The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers

Product Description:

The new and revolutionizing ideas which the early Greek thinkers developed about the nature of the universe had a direct impact upon their conception of what they called, in a new sense, 'God' or 'the Divine.' The history of the philosophical theology of the Greeks is thus the history of their rational approach to the nature of reality itself in its successive phases. The late Professor Jaeger's classic book traces this development from the first intimations in Hesiod of the theology that was to come, through the heroic age of Greek cosmological thought, down to the time of the Sophists of the fifth century B.C.


Reviews:

A Fantastic History of Greek Thought:

While modern authors tend to focus on the Orphic cults of the Greeks in order to explain their attachment to theology, Jaeger (nearly 50 years dead) does an excellent job of tracing the lineage of Greek theology, the
"approach of God through Logos," as the father of their later philosophical systems. He examines this early period of speculative philosophy and reductive reasoning with absolute ease, illuminating complex (and often historiographical) arguments with plain and concise language.

The book, a collection of lectures given a narrative form by the author, is just about the best study on the subject history has yet to offer. It makes a good companion to his seminal three volume series on Greek
paideia as well as to his later work, "Early Christianity and Greek Paideia," which was also derived from his Gifford Lectures.

A quick note to casual students, however: the book was written in the 1940's, when classical scholars presupposed a knowledge of Greek amongst their readers. As a result, the work is peppered with ancient Greek. If you're not familiar with the Greek alphabet, you may want to have a Greek-English dictionary handy. Those with even a casual knowledge of Greek phonetics should do just fine.