This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ... III. HOW HE APPEALED TO THE CHURCH IT IS the Christian writers, the early Fathers of the growing Christian Church, who elevate Seneca into prominence as more than a man of affairs or an author of questionable style. When the new religion has ceased to be a secret ritual and has risen superior to the ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ... III. HOW HE APPEALED TO THE CHURCH IT IS the Christian writers, the early Fathers of the growing Christian Church, who elevate Seneca into prominence as more than a man of affairs or an author of questionable style. When the new religion has ceased to be a secret ritual and has risen superior to the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus, we find that the subject of this sketch is as warmly welcomed as he was formerly abused. But it is for a different reason. The leaders of the Church were less interested in a way of saying things than in the thing to be said; they were desirous of winning over as many educated converts as possible to the new faith. In Seneca they discovered a thinker who struck to the root of their problem, whose language and traditions appealed to them as citizeins both of Rome and of the City not built with hands. East and West could meet through the message of such an interpreter, especially along religious lines. The lapse of time had wiped out cliques in literature and politics; the lasting qualities of the man were all that mattered; and at this point the criterion became one of religion and religion only, for several centuries. St. Jerome himself had said: "If you read all the books of the philosophers you cannot help finding in them some part of the vessels of God." 8 But Seneca was placed above Cicero in this category. The reasons for this are not far to seek. Seneca was a Stoic, and Stoicism was the porch to Christianity. Then, as now, it was the thought-force that lay nearest to our inspirational religion. It was Stoicism which made the Christian fathers claim Seneca as one of their own, which made St. Paul quote Aratus to the Athenians as one " in whom we live and move and have our being." There is Stoicism in the...
Read Less
Add this copy of Seneca the Philosopher, and His Modern Message to cart. $16.27, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of Seneca the Philosopher, and His Modern Message to cart. $27.44, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
