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E-book
Author Nuffelen, Peter van

Title Rethinking the gods : philosophical readings of religion in the post-Hellenistic period / Peter van Nuffelen
Published Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 273 pages)
Series Greek culture in the Roman world
Greek culture in the Roman world.
Contents Ancient wisdom -- Tracing the origins : ancients, philosophers, and mystery cults -- Plutarch of Chaeronea : "history as a basis for a philosophy that has theology as its end" -- Numenius : philosophy as a hidden mystery -- Dio Chrysostom, Apuleius and the rhetoric of ancient wisdom -- Cosmic hierarchy -- Towards the pantheon as the paradigm of order -- The Great King of Persia and his satraps : ideal and ideology -- Dio Chrysostom : virtue and structure in the kingship orations -- Plutarch : a benevolent hierarchy of gods and men -- Polemic and prejudice : challenging the discourse -- Lucian, Epicureanism and strategies of satire -- Philo of Alexandria : challenging Greco-Roman culture -- Celsus and Christian superstition
Summary "Ancient philosophers had always been fascinated by religion. From the first century BC onwards the traditionally hostile attitude of Greek and Roman philosophy was abandoned in favour of the view that religion was a source of philosophical knowledge. This book studies that change, not from the usual perspective of the history of religion, but as part of the wider tendency of Post-Hellenistic philosophy to open up to external, non-philosophical sources of knowledge and authority. It situates two key themes, ancient wisdom and cosmic hierarchy, in the context of Post-Hellenistic philosophy and traces their reconfigurations in contemporary literature and in the polemic between Jews, Christians and pagans. Overall, Post-Hellenistic philosophy displayed a relatively high degree of unity in its ideas on religion, which should not be reduced to a preparation for Neoplatonism"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-268) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Philosophy, Ancient.
Religion -- Philosophy -- History
LITERARY COLLECTIONS -- Ancient, Classical & Medieval.
PHILOSOPHY -- History & Surveys -- Ancient & Classical.
Philosophy, Ancient
Religion -- Philosophy
Kosmologie
Philosophie
Religion
Philosophie.
Religion.
Hellenismus.
Antikens filosofi -- religiösa aspekter -- Århundradet efter Kr. -- 100-talet.
Religionsfilosofi -- historia -- antiken.
Hellenismen.
Fornkyrkan.
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
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