The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths explores and compares the most influential sets of divine myths in Western culture: the Homeric pantheon and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Heath argues that not only does the God of the Old Testament bear a striking resemblance to the Olympians, but also that the Homeric system rejected by the Judeo-Christian tradition offers a better model for the human condition. The universe depicted by Homer and populated by his gods is one that creates a unique and powerful responsibility – almost directly counter to that evoked by the Bible—for humans to discover ethical norms, accept death as a necessary human limit, develop compassion to mitigate a tragic existence, appreciate frankly both the glory and dangers of sex, and embrace and respond courageously to an indifferent universe that was clearly not designed for human dominion.Heath builds on recent work in biblical and classical studies to examine the contemporary value of mythical deities. Judeo-Christian theologians over the millennia have tried to explain away Yahweh’s Olympian nature while dismissing the Homeric deities for the same reason Greek philosophers abandoned them: they don’t live up to preconceptions of what a deity should be. In particular, the Homeric gods are disappointingly plural, anthropomorphic, and amoral (at best). But Heath argues that Homer’s polytheistic apparatus challenges us to live meaningfully without any help from the divine. In other words, to live well in Homer’s tragic world – an insight gleaned by Achilles, the hero of the Iliad – one must live as if there were no gods at all.The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths should change the conversation academics in classics, biblical studies, theology and philosophy have – especially between disciplines – about the gods of early Greek epic, while reframing on a more popular level the discussion of the role of ancient myth in shaping a thoughtful life.
Format: CONTRIBUTORS: John HeathEAN: 9780367729929COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 589 gHEIGHT: 234 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Taylor & Francis LtdDATE PUBLISHED: 2020-12-18CITY: GENRE: HISTORY / Ancient / GeneralWIDTH: 156 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Ancient Greece, Ancient (Classical) Greek, Ancient history, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Philosophy of religion, Old Testaments, Ancient religions and Mythologies
"important and fascinating ... [Heath] has offered a brilliantly researched, original, engaging, witty and frequently humorous engagement with the abuses of the Bible by contemporary believers. I strongly applaud his humanistic integrity, erudition and righteous indignation with ignorance and intolerance ... I know of no text that better introduces these two monumental repositories of ancient myths, one Jewish and one Greek, to the cultural capital evoked by the Gospel authors or that would more profoundly shake students into critical engagement and disturbing discovery."- Dennis R. MacDonald, Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University, USA, The Classical Review 2020
John Heath is Professor of Classics at Santa Clara University, USA. His previous books include a study of the literary adaptations of classical myth (Actaeon, the Unmannerly Intruder, 1992), a popular defense of the study of classics (Who Killed Homer? co-authored with Victor Davis Hanson, 1998), an examination of the links between speech, animalization, and status in Greek literature and society (The Talking Greeks, 2005), and an exploration of the common themes underlying American bestselling books (Why We Read What We Read, co-authored with Lisa Adams, 2007).
The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths explores and compares the most influential sets of divine myths in Western culture: the Homeric pantheon and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Heath argues that not only does the God of the Old Testament bear a striking resemblance to the Olympians, but also that the Homeric system rejected by the Judeo-Christian tradition offers a better model for the human condition. The universe depicted by Homer and populated by his gods is one that creates a unique and powerful responsibility – almost directly counter to that evoked by the Bible—for humans to discover ethical norms, accept death as a necessary human limit, develop compassion to mitigate a tragic existence, appreciate frankly both the glory and dangers of sex, and embrace and respond courageously to an indifferent universe that was clearly not designed for human dominion.Heath builds on recent work in biblical and classical studies to examine the contemporary value of mythical deities. Judeo-Christian theologians over the millennia have tried to explain away Yahweh’s Olympian nature while dismissing the Homeric deities for the same reason Greek philosophers abandoned them: they don’t live up to preconceptions of what a deity should be. In particular, the Homeric gods are disappointingly plural, anthropomorphic, and amoral (at best). But Heath argues that Homer’s polytheistic apparatus challenges us to live meaningfully without any help from the divine. In other words, to live well in Homer’s tragic world – an insight gleaned by Achilles, the hero of the Iliad – one must live as if there were no gods at all.The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths should change the conversation academics in classics, biblical studies, theology and philosophy have – especially between disciplines – about the gods of early Greek epic, while reframing on a more popular level the discussion of the role of ancient myth in shaping a thoughtful life.
