Four Stages of Greek Religion: Studies Based on a Course of Lectures Delivered in April 1912 at Columbia University |
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Page 6
... speak with authority on a subject which is still changing and showing new facets year by year . They only claim to represent the way of regarding certain large issues of Greek Religion which has gradually taken shape , and has proved ...
... speak with authority on a subject which is still changing and showing new facets year by year . They only claim to represent the way of regarding certain large issues of Greek Religion which has gradually taken shape , and has proved ...
Page 24
... speak clearly , and they are mostly borne out by the literature . Of course we must dis- count the kind of evidence that misled Winckelmann , the mere Roman and Alexandrian art and mythology ; but even if we go back to the fifth century ...
... speak clearly , and they are mostly borne out by the literature . Of course we must dis- count the kind of evidence that misled Winckelmann , the mere Roman and Alexandrian art and mythology ; but even if we go back to the fifth century ...
Page 26
... speak about God they would doubtless tell us that he was a bull or a lion.3 We must notice the instinctive language of the poets , using the word eós in many subtle senses for which our word God ' is too stiff , too personal , and too ...
... speak about God they would doubtless tell us that he was a bull or a lion.3 We must notice the instinctive language of the poets , using the word eós in many subtle senses for which our word God ' is too stiff , too personal , and too ...
Page 39
... speak of ancient kings being ' deified ' ; we regard the process as due to an outburst of superstition or insane flattery . And so no doubt it sometimes was , especially in later times - when man and god were felt as two utterly ...
... speak of ancient kings being ' deified ' ; we regard the process as due to an outburst of superstition or insane flattery . And so no doubt it sometimes was , especially in later times - when man and god were felt as two utterly ...
Page 48
... speaking dangerous words ; in great moments we must avoid speaking any words at all , lest there should be even in the most innocent of them some unknown danger ; for we are surrounded above and below by Kêres , or Spirits , winged ...
... speaking dangerous words ; in great moments we must avoid speaking any words at all , lest there should be even in the most innocent of them some unknown danger ; for we are surrounded above and below by Kêres , or Spirits , winged ...
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Common terms and phrases
A. B. Cook Achaioi Aeschylus allegory ancient animals Anthesteria anthropomorphic Apollo appears Athena Athenian beautiful believe body bull called century Christian Chrysippus classical conception conquered course creed dead death destroyed Diasia Diels Dionysus divine doctrine early earth elements emotion Epicurus essay eternal evil exist explained expurgation father feel Gnostic goddess Greece Greek religion happen heaven Hellenes Hellenistic Hermes Hesiod holy Homer human ideal imagination initiation Ionian Julian kings Korê Kouretes Kouros literature living means Meilichios mind Mithras mysticism mythology myths nature needs never oracle Pagan Pelasgian perhaps philosophers planets Plato Poseidon Posidonius primitive reason Refutatio Omnium Haeresium religious rise rites ritual sacred sacrifice Sallustius Saviour seems sometimes soul spirit stars Stoics superstition tabu Themis Thessaly things thought tion tradition tribal tribe truth virtue whole word worship Zeus δὲ ἐν καὶ
Popular passages
Page 83 - It is a rise of asceticism, of mysticism, in a sense, of pessimism; a loss of selfconfidence, of hope in this life and of faith in normal human effort; a despair of patient inquiry, a cry for infallible revelation; an indifference to the welfare of the state, a conversion of the soul to God.
Page 133 - As far as knowledge and conscious reason will go, we should follow resolutely their austere guidance. When they cease, as cease they must, we must use as best we can those fainter powers of apprehension and surmise and sensitiveness by which, after all, most high truth has been reached as well as most high art and poetry...
Page 43 - ... YearDaemon, as it seems to be reflected in Tragedy, is generally a story of Pride and Punishment. Each Year arrives, waxes great, commits the sin of Hubris, and then is slain. The death is deserved; but the slaying is a sin: hence comes the next Year as Avenger, or as the Wronged One re-risen. 'All things pay retribution for their injustice one to another according to the ordinance of time.
Page 158 - I escape uninjured and without the need of hurting him. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none.
Page 83 - ANY one who turns from the great writers of classical Athens, say Sophocles or Aristotle, to those of the Christian era must be conscious of a great difference in tone. There is a change in the whole relation of the writer to the world about him.
Page 43 - The extraordinary security of our modern life in times of peace makes it hard for us to realize, except by a definite effort of the imagination, the constant precariousness, the frightful proximity of death, that was usual in these weak ancient communities.
Page 78 - Sky, greater than time and eternity and all the flow of being, is unnamable by any lawgiver, unutterable by any voice, not to be seen by any eye. But we, being unable to apprehend His essence, use the help of sounds and names and pictures, of beaten gold and ivory and silver, of plants and rivers...
Page 78 - God Himself, the father and fashioner of all that is, older than the Sun or the Sky, greater than time and eternity and all the flow of being, is unnameable by any lawgiver, unutterable by any voice, not to be seen by any eye.
Page 92 - It is worth remembering that the best seed-ground for superstition is a society in which the fortunes of men seem to bear practically no relation to their merits and efforts. A stable and well-governed society does tend, speaking roughly, to ensure that the Virtuous and Industrious Apprentice shall succeed in life, while the Wicked and Idle Apprentice fails.
Page 17 - Paul calls moris or faith : that is, some attitude not of the conscious intellect but of the whole being, using all its powers of sensitiveness, all its feeblest and most inarticulate feelers and tentacles, in the effort somehow to touch by these that which cannot be grasped by the definite senses or analysed by the conscious reason.