In this episode, Brendon and Skyler start setting up the context for the coming series on the Nicene Creed. Today, we take a brief and broad tour of Ancient Greek civilization. This includes some of the basics of public and private Religion in Greek society, and some of the influential ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. If it is claimed that Greek ideas corrupted the Christian faith – then it is necessary to be familiar with some of the main ideas to be able to evaluate the claim. We make a few brief comments on contemporary debates over "Christian Platonism" and the Great Tradition.

Aeon (and here); Antikythera Mechanism (also here and here) 

The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization 

The Ancient City by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges 

Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World by Carl J. Richard 

The Greeks by H. D. F. Kitto 

The Greeks and Their Gods by W. R. C. Guthrie 

Pericles Funeral Oration

Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Cartledge

The Greeks and the Irrational by E. R. Dodds

The Greeks and the Rational by Josiah Ober

Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen 

A History of Western Philosophy and Theology by John Frame 

The Consequences of Ideas by R. C. Sproul 

The Iliad; The Odyssey by Homer

Homer and His Iliad by Robin Lane Fox

Homer: A Very Short Introduction by Barbara Graziosi 

The World of Odysseus by M.I. Finley

The Bible Among the Myths by John Oswalt 

Classical Philosophy by Peter Adamson 

Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Catherine Osborn (and here)  

       - Parmenides 

Socrates: A Very Short Introduction by C.C.W. Taylor 

Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson 

Socrates and the Political Community by Mary P. Nichols 

“Socrates in Combat: Trauma and Resilience in Plato’s Political Theory” by Sara Monoson 

• National Review and here 
• “Socrates & Christ” by Greg Bahnsen 

Plato: Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper

Plato’s Cave (and here) 

Plato: A Very Short Introduction by Julia Annas 

Understanding Plato by David Melling 

• In Our Time: here, here, here
• Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles (National Review)

Christian Platonism, edited by Alexander J. B. Hampton and John Peter Kenney 

From Plato to Christ by Louis Markos 

“All One in Christ: Why Christian Platonism is Key to the Great Tradition” by Hans Boersma 

Christ Over All (also: here, here, here) 

“Antithesis, Common Grace, and Plato’s View of the Soul” by William D. Dennison 

The Gospel and the Greeks by Ronald Nash 

It should be noted that Thomas Aquinas refers to Aristotle as "The Philosopher", and Dante refers to him (even in Limbo) as "the Master of those who know".

The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Jonathan Barnes

Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Barnes 

Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer Adler (and here and here) 

In Our Time: here, here

The Last Superstition; Five Proofs of the Existence of God by Edward Feser (also here) 

Russell-Copleston Debate on God’s Existence (1948) 

Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle’s Politics by Fred Miller 

“Aristotle’s Unmoved Movers” by Philip Merlan (also here) 

Van Til and the Foundation of Christian Ethics by Scott Hatch 

“’All Things are Full of Gods’: Rethinking Naturalism in the Classical World” by Daryn Lehoux; found in Science Without God?: Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism, edited by Peter Harrison and Jon H. Roberts 

Early Greek Science by G. E. R. Lloyd

Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilburt Murray

The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece by Josiah Ober 

Paidea (3 v.) by Werner Jaeger

“The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns” by Benjamin Constant 

“The Legislation of Lycurgus and Solon” by Friedrich Schiller 

Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour by Helmut Schoeck

Hellenization Revisited, edited by Wendy Hellerman 

The Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til

Thucydides and the Pursuit of Freedom by Mary Nichols 

Republics Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1: The Ancien Regime in Classical Greece by Paul Rahe

Finding the Walls of Troy by Susan Heuck Allen

Lost and Found by Caroline Moorehead

Freedom’s Progress? By Gerard Casey 

The Harvest of Hellenism by F.E. Peters

Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent from Healing to Killing by Richard Weikart

When Children Became People by O.M. Bakke

The Victory of Reason; The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark