The Gospel According to Spiritism

Book Preface

hypocrisy and the illusion of forms; in other words, for having combated religious prejudices. Like Jesus, who was accused by the Pharisees of corrupting the people with his teachings, Socrates was also accused by the Pharisees of his time – since they have always existed in all epochs

– for corrupting the youth by proclaiming the dogma of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul and the future life. Just as we know about the doctrine of Jesus only through the writings of his disciples, we know about the doctrine of Socrates only through the writings of his disciple Plato. We believe it useful to summarize here the most prominent points in order to show their concordance with the principles of Christianity.

To those who will consider this parallel to be a profanation and claim there could be no parity between the doctrine of a pagan and that of Christ, we will respond that Socrates’ doctrine was not pagan since its objective was to combat paganism; that Jesus’ doctrine, purer and more complete than Socrates’, has nothing to lose with the comparison; that the grandeur of Christ’s divine mission would not be diminished because of it; that, furthermore, it is a historical fact which cannot be denied. Humankind has reached a point in which the light radiates by itself from under the bushel; it is mature enough to face it – so much the worse for those who do not dare open their eyes.

The time has come to examine matters broadly and from a higher level, and no longer from the trivial and narrow point of view of the interests of sects and castes.