The Reasons Why Seneca Was Our Seneca

Seneca being the wise man that he was considered different views on topics, when gathering his own such as the styles of the Stoic and Epicureans, he was able to fuse the two together to create his own. In doing so Seneca attracted the attention of early Christian theologians who were fascinated by his philosophy. In this essay a comparison will be presented of Seneca and St. Augustine’s views on three specific topics friendship, social class, and death. Analyzing the differences and similarities in the two philosophies should help the reader better understand why early Christians may have found Seneca’s views rather intriguing and also why it seemed to align with Christianity’s perspective on ideas of friendship, social class and death. The two primary texts used to provide the information are Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, and Confessions by St. Augustine. Seneca being a philosopher during the late Roman Empire and St. Augustine being the church father who developed doctrine of the church, one would think they would have differing opinions but that is not always the case. The text will show that most of the time they build upon each other’s ideas.

While early Christians might have had differing opinions on friendship, that could have been result of Seneca and St. Augustine’s difference in views on the topic. Seneca, himself had thought of being in commune with others as an important topic as it is prominent in Letters from a Stoic but should be enjoyed in moderation according to the text. Seneca talks about moderation in the sense less is more as far as friends go “Associating with people in large numbers is actually harmful: there is not one of them that will not make some vice or other attractive to us, or leave us carrying t...

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...ll, some accepted it earlier than others.

The comparison between the views of Seneca and St. Augustine on the topics of friendship, social class, and death provided an analyst that better proved why early Christians found his philosophy attractive. While they did not disagree or necessarily agree, the text indicates that they contributed to each other’s views, ultimately leading to the enticement of early Christian theologians. As shown above the views of Seneca such as choosing friends wisely, practicing humility for lower-class citizens, and accepting death were before his time. He was a philosopher but he demonstrated faith, which early Christians could and did get behind. Both of them in Letters to a Stoic and Confessions were writing to the reader to help share their experiences that helped better their lives, resulting bettering many early Christian’s lives.