Two Souls and a Body: What Every Educated Person Knew to be True and How the Educated Christian Developed Christianity in Hellenistic Times, Creating the Ideas of Free Will and Modern Psychology

<p>Second Edition:  Added a bit on the Pythagorean tetractys, a geometric proof of God and Creation. Also some comments on Maximus the Confessor, who made Neo-Platonism Christian with a formula that Christ as Logos and Creator gave us Being, Christ with the Holy Spirit and His resurrection gives us Eternal Being, and it is up to us to accept Christ's sacrifice and grace to pursue virtue to have Well Being. He also established for both Catholics and Orthodox that we can know God through observation and natural law as taught in Ecclesiastes, pursue wisdom and virtue as found in Proverbs, and experience Christ's love as found in Song of Songs or Song of Solomon. Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 knowledge and virtue are nothing without love or as Protestants say a personal relationship with God and Christ. The scifi book Forever, a trilogy in one volume looks at every nuance of Two Souls following the themes of Dostoevsky's novel and short stories, 893pp.. The short novel Witches Tales will be out soon looking at major themes of Two Soul with the help of Dostoevsky's Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man.
Why do Christians believe what they believe? The early Christians contested their theology for 300 hundred years in Greek and Roman Hellenistic culture. Not surprisingly, the educated Christian, priest, and bishop developed his theology based on what everyone knew to be true: the Hellenistic science and philosophy that was taught at school and university. We now know what was taught and where the Christian theologian started his quest to understand Jesus and the Bible.</p><p><br /> You will find out what every educated person knew to be true when the New Testament was written and Christianity was defined. You will discover what was accepted from Hellenistic culture, what was changed, and what was rejected to develop Christian theology. You will learn how the ideas of the person, equality, free-will, psychology, and salvation were taken from the Hellenism and made into Christian theology. You will know how to lead the truly Christian life according to the Early Church.</p><p><br /> On the cover John Chrysostom, doctor of the Catholic Church and chief theologian of the Orthodox Church looks back to Plato and Aristotle. Christ came in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4) when the best of Greek thought and Christian revelation were joined just as Christ Jesus united God and man.<br /> When I retired from state mental health, I wanted my 1970s doctoral work at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley done before computers to survive. I did not complete the work and was awarded a MA. I was one of 1960s Jesus People, a Navigator attracted to the Early Church and Russian Orthodoxy. I lived in rural areas, so attended the Episcopal Church, worked on the Church Army and with the Salvation Army. I now attend a charismatic church and a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I have 4 kids and 8 grandkids. Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 31-32)<br /> </p>

When I retired from state mental health, I wanted my 1970s doctoralwork at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley done before computers tosurvive. I did not complete the work and was awarded a MA. I was one of 1960sJesus People, a Navigator attracted to the Early Church and Russian Orthodoxy.I lived in rural areas, so attended the Episcopal Church, worked on the Church Armyand with the Salvation Army. I now attend a charismatic church and a MissouriSynod Lutheran Church. I have 4 kids and 8 grandkids. Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really mydisciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John8: 31-32)