Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher EducationYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 286 pages Although the essential books of Western civilization are no longer central in our courses or in our thoughts, they retain their ability to energize us intellectually, says Jeffrey Hart in this powerful book. He now presents a guide to some of these literary works, tracing the main currents of Western culture for all who wish to understand the roots of their civilization and the basis for its achievements. Hart focuses on the productive tension between the classical and biblical strains in our civilization, between a life based on cognition and one based on faith and piety. He begins with the Iliad and Exodus, linking Achilles and Moses as Bronze Age heroic figures. Closely analysing texts and illuminating them in unexpected ways, he moves on to Socrates and Jesus, who internalized the heroic, continues with Paul and Augustine and their Christian synthesis, addresses Dante, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Moliere, and Voltaire, and concludes with the novel as represented by Crime and Punishment and The Great Gatsby. Hart maintains that the dialectical tensions suggested by this survey account for the restlessness and singular achievements of the West and that the essential books can provide the substance and energy currently missed by both students and educated readers. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 71
Page 4
... first reading Chapman's Homer . As I have said , the terms Athens and Jerusalem in this dialectic refer to the two famous cities and to the distinctive ways of looking at the world that developed in each . More broadly , they are ...
... first reading Chapman's Homer . As I have said , the terms Athens and Jerusalem in this dialectic refer to the two famous cities and to the distinctive ways of looking at the world that developed in each . More broadly , they are ...
Page 5
... first century a.d. That , according to Grant , made the historic difference . His account of this development is important and should be quoted here rather than summarized : Although science has a long history with roots in ancient ...
... first century a.d. That , according to Grant , made the historic difference . His account of this development is important and should be quoted here rather than summarized : Although science has a long history with roots in ancient ...
Page 6
... first century , to Paul and to Philo of Alexandria , a Platonizing Jewish philosopher , both of whom were contemporaries of Jesus . Grant , however , concludes that it was Clement and Origen who institutionalized the dialectic between ...
... first century , to Paul and to Philo of Alexandria , a Platonizing Jewish philosopher , both of whom were contemporaries of Jesus . Grant , however , concludes that it was Clement and Origen who institutionalized the dialectic between ...
Page 8
... first and excel all others ; your jealous souls shall love no one , unless it be the friend ' that made the soul of the Greek quiver ; thus he walked the path of his greatness . ' You honor thy father 8 THE GREAT NARRATIVE.
... first and excel all others ; your jealous souls shall love no one , unless it be the friend ' that made the soul of the Greek quiver ; thus he walked the path of his greatness . ' You honor thy father 8 THE GREAT NARRATIVE.
Page 11
... first century a.d. , and importantly articulated by Clement and Origen in the second and third centuries , the main Western tradition has held that Athens and Jerusalem , though in tension , are compatible . There would be shifts of ...
... first century a.d. , and importantly articulated by Clement and Origen in the second and third centuries , the main Western tradition has held that Athens and Jerusalem , though in tension , are compatible . There would be shifts of ...
Other editions - View all
Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher Education Jeffrey Peter Hart No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Abraham Achilles Aeneas Agamemnon Alceste ancient areté Aristotle Athens Athens and Jerusalem Augustine beauty beginning Bronze Age Brunetto C. S. Lewis Canto Célimène century certainly chapter Christian civilization cognition Commandment Confessions cosmos course culture Dante Dante's death Divine Comedy Dostoyevsky Egypt Egyptian empire Enlightenment epic everything Exodus experience figure Gatsby Gatsby's Genesis Greek philosophy Hebrew Bible Hector hero heroic holiness Homer Horeb human idea Iliad important Inferno intellectual Israelites Jesus killed King literature live Logos Lord magical mind Molière monotheism monotheistic moral Moses move murder narrative Nick novel Numbers Odysseus passage Paul perhaps Pharaoh pilgrim Dante Plato play poem poet Prince Hamlet Prophets Raskolnikov religious Rendsburg Roman scene seems sense Shakespeare Sinai society Socrates speak spirit student T. S. Eliot tell tension things Thou thought tion tradition Troy truth Ulysses universe Virgil voice Voltaire Western words