Johannine Commentaries in the Early Church

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The Face ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Scholastic Tradition

This chapter sets the making of commentaries on John’s Gospel, particularly within the Greek tradition, in the context of ancient Greek scholarship and the emergence of a scholastic tradition within the early Church. These commentaries drew on established philological conventions in order to clarify ambiguities and complexities within the text. At the same time, they served to amplify the meaning of the text in the face of new questions, controversies and preoccupations. Commentators used John’s Gospel ‘to think with’. With its allusive prose and symbolic discourse, the Fourth Gospel provoked commentators to respond to on-going doctrinal debate and to work out wider questions about Christian doctrine and identity.

scholarly journals Kant’s Confrontation with Plato and the Greek World in the Inaugural Dissertation

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Gualtiero Lorini
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Greek World

The discussion concerning Kant’s knowledge of the Greek world has long been a subject of debate. Our contribution is intended to show that in the Dissertation of 1770 Kant is measured against some currents of Greek thought, and above all with Plato, on topics which will become very important in the articulated development of criticism in the 1770s. One aspect of our analysis deals with the texts that could have filtered Kant’s knowledge of ancient Greek tradition. We will then pore over some crucial features of the Dissertation, such as the distinction between sensible and intelligible knowledge and the ambiguous nature of the intellectualia, in order to assess how Kant’s understanding of certain issues of Greek classicism may have contributed to the outline of some still problematic theses in the text of 1770.

Ancient Greek Mathematics

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ferreirós
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Mathematics ◽  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
Advanced Mathematics ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
The Common ◽  
Greek Mathematics ◽  
Joint Consideration ◽  
Practical Geometry ◽  
Further Development

This chapter focuses on the ancient Greek tradition of geometrical proof in light of recent studies by Kenneth Manders and others. It advances the view that the borderline of elementary mathematics is strictly linked with the adoption of hypotheses. To this end, the chapter considers Euclidean geometry, which elaborates on both the problems and the proof methods based on diagrams. It argues that Euclidean geometry can be understood as a theoretical, idealized analysis (and further development) of practical geometry; that by way of the idealizations introduced, Euclid's Elements builds on hypotheses that turn them into advanced mathematics; and that the axioms or “postulates” of Book I of the Elements mainly regiment diagrammatic constructions, while the “common notions” are general principles of a theory of quantities. The chapter concludes by discussing how the proposed approach, based on joint consideration of agents and frameworks, can be applied to the case of Greek geometry.

Whose Idea of Tragedy? Mrs Dalloway and the Ancient Greek Tradition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Gourd
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Classical Scholar ◽  
Narrative Tradition ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Previous Scholarship ◽  
Commit Suicide

As Septimus Smith prepares to commit suicide by throwing himself out of the window and ‘vigorously, violently down onto Mrs Filmer’s area railings,’ he comments on the narrative tradition of his own tragic demise. ‘It was their idea of tragedy,’ he reflects with bitter irony – ‘Holmes and Bradshaw liked that sort of thing.’ This paper addresses the wider implications of this sentiment in Mrs Dalloway, by positioning Septimus’ death as the tragic climax and dramatic focus of the novel. Previous scholarship has failed to recognise the significance of this allusion to Greek tragedy, though Woolf was an accomplished classical scholar and a voracious reader of ancient literature. This detail would repay attention, as the author’s self-conscious engagement with the literary and intellectual tradition of tragedy, demonstrated through the narrative and suicide of Septimus Smith, impacts upon our understanding of the novel as a whole. It raises several important questions which this paper seeks to address: to what extent does Woolf intend for us to sympathise with Septimus as the tragic protagonist? How does Woolf’s appropriation and manipulation of the tragic genre reflect her views on war, mental illness, and her relationship with her doctors? And finally, what does it tell us about Woolf’s idea of tragedy, and what she considers to be tragic?

scholarly journals The Use ofKairosin Renaissance Political Philosophy*

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Paul
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Important Concept ◽  
Niccolò Machiavelli ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
History Of

AbstractAlthough the Greek concept ofkairos (καιρός)has undergone a recent renewal of interest among scholars of Renaissance rhetoric, this revival has not yet been paralleled by its reception into the history of political thought. This article examines the meanings and uses of this important concept within the ancient Greek tradition, particularly in the works of Isocrates and Plutarch, in order to understand how it is employed by two of the most important political thinkers of the sixteenth century: Thomas Elyot and Niccolò Machiavelli. Through such an investigation this paper argues that an appreciation of the concept ofkairosand its use by Renaissance political writers provides a fuller understanding of the political philosophy of the period.

