Did Christians adopt the belief in the soul from the Greeks?

There is the accusation from soul sleep advocates that Christians adopted the concept of the immortal soul from the pagan Greeks, mainly from Plato. A variation of this is that they got it from the Egyptians. Because of this supposed pagan influence, they reject the soul. Ironically, they have no problems with adopting the use of allegory, which also originates from Greek thought. But just how true is this accusation?

First things first, the Greeks didn't invent the soul; they merely philosophized it. The concept of the human soul was universal across all cultures. Soul sleep, on the other hand, was a foreign concept to the ancient world. Also, the Greeks didn't have a universal consensus about the soul. Plato believed the soul continued on after death, but his student, Aristotle, had a more nuanced view and didn't clearly teach that the soul survives death.

Second, it's easy to dispel that theory from the story of the Witch of Endor alone. Recall that Saul went to see the Witch of Endor to summon the ghost or spirit of Samuel. Much to the witch's surprise, she summoned what appeared to be the spirit of Samuel (1Sa 28). Whether this spirit was actually Samuel or a trick, demon, or hallucination does not really matter to this discussion. What's important is it clearly demonstrates that the ancient Israelites understood the concept of an immortal, disembodied spirit (soul) existing apart from the body by at least 1010 BC. This was well before Greek influence and Hellenization began around 332 BC and peaked from 175 to 167 BC in Judea.

Do similarities exist between the Greek understanding of the soul and the predominant Christian understanding of the soul? Sure, just as similarities exist between the Hebrews’ nephesh and the Akkadian napīštu. Ironically, they never consider that the Hebrews may have also adopted ideas from their pagan neighbors. In any case, just because similarities exist does not prove borrowing in itself. There are many biblical motifs, for example, that share similar themes with pagan motifs without adoption. Also, similarities don’t automatically invalidate something as untrue. The Genesis flood account mirrors the Chaldean flood tradition as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, we wouldn't dismiss the Biblical flood account just because it's similar to older pagan flood traditions.

Moreover, whatever similarities exist, there exists a multitude of differences. The Greeks may have believed in disembodied souls but not bodily resurrection like the Christians. Nor did Christians believe in eternal disembodied souls as the Greeks did. Likewise, the Egyptians believed in the concept of the soul, but it vastly differed from Christian belief. They believed the soul was comprised of multiple components, wasn't fully disembodied, and could even come back to the tomb to revisit the body and partake of food and drink offerings. So, to say that Christians got their ideas of the soul and the afterlife from the pagans ignores the major differences between them.

Even in first-century Judea, not all the Jews accepted Greek influence. There were some sects like the Essenes, Zealots, and Sicarii who were hostile to Greek Hellenization. The Pharisees, who were probably most similar to Christians, were conservative about the Torah and Jewish law and resistant to religious syncretism. Location also mattered. More urban areas, like around Jerusalem, tended to be more Hellenized, while the more rural areas, like Galilee, where Jesus and many of his apostles came from, were far less Hellenized.

The early followers of Jesus were Aramaic-speaking Jews who mostly did not have an education in Greek philosophy. Their primary influence was traditional Jewish culture rather than Greek culture. There were some later Christians who saw merit in Greek logic, though it was not universal. Clement of Alexandria said, “Philosophy is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” Thomas Aquinas echoed this rationale and believed that even pagans could discover the truth through philosophical reasoning, and if something is true, it belongs to the Lord, no matter the source. 

Therefore, it wasn’t so much borrowing as arriving at the same or similar conclusions. It's also why many Greek philosophers came to believe in the existence of a supreme being, because it was reasonable and logical to do so. So, just because something is found in Greek philosophy shouldn't automatically disqualify it. The Greeks philosophized about a great many things, including atoms. Should we then discount the existence of atoms because the Greeks philosophized about them? No, of course not. That would be a genetic fallacy.

Key points:

• The Greeks didn't invent the soul; they merely philosophized it.
• The concept of the human soul was universal across all cultures.
• The Witch of Endor account in 1Sa 28 clearly demonstrates that the ancient Israelites already had a concept for the conscious soul existing apart from the body well before Greek Hellenization.
• The Hebrews also adopted pagan ideas from their neighbors.
• Similarities between the Greek understanding of the soul and the Christian understanding of the soul don't prove borrowing, nor do they invalidate it.
• There are distinct differences between the Greeks' understanding of the soul and the Christians' understanding of the soul.
• The followers of Jesus were influenced by Jewish culture, not Greek culture.
• Some, not all, early and later Christians found merit in Greek thought, logic, and philosophy because even pagans can discern the truth at times.
• Just because something is also found in Greek philosophy does not automatically invalidate it, make it untrue or worthless.