Euthyphro as Praeparatio Evangelica

From the earliest ages of our faith Christians have wrestled with our relationship to our pagan heritage. Some, like Tertullian, have more or less rejected it out of hand—after all, what good is great learning and philosophy when the foundation of our belief is its very “absurdity”? Though this fideism constantly reappears throughout Christian history, it is not the dominant strand of thinking. Going back at least as far as Justin Martyr has been the notion that Christ has been known, obliquely and wrongly in many cases, but known nonetheless, by many pagans. While Christ is the only full expression of the Word and that the Bible is the only infallible revelation of God, God is not wholly contained in either. Because of this and since we all bear God’s image and all of us have access to God’s general revelation, most cultures have insight into the Truth.

As a classical educator, I obviously follow this approach. I wouldn’t be dedicating my life to transmitting the wisdom of long dead pagans if I didn’t think they had something fundamentally worthwhile to teach my students. That being said, I also recognize that while all men bear the image of God, sin has profoundly broken that imagine. Knowing this I don’t naively or foolishly accept everything ancient; I know that for every profound pagan insight there are a dozen errors. No matter its age or reputation, I know I must evaluate every work on the basis of God’s revealed word.

There is good reason for us to take this approach. In preaching to the Athenians Paul quoted pagan poets to elucidate his points. What is more, we can see the fruit of this approach in the conversions of many great Christians. C. S. Lewis converted because he was convinced Christianity embodied and actualized the best of pagan myth. St. Augustine became a Christian after he realized that everything true within the neoplatonists was incomplete and only fulfilled in Christ.

In teaching our students how to discover good and true things in pagan works we can help them identify good and true things in our post-Christian culture. Being able to recognize these things will empower them to better contextualize the Gospel and thereby be more effective witnesses. A great source for this type of training is Plato’s Euthyphro.

For those unfamiliar with this dialogue what follows is a brief summary. In the final stage of his life Socrates talks with a young man, Euthyphro, that is prosecuting his father for murder. Ironically Socrates states that Euthyphro must know everything about piety to do something that on the face of it appears so impious. Euthyphro in pride responds that he in fact is an expert on matters of piety and holiness, at which point Socrates asks Euthyphro to instruct him. Euthyphro confidently attempts to define holiness a number of times. Socrates, through his questions, shows how each definition fails. The dialogue ends with Euthyphro giving up and abruptly fleeing Socrates.

Given that Socrates lacked God’s specific revelation there was no way he could have known specific truths of the Gospel like the fact that God would become man and die in man’s place—human reason is incapable of accessing mysteries such as these. However, using his God-given reason, Socrates could and did discover many errors and deficiencies in the religion of his countrymen, errors and deficiencies that the Gospel would correct and complete.

To begin with, consider the famous “dilemma” that Socrates raises: is the holy approved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is approved (10a)? As Euthyphro shows in his confused and stumbling answers, this is a question that pagan religion cannot answer. If the gods answer to a standard above them, then they are not gods in the fullest and most meaningful sense. But if there is no standard and their power and wills alone determine what is right, human beings are left in a rather precarious position. The gods are in this scenario no different than the worst of tyrants that rule by fiat and justify their crimes by declaring in effect sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas— “I command it. Let my will take the place of reason.” What can a human learn of justice or holiness from such beings as these? Only fear could inspire a man that worshipped these gods. Such a man would cower and propitiate, but never have his heart changed. In pointing out this dilemma Socrates showed the need for a Christian understanding of God.

In God there is no division between essence and existence like there is in human beings. We as people can know truth; God is Truth. We are capable of love; God is Love. We have life; God is Life. Given this, God does not arbitrarily choose what is good nor is there some standard of goodness apart from or above God. Goodness is objective and unchangeable, but it emanates from the character and being of God. In uniting Goodness with the person of God Christians have been able to solve this seemingly insoluble dilemma.

