General Christianity, Greece - Ancient History, Renaissance & Modern Philosophy, Civilization - History
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Overview
This book about nostalgia raises the question of why it has become such a dominant and influential posture in contemporary philosophical and theological writing. The author notes the presence of the word "after" in a great many contemporary academic titles, and notes a spiritual sort of alienation that many feel in the "modern age." Out of this scholarly discontent emerges one of two related attempts: the attempt to return to a premodern manner of thinking and being (nostalgia); and the playful flight into some vaguely defined "postmodernity" (utopia). In either case, the common perception is that modernity is a problem, a problem to be avoided or escaped. Bringing philosophical and theological texts into conversation with one another, the book discovers a startling similarity in the accounts of modernness offered in these disparate idioms. Both are telling a story - a story which, the author argues, is as seductive as it is misguided.Editorials
Booknews
Nostalgia is Ruprecht's (religion and classics, Emory U.) theme, and he challenges the popular view of classical Greece as a high water mark of moral integrity from which the modern world has fallen. He discusses modern thought after Nietzsche, Greek philosophical texts and modern commentary on them, and theological analysis. He ends by arguing that a post-modern future utopia is as seductive and as illusionary as any from the classical past. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
July 1, 1996
Publisher
Albany : State University of New York Press, c1996.
Pages
260
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780791429334