A Familiar Analogy (safer than the rest of book 5)

Eliza Colbert

    There was a lot in book 5 I could talk about. Socrates’ views on communal women and children alone are enough for an entire paper and a formal debate. His idea that children should go to war to learn it better is also a controversial topic. I applaud anyone who decided to tackle these bigger issues. I on the other hand am sticking with a simpler topic. Partly because I know myself and, if I started to write about a controversial issue, I wouldn’t stop until I felt like I had sufficiently covered it all (which would probably be several pages later). But, I also don’t want to get into those deep and dark waters, just like Socrates. And so, I will instead write about an analogy that I believe we have all heard before.

    In his extended discussion of the just city, Socrates states that the best cities are unified in disposition. That is, “the best state will share the experience as a whole, rejoicing in the pleasure or suffering the pain” (154). To illustrate this point, Socrates uses the analogy of the body. He says that, “if one of us injures a finger...the entire body feels the pain even though only a part of it has suffered injury” (154). Socrates goes on to say that this is what the city should be like, suffering together if one person suffers and likewise rejoicing together if one person rejoices.

    When I read this, I immediately thought of the Bible. Paul frequently uses the analogy of the body to refer to the Church. In Romans he writes, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (ESV Romans 12:4-5). Again in Corinthians we see, “If one member [of the body] suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:26). Paul says that Christians should be a community of harmony and unity, just like the body. They should recognize that they each have their roles, yet everyone is valuable. They should suffer together and rejoice together. This is almost exactly what Socrates says.

    This makes me wonder, did Paul borrow his analogies from Socrates and Plato? He was a very educated man, it is plausible. Or, was this analogy just a popular analogy in the ancient world? If someone wanted to stress the individuality yet unity of a group, did he use the common analogy of the body? Or did Paul simply come up with this on his own and have no idea that Socrates used a similar analogy? I tend to lean toward the first option, but I am interested to hear what everyone else thinks.

P.S. I commented on Zelda’s and Kayla’s posts.