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Overview
... Kingsley , In the Dark Places of Wisdom , 63–64 . 64. On a mystic interpretation of the term kouros , see Kingsley , In the Dark Places of Wisdom , 71– 76 , 101-3 , 168–69 , and 216–19 . 65. DK 28 - B2 , 1. 5 . 66. Fornari , Da Dioniso ...Synopsis
This magisterial reflection on the history and destiny of the West compares Greco-Roman civilization and the Judeo-Christian tradition in order to understand what both unites and divides them. Mediation, understood as a collective, symbolic experience, gives society unity and meaning, putting human beings in contact with a universal object known as the world or reality. But unity has a price: the very force that enables peaceful coexistence also makes us prone to conflict. As a result, in order to find a common point of convergence—of at-one-ment—someone must be sacrificed. Sacrifice, then, is the historical pillar of mediation. It was endorsed in a cosmic-religious sense in antiquity and rejected for ethical reasons in modernity, where the Judeo-Christian tradition plays an intermediate role in condemning sacrificial violence as such, while accepting sacrifice as a voluntary act offered to save other human beings. Today, as we face the collapse of all shared mediations, this intermediating solution offers a way out of our moral and cultural plight.Book Details
Published
September 1, 2020
Publisher
MSU Press
Pages
492
ISBN
9781628953947