Welsh Journals

PLATO AND CHRISTIANITY* THESE lectures were delivered at Oxford during the Extension Summer Meeting of August, 1915 and are part of Mr. Temple's great-indeed, quite inestimable-rontribution to the work of the Association of which he is President But this little book will have an interest far beyond the limits of that movement. It is an excellent illustration of the writer's remarkable-almost unique-power of putting an immense amount of accurate knowledge, clearly and vividly expressed, into an extraordinarily short compass and will be of great value to many to whom the honourable title of Workers would not commonly be given. The first of the three lectures gives a complete and well informed survey of the leading conceptions of Plato's philosophy, with references to almost all his dialogues. It will be a great help, not only to those who are beginning their Platonic studies, but perhaps even more to those who have made some progress with them, and who feel the need of a con- nected view of the whole. Mr. Temple shows a thorough appreciation of recent investigations on the subject and he is not unduly influenced by novel theories that are not yet sufficiently established. It would be difficult to point to any other statement of Plato's philosophy which succeeds so well in bringing together all that is really fundamental in it and in emphasising its personal value, not merely as a step forward in the development of thought, but as containing an anticipation of much that has had to be rediscovered in recent times. There has, of course, been a great advance in philosophical thought since the time when Plato wrote; but one constantly returns to his work with the renewed sense of his supremacy-the supremacy that genius has over the capacity for taking pains. This is well indicated and illustrated by Mr. Temple. The second lecture, which deals in a more detailed way with the ethical and political aspects of Plato's philosophy, is perhaps an even more striking tour de jorce, since it gives within a few pages an almost complete account of Plato's Republic, not in the form of a mere abstract, but showing clearly the relations between the various parts of the argument, with interesting and often illuminating comments. It may not be readily intelligible to those who are not already familiar with this part of Plato s work but to those who have read the Republic it will serve as an admirable reminder, and will almost certainly .Plato and Christianity. Three lectures. By the Rev. William Temple, MA. President of the Workers' Educational Association, etc. London. MacMillan & Co. 1916. reveal much that they have not discovered for themselves. The third lecture is concerned with the influence of Platonic conceptions in the development of Christianity. It appears to me to be the least successful of the three. Here the reader may at last feel-what he may well wonder that he did not feel in the other two as well-that the limitation of the course has produced an inevitable sketchiness. Yet this lecture also contains much interesting material. Perhaps the most striking part is that in which Mr. Temple points out that the whole mediaeval organisation of society, under the influence of the Catholic Church, might be regarded as a realisation of Plato's Ideal State-though of course in a very different form from that which Plato had in mind. With more space, he might have proceeded to show to what a large extent the subsequent devel- opment of European civilisation serves to illustrate Plato's anticipation of the way in which his State might be expected to decay and to give rise to other types. There is probably no one better qualified than Mi. Temple to deal with this aspect of the subject and it is to be hoped that he will at some time develop it. It is hardly to be expected that so short a treat- ment of a great subject should be free from defects. Perhaps the most serious defect is that it does not quite fulfil the promise of its title. That Chris- tianity—especially Mediaeval Christianity-was largely based on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, is obvious enough; and Mr. Temple brings this out in his usual clear and interesting way but he does not appear to succeed in showing how the Platonic and Aristotelian conceptions are related to those that are specially Christian. The most disappointing part of the book, I think, begins at the close of the second lecture, where Mr. Temple, after his very sympathetic exposition of Plato s ethical conceptions, suddenly turns round and expresses strong dissatisfaction with them, and emphasises the need for something better. That something better was called for, most modern readers would agree; but, from a writer of Mr. Temple s ability, they might expect some clear indication of what the something better is. Instead of this, Mr. Temple takes refuge at this point in somewhat vague and mystical language; and some of the criticisms that he afterwards suggests against Plato are not altogether convincing. He urges that Plato did not recognise the intrinsic excellence of sacrifice, and was too eager to show that the just man has his reward. But surely the reward that Plato proposes