Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher EducationYale University Press, 01.10.2008 - 286 Seiten 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. |
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... possible narratives , and the ability to locate new things in relation to the overall design , and the ability to locate other civilizations and other cultures in relation to it . In a democracy such as ours the goal must be to have as ...
... possible narratives , and the ability to locate new things in relation to the overall design , and the ability to locate other civilizations and other cultures in relation to it . In a democracy such as ours the goal must be to have as ...
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... possible to think that these aspects of him are inseparable from his greatness . His red hair distinguishes him from most of the Greeks around him . His passion for life often reaches heights of lyrical expression intensified by the ...
... possible to think that these aspects of him are inseparable from his greatness . His red hair distinguishes him from most of the Greeks around him . His passion for life often reaches heights of lyrical expression intensified by the ...
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... possible to think that , here , Priam , a king , redeems the insult to Achilles by Agamemnon , reasserts the code through his own courage . Achilles thinks of his own father , Peleus . Yet he grows impatient when Priam asks for the ...
... possible to think that , here , Priam , a king , redeems the insult to Achilles by Agamemnon , reasserts the code through his own courage . Achilles thinks of his own father , Peleus . Yet he grows impatient when Priam asks for the ...
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... possible to speculate that Moses , when he turns wholly against Egypt , shortened his name to Moses by dropping the name of the god . On the other hand , the Hebrew word masha , meaning " drawn out of the water , " is the etymology ...
... possible to speculate that Moses , when he turns wholly against Egypt , shortened his name to Moses by dropping the name of the god . On the other hand , the Hebrew word masha , meaning " drawn out of the water , " is the etymology ...
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Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher Education Jeffrey Peter Hart Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2001 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
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