Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind
Max J. Lee examines the moral transformation systems of the three major philosophies of mind which dominated the intellectual milieu of the Apostle Paul and his Diaspora Jewish contemporaries during the early imperial period of Rome. In his study of Middle Platonism, he analyzes the works of Plato, Plutarch, Alcinous, and Galen; for Stoicism, Zeno, Chrysippus, Musonius Rufus, Seneca, and Epictetus; and for Epicureanism, Epicurus, Philodemus, Lucretius, and Diogenes of Oenoanda. The author then studies how Diaspora Jewish moralists like the author of 4 Maccabees and Philo assimilated, adapted, and acculturated philosophical tenets to articulate their own understanding of moral progress.