I have never heard of any Reconstructionists using Plato or Aristotle as religious texts. I've heard of people using them as a source on ethics and as a way to learn more about Ancient Greek writings and ideas as a whole.
As to Plato and Aristotle, and what their beliefs would be called in our day and age, it's not as simplistic as you've put it. Search for that in any database of academic articles and you'll find some of the many, many opinions and interpretations.
Could you specify which philosophers, historians, poets, and playwrights you're referring to? Positions on the subject largely differed among them, and while there are some that would likely be considered to not have believed in the Olympian gods, in the case of others it's far more ambiguous or even more likely that they would have.
Using Plato and Aristotle as sources to inform religious views is hardly exclusive to Neo-Pagans. Christian Platonism exists as well, for instance.
Using Plato and Aristotle as religious texts is funny. They and other Greek Philosophers (and even the historians and poets/play-writes) did not really believe in the Olympian gods, and certainly didn't like them. They where either Atheists or Pre-Christian monotheists or some type of Pantehist or panentheism. It's of course interesting to note that Gnosticism largely derived from combining Greek Philosophical ides with Judeo-Christian ideas.
Edited by 98.144.34.210 Hide / Show Replies