The Christian Invention of Time
The Christian Invention of Time
£39.99
GBPTime is integral to human culture. Over the last two centuries people's relationship with time has been transformed through industrialisation, trade and technology. But the first such life-changing transformation – under Christianity's influence – happened in late antiquity. It was then that time began to be conceptualised in new ways, with discussion of eternity, life after death and the end of days. Individuals also began to experience time differently: from the seven-day week to the order of daily prayer and the festal calendar of Christmas and Easter. With trademark flair and versatility, world-renowned classicist Simon Goldhill uncovers this change in thinking. He explores how it took shape in the literary writing of late antiquity and how it resonates even today. His bold new cultural history will appeal to scholars and students of classics, cultural history, literary studies, and early Christianity alike.
- Offers the first complete account, through the concept of time, of a fundamental transformation of Western culture
- Enjoyably and informatively traverses the literature of late antiquity
- Brings new perspectives and original understandings to the idea of temporality
Reviews & endorsements
'Though the essays can be read and appreciated separately, Goodhill has done an excellent job of choosing the essay topics: readers gain a solid appreciation for the Christian influence on the narratives of late antiquity and their significance for the development of concepts of time. … Highly recommended.' E. Kincanon, Choice
'… Goldhill has a huge amount to teach us about the Christianization of literary genres, especially with reference to time in (generally) the fourth and fifth centuries AD … No review of reasonable length can do justice to the richness of Goldhill's project or its importance.' John Rist, Augustiniana
Product details
January 2022Adobe eBook Reader
9781009080071
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I:
- 1. God's time
- 2. The time of death
- 3. Telling time
- 4. Waiting
- 5. Time and time again
- 6. Making time visible
- 7. At the same time
- 8. Timelessness and the now
- 9. Life times
- 10. The rape of time
- Part II:
- 11. Beginning, again: Nonnus' paraphrase of the Gospel of John
- 12. The eternal return: Nonnus' Dionysiaca
- 13. Regulation time: Gregory's Christmas Day
- 14. Day to day
- 15. “We are the times”: Making history Christian
- Coda: Writing in the time of sickness.
