Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

The Development of the Idea of History in Antiquity

Gerald A. Press

0/5 ( ratings)

An extensive scholarly literature, written in the past century, holds that in ancient Greek and Roman thought history is understood as circular and repetitive - a consequence of their anti-temporal metaphysics - in contrast with Judaeo-Christian thought, which sees history as linear and unique - a consequence of their messianic and hence radically temporal theology. Gerald Press presents a more general view - that the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian cultures were fundamentally alien and opposed cultural forces and that, therefore, Christianity's victory over paganism included the replacement or supersession of one intellectual world by another - and then shows that, contrary to this view, there was substantial continuity between "pagan" and Christian ideas of history in antiquity, rather than a striking opposition between cyclic and linear patterns. He finds that the foundation of the Christian view of history as goal-directed lies in the rhetorical rather than the theological motives of early Christian writers.

Language: English

Pages: 176

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Release: September 10, 2003

ISBN: 0773510028

ISBN 13: 9780773510029

The Development of the Idea of History in Antiquity

Gerald A. Press

0/5 ( ratings)

An extensive scholarly literature, written in the past century, holds that in ancient Greek and Roman thought history is understood as circular and repetitive - a consequence of their anti-temporal metaphysics - in contrast with Judaeo-Christian thought, which sees history as linear and unique - a consequence of their messianic and hence radically temporal theology. Gerald Press presents a more general view - that the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian cultures were fundamentally alien and opposed cultural forces and that, therefore, Christianity's victory over paganism included the replacement or supersession of one intellectual world by another - and then shows that, contrary to this view, there was substantial continuity between "pagan" and Christian ideas of history in antiquity, rather than a striking opposition between cyclic and linear patterns. He finds that the foundation of the Christian view of history as goal-directed lies in the rhetorical rather than the theological motives of early Christian writers.

Language: English

Pages: 176

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Release: September 10, 2003

ISBN: 0773510028

ISBN 13: 9780773510029

More books from Gerald A. Press

Who Speaks for Plato?: Studies in Platonic Anonymity: Studies in Platonic Anonymity

3.5/5 ( ratings)

افلاطون؛ راهنمای سرگشتگان

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Bloomsbury Companion to Plato

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Continuum Companion to Plato

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?