Format: CONTRIBUTORS: John HeathEAN: 9780367729929COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 589 gHEIGHT: 234 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Taylor & Francis LtdDATE PUBLISHED: 2020-12-18CITY: GENRE: HISTORY / Ancient / GeneralWIDTH: 156 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Ancient Greece, Ancient (Classical) Greek, Ancient history, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Philosophy of religion, Old Testaments, Ancient religions and Mythologies
John Heath is Professor of Classics at Santa Clara University, USA. His previous books include a study of the literary adaptations of classical myth (Actaeon, the Unmannerly Intruder, 1992), a popular defense of the study of classics (Who Killed Homer? co-authored with Victor Davis Hanson, 1998), an examination of the links between speech, animalization, and status in Greek literature and society (The Talking Greeks, 2005), and an exploration of the common themes underlying American bestselling books (Why We Read What We Read, co-authored with Lisa Adams, 2007).
Die verhaal van die kasarm en die Calitze kom tot 'n mooi einde
Ek kan nie ’n boek summier toemaak nadat die slotsin geskryf is nie. Ek lees álles, tot by die outeursnotas en die bronnelys (gewoonlik gooi ek darem net vlugtig ’n oog oor die bonne!). Chanette Paul maak in die nota oor Maanschijnbaai 2, die verdere verhaal van Nan en Jeannie, die stelling: “Lesers moet my asseblief vergewe dat my verbeelding altyd die oorhand oor die werklikheid kry en verdigsel voorkeur bo feite.” (p.635) Ek wil daarby aanhaak en bieg dat ’n uitstekende verhoudingsroman soos hierdie tydelik die oorhand gekry het oor my traagheid om te lees oor reïnkarnasie en die esoteriese. Die klomp Calitzse het my tyd en aandag totaal gekaap.
Die skrywer wy die laaste bladsye aan ’n verduideliking oor hoe die Maanschijnbaai-tweeluik ontstaan het. Sy beweer dat die Calitze haar “onkant” betrap het. Sy wou ’n romanse skryf maar uiteindelik was die karakters so kompleks dat dit op twee dik boeke en ’n intense familiedrama uitgeloop het.
Van die onderskeie karakters raak diep waarhede kwyt wat die moeite werd is om te onderstreep en te onthou, soos Zach wat dit gehad het oor die risiko om iemand op ’n pedestal te plaas omdat jy daardeur die persoon ’n onreg aandoen. (p.539) En Nan, wat die hele klomp Calitze moes grootkry, se wyse raad: “Met eerlikheid, Jeannie, kom ’n mens baie verder as met opoffering. Met eerlikheid gee jy almal ’n regverdige kans. Opoffering beteken bloot jy doen iets teen jou sin omdat jy glo dit sal ander baat.” (p.613)
Maak seker dat jy genoeg tyd op hande het, dan lees jy hierdie tweeluik in volgorde, Jo & Sue, gevolg deur Nan & Jeannie. Dit is hersien en met splinternuwe, pragtige baadjies uitgegee deur Lapa Uitgewers.
A very practical approach and the tools to go along with it
Very useful. The book provides a structure and an approach that I would have been useful earlier in my investing. I like the five gates and in particular the attention to quality and management's capital allocation decisions. I will also apply the idea of the stewardship log to get more explicit on my investment theses. This is kind of the practical aspect of what I learned from the Psychology of Money.
the title ties in really nicley the more towards the end but the title for the book suits it real...
the book is very slow burn and takes a while for like captivating parts of the book .but the middle to the end the pace of the book is really nice the beginning is just repetitive and and trust the processes
Skuld en vergifnis word nie versuiker in hierdie jeugverhaal nie
Twee halwes maak ’n hele is die wenner van ’n jeugboekprys. Ek moes myself gedurig herinner wat die teikenmark nou eintlik is, want die sake wat aangeraak word, is geensins beperk tot jeugdige lesers nie. Die sterk newe-karakters dra daartoe by die selfs baie ouer lesers goed aanklank kan vind by die storielyn wat ontvou.
“Hulle sê as jy iemand vergewe, lig jy ’n vrag van daardie persoon se skouers af. Maar miskien is sommige dinge net te swaar om van iemand anders se skouers te lig?” (p.178) Baie aandag word gegee aan skuld en vergifnis, maar geen suikeromhulde kitsoplossings word aangebied nie. Dit sou die storie beslis vervlak het.
Na die aardskuddende ontdekking wat Lira gemaak het, gaan sy vir drie maande na ’n Griekse eiland en maak sy kennis met haar ander helfte, ’n halfsuster wat presies die teenoorgestelde is van haar eie ingetoë, overthinking self. Ek het daarvan gehou dat hulle, die verskille ten spyt, nie in heftige konflik was nie. Eerder besig om algaande te ontdek dat hulle by mekaar kan aanpas en albei sterker daardeur kan kom.
Marita van der Vyver is ’n waardige wenner van die Tafelberg Jeugboekprys en hierdie boek hoort beslis in van der Vyver versamelings. Dit is uitgegee deur Tafelberg, ’n druknaam van Jonathan Ball Uitgewers.
