Retrieving Freedom

The Christian Appropriation of Classical Tradition

D. C. Schindler (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

550 Seiten

2024
University of Notre Dame Press (Verlag)
978-0-268-20371-9 (ISBN)

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Retrieving Freedom is a provocative, big-picture book, taking a long view of the “rise and fall” of the classical understanding of freedom.

In response to the evident shortcomings of the notion of freedom that dominates contemporary discourse, Retrieving Freedom seeks to return to the sources of the Western tradition to recover a more adequate understanding. This book begins by setting forth the ancient Greek conception—summarized from the conclusion of D. C. Schindler’s previous tour de force of political and moral reasoning, Freedom from Reality—and the ancient Hebrew conception, arguing that at the heart of the Christian vision of humanity is a novel synthesis of the apparently opposed views of the Greeks and Jews. This synthesis is then taken as a measure that guides an in-depth exploration of landmark figures framing the history of the Christian appropriation of the classical tradition. Schindler conducts his investigation through five different historical periods, focusing in each case on a polarity, a pair of figures who represent the spectrum of views from that time: Plotinus and Augustine from late antiquity, Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor from the patristic period, Anselm and Bernard from the early middle ages, Bonaventure and Aquinas from the high middle ages, and, finally, Godfrey of Fontaines and John Duns Scotus from the late middle ages. In the end, we rediscover dimensions of freedom that have gone missing in contemporary discourse, and thereby identify tasks that remain to be accomplished. Schindler’s masterful study will interest philosophers, political theorists, and students and scholars of intellectual history, especially those who seek an alternative to contemporary philosophical understandings of freedom.

D. C. Schindler is professor of metaphysics and anthropology at the John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty.

Abbreviations

Preface

Part I: Prolegomena

1. Christian Freedom and Its Traditions

Part II: Late Antiquity

2. Plotinus on Freedom as Generative Perfection

3. Augustine and the Gift of the Power to Choose

Part III: The Patristic Period

4. Perfectly Natural Freedom in Dionysius the Areopagite

5. Maximus the Confessor: Redeeming Choice

Part IV: The Early Middle Ages

6. St. Anselm: Just Freedom

7. Bernard of Clairvaux: Liberating Love

Part V: The High Middle Ages

8. Bonaventure on the Trinitarian Origin of Freedom

9. Thomas Aquinas: A Fruitful Reception of the Whole

Part VI: The Late Middle Ages

10. Godfrey of Fontaines: The Absolute Priority of Act

11. John Duns Scotus and the Radicalizing of Potency

Part VII: General Conclusion

12. The Givenness of Freedom

Bibliography

Erscheinungsdatum	05.07.2024
Reihe/Serie	Catholic Ideas for a Secular World
Verlagsort	Notre Dame IN
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-10	0-268-20371-7 / 0268203717
ISBN-13	978-0-268-20371-9 / 9780268203719
Zustand	Neuware