検索キーワード： 著者 "Robert Garland" すべてのカテゴリー

These 24 dramatic lectures examine key events from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to medieval Europe and Asia. Spanning thousands of years and three continents, this course illuminates fascinating historical dramas on the individual scale.

Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Greece and you had to start a new life there. What would you see? How would the people around you think and believe? How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? What work would be available, and what help could you get if you got sick?

What to Expect When You're Dead chronicles the ways ancient peoples answered questions such as: How to achieve a good death and afterlife? What's the best way to dispose of a body? Do the dead face a postmortem judgement—and where do they end up? Do the dead have bodies in the afterlife—and can they eat, drink, and have sex? And what can the living do to stay on good terms with the nonliving?

This is a passionate but breezy polemic that seeks to expose the harmful nature of religious orthodoxy, whether it be Christian, Jewish, or Moslem, which it contrasts with polytheism, specifically Greek polytheism, altogether a more relaxed system. It is also a forceful plea for the use of reason in pursuit of the biggest questions that confront us. An Ordinary Man’s Letter to God is not an attack on faith, nor does it advocate for atheism. It argues passionately for the use of reason to establish a universal doctrine of tolerance, decency, common sense, and love.

Most classical authors and modern historians depict the ancient Greek world as essentially stable and even static, once the so-called colonization movement came to an end. But Robert Garland argues that the Greeks were highly mobile, that their movement was essential to the survival, success, and sheer sustainability of their society, and that this wandering became a defining characteristic of their culture.