Infinity, Faith, and Time: Christian Humanism and Renaissance LiteratureMcGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1997 M11 26 - 216 pages In Part 1 Hill examines the effect of the idea of spatial infinity on seventeenth-century literature, arguing that the metaphysical cosmology of Nicholas of Cusa provided Renaissance writers, such as Pascal, Traherne, and Milton, with a way to construe the vastness of space as the symbol of human spiritual potential. Focusing on time in Part 2, Hill reveals that, faced with the inexorability of time, Christian humanists turned to St Augustine to develop a philosophy that interpreted temporal passage as the necessary condition of experience without making it the essence or ultimate measure of human purpose. Hill's analysis centres on Shakespeare, whose experiments with the shapes of time comprise a gallery of heuristic time-centred fictions that attempt to explain the consequences of human existence in time. Infinity, Faith, and Time reveals that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a period during which individuals were able, with more success than in later times, to make room for new ideas without rejecting old beliefs. |
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Page 5
... true God cannot be imaged , except negatively , even in the immaterial conceptions of the mind . In a passage that anticipates the via negativa of Pseudo - Dionysius as well as Nicholas of Cusa's docta ignorantia , Clement likens the ...
... true God cannot be imaged , except negatively , even in the immaterial conceptions of the mind . In a passage that anticipates the via negativa of Pseudo - Dionysius as well as Nicholas of Cusa's docta ignorantia , Clement likens the ...
Page 6
... true search , praising the Lord , shall be filled with the gift that comes from God , that is , knowledge . " Being " always everywhere and contained nowhere , " Christ is the eternal and universal Tutor , the Pædagogus of men ( Clement ...
... true search , praising the Lord , shall be filled with the gift that comes from God , that is , knowledge . " Being " always everywhere and contained nowhere , " Christ is the eternal and universal Tutor , the Pædagogus of men ( Clement ...
Page 7
... true man , the mind which is in man , who is therefore said to have been made ' in the image and likeness of God ' [ Gen. 1:26 ] , assimilated to the Divine Word in the affections of the soul , and therefore rational . " ( Protrepti ...
... true man , the mind which is in man , who is therefore said to have been made ' in the image and likeness of God ' [ Gen. 1:26 ] , assimilated to the Divine Word in the affections of the soul , and therefore rational . " ( Protrepti ...
Page 8
... true Only - begotten , the express image of the glory of the universal King and Almighty Father , who impresses on the [ true ] Gnostic the seal of the perfect contemplation , according to His own image ; so that there is now a third ...
... true Only - begotten , the express image of the glory of the universal King and Almighty Father , who impresses on the [ true ] Gnostic the seal of the perfect contemplation , according to His own image ; so that there is now a third ...
Page 9
... true victory over all the passions . For He who prescribes the contest is the Almighty God , and He who awards the prize is the only - begotten Son of God . Angels and gods are spectators ; and the contest ... is against the spiritual ...
... true victory over all the passions . For He who prescribes the contest is the Almighty God , and He who awards the prize is the only - begotten Son of God . Angels and gods are spectators ; and the contest ... is against the spiritual ...
Contents
1 | |
TIME | 67 |
Notes Toward a Protestant Poetic | 137 |
Translations from Pascals Pensées | 154 |
Notes | 157 |
Bibliography | 185 |
Index | 195 |
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Infinity, Faith, and Time: Christian Humanism and Renaissance Literature John Spencer Hill No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Anglican argues Aristotelian Aristotle astronomy Augustine Augustine's Augustinian believe Bergson centre century Christ Christian Clement Clement of Alexandria conception consciousness cosmology cosmos creation Creator Cusa¹ Cusanus Cusanus's death distentio animi divine doctrine duration earth élan vital eschatology eternity existence expectatio experience finite future Gnostic God's grace Greek hand hath heaven Holy human humanist idea imagination infinite intuition kairos knowledge living Macbeth man's metaphysical methexis Milton mind modern motion mystery nature Nicholas of Cusa Paradise Lost paradox Pascal past Pensées philosophy physical plays Plotinus poem present prevenient grace providential Puritan reality religion Renaissance literature revealed salvation secular sense Shakespeare sola fide sonnet soul space spatial infinity sphere Stromateis symbol teleology temporal tempus thee theme theology things thir thou thought tion tradition Traherne transcendent Troilus and Cressida truth understanding unfolding universe vision Winter's Tale words καὶ