Hellenistic Civilization

Ancient Greek buildings and structures in Athens via Wikipedia

Hellenistic civilization refers to the ancient Greek people and their culture after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE.

In sharp contrast to today’s Greece, struggling to fight off social and economic collapse, ancient Greece was a highly respected cultural powerhouse whose influence spread throughout the ancient world.

In those days, cultivated people spoke both Latin and Greek. And the Hellenistic age was, for all intents and purposes, a highpoint in Greek civilization, in terms of both its creative output and its general influence.

Hellenistic civilization was preceded by the Classical Hellenic period, and followed by Roman rule over the areas Greece had earlier dominated – even though much of Greek culture, religion, art and literature still permeated Rome’s rule, whose elite spoke and read Greek as well as Latin.¹

Bust of Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt (305 BC–282 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty via Wikipedia

The Hellenistic Age extends from Alexander’s death to the beginning of the Roman Empire in 31 BCE.

A series of dynasties, including the Ptolemies and Seleucids, dominated the region between Greece and Northern India.

Hellenistic philosophy was based in Athens from approximately 300 BCE to 200 CE. Among the many subjects explored, its chief concerns were to outline the ideal life and to develop empiricism. Hellenistic philosophy’s most prominent branches are Stoicism, Epicureanism and Skepticism.

But Hellenistic culture was diverse. It wasn’t just about hard-headed thinking. Some believe that the roots of astrology can be traced to Hellenistic Egypt.

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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_civilization

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Hell

Dante and Virgil in Hell by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) via Wikipedia

Hell is believed to be the abode of evil spirits, and a nasty place of temporary or eternal punishment for departed souls.

In Western religions, especially Christianity, hell is typically defined as the freely chosen absence of God’s presence.

Historically, most religions exhibit some conception of hell. Wikipedia suggests the following general distinction:

Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations.¹

The ancient Hittites believed that unresolved violations and quarrels were carried over into a netherworld where the recently deceased would be tormented by a spirit until a settlement was reached, at which point the deceased would proceed to the land of the dead.

Judaism believes that the dead go to Sheol, a shadowy underworld outlined in the Old Testament (OT). This was followed by the OT notion of Gehenna, a place or punishment for wicked souls.

Christian theologians generally define hell as a deprivation of God’s presence, the horrific and eternal outcome of a conscious choice to follow one’s own will instead of God’s.

Islam posits a fiery hell called Jahannam, from the Judaic Gehenna, which may be permanent or temporary.

Seven Hells as depicted in Jain Cosmology. Picture taken from 1613 CE cloth painting from Jain temple in Gujarat via Wikipedia

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism portray multiple hells, varying in degrees of horror and misery. But, as indicated above, these hells aren’t permanent. They are temporary places of punishment and purification in a long journey involving reincarnation (or some variation of reincarnation).

Many traditional Christians regard this Hindu and Buddhist view of hell as a kind of cosmic ‘detention center’ as essentially misguided. Critics of reincarnation theory say that it gives seekers a presumptuous and, perhaps, reckless sense of overconfidence.

Because reincarnation theory indicates that hell is only temporary, its critics say that believers in reincarnation might do whatever they want and wrongly believe that it doesn’t matter, that they’ll still get to heaven anyway.

Some Christians, however, believe in the idea of universal salvation where even the most hardened sinners are eventually saved. This approach is much closer to the Hindu and Buddhist view.

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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell

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Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft

Frankenstein Painting by Chop Shop Garage / Frank Stein

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (born Mary Godwin, 1797-1851)

Mary Shelley was a London-born author and daughter of the pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the journalist William Godwin.

In the midst of a story-telling contest with her husband (Percy Bysshe Shelly) and Lord Byron, Mary retired to bed and had a dream about a novel. The next morning she began the now famous Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, completed in 1818.

She also worked at editing her husband’s poetry, helping him to gain recognition through her tireless efforts in promoting his work.

» Frankenstein, Keats (John)

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Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822 originally uploaded by Jeffrey Beall

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)

Romantic poet, writer and man of letters best known for works such as Prometheus Unbound and Ozymandias.

Although Shelley bristled at the thought of organized religion, he nonetheless envisioned a transcendent reality implicit to nature.

Oxford expelled him in 1811 for distributing his pamphlet, The Necessity of Atheism.

His first wife drowned herself, after which time he married Mary Godwin, who went on to write the famous novel Frankenstein as Mary Shelly in 1818.

Friend to Lord Byron and John Keates, Percy was found dead, washed ashore after he and Edward Williams were caught in a storm while boating.

Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt immolated the bodies in a solemn beach-side ceremony.

» Atheism, Romanticism, Shelley (Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin)

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Mitchell, Joni

Mitchell, Joni (1943-) Canadian folk, pop and jazz singer-songwriter whose hippie-era lyrics speak volumes about the current situation:

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

We are stardust, we are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

» Cockburn (Bruce)

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Othello

Othello Othello, The Moor of Venice (1604) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The plot is quite simple but the emotions are complex: The good but overly trusting man, Othello, is tricked into murdering his wife, Desdemona, and is eventually brought down by the devilish and scheming Iago.

» Evil

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Boethius

A depiction of Boetius teaching his students (1385). Boetius, a 6th century Christian philosopher, helped keep alive the classic tradition in post-Roman Italy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ancius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480-524) was an educated Roman Statesman, philosopher and man of letters.

He became court minister under the Gothic ruler, Theodoric. In 510 he was elevated to consul but later got caught up in politics when trying to block an informer’s letter to protect the Senate’s reputation. Sadly for Boethius, the letter got through and the Senate charged him with treason, condemning him to death.

While in prison awaiting certain death he wrote De Consolatione Philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy). In the Middle Ages the Consolation was translated into several languages, second in popularity only to the Bible.

