In my continuing, albeit fledgling, series on the books that have influenced my education, I note today Greek Myths and Christian Mystery, by Catholic theologian Hugo Rahner (brother of the more famous Catholic theologian Karl Rahner), written in German in 1957 and translated into English in 1963.
By the time I found this book (just stumbled upon it while strolling among stacks and stacks of books at the college library where I was an undergrad), I had already received a B.A. in history (concentrating on Western history, and leaning back to the Middle Ages) and was in between degrees, soon to embark upon a second B.A., this time in comparative religions. I was already in my mind making the transition from historiography to the deeper wellsprings of history in philosophy and theology.
It was not entirely an accident, then, that I chanced upon Rahner's title, as the stacks I tended to rove amongst were in the sections of the library where history merged into philosophy and religious studies. The title caught my eye -- particularly the "Mystery" part, as I had begun in my intellectual odyssey to note and appreciate the role of mysticism in the Western philosophoumena and theologoumena. And my year or two reading Eric Voegelin had by that time disabused me of one of the misconceptions of post-modern thought: namely, that mythology must be automatically untrue.
Greek Myths and Christian Mystery turned out to be no mere historical account. It is a profoundly moving, strangely intricate survey and illumination of the deeper consanguinity between Graeco-Roman thought (most of which -- including the Philosophers -- was, indeed, mythopoetic) and Christian theology in its first great era of the first few centuries A.D. This book without any hesitation I would say counts among the top ten books that have opened not only my mind, but also my heart, to the wonder of the West's spiritual odyssey.
And my choice of the word odyssey is no mere window-dressing to my brief review here: for, in his meditation, Hugo Rahner unfolds and unravels his theme of Homer as the classical centerpiece between the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian nexus, bearing the transition of the former to the latter not by denigration and denunciation -- as Muslims or Puritans or Evangelicals would have it -- but by sublimation and apotheosis. At one point (perhaps at the climax of his thesis), Rahner adverts to Homer yoked with outstretched arms to the mast of his ship in The Odyssey as a prefiguration not only of Christ's crucifixion but of his Passion undergoing humanity. This idea is not Rahner's: He was simply unearthing what Christian philosophers and theologians themselves wrote.
2 comments:
Hiya Hesp,
I’ve been extremely busy with work, and so I haven’t had much time to comment here or at JW, but I thought it might be helpful for you to know that I’ m really enjoying your ‘Book Club’ series. I haven’t had time to acquire what you have so far recommended, much less read the books, but I am definitely taking notes, so your efforts are by no means wasted.
Also, regarding this from your post:
“It is a profoundly moving, strangely intricate survey and illumination of the deeper consanguinity between Graeco-Roman thought (most of which -- including the Philosophers -- was, indeed, mythopoetic) and Christian theology in its first great era of the first few centuries A.D.”
I think that this is a very important point. If we, as anti-Islam fighters, are to convince our fellows in society that Western Civilization is unique, superior to all others, and essential to fight for, (it is a sad commentary on our times that this would even need to be explained) then obviously we are going to need to provide a definition of what Western Civilization is. And we must be able to explain its lineage.
In my conversations with people, I’ve taken to explaining it as a confluence of the Judeo-Christian and Graeco-Roman traditions. As a talking point, I find that this is a simple way to make a light bulb go off over the head of some, and get an anchor into the discussion, establishing a foundation upon which to build up and contextualize the global jihad and how vital it is that we fight back, and how much we have to lose if we don’t. Sadly, I don’t think most people even ask themselves this question ‘What is Western Civilization?’ today.
And, of course, the Left wants to ‘end history’ altogether, so to speak. Which is ironic, given that Socialism is a mutant offspring of the very tradition the Left so despises.
Thanks Fiqh, I hope to post a book at least once a week.
Part of the problem with the West is a loss of appreciation for its greatness and in many ways superiority over other civilizations. This has gotten so bad that even the mere mention of "the West" (other than disparagingly, of course) elicits a sneeringly rhetorical question, "What is 'the West'...?"
The same person has no problem, of course, glibly referring to that same West he discounted, when such a reference is to compare it unfavorably with non-Western cultures.
And the supreme irony is that this attitude has been most copiously and industriously cultivated by Westerners themselves!
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