Divine Fury

Divine Fury PDF Author: Darrin M. McMahon
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465069916
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Genius. With hints of madness and mystery, moral license and visionary force, the word suggests an almost otherworldly power: the power to create, to divine the secrets of the universe, even to destroy. Yet the notion of genius has been diluted in recent times. Today, rock stars, football coaches, and entrepreneurs are labeled 'geniuses,' and the word is applied so widely that it has obscured the sense of special election and superhuman authority that long accompanied it. As acclaimed historian Darrin M. McMahon explains, the concept of genius has roots in antiquity, when men of prodigious insight were thought to possess -- or to be possessed by -- demons and gods. Adapted in the centuries that followed and applied to a variety of religious figures, including prophets, apostles, sorcerers, and saints, abiding notions of transcendent human power were invoked at the time of the Renaissance to explain the miraculous creativity of men like Leonardo and Michelangelo. Yet it was only in the eighteenth century that the genius was truly born, idolized as a new model of the highest human type. Assuming prominence in figures as varied as Newton and Napoleon, the modern genius emerged in tension with a growing belief in human equality. Contesting the notion that all are created equal, geniuses served to dramatize the exception of extraordinary individuals not governed by ordinary laws. The phenomenon of genius drew scientific scrutiny and extensive public commentary into the 20th century, but it also drew religious and political longings that could be abused. In the genius cult of the Nazis and the outpouring of reverence for the redemptive figure of Einstein, genius achieved both its apotheosis and its Armageddon. The first comprehensive history of this elusive concept, Divine Fury follows the fortunes of genius and geniuses through the ages down to the present day, showing how -- despite its many permutations and recent democratization -- genius remains a potent force in our lives, reflecting modern needs, hopes, and fears.

Divine Fury

Divine Fury PDF Author: Darrin M. McMahon
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465069916
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
Genius. With hints of madness and mystery, moral license and visionary force, the word suggests an almost otherworldly power: the power to create, to divine the secrets of the universe, even to destroy. Yet the notion of genius has been diluted in recent times. Today, rock stars, football coaches, and entrepreneurs are labeled 'geniuses,' and the word is applied so widely that it has obscured the sense of special election and superhuman authority that long accompanied it. As acclaimed historian Darrin M. McMahon explains, the concept of genius has roots in antiquity, when men of prodigious insight were thought to possess -- or to be possessed by -- demons and gods. Adapted in the centuries that followed and applied to a variety of religious figures, including prophets, apostles, sorcerers, and saints, abiding notions of transcendent human power were invoked at the time of the Renaissance to explain the miraculous creativity of men like Leonardo and Michelangelo. Yet it was only in the eighteenth century that the genius was truly born, idolized as a new model of the highest human type. Assuming prominence in figures as varied as Newton and Napoleon, the modern genius emerged in tension with a growing belief in human equality. Contesting the notion that all are created equal, geniuses served to dramatize the exception of extraordinary individuals not governed by ordinary laws. The phenomenon of genius drew scientific scrutiny and extensive public commentary into the 20th century, but it also drew religious and political longings that could be abused. In the genius cult of the Nazis and the outpouring of reverence for the redemptive figure of Einstein, genius achieved both its apotheosis and its Armageddon. The first comprehensive history of this elusive concept, Divine Fury follows the fortunes of genius and geniuses through the ages down to the present day, showing how -- despite its many permutations and recent democratization -- genius remains a potent force in our lives, reflecting modern needs, hopes, and fears.

Immortal From Another World

Immortal From Another World PDF Author: Ai ShangYuWeiWen
Publisher: Funstory
ISBN: 1636661513
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 682

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Book Description
Ye Fei, who brought along his father's flying immortal from outer space, came to the continent after surviving for 500 years. Even though he was called an idiot by others, his family love and love made him truly feel the warmth of his family.

Literary Criticism

Literary Criticism PDF Author: Allan H. Gilbert
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814311608
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 724

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Book Description
This anthology of literary criticism is no simple collection of fragments from great critics. It is, in a way, a documentary history of literary taste, or better, a documentary history of the taste of literary critics ... It contains material that is inaccessible in many university libraries and an index which ties together the various selections and gives the book a unity which most anthologies unfortunately lack ..." [Cover].

