Anonymous wrote:Mary

In the sense that there would be no Jesus without Mary, but you could say the same for any mother.

Mary

I like Paul and all, but I'm surprised people are going to him rather than Peter.
Peter was Jesus' right hand man, and the "rock" (like his name, Peter) of the original Church.
Now I have the Sunday school song "Peter build the Church on the rock of our faith!" going through my head...

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Anonymous wrote:I'd say Moses. The 10 commandments are perhaps the most important aspect of Christianity.

I find the New Testament spiritual and corporal works of Mercy more applicable to my daily life and practice of Christianity. I am seldom presented with tempting opportunities to worship other gods, steal, kill, or commit adultery. However, as I move about the DMV, I am often confronted by people who are in need and could use some mercy. I'm not a good Christian role model to my DC because I don't sacrifice to Baal, but I hope that I am modeling how to live as a follower of Christ when I donate clothing and diapers to the crisis pregnancy center or visit a shut-in neighbor.

Many non-Christians do that sort of thing, too, without Christ as a model or inspiration.

Martin Luther

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Moses. The 10 commandments are perhaps the most important aspect of Christianity.

I find the New Testament spiritual and corporal works of Mercy more applicable to my daily life and practice of Christianity. I am seldom presented with tempting opportunities to worship other gods, steal, kill, or commit adultery. However, as I move about the DMV, I am often confronted by people who are in need and could use some mercy. I'm not a good Christian role model to my DC because I don't sacrifice to Baal, but I hope that I am modeling how to live as a follower of Christ when I donate clothing and diapers to the crisis pregnancy center or visit a shut-in neighbor.

Many non-Christians do that sort of thing, too, without Christ as a model or inspiration.

Good for them. However, non-Christians doing it, too does not make it less something Christ would have done.

It simply puts Christ on a par with any good decent non-Christian

Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. That's a lot more than a typical good decent non-Christian.

Let's not even get into rising again on the third day in fulfillment of the scriptures!

rising from the dead is not exactly a good deed.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Moses. The 10 commandments are perhaps the most important aspect of Christianity.

I find the New Testament spiritual and corporal works of Mercy more applicable to my daily life and practice of Christianity. I am seldom presented with tempting opportunities to worship other gods, steal, kill, or commit adultery. However, as I move about the DMV, I am often confronted by people who are in need and could use some mercy. I'm not a good Christian role model to my DC because I don't sacrifice to Baal, but I hope that I am modeling how to live as a follower of Christ when I donate clothing and diapers to the crisis pregnancy center or visit a shut-in neighbor.

Many non-Christians do that sort of thing, too, without Christ as a model or inspiration.

Good for them. However, non-Christians doing it, too does not make it less something Christ would have done.

It simply puts Christ on a par with any good decent non-Christian

Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. That's a lot more than a typical good decent non-Christian.

Let's not even get into rising again on the third day in fulfillment of the scriptures!

Paul - hands, down.

Martin Luther. Not Jr.

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Anonymous wrote:Among non-Christians, a runner-up would be Plotinus and Neoplatonism. When Nietzsche said "Christianity is Platonism for the masses," he kind of has a point (no offense meant!!).

Nietzsche is dead.

I do see Plotinus's concept of hierarchical progression of spheres of awareness as a way to conceptualize the relationships we catholics have to saints and the idea of intercession, but I was following a different intellectual thread from pre-socratics when I read [about] Plotinus.* Do you have any good book recommendations on Plotinus and neo-platonic influence on Christianity?

*apparently Plotinus' writing is famously impenetrable. I tried a couple of translations of the Enneads and found them impossible to make progress with.

PP good on you for attempting something like the Enneads. I haven't tried, but was taken by your efforts and found this book on Plotinus, which is just under 150 pages.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226311945/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687562&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0977735214&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10MTT4ABJHTKZVTYSTPB

There is also a book on Amazon called "Return to the One," much longer and perhaps a bit New Agey, that gets plaudits from reviewers for explaining Plotinus in clear language.

I also found an article in the American Journal of Theology from 1900 by a British theologian and Anglican priest, William Inge. It is entitled "The Permanent Influence of NeoPlatonism on Christianity," which seems very responsive to what you are looking for. Given the topic, I don't think the age of the article matters much and from my quick skimming it looks pretty readable.

NeoPlatonism seems to have been of particular interest to Inge--if you go to the Wikipedia entry you will find links to other works. It seems he was a eugenecist (yikes!) but I wouldn't let that hold me back from reading his works on NeoPlatonism.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3153114?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Among non-Christians, a runner-up would be Plotinus and Neoplatonism. When Nietzsche said "Christianity is Platonism for the masses," he kind of has a point (no offense meant!!).

Nietzsche is dead.

I do see Plotinus's concept of hierarchical progression of spheres of awareness as a way to conceptualize the relationships we catholics have to saints and the idea of intercession, but I was following a different intellectual thread from pre-socratics when I read [about] Plotinus.* Do you have any good book recommendations on Plotinus and neo-platonic influence on Christianity?

*apparently Plotinus' writing is famously impenetrable. I tried a couple of translations of the Enneads and found them impossible to make progress with.

Anonymous wrote:Among non-Christians, a runner-up would be Plotinus and Neoplatonism. When Nietzsche said "Christianity is Platonism for the masses," he kind of has a point (no offense meant!!).

Nietzsche is dead.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Moses. The 10 commandments are perhaps the most important aspect of Christianity.

I find the New Testament spiritual and corporal works of Mercy more applicable to my daily life and practice of Christianity. I am seldom presented with tempting opportunities to worship other gods, steal, kill, or commit adultery. However, as I move about the DMV, I am often confronted by people who are in need and could use some mercy. I'm not a good Christian role model to my DC because I don't sacrifice to Baal, but I hope that I am modeling how to live as a follower of Christ when I donate clothing and diapers to the crisis pregnancy center or visit a shut-in neighbor.

Many non-Christians do that sort of thing, too, without Christ as a model or inspiration.

Good for them. However, non-Christians doing it, too does not make it less something Christ would have done.

It simply puts Christ on a par with any good decent non-Christian

And???

I'm not getting your point. Given that Jesus was a Jew, I'd say that HE was a good decent non-Christian.

Indeed he was - but he was the jew who established "Christian values"

Bobby Jindal.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Moses. The 10 commandments are perhaps the most important aspect of Christianity.

I find the New Testament spiritual and corporal works of Mercy more applicable to my daily life and practice of Christianity. I am seldom presented with tempting opportunities to worship other gods, steal, kill, or commit adultery. However, as I move about the DMV, I am often confronted by people who are in need and could use some mercy. I'm not a good Christian role model to my DC because I don't sacrifice to Baal, but I hope that I am modeling how to live as a follower of Christ when I donate clothing and diapers to the crisis pregnancy center or visit a shut-in neighbor.

Many non-Christians do that sort of thing, too, without Christ as a model or inspiration.

Good for them. However, non-Christians doing it, too does not make it less something Christ would have done.

It simply puts Christ on a par with any good decent non-Christian

And???

I'm not getting your point. Given that Jesus was a Jew, I'd say that HE was a good decent non-Christian.