Book contents
- Belief in Greek and Roman Religion
- Belief in Greek and Roman Religion
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Terms and Concepts of Belief in the Study of Ancient Religion
- Part II Terms and Concepts of Belief in Antiquity
- Chapter 5 Belief and Practice in Xenophanes’ Criticism of Traditional Religion
- Chapter 6 The Alliance between Faith, the Mysteries, and Philosophy in Plutarch’s Moralia
- Chapter 7 A Fragile Synthesis
- Part III Belief and Experience in Antiquity
- Index
- References
Chapter 6 - The Alliance between Faith, the Mysteries, and Philosophy in Plutarch’s Moralia
from Part II - Terms and Concepts of Belief in Antiquity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2026
Book contents
- Belief in Greek and Roman Religion
- Belief in Greek and Roman Religion
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Terms and Concepts of Belief in the Study of Ancient Religion
- Part II Terms and Concepts of Belief in Antiquity
- Chapter 5 Belief and Practice in Xenophanes’ Criticism of Traditional Religion
- Chapter 6 The Alliance between Faith, the Mysteries, and Philosophy in Plutarch’s Moralia
- Chapter 7 A Fragile Synthesis
- Part III Belief and Experience in Antiquity
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter considers how Plutarch, a Platonic philosopher and priest of Apollo, used the language of pistis (‘faith’) and pisteuein (‘to believe’). It rejects the view that Plutarch was the first to introduce a ‘fideistic’, proto-Christian concept of religious faith as opposed to reason, or that his faith was only a way to inscribe himself into ‘tradition’. Crucial for our understanding of Plutarch’s pistis is his initiation into the Dionysiac mysteries, which prevented him from ‘believing’ the Epicureans’ denial of immortality, as he deemed that the Platonists’ view of the immortality of the soul ‘is harder to disbelieve than to believe’. The chapter emphasises the convergence between Plutarch’s experience of the mysteries and his Platonic philosophy. Plutarch’s notion of faith is not fideistic and anti-philosophical but belongs to the domain of philosophy: unfounded faith must be criticised when it misrepresents the gods and strengthened when it aligns with sound philosophical doctrines. Not only can philosophical doctrines confirm expressions of pistis, but particular philosophical views are also the object of faith and are, conversely, reinforced by initiation into the mysteries. Throughout the chapter, it is intimated that Plutarch’s concept of pistis is not fundamentally different from that of Paul.
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- Belief in Greek and Roman Religion , pp. 147 - 189Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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