Edith Hamilton was not the only one to tie the Greek and Roman classics to “Westen Civilization.” In fact, that term. so loaded and often despised these days, was not in the title of her most famous book on the Greeks when her “The Greek Way” first appeared . “Western Civilization” was added to the title in editions that appeared in the 1950s, appealing to “the great generation,” that is those who had been told, time and time , that they were fighting, and dying, to preserve the values of “Western Civilization,” against the Axis and then against Communist states in the Cold War. Such language seems out of date nowadays– but have we found something equally powerful to replace it? If not, no wonder if there is a revival of interest in Hamilton’s unapologetic way of seeing the Greeks (and Romans, and Early Christians, too.)
The question is whether we can do better than that. Of course we can! Still, I have a nagging fear that Brendenheim might have been right when he wrote, “It is a defining characteristic of modernity to dispense with concepts, practices and institutions before well-crafted substitutes are available to replace them..”
The question is whether we can do better than that. Of course we can! Still, I have a nagging fear that Brendenheim might have been right when he wrote, “It is a defining characteristic of modernity to dispense with concepts, practices and institutions before well-crafted substitutes are available to replace them..”