Four Cultures of the WestHarvard University Press, 2004 M10 15 - 261 pages The workings of Western intelligence in our day--whether in politics or the arts, in the humanities or the church--are as troubling as they are mysterious, leading to the questions: Where are we going? What in the world were we thinking? By exploring the history of four "cultures" so deeply embedded in Western history that we rarely see their instrumental role in politics, religion, education, and the arts, this timely book provides a broad framework for addressing these questions in a fresh way. |
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... aspects of Western history , certain modalities of Western intelligence , that have a stunningly long history stretching from ancient times until today . The book , unfashionable in several ways , is in our postmodern era especially ...
... aspect ( only one ) of the Judeo - Christian tradi- tion : its insistence on the incomprehensibility , the transcendence , the utter otherness of God . I call this the prophetic culture . " For my thoughts are not your thoughts ...
... aspects of Athens , the secular city , might have some- thing to do with Jerusalem , the sacred city : What you ... aspect of Athens with which many people today are familiar , at least on a superficial level . No historical survey ...
... aspects be reconciled , even though the former city was this - worldly , the latter other - worldly ? Many practitioners in the medieval universities believed reconciliation was possible up to a point . Here , however , I am interested ...
... than linear . If culture two seeks clear - cut definition , this culture , at least in this particular aspect , glories in ambiguity , in rich layers of meaning . Whatever Blake's " Sick Rose " is about , it is Athens and Jerusalem IS.