The Good and Beautiful as the essence of Greek thought

November 25th, 2009 - Mail a friend

In a significant essay on Platonic philosophy, R. J. O’Connell highlights one of the most interesting and problematic aspects of the identification of the good and the beautiful in the Greek philosophical tradition : ‘It is a truism to say that, for the Greek mind, the good and the ... More

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Colonization vs. colonialism

November 19th, 2009 - Mail a friend

The expansion across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea by the Greeks in the 8th to 6th centuries is a well-known phenomenon, and the Greeks themselves were aware of this (Socrates for example famously compared the Greeks to frogs around a pond). Equally significant, but of a somewhat different ... More

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The first European revolution–II

October 19th, 2009 - Mail a friend

We have seen in the previous post some significant characteristics of the Gregorian reforms. Several observations can be made concerning these reforms, both in the three areas separately identified and as a whole. The first observation is that these reforms displaced a number of long-standing ... More

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The first European revolution–I

October 15th, 2009 - Mail a friend

(An important source for this post is Karl F. Morrison’s “The Gregorian Reform” published in Christian Spirituality, Origins to the Twelfth Century, New York, 1988.) The Gregorian reform is an important event in the story of Western Christianity. The initial aim of these reforms ... More

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Europe is cultural, not geographical

September 22nd, 2009 - Mail a friend

We often hear a wide diversity of arguments put forth in particular regarding the expansion of the European Union, but not only. What is Europe? Where does it start, and where does it end? Typically, the European continent’s boundaries are set at the Ural Mountains in the East, and the Sea ... More

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