scholarly journals La astucia en la conceptualización platónica de σοφία

Nova Tellus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99
Author(s):  
Trinidad Silva Irarrázaval
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Instrumental Value ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
The Subject

Considering the importance of cunning in the characterization of σοφία in the Ancient Greek tradition, from the literature of the archaic period to the Socratic circle, it is striking that in Plato there is no such thing as a cunning σοφός. Apart from the Lesser Hippias, which offers an ambiguous assessment of Odysseus πολυτροπία, the σοφός is almost never defined by its intelligence —this is not a distinctive feature of the σοφός or φιλόσοφος— but rather by the knowledge of certain things. The lack of treatment has led to most interpreters to neglect the subject. In order to remedy this situation, in this article I offer an interpretation that diagnoses the absence of an attribute such as cunning in the conceptualization of σοφία in Plato, but not as the result of simple condemnation or censorship as argued, for example, by Detienne and Vernant 1978 and suggested by Montiglio 2011. In this paper I propose that Plato would manifest a lack of interest regarding these attributes. From the analysis of the Platonic corpus I seek to demonstrate that, although attributes of intelligence are considered advantageous and desirable qualities, the have only instrumental value with respect to the attainment of truth and good.

In search of black bile

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Correct Diagnosis ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
The Body ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
School Based ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Specific Organ ◽  
The One

Historically Western medicine has been divided into two main schools that were based on the ancient Greek tradition. These are the Hygeian school, based on the views of Hippocrates (born 460 BC), and the Asclepian school which is named after the Greek god of medicine but probably based on the physician Asclepius who was said to have performed miracles!In brief, the Hygeian school of medicine views health as a natural state of the body. The body is believed to be endowed with inherent healing powers which, if one lives in harmony with these powers, maintains health and helps to restore it should it become impaired. Disease is seen as a manifestation of a weakness of the inherent healing powers of the body and the function of the physician is to help the patients to live within the natural law (vis medicatrix naturae) and to remove impediments to those mechanisms that maintain and restore health.The second school that has profoundly influenced the development of modern medicine is the Asclepian school which arose in about 1200 BC around the teaching of Asclepius. This school focuses on diseases, their causes and cures. Each disease is considered to be the effect of, or response to, a specific cause that primarily affects a specific organ system. For every disease it is postulated that there is a specific drug or procedure which can alleviate the symptoms or cure the disease. Thus, the successful physician is the one who can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the correct therapy.

ḤUNAYN IBN ISḤĀQ'S CONCEPTION OF HIS READING PUBLIC ACCORDING TO A PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED LETTER

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-189
Author(s):  
Coleman Connelly
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Scientific Texts ◽  
Arabic Translation ◽  
Unpublished Letter ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Scientific Project ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThis article presents an edition, translation, and analysis of a prefatory letter addressed by the Galen translator Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 873) to one of his East-Syrian Christian patrons, the physician Salmawayh ibn Bunān (d. 840). Ḥunayn composed this Letter to Salmawayh ibn Bunān in Syriac, but it survives only in his nephew's Arabic translation. Since its discovery over eighty years ago, the text has received little attention and has never before been published in its entirety. The Letter provides new insight into Ḥunayn's early career and the Christian milieu in which he moved, demonstrating his indebtedness to the Syriac literary past exemplified by the prefaces of the earlier Galen translator Sergius of Rēšʿaynā (d. 536). At the same time, the Letter indicates part of what made ʿAbbāsid-era translators like Ḥunayn different from their late ancient predecessors. This study argues that increased demand from patrons and Ḥunayn's close reading of Galen's Hippocratic commentaries yielded the Letter’s novel claim that readers of all abilities can and should have access to ancient Greek scientific texts. In this way, the Letter hints tantalizingly at Ḥunayn's understanding of his own literary and scientific project and its relationship with the ancient Greek tradition.

scholarly journals (Mis)osage of rhetoric: Examples from ancient times to the modern state of national surveillance

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1285-1303
Author(s):  
Dragutin Avramović ◽  
Ilija Jovanov
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Value System ◽  
Great Ability ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