Socrates also points out the need for a concrete, specific revelation from God. When Euthyphro uses the past actions of the gods to justify his behavior Socrates ironically asks, do we not “admit for ourselves that we know nothing about them” (6b)? Elsewhere Socrates repeatedly asks for “proof,” “clear proof” that the gods really approve of Euthyphro’s actions (9a-b). Of course Euthyphro cannot give proof, let alone clear proof. Pagans lacked a specific revelation from the gods—all they had were conflicting, contradictory myths. Since they could not reliably know the will of the gods from their stories, pagans looked to other sources on which to ground morality. The problem was that all these alternative sources fail. Emotions cloud and mislead when people are upset and need clear guidance. Tradition often justifies past oppression. Reason was the best alternative, but given man’s limitations and passions, it too could not and cannot be fully relied upon.

Given that our natural abilities fail to lead us, we need a supernatural communication to guide us in how we ought to live. Euthyphro knew this but lacked it. His want of this revelation points for the need of the Bible.

Finally, Socrates shows us our need for grace. Euthyphro attempts to define the pious and holy as that which is “concerned with looking after the gods” (12e). Socrates points out that looking after something improves it. Given this definition, being holy is something that improves the gods (13c). Given the absurdity of this, Euthyphro instead states that man’s holiness is looking after the gods like a slave looks after his or her master (13d). But any type of service we provide for the gods, Socrates points out, implies a corresponding need, for it would be foolish to provide something that the gods have no need of (14e). After pointing this out Socrates proceeds to berate Euthyphro, “Show me what benefit the gods eventuate from the donations which they receive from us…. [H]ow are they benefited by what they receive from us?” (14e-15a) In other words, Socrates shows that we cannot define man’s holiness by his works!

As Christ and the apostles would make clear centuries later, there is nothing a man can do to be holy; our holiness is a gracious gift of God. Socrates could not have known this, but he does hint at this possibility in one of his ironic questions. “Or do we come off so much better than [the gods] in this trade, that we get all good things from them, while they get none from us” (15a)? In essence, a Christian can respond to this with a hearty YES! That is how grace works! We get all the benefits even though our righteous works are like filthy rags before God. Socrates could show the need for grace, but it is only in the fullness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ that His grace was actualized and our need was met.

Still, the question could be asked, what value does this have in a Christian classroom? After all, our students have God’s full revelation and thereby no longer need the incomplete, half-blind gropings for truth of the pagans...right? In a word, no.

First off, there are a number of students raised in Christian homes that become inured to the Gospel. Showing them Gospel truths in other sources is a great way to reinvigorate their faith and give them confidence that what they believe is in fact true.

Second, these sources can be used to correct misunderstandings of faith. Every good Protestant child knows they are saved by grace through faith. And yet I don’t know how many times I have talked to a student that has told me the reason why they shouldn’t sin is because it hurts God (e.g. it makes baby Jesus cry). When I push them on this, I find that they believe that God’s commands were given for His sake, not ours. Euthyphro is a great source to by which we may probe these false understandings. “If God gave commands for His sake, how does our obedience benefit Him? If not for His sake then for whose, etc.?”

Finally, our students need to be trained to view things that our culture believes as Praeparatio Evangelica, as things that prepare the way for the Gospel. To give just one example, consider the premium that most modern Americans, especially young ones, put on tolerance and diversity. These are good things, but have been largely misunderstood. This gives us an opportunity to spread the Gospel. We can say that we as Christians really value these things. Our society does as well, but in practice our society is divided like never before. Then we can go on to show that historically, people have always been divided by race, class, etc. and it has only been in recognizing the fatherhood of God that we have achieved the brotherhood of mankind. People that want diversity want a good thing, but destroying all absolute moral standards except tolerance will not get them there! One need only open a newspaper at random to see how this approach is daily failing. That’s the bad news. The good news is we Christians have the solution! We have that which people are blindly searching for. Simply declaring that Jesus died and rose isn’t going to open too many doors to evangelize; showing how the things that people are rightly seeking after can only be found in God will open doors. Instructing students on how to do this by using old texts is one of the best ways we can prepare our students to be effective witnesses in the world.