I believe Antonius is right that Ausonius was more classical than Christian
From the Phaedo: “if we are ever to know anything absolutely, we must be free from the body and must behold the actual realities with the eye of the soul alone.”
But Podius is not wrong to connect Ausonius to the Christian monk - perhaps the monk is more Hellenistic than he is Hebrew!
Here is a wonderful book review on how Greek sexual pessimism and Hebrew marital traditionalism competed for influence in early Christianity:
The one thing your review misses, I think, is the way that Greek thought downgraded family life as the province of the private and selfish, as opposed to the joint public life of the polis. Paul Rahe's book on Greek republics is particularly good on this. It is not just women, but the entire familial sphere that is seen as a problem.
But the general idea that 3rd-4th century Christianity had been thoroughly Hellenized is eminently defensible, and congenial to my own religious biases.
The review is not mine but from Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf. Their Substack is worth checking out!
I have had Rahe's book on my reading list since you alluded to it in your Silicon Valley essay. The privatization of the family seems a mistake indeed, and is perhaps one of my strongest quarrels with Arendt, who I otherwise admire (though her essay What is Authority seems to me another strong indictment of Hellenistic anti-naturalism).
Alas, for me, my anti-Hellenism is not congenial to my religious biases, but a tension which I must work out. I belong to that "inheritance which has been left to us by no testament" and must watch my brethren oscillate between revolution and nostalgic LARPing. Happy are those who are confident in a new revelation to match the novus ordo seclorum!
I believe Antonius is right that Ausonius was more classical than Christian
From the Phaedo: “if we are ever to know anything absolutely, we must be free from the body and must behold the actual realities with the eye of the soul alone.”
But Podius is not wrong to connect Ausonius to the Christian monk - perhaps the monk is more Hellenistic than he is Hebrew!
Here is a wonderful book review on how Greek sexual pessimism and Hebrew marital traditionalism competed for influence in early Christianity:
https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/joint-review-origens-revenge-by-brian?utm_source=publication-search
Upon reflection I think this might be right.
The one thing your review misses, I think, is the way that Greek thought downgraded family life as the province of the private and selfish, as opposed to the joint public life of the polis. Paul Rahe's book on Greek republics is particularly good on this. It is not just women, but the entire familial sphere that is seen as a problem.
But the general idea that 3rd-4th century Christianity had been thoroughly Hellenized is eminently defensible, and congenial to my own religious biases.
The review is not mine but from Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf. Their Substack is worth checking out!
I have had Rahe's book on my reading list since you alluded to it in your Silicon Valley essay. The privatization of the family seems a mistake indeed, and is perhaps one of my strongest quarrels with Arendt, who I otherwise admire (though her essay What is Authority seems to me another strong indictment of Hellenistic anti-naturalism).
Alas, for me, my anti-Hellenism is not congenial to my religious biases, but a tension which I must work out. I belong to that "inheritance which has been left to us by no testament" and must watch my brethren oscillate between revolution and nostalgic LARPing. Happy are those who are confident in a new revelation to match the novus ordo seclorum!
Excited for Part Two!
Thank you! Part Two is now out.