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I agree with your assessment that people are missing out when they don't consider the Neoplatonic influence on Christianity, especially when stating it this way

I agree with your assessment that people are missing out when they don't consider the Neoplatonic influence on Christianity, especially when stating it this way is the only way of getting people to look at it from a different perspective. "Eastern Christian philosophy," or simply "Eastern Theology" really came into its own, and while it is absolutely valid to study Church writers in contrast and relationship to Neoplatonic philosophy, they developed their own tradition. Thus, parsing the logos tradition as if Origen, the Cappadocians, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, etc., were "philosophers" in their own right is actually quite a fruitful endeavor.

dr_dshiv 7y ago
Yes! I came into all this from Pythagoreanism, which had such an impact on Plato. It was a scientific religion, essentially, with no fixed doctrine. And it played a huge role in Neoplatonism, early Christianity and the renaissance. Pythagoras, the same guy we all learn about in middle school! You might like shwep.net I am a subscriber. He is a really good historian -- and interviews even better ones. Also the book "Western Esoterism: a guide for the Perplexed". Because this whole Oneness concept is right at the thumping heart of "the esoteric". There are real mysteries there, like you wouldn't believe. And, humanistic magic, I'm telling you!