The Philosophical Works

The Philosophical Works PDF Author: Henry St John Bolingbroke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description


Defending God

Defending God PDF Author: James L. Crenshaw
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195140028
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
What motivates the centuries old human endeavour to impose moral standards of behaviour on the gods? James Crenshaw offers a synthesis of his ideas on the subject of theodicy & the struggle to absolve the deity of responsibility for injustice.

The Works

The Works PDF Author: Henry St. John (viscount)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description


Studies in the Platonism of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico

Studies in the Platonism of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico PDF Author: Michael J.B. Allen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351547577
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Fifteen of these essays by one of the leading authorities on Renaissance Platonism explore the complex philosophical, hermeneutical, and mythological issues addressed by the Florentine, Marsilio Ficino (1433-99). Ficino was the pre-eminent Platonist of his time and a distinguished philosopher, scholar and magus who had an enormous influence on the intellectual and cultural life of two and a half centuries, and who is one of the most important witnesses to the preoccupations of his age, above all to its fascination with ancient poetry and philosophy and their uneasy accommodation as an ancient "theology" with Christianity. Two further essays treat of cognate themes taken up by Ficino‘s younger friend and rival, the dazzling prince of Concordia, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94), who was fascinated by Platonism in his youth but also by other philosophical legacies from the past, including Cabala and the Scholastic Aristotelianism of the Middle Ages. This volume‘s initial essay serves as an introduction to the comprehensive phenomenon of Renaissance Platonism.

Dante and Renaissance Florence

Dante and Renaissance Florence PDF Author: Simon A. Gilson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521841658
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Simon Gilson explores Dante's reception in his native Florence between 1350 and 1481. He traces the development of Florentine civic culture and the interconnections between Dante's principal 'Florentine' readers, from Giovanni Boccaccio to Cristoforo Landino, and explains how and why both supporters and opponents of Dante exploited his legacy for a variety of ideological, linguistic, cultural and political purposes. The book focuses on a variety of texts, both Latin and vernacular, in which reference was made to Dante, from commentaries to poetry, from literary lives to letters, from histories to dialogues. Gilson pays particular attention to Dante's influence on major authors such as Boccaccio and Petrarch, on Italian humanism, and on civic identity and popular culture in Florence. Ranging across literature, philosophy and art, across languages and across social groups, this study fully illuminates for the first time Dante's central place in Italian Renaissance culture and thought.

Chaos Fallen

Chaos Fallen PDF Author: Gloria N. Cassum
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595469280
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
After the ravages of the Great Civil War in heaven, God replaces both the dead and Fallen to fill the vacancies their duties demand. These replacements are slightly modified to ensure revolution would not occur again. Viziel is the first reborn, suspected by many to be a close replica of Lucifer himself, and thus a horrific danger to all of heaven. His assigned duties are withheld from him until he bow before the very throne of God, an allowance granted only to the most honorable of God's servants or most vicious of traitors. Before God's throne he is named the Angel of Chaos. Unfortunately, because chaos naturally opposes God's providential order, God has no choice but to command Viziel's betrayal. If Viziel refuses the order he is treacherous, if he obeys, a traitor nonetheless. The commandment is a paradox, which cannot be defied. Due to his unavoidable transgression, Viziel is sentenced to execution so as not to feed Lucifer with new recruits. In his imprisonment, before a formal facade of a trial, a superior informs Viziel that his execution is meant as a symbolic victory to God as overcoming his chaotic forces. Viziel's execution does not end in death, but reincarnation, where he will again be reformed, assigned as Angel of Chaos, and executed for his natural defiance once more. This damned reincarnation is eternal. God imposes this perpetual punishment to reinforce his never ending control over chaos and secure the safety of his providential design as well as all the beings within it, especially His most prized - humanity. Viziel, as Angel of Chaos, however, has a unique power to invoke discord. As a result, his execution goes horribly wrong. Chaos is unleashed to fulfill his own agenda. This is the story of the beginning of his revenge."

Pléiade Poetics

Pléiade Poetics PDF Author: Grahame Castor
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN:
Category : French poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description