In a nutshell, it goes like this: While contemplating his grave situation, ‘Philosophy’ comes to Boethius in the form of a beautiful woman, her garment slightly dusty. She drives away the Muses of Poetry who’d previously been dictating to Boethius.

Philosophy and Boethius engage in debate, much like a Platonic dialogue. She instructs him on how human beings should rightly relate to God. Fear of material loss and desire for material gain are both rejected in favor of hope for eternal salvation through an all-knowing, good God. Ephemeral worldly concerns are to be replaced by the desire to lead a virtuous life with God.

Lady Philosophy and Boethius from the Consolation, (Ghent, 1485) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Much like St. Augustine’s theology, personal free will is emphasized but, at the same time, God is said to know how one will choose—both in the present and in the future.

Judging from the content and style of The Consolation of Philosophy, many believe that Boethius must have been an early Christian, although Jesus is not mentioned. Because the Consolation is a book on philosophy, some commentators say that Boethius prefers to use concepts germane to philosophy. At the same time, however, a good deal of the text employs lengthy quotations from Greek and Roman mythology to support and illustrate his philosophical ideas. Why then, would the apparently Christian Boethius exclude Christian stories?

Regardless of his religious path, the notion of abandoning worldly fear and desire in favor of aspiring to eternal bliss is also found in Hinduism and arguably in Buddhism.

Boethius never escaped imprisonment and was put to death after completing his book, which makes reading it all the more poignant.

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William Blake

Image via Tumblr

William Blake (1757-1827) was an English engraver, painter, poet and mystic born in London.

Like visionaries from most world religions, Blake believed that a spiritual light exists behind the world of appearances. His writings and art mostly refer to philosophical, mythological and biblical themes.

Unlike artists who use abstraction to hint at a perceived yet normally unseen reality, Blake’s imagery is quite direct as he attempts to portray his perception of inner light, according to his own vision.

He differs from mainstream Christianity by emphasizing the importance of spontaneous, unguided and unchecked spiritual experience. At times his work is reminiscent of Gnosticism, especially when saying the self and the Godhead may be one. Blake’s beliefs differ from both Catholicism and Gnosticism, however, in that he seems to imply that good and evil are relative ideas constructed by the regimented mind.

This relativistic view is especially apparent in his so-called ‘minor prophecy’, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1791), an arguably grandiose work of undisciplined introspection that leans towards a nebulous, incomplete kind of Buddhism. While not without its literary merit, and also containing a few worthwhile critiques of religious hypocrisy, Heaven and Hell seems to reflect Blake’s personal quest and, perhaps, limited degree of spiritual understanding. Whether it contains any universal, salvific value is a matter of debate. Some might say it’s a useful signpost along the road of spiritual formation while nonetheless incomplete. Others might say it’s misleading.

William Blake’s Newton (1795), colour print with pen & ink and watercolour. Blake’s picture of Newton as a divine geometer was one of a series he created whilst living in Lambeth in the late 1790s.

William Blake (1757-1827) was an English engraver, painter, poet and mystic born in London.

Blake’s best-known paintings are The Canterbury Pilgrims and Jacob’s Dream. He also illustrated Young’s Night Thoughts (1797), Linnell’s The Book of Job (1826), Dante’s Divine Comedy and did imaginative engravings for his own writing.

Other works include Poetical Sketches (1783), Songs of Innocence (1789), Songs of Experience (1794) which include ‘The Tyger’, and the prophetic poem ‘Jerusalem’ (1804-20).

Most of the notables around him thought he was a flake, and his work and ideas were largely unrecognized. Near the end of his life he lived in poverty, spurred on by a band of youthful admirers.

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Batman

Batman comic book cover via Tumblr

Batman first appeared in American culture as a comic book hero in Detective Comics #27 of May 1939. His creators Bob Kane (artist) and Bill Finger (writer) depicted him as a “The Caped Crusader” and “The Dark Knight.” Batman comics were extremely successful and spawned several movies and a hit TV show from 1966-68.

The TV show’s humorous, tongue-in-cheek approach attracted actors like Shelly Winters and Cesar Romero, who played archetypal villains. The most memorable of the Batman villains are probably The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin, Cat Woman and Mr. Freeze.

It’s been suggested that the relationship between Batman and Robin, the “Boy Wonder,” has homosexual overtones, especially in the TV show depiction.

Batman also appeared in an animated TV series from 1992-1995.

Batman movies began in 1943. The more recent Batman film productions have leaned toward the dark and gloomy instead of the comical. Some say this is more in keeping with Batman’s original character. The most recent film, Dark Knight Rises, however, seems a bit lighter in tone, with some comical moments found in scenes between Batman and Cat Woman.

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Baptists

St. John baptizing Christ in the Jordan River

A Baptist is a member of a Protestant Christian Church or denomination with roots in England and Wales from the beginning of the 17th century. In the late 19^th century, Baptists quickly became an important part of the American Christian landscape.

Today’s Baptist Church is a global phenomenon, the Baptist World Alliance having been established in 1905.

Baptists generally reject infant baptism, believing that sacred scripture points to the necessity of consciously choosing to embrace Christian belief. So for Baptists, a newborn who cannot choose is not ready to accept Baptism.

However, not all Baptists agree on every theological issue as, say, Catholics seem to when professing their common faith in the Mass. In fact, Baptists belief varies considerably. And this divergence of belief isn’t just a private matter, kept under wraps for fear of repercussions or to preserve the Church’s unity. Rather, it’s public. ¹

Not surprisingly, Baptist congregations tend to be run independently. And they’re quite active in organizing missions, schools and youth camps.

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¹  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists#Beliefs_that_vary_among_Baptists

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