tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post216555036596778785..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: Lewis on Boethius & Old BooksAaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-45873852688947860672010-01-30T10:00:25.216-06:002010-01-30T10:00:25.216-06:00I am certainly not uncritical when it comes to boo...I am certainly not uncritical when it comes to books outside of the Orthodox patristic tradition, but I tend to think that the average modern person will get more benefit than harm from the best of even the pagans and heretics of ancient times if they can only read them outside of their modern presuppositions.<br /><br />As for Boethius, strong doubts about his Christianity have been repeatedly expressed, and repeatedly answered, particularly by C.S. Lewis. Ditto for the notion that an Orthodox Christian could not have flourished under Theodoric. Seriously, did you not bother to actually read the excerpt I posted from <i>Discarded Image</i>?<br /><br />I appreciate the forced admission that there is at least <i>some</i> point to reading old books, but really, I think I will have to close the comments on this one. You insist on missing the point of this post, and my suspicions are further confirmed that you've missed the point of whole blog. I've never closed comments before, but I have no intention of allowing this to degenerate into a forum for debating the merits of the likes of Virgil and Boethius. This blog is a 'refuge' and a 'treasury', not a college classroom where everything is up for grabs. Further comments like these on other posts will be deleted.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-5461843338724861712010-01-29T22:22:24.557-06:002010-01-29T22:22:24.557-06:00I do not mean to dispute this. Reading old books h...I do not mean to dispute this. Reading old books help you to meditate on the grand problems of existence, for sure. But make you also meditate about the books themselves and their authors and their influence. <br />Boethius is a case in point. There is no secret that strong doubts about his Christianity have been repeatedly expressed and his Consolatio does little to dispel them. He did not die as a martyr of the orthodox faith at the hand of the heretical Arians, whom he served diligently for nearly twenty years and upon whom the same Arians heaped lavish favors.seraphimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13804487873268748108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-81645830048538549952010-01-29T10:10:57.957-06:002010-01-29T10:10:57.957-06:00Sure, but let's not forget that the people acc...Sure, but let's not forget that the people accusing him were Arians, which fact led to his local commemoration as a martyr. We know that in part it was the Neoplatonists' use of Aristotle that he found useful about them (Copleston remarks, 'in view of the predominantly neo-Platonic character of foregoing Christian philosophy, the Aristotelian element in the thought of Boethius is more remarkable & significant than the specifically neo-Platonic elements'). Based on the Consolation it seems to me that he is also indebted to those points that they have in common with St Dionysius the Areopagite. Nowhere in all of this do we find an actual advocacy of Neoplatonist theurgy, nor is there much similarity between so poetic a figure as his Lady Philosophy and such abstract things as the Neoplatonists' divine intermediaries.<br /><br />But I'm not quite certain what the point of all of this is. The point of my post was that we should read old books, and that the Consolation is a good one to read, partly because of its historical importance, but more significantly because of its useful arguments about providence and free will. Are your comments somehow meant to dispute this?Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-79180279279617326462010-01-28T22:36:57.135-06:002010-01-28T22:36:57.135-06:00My point was rather that the enthusiasm for Porphy...My point was rather that the enthusiasm for Porphyry, or Iamblichus, or Proclus, declared enemies of Christianity, could not fail to attract such accusations.seraphimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13804487873268748108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-72146945949854337152010-01-28T21:57:23.917-06:002010-01-28T21:57:23.917-06:00Perhaps not, but of course, St Photius the Great w...Perhaps not, but of course, St Photius the Great was also accused of practicing magic!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-91446366289307408302010-01-28T21:48:06.449-06:002010-01-28T21:48:06.449-06:00Among the accusations brought against Boethius was...Among the accusations brought against Boethius was also magic and sacrilege. He probably has not remained completely untouched by the "theurgy" of the neoplatonics.seraphimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13804487873268748108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-76754540570230782442010-01-28T16:27:41.518-06:002010-01-28T16:27:41.518-06:00Mark> The only one I've read all the way th...Mark> The only one I've read all the way through is the Penguin Classics, translated by Victor Watts. I highly recommend it, but I've also heard that the new translation by David Slavitt is good.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-33029572076318135392010-01-28T16:17:40.069-06:002010-01-28T16:17:40.069-06:00any recommended translations of Boethius?any recommended translations of Boethius?mark eugunenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-87075074346742876172010-01-28T01:09:10.322-06:002010-01-28T01:09:10.322-06:00Of course not. But to my knowledge nothing else he...Of course not. But to my knowledge nothing else he wrote suggests that he held such a belief, and I've never seen anyone try to argue that he did. It has all the trappings of a literary device. On the other hand, there is much evidence against Soloviov and Bulgakov, who were afflicted with a romantic temperament that strikes me as foreign to 6th-century Rome. The identification could be due in part, however, to influence by Boethius on the Russians without his having the same understanding of this mystical female figure that they held.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-19326139738891286762010-01-28T00:29:03.674-06:002010-01-28T00:29:03.674-06:00Well, of course, there are similarities, but it se...Well, of course, there are similarities, but it seems to me that Boethius regards Lady Philosophy more as a literary device than an ontological reality.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-29786935380783766122010-01-28T00:18:38.318-06:002010-01-28T00:18:38.318-06:00Why do I feel that Boethius' Lady Philosophy i...Why do I feel that Boethius' Lady Philosophy is the Sophia of Soloviov and Bulgakov?seraphimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13804487873268748108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-46819725509865898302010-01-26T15:31:15.120-06:002010-01-26T15:31:15.120-06:00Yes, of MacDonald's works I've only read P...Yes, of MacDonald's works I've only read <i>Phantastes</i>. While I liked it and found it interesting, it's certainly not something I could see becoming 'enthusiastic' for!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-8428477823519991132010-01-26T13:05:51.598-06:002010-01-26T13:05:51.598-06:00Many years ago I wrote a paper later published by ...Many years ago I wrote a paper later published by the NY CS Lewis Society which leaned heavily on Milton and Spenser. Realized then the terrible gaps in my own reading. (I have never been able to acquire CSL's enthusiasm for George MacDonald, however.)L. Vancenoreply@blogger.com