Buch, Englisch, 204 Seiten
European Thought from Antiquity to the Present
Buch, Englisch, 204 Seiten
Reihe: Classical Scholarship in Translation
ISBN: 978-1-009-22034-7
Verlag: Cambridge University Press
How should we explain differences in religious belief and practice? Philippe Borgeaud's ambitious intellectual history tells the story of how reflection on religious phenomena emerged, throughout the centuries, in European consciousness and scholarship. Christianity in particular, as Borgeaud shows, long wrestled with how to understand polytheistic cultures versus its own belief in a single omnipotent God. The Church Fathers, the author argues, sought to inherit the core of Graeco-Roman culture while rejecting its deities and religious practices; and patristic ideas were later adopted when Europeans travelling and colonising the world encountered ever more varied polytheistic traditions. At times detached, at times enchanted, these travellers' reflections provided the basis for the modern study of 'religions', and have since conditioned the mindset of anyone brought up in a European culture. The book concludes by arguing for the importance of liberation from these assumptions and instead considering religion as a form of 'play'.
Weitere Infos & Material
1. Talking about Gods; 2. The Birth of Paganism; 3. Translating the Gods; 4. Sources of Comparison; 5. On the Ground; 6. The Destiny of the Figure; 7. The Logic of False Beliefs; 8. The Contagion of the Sacred; 9. Sloughing Off the Straitjacket.