The art of beautiful speech has its origins in the ancient Greek tradition. In sophistic discussions of justice and truth, eloquence played a notable role. Plato did not deny the importance of the art of persuasion, but he pointed out the difference between the knowledge provided by philosophy and the belief that is a consequence of persuasion. Therefore, the authors try to shed light on whether rhetoric is a morally neutral skill with a great ability to relativize. In this sense, Kelsen's critique of the natural law concepts of justice and truth are considered. Due to the impossibility of their absolute determination, Kelsen emphasized the fateful significance of theological teachings and rhetoric that convinced people of the existence of the one and only value system that is the basis of all norms. Thus, it turned out that rhetoric was extremely important for natural law, but its significance is even greater today. The changes brought by the modern age, among which a special place is occupied by endangering the privacy of citizens due to the collecting personal data and strengthening the culture of surveillance, especially emphasize the need to use the finest tuned rhetorical elements. Convincing the existence of absolute norms turned into convincing the need for perpetual surveillance of citizens in order to ensure their survival. Therefore, the authors conclude that rhetoric is a morally neutral skill with great potential for everyday (mis)use and that in the current circumstances it has an advantage over philosophical considerations about absolute values. At the same time, the authors point out that such an abuse of the art of persuasion will lead to the other extremity from which people will seek a way out by returning to philosophy.

scholarly journals Ritual Spaces and Performances in the Asklepieia of Roman Greece

2010 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 317-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Melfi
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Roman Greece ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Religious Festivals ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Long Life ◽  
Ritual Spaces

This paper attempts to investigate the existence of performative rituals—such as processions, songs, dances, dramatic enactments of divine myths and genealogies—in sanctuaries of Asklepios during the Roman Imperial period in Greece. Because of their long life and their well-documented ritual practice, the sanctuaries of Athens, Epidauros, and Messene have been selected as case studies. Archaeological, literary, and epigraphical sources are used to identify the nature of the ritual performed, and to assign to them a topographical space within the sacred precinct. The period under consideration mostly coincides with the reign of the Antonine emperors, when the relatively peaceful environment allowed for an artistic revival, and cultural phenomena such as the Second Sophistic promoted the reappropriation of ancient Greek tradition and a renewed continuity with it, despite the historical discontinuity. Wealthy patrons belonging to the educated elite and holding the highest offices within the imperial bureaucracy were often responsible for the refoundation of sacred buildings, and of long-forgotten religious festivals. In this context, the promotion of performative spaces and rituals in the sanctuaries of Asklepios is interpreted as a product of the cultural and social environment of the second and early third centuries in Greece.To άρθρο αυτό επιχειρεί να ερευνήσει την ύπαρξη επιτελεστικών τελετών -όπως πομπές, ύμνοι, χοροί, σραματικές αναπαραστάσεις θεïκών μύθων και γενεαλογιών- στα ιερά του Aσκληπιού κατά τη σιάρκεια της ρωμαïκής αυτοκρατορικής περιόσου στην Eλλάσα. Tα ιερά της Aθήνας, της Eπισαύρου και της Μεσσήνης επιλέχθηκαν ως περιπτώσεις έρευνας εξαιτίας της μακράς χρήσης τους και των καλά τεκμηριομένων τελετουργικών πρακτικών τους. Γίνεται χρήση αρχαιολογικών καταλοίπων και φιλολογικών και επιγραφικών πηγών προκειμένου να αναγνωριστεί η φύση των τελετών που πραγματοποιούνταν στα ιερά αυτά καθώς και να προσδιοριστεί τοπογραφικά η θέση των τελετών αυτών στο χώρο του τεμένους. H εν λόγω περίοδος συμπίπτει σε μεγάλο βαθμό με τη βασιλεία των Aντωνίνων κατά τη διάρκεια της οποίας το σχετικά ειρηνικό περιβάλλον επέτρεψε μία καλλιτεχνική αναγέννηση. Πολιτιστικά φαινόμενα όΠως η Δεύτερη Σοφιστική προώθησαν την επανοικειοποιήση της αρχαίας Eλληνικήσ παράδοσης και την ανανεωμένη ςυνέχειά της, παρά την ιστορική ασυνέχειά της. Eύποροι πάτρονες, μέλη της πεπαιδευμένης αριστοκρατίας και κάτοχοι των υψηλότερων αξιωμάτων της αυτοκρατορικής γραφειοκρατίας, ήταν συχνά υπεύθυνοι για την επανίδρυση ιερών κτιρίων, και θρησκευτικών εορτών ξεχασμένων για πολύ καιρό. Μέσα σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, η προώθηση επιτελεστικών χώρων και τελετουργιών στα ιερά του Aσκληπιού ερμηνεύεται ως απόρροια του πολιτιστικού και κοινωνικού περιβάλλοντοσ του δεύτερου και πρώιμου τρίτου αιώνα στην Eλλάδα.

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