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Tag Archives: Ancient Greece
Agent in Athens, Patient in Jerusalem: The Cosmic (Sense of) Self in Ancient Greek and Judaic Cultures
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One of the great insights of the modern era is that notions of what a “person” is, as well as notions about the “cosmos” those persons inhabit, vary from culture to culture. Indeed the two are linked. In this talk, we will explore the interconnections between cultural notions of “self’ and “cosmos” by considering the cases of ancient Greek culture on the one hand and ancient Judaic culture on the other. In each case, notions of creation were correlated with notions of the cosmos that in turn were correlated with notions of the nature of man and the nature of wisdom. In Athens, the cosmic (sense of) self was that of a cosmic agent, while in Jerusalem it was that of a cosmic patient. Continue reading
Apologies of Socrates and Gospels of Jesus
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The lives and deaths of Socrates and Jesus had some remarkable parallels. Both were charismatic teachers claiming to be on divine missions. Both were executed by the ruling elites they challenged. And both were vindicated in the writings of their disciples. This course will explore these and other parallels by reading and discussing two Apologies (Defenses) of Socrates, one by Xenophon and one by Plato, and a number of gospels, some that made it into the New Testament and some that didn’t. In addition to examining the teachings of each figure, we will consider how each one’s calling and legacy is portrayed in the various accounts. The two Apologies of Socrates will be supplemented by selected other dialogues by Xenophon and Plato related to the death of Socrates. Continue reading
Agent in Athens, Patient in Jerusalem: The Cosmic (Sense of) Self in Ancient Greek and Judaic Cultures and their Descendents
WRITINGS > Unfinished
This essay is a generalization about idealizations. As such, it is necessarily imperfect and incorrect. In some ways it says too little. In other ways it says too much. Nonetheless, my hope is that this essay still says something true, something that begins to get at some of the ways that ancient Greek and Judaic civilizations spawned “senses of self” (or even more radically, actual “selves”) that were fundamentally different from, perhaps even antithetical to, one another — just as they also spawned “worldviews” (or even actual “worlds”) that were fundamentally different and perhaps antithetical. As such, this essay is an exploration in what might be called “historical cultural psychology” — an examination of the ways in which “self” and “world” mutually constituted one another in two historically-important civilizations. And to the extent Athens and Jerusalem live on in at least two contemporary civilizations, this essay is also an exploration of the ways in which “self” and “world” mutually constitute one another today. Continue reading
To the End of the Earth and Back Again; Or, Whose Odyssey is It Anyway?
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Traditional accounts of Homer’s Odyssey often focus on the “facts” that it: 1) it is a “sequel” to the Iliad — and thus 2) the second great (and second greatest) work of Western “literature” — which 3) tells the story of Odysseus’s ten-year homecoming from the Trojan War, although it 4) begins “in media res” (in the middle of things) with the problem of the suitors on Ithaca and Odysseus’s captivity with Calypso, rather than at “the beginning” with the fall of Troy. Indeed, many a reader’s experience with, and understanding of, the Odyssey is crucially influenced by their expectation that the text will conform to thes “facts”. But is this the most useful way of approaching this important work?
In this lecture, I will outline some of the consequences of reading the Odyssey with these expectations in mind and why these expectations may be unwarranted. Most importantly, however, I will suggest how an approach to the text as a stand-alone work can yield a significant and perhaps unexpected reading that is both more personal and more profound than traditional ones. Continue reading
In the Face of Adversity: Homer’s Odyssey and the Bible’s Job
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The twin foundations of “Western” civilization are often thought to be the Classical tradition of ancient Greece and Rome on the one hand, and the Biblical tradition of ancient Israel on the other. In this course, we’ll explore how “Athens” and “Jerusalem” addressed the common human predicament of adversity through the close reading of a key text from each: Homer’s Odyssey and the Bible’s Book of Job. Along the way, we’ll consider the literary, philosophical, and religious aspects in an attempt to understand each work in its own right as well the similarities and differences between them. Continue reading
The Apology: Socrates’ Defense, Or the Gospel According to Plato
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Because the West has long thought of itself as the fusion of Greek “reason” and Hebrew (Judeo-Christian) “faith”, the secularization which followed the Enlightenment has typically been seen as the West’s disavowal of its Hebrew heritage in favor of its Greek one. Indeed, it is not uncommon today for modem secular humanists and classical Greeks to be considered much of a muchness. Unfortunately, such a view tends to blind us to important features of Greek life, even in figures as seemingly familiar to us as Socrates and Plato. A careful consideration of Plato’s Apology, however, can help resurrect these religious features of these two men who can be seen in many ways as not dissimilar to a range of Hebrew religious figures including, perhaps most strikingly, Jesus and Paul respectively. Continue reading
Literary Pragmatics and/of Homer’s Odyssey
WRITINGS > FINISHED
This paper is an essay in the full sense of the word: it is an attempt — an essay — to simultaneously work out two problems, one theoretical and one practical. On the one hand it seeks to articulate a theory of texts in social contexts. On the other it seeks to apply such a perspective to Homer’s Odyssey. From the point of view of the first problem, then, the Odyssey is simply an example, an empirical means to a theoretical end. From the point of view of the second problem, however, an understanding of the Odyssey is an end in itself. Continue reading
Greeks Bearing Texts; Or, Whose Odyssey is it Anyway?
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Did you ever want to be a hero? As a child did you ever fantasize about being the Lone Ranger? Or a knight in shining armor? Perhaps your taste ran more towards Superman and Batman. Do you remember the disappointment when you discovered that you would never be one? That heroes were fiction and that real life “just isn’t like that?” Do you remember all the other childish expectations you had for your adulthood that you surrendered as you discovered the limits of your ability? If so, you are not alone. From time immemorial, individuals have shared these dreams and disappointments and it is to you that the Odyssey is dedicated. Homer would like you to know that you were not mistaken as a child: You can be a hero. Indeed, you must be a hero for there is no other way. The Odyssey will show you how. Continue reading