Between Babel and Beast
(America and Empires in Biblical Perspective)

The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan

Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)

Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)

The Four: A Survey of the Gospels

Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom

From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
In his Reciprocity and Ritual: Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-State (Clarendon Paperbacks),Richard Seaford traces a shift from Homeric interpersonal reciprocity to the impersonal cult of the Greek polis. Seaford believes this transition in the sources of power and legitimacy are reflected in the development of early Greek philosophy. He writes (p. 221-2):
“The cosmology of Herakelitos reflects the polis and its economy at a later stage of development [than Anaximander]. Anaximander’s cosmic process driven by the reciprocity of relatively autonomous substances is replaced, in the thought of Herakleitos, by a cycle of transformation effected by a single element, fire. This transformation of the elements into each other by fire involves strife, but strife is ‘justice’ in contrast to the ‘injustice’ perpetuated on each other by the substances in Anaximander.” One of the models Herakleitos draws on is the “written polis law, the universal (within each polis) regulator which must persist in its (relatively abstract) identity throughout the concrete cases it evaluates.” This in contrast to the pre-political cosmology of Anaximander, who thinks “in terms of reciprocal relations between autonomous powers.”
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, July 9, 2012 at 12:50 pm
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