3 - The “body” in Stoicism and the relevance to universal humanity

Summary

Previously I have discussed the diverse ways in which one could apply the image of the body. I will now examine a uniquely Stoic use. Authors such as Seneca and Cicero often compared a human body to a universal humanity which was, for them, another type of body in a very real way. Understanding how the Stoics saw the universe and society as a “body” may help us comprehend what lies behind Paul's statements that the believers are not only “like” a body, but also “are” the body of Christ.

The universe as living creature in Stoicism

The Stoics considered the universe to be a living being. In this context the body could be used to describe some aspect of the universe as being a living creature which grows and develops. Cleanthes says,

For, just as (ὥσπερ), in the case of the individual, all his bodily parts (τὰ μέρη) take shape in the proper periods of time from the seed, so (οὕτω) all the particular parts of the universe – animals, plants, and so on – take shape at the proper moments.

For Cleanthes, the way in which the human body develops provides a proper analogy for the growth of various parts of the universe.

Likewise Cicero relates,

Indeed, how is it possible that the universe, which contains within itself all the other natures and their seeds, should not itself be governed by nature (natura)? Thus, if anyone declares that a man's teeth and the hair on his body are a natural growth but that the man himself to whom they belong is not a natural organism, he would fail to see that things which produce something from within them must have more perfect natures than the things which are produced from them.