The God of the Prophets and the Philosophers

What does it mean to be a Prophet? Who is a Prophet today? Some time ago when I was finishing my Masters in Philosophy it dawned on me that while I had studied tidbits of Theology I hadn't quite understood what a Prophet was. I also didn't quite understand what a Prophet did. Many today would ask the same question directed towards Philosophers. What is a Philosopher? What does a Philosopher do? My belief is that a Philosopher, truly living his calling is a Prophet and a Prophet is also a Philosopher. 

Joseph Ratzinger wrote in his seminal treatise Introduction to Christianity about "The God of Philosophers". He claims, the Christian God is the God of the Philosophers who is the God of the the Old and New Testaments. If this is the case then the God of the Prophets of Old is the God of Philosophers.

Let's go to the source closest to us. Today we call everyone a Philosopher that has a particular thought product, a way of thinking or a belief. "Eat, Pray, Love" could be considered a Philosophy. This is and was never true in Ancient times. The Philosophers of old would wear the toga candida or the white robe which would announce to the passerby that they were Philosophers, either masters who taught pupils or pupils who followed their masters around. There is no doubt that those same philosophers were orators and sometimes proffered their services to speak for various occasions. Those orators who would twist the Truth as opposed serving it were called "Sophists". Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius were trained as Philosophers who as capable men went on to be mathematicians, physicists, botanists, attorneys, legislators, orators, and Emperor.

The early Christians would also brandish their own version of the toga candida wearing the white robes of the neophyte (newly brought into the Light). That symbol announced to the world their Faith. Why wasn't the Christian Religion one more Religion among the Roman gods? Because the followers of "The Way" (cf. Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22) considered themselves followers of a not an earthly Master but one of Heaven, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, Priest, Prophet, and King, source and summit of the Christian Life was alive to each of them. They saw Him in their neighbor, often not even Christian as well as in the physical beauty of the universe. They philosophized about this fact that some how their Master would make himself available in word and deed through the elements of the universe that He himself created. They believed that their job would be to proclaim that on the roof-tops. 

One of the earliest recorded Philosophers to be recognized as such was Socrates. Born some 400 hundred years before Christ yet one who embodied the Life of Christ in his witness to the Truth. Socrates was considered a misfit and misleading the youth of Athens. He for sure embodied what every group of imperfect young people look for, authentic truth, thought, spoken, and lived. Paradoxically he was accused of leading the youth in Atheism (arguing agains my the state cult of his time) and was put to death for this crime. This points to the fact that each generation craves and continues to seek the "Word made Flesh", the "real McCoy" for lack of better words in their life time. The Christians discovered in Christ that "Word made Flesh" and also discovered that unlike any other human master would would live and die a mortal death His Word would continue on through the ages. 

The Prophets of the Old Testament were human presages of this Event, the coming of Jesus Christ. They foretold His coming and even his martyrdom for the Truth. Did they explain all things? No. That would be impossible just as the human condition in all its goodness and bleakness is. Nothing is open completely to the human eye as the human eye is always part closed. We cannot expect to see the whole of Truth, we can only hope to glimpse it and be grateful for it. 

Jesus Christ, was and is the "Master" of which Mary Magadlene speaks in the Garden after the Resurrection in John 20:16 "Rabbuni" or "Rabbi". He is also the Prophet who stood at the Temple (cf. Lk 2:41-52) teaching as well as from the Mount of the Beatitudes (cf Mt 5). Where He sat and opened His Mouth (cf. Mt 5:2, Mk 2:13-2:17) was his Throne and what He spoke was Truth. This is the Christian Mystery that each Christian is called to philosophize or better put "contemplate" over the course of their lives. To ruminate over those words spoken during His Life and through the mouths of His followers over the ages. The Christian's task does not end there. It continues in being also a "Master" of the Christian Life so as to share this gift with others. It is a way of life that is shared overtly and lived covertly. This proclamation of the Gospel is the prophetic nature of each Christian. 

The topic "The God of Prophets and Philosophers" could have taken a route completely different from the one discussed above. Abraham, Moses, Daniel, David, among other Old Testament figures could have been discussed in conjunction with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger. There is an opportunity for that discussion but I believe the one above is the one forgotten. Too often the debate is whether or not the Faith matters to the rational person. Not only does it matter to the rational person the faith-filled person has a calling to live their Faith to a degree of holiness that is too often forgotten.