Kardec, Socrates, and Plato: the morality of Christ separated from dogma in the Spiritist Gospel

When he published The Gospel According to Spiritism in Paris in 1864, the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who wrote under the name Allan Kardec, was not proposing a new reading of the facts of Jesus's life. He was proposing to separate them from the rest. In the preface, he argues that the most solid part of the Gospels is their morality, and that it can be accepted by people of any belief.

The work is one of the foundations of Spiritism, a doctrine Kardec himself codified in the 19th century, and it treats the canonical Gospels through the lens of that doctrine. It is best read as an exposition of a belief and a moral philosophy, not as a historical or theological analysis of the texts. That is what this piece does: it presents the preface's argument and the place it gives to Socrates and Plato.

Five parts, one that holds

Kardec distinguishes five kinds of content in the Gospels: the acts of Jesus's life, the miracles, the prophecies, the Church's dogmas, and the moral teaching. Only the last, he states, is unassailable, because it transcends religions, eras, and disputes. In it would lie principles such as justice, charity, brotherhood, and love.

That is why he describes it as a banner under which everyone can take shelter, however much their beliefs may differ.

Admired, but little understood

Many people admire the teaching of Jesus, Kardec observes, but few truly understand it. He points to three reasons: its symbolic and mystical language, its mixing with historical narratives and allegories, and the lack of a key that would reveal its spiritual meaning.

That key, for him, is Spiritism. The doctrine would clarify the moral content of the texts and show how to apply it to everyday life, with the help of instructing spirits.

The method: messages and commentary

The work gathers messages attributed to elevated spirits and dictated by mediums in various countries, which, according to Kardec, guarantees impartiality and universality. He calls them voices from heaven, inviting the real practice of the Gospel. From the standpoint of someone who does not accept communication with spirits, these are texts of attributed mediumistic authorship, which readers must judge by their content.

As for its organization, Kardec explains that he chose the passages for their moral nature, kept the original translation of the Gospels, and commented on each passage in light of reason and practical life.

Socrates and Plato as forerunners

In one of the preface's most often-cited passages, Kardec sees in the philosophy of Socrates and Plato an anticipation of evangelical and Spiritist principles. In his view, this reinforces the idea that spiritual truths are eternal and arrive gradually, through different messengers.

The parallels he points to are five: the soul that survives and does not depend on the body, the return to new lives as a path of moral improvement, the reality of spirits and communication between worlds, the priority of moral good over ritual, and the pursuit of truth as purification.

There is also a parallel of fate. Socrates wrote nothing and was condemned to death for preaching the truth. Jesus, the text notes, was likewise accused of corrupting people. Both, it suggests, pointed toward the soul rather than toward ritual.

One truth, many forms

According to the original source behind this piece, Kardec also identifies ideas that Spiritism and Socratic morality would hold in common: that it is better to suffer wrong than to commit it, that the impure soul remains tied to the material world, that true wisdom is living with eternity in mind, and that virtue is born of personal effort, life after life.

Kardec concludes that Spiritism continues the work of Christ and the ancient sages, and that the light of truth is one, even as it appears in different forms. He does not aim to create a new religion, but to restore to Christ the role of teacher of the soul. If the law of the Gospel is to stop being dead letter, he argues, it will be because each person comes to understand it and is called to practice it by their own conscience.