A Christian's Guide to Greek Culture - (Translated Texts for Historians) by Pseudo-Nonnus (Paperback)

About the Book

Composed by Gregory of Nazianus in the fourth century, Sermons 4, 5, 39, and 43 are remarkable for their large number of classical allusions. They reflect Gregory's determination, shared by many other Christians, to preserve the useful aspects of Greek learning for the service of the church in a world where a pagan system of education still held power.

Book Synopsis

The Commentaries translated here, dating from the sixth century, show the persisting survival of Greek learning in an increasingly Christianised world. The work takes the form of a series of explanations and glosses of classical references in Gregory's original Sermons. Although the author uses an elementary technique of the schools to structure his text, which has little in the way of eloquence or literary art, there is a striking single-mindededness and confidence in his explanations. Some of the information given is inaccurate, and the author is not averse to rewriting texts that he cannot explain. Nonetheless, the work displays a lively interest in Greek learning, and presents a fascinating insight into the attitude of one particular Christian to its continuing validity.

Review Quotes

Everyone interested in the Early Byzantine period will be grateful for Nimmo Smith's efforts to make this information readily available. For historians of theology these Commentaries will be a reminder that the Byzantine world was surely a Christian world, but a Christian world of which mythological tales about Heracles, Zeus, Diogenes or Dionysius were still part and parcel.The Heythrop Journal