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. |
From inside the book
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... 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 , neither are my ways your ways , " said Yahweh through ...
... tion of the universities is a momentous turning point here . The discovery of the texts of Aristotle in the twelfth century helped stimulate the creation of the university , and Aristotle's works on logic and dialectics powerfully ...
... tion steeped in poetry , drama , history , and rhetoric ( oratory ) — what would come to be called a humanistic education . Of course after their formal schooling some of them became profoundly learned in the teaching of the Platonists ...
... tion in upright character as to the acquisition of skills and knowl- edge . This culture is the culture of humane rumination and civic responsibility . It might sometimes seem as though I am presuming that all great literary figures in ...
... tion , as in a venerable drama . In their very invariability they para- doxically speak to the present moment . Even the homily delivered in the course of the liturgy is supposed to conform in style and ethos to the sacred action that ...