Comparison of the Religious and Intellectual Revolutions

Example #1

The stories of David and Socrates give us a view of their lives, but they also give clues about the people who lived with them. Both men lived in an age of revolution, not those won by steel or sword, but the kind that change the world and continue on, even to today.

David and Socrates were both men in positions of authority who held influence over their followers. Both believed in virtue and justice, in fact those were the major points Socrates preached to his students Even when they made mistakes, they were still examples for the people. When David was confronted with his punishments from God, he asked for forgiveness, acknowledging that he had done wrong. Socrates denied doing anything wrong, unless teaching that "from virtue came money and every other good of man" was a crime., but he still accepted his fate as the will of Athens. Both men accepted their punishments gracefully.

Despite these similarities David and Socrates did have their differences. David was a man of faith, whereas Socrates was a man of knowledge. David would never dream of questioning if there was a God, even though he disobeyed. Socrates, on the other hand, questioned everything.

As stated above, both believed in virtue, but David believed that virtue came from faith in God, while Socrates believed that knowledge was the only way to obtain a virtuous soul. It could be argued though that Socrates' belief is faith in knowledge instead of God.

Their stories give us a look at the revolutions going on in Jerusalem and Athens. We can see that both brought new ideas to the surrounding areas, and people disliked them for that. The people who lived near the Hebrews didn't like them because they only believed in one God, and they were not able to understand that, nor the customs of the Hebrews. Sparta disliked Athens because they saw the Athenians as weak. While the Spartans pursued military prowess, the Athenians looked down on them as being less than those of Athens, and this created hostility between the two polises.

The difference between these two revolutions is the same as the differences between David and Socrates. The Hebrew revolution was one of faith. The people were strong and united in their belief in the one God, while the Athenians were also united in their pursuit of knowledge. It is the fact that they sought knowledge instead of faith that made these two revolutions so drastically different.

Although the Hebrew's religious revolution and the Athenian intellectual revolution happened at different times and in different parts of the world, they both had a dynamic effect on Western culture. Their influences and contributions to society can still be seen and felt in many modern Western countries.

Example #2

The Hebrews re-thought their ideas of God. They now saw him as a loving God, not a god to be feared. In the story of David, God spares David after all of his sins that he commits. Although God does punish David, God does not kill him in the end.

The Greeks also re-thought some of their widely believed ideas. But then it was their ideas of philosophy and history. Socrates, like David, was a powerful, well-known man. Socrates was the first to question what truth was. He, like David, was punished for his "wrongdoings" which were corrupting the youth and creating false gods. But unlike David, he was not spared in the end. He was forced to drink poison. The biggest difference that I see between David and Socrates is that what David was doing was wrong and he knew it. Socrates' actions were not against the law, and Socrates knew this also.

A difference between the religious revolution and the intellectual revolution was that these new ideas in the religious revolution were generally accepted. People did not have major objections to the ideas. In the intellectual revolution, the ideas were not accepted right away. This is shown by how Socrates was killed, and on the reverse, David was not.

A similarity between the two revolutions was how they were both exemplified by two well-known men. The revolutions' ideas were spread around countries by the stories of these two men.

Example #3

King David and Socrates are exemplary of two cultural revolutions. David is the favorite of the loving God of the Hebrews, the instrument of God's favor to the chosen people. Though love of God and faith to the covenant and laws, he won great battles and led his people to peace and prosperity. Like David, Socrates was the model of high ideals. These were the ideals of the intellectual revolution, namely the conviction that the true and the good could be discovered through rational inquiry. Socrates taught that clear, systematic thought would allow people to improve their minds and souls, allowing them to know prosperity and happiness. Both the Hebrews and the Greeks believed that humanity could be better, though they did not agree how this would be achieved.

Both David and Socrates face a trial in which they, and the ideals of their societies were put to the test. In David's case, God judged and punished David on account of his sins against the law and covenant. In the end, God showed mercy, demonstrating once again that the Hebrew God was a loving God, and that God wished to teach and improve the people through the example of David. The story of David, in short, affirmed the essential ideals of the religious revolution.

Socrates was judged and punished by the polis because many in the polis felt threatened by his teachings. The polis did not show mercy, because it is not their essential quality to show mercy. For his part, Socrates does not ask for mercy, but rather to be truly understood. For one last time, he attempts to explain to Athenians his ideals, and why they are really good for humanity. He tells them he believes in the improvement of the mind and soul, and that this will lead to justice, prosperity and happiness. Unfortunately for Socrates, justice is not done, and he is condemned to death. Socrates, however, does not declare the verdict invalid. On the contrary, he affirms his commitment to reason and virtue by demonstrating his commitment to the polis and its laws. He does not attempt to flee or avoid his sentence.

In both stories, it is clear that the highest ideals have not been achieved. David's sin shows that the Hebrews did not yet fully love and obey the loving God. Socrates' trial showed that the people were not really committed to the search for knowledge and wisdom. On the other hand, the stories suggest there is still hope that these ideals can be achieved. In fact, both stories were recorded in order to inspire future generations to admire the hero of the story--God in David's story and Socrates in the Apology--and carry on the revolution to its fulfillment.

Example #4

The differences between David and Socrates' stories are a dime a dozen. However, one of the more substantial differences is how each of them responded to the possibility of punishment for their action. King David, in an attempt to escape punishment, sought to cover up his crimes by having Uriah sleep with his wife and eventually indirectly killing Uriah. Socrates, however, refused to back down from his belief that people should question everything before they take it as knowledge even when it led to his death. Another substantial difference between the two is why they were actually punished. David's act of adultery and murder would be deemed punishable in almost any society. Socrates, however, was merely a scapegoat for an enfeebled Athens flowing the Peloponnesian War. His actions in the end deserved no punishment.

It is important to also see the similarities between the two. Both David and Socrates challenged the religious balances of their societies. David did so by breaking the laws of God given to the Hebrew people during the Exodus. Socrates accomplished this by trying to discover rational explanations for occurrences of this world and not simply taking them as acts of gods. Furthermore, both David and Socrates' actions would have vast repercussions on their societies. David's actions created internal troubles for his family and arguably led to the destruction of his kingdom. As a result of Socrates' actions, he completely changed the way the Greek people perceived knowledge and paved the way for other great philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Although there are many differences between David and Socrates, it is arguably their similarities that are more shocking.

Perhaps the greater idea within the stories of these two figures is how they show the differences between revolutionary Hebrew and Greek thought. The two differed in how they challenged the people to pursue truth. For the Hebrews, truth came from the word of God which was given to the people through revelation. These revelations were not to be questioned because they were the enlightened word of God. Greek thought, however, challenged the people to seek truth not through the words and deeds of gods, but through extensive personal observation and inquiry. Only after a thought has been thoroughly discussed and analyzed, people such as Socrates argued, could it be considered truth and knowledge. However, both trains of thought were similar in that both encouraged people to seek great truths or ultimate realities and that in each, people possessed the means to do this. For the Hebrews, they simply had to obey the word of God and for the Greeks, personal inquiry of ideas had to be done. The people of each society were no longer at the whims of powers greater than themselves; the chance of enlightenment was in their hands.

The stories of David and Socrates provide modern-day people with an interesting insight into revolutionary Hebrew and Greek thought. After such examination, it is seen that the two societies were as different in some respects as they were remarkably similar in others.