Ask HN: What do Stoics think of Ecclesiastes?

6 points·AnimalMuppet··3 comments

It's not a Stoic book - it's theistic, for one thing. And yet, it seems to me to have some of the same ideas as Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. Not perfectly parallel, but the same big idea, that all this stuff we get wrapped up in is empty.

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Don’t forget that ancient stoics most definitely had a concept of gods and the divine, even if modern stoics do not.

I don’t feel like stoic concepts and theism have to operate independently. I’d imagine that stoicism lines up rather well a deistic view, though I am far from an expert on either.

> I don’t feel like stoic concepts and theism have to operate independently. I’d imagine that stoicism lines up rather well a deistic view, though I am far from an expert on either.

Same.

You might be interested in this podcast about stoicism and the New Testament: https://notrelated.libsyn.com/stoicism-and-christianity-trus...

> What is "Logos" anyway? The explanation to some Bible passages rests in their original philosophical context in a Pagan world home to Stoicism, Hermeticism, Platonism, Gnosticism and more. In this episode of Not Related! (https://notrelated.xyz) we look at the Stoic background to the Gospel and epistles of John and the meaning of Christ as the Stoic ideal and the incarnation of the "Logos."

Fascinating comparison. Nothing now - but will have to mull it.

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