HUMANISM

This stimulating and rather novel exegesis of Greek culture by the May Professor of Greek culture is a volume in the World Perspectives series, designed to develop a new consciousness which can eventually lift the human race far beyond its present day position. Dr. Hadas' particular contribution to the series is to stress the importance of individualism in Greek culture, to point out that the Hellenes sought to keep divine and human spheres apart, and so release man to achieve the highest human excellence of which he is capable. As paramount examples he uses Homer and Thucydides' version of Pericles. And if he stresses the rational element in Greek culture at the expense of others, this is a tonic approach. The author claims that this individualism was submerged by the Roman state and lost in the other-worldliness of Christianity, especially during the Middle Ages. The Renaissance brought it to the surface again and it has been the guiding influence in the modern world. . . . A thought-provoking book, full of sound scholarship and controversial interpretation.