Meeting for Worship or other settings and any private conversations about spiritual matters.

    Cite source of any image or other external content submitted.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • What's Going On?
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
  • Donate
  • More About Us
    • Location
    • Quaker Links
    • Renting the Meeting House
  • Meeting Life
    • Meeting Business
    • Meeting Directory
    • Miscellaneous Documents
    • Document Archive
    • Worship Sharing
    • The Role of Ministry and Counsel
    • Friends Burial Ground at Rayville
    • Photo Archive
  • Covid Policy
  • OCMM Visibility Strategy Survey
  • Blog
  • Sanctuary Documents
  • OPJ Documents
  • Solitary Housing Unit
  • Memorial Minutes