Description: To be human is to strive to be better, and we cannot be better without knowing what is best. In ancient Greek philosophy and the Bible, what is best is god. Plato and Aristotle argue that the goal of human life is to become as much like god as is humanly possible. Despite its obvious importance, this theme of assimilation to god has been neglected in Anglo-American scholarship. Classical Greek philosophy is best understood as a religious quest for divinity by means of rational discipline. By showing how Greek philosophy grows out of ancient Greek religion and how the philosophical quest for god compares to the biblical quest, we see Plato and Aristotle properly as major religious thinkers. In their shared quest for divine perfection, Greek philosophy and the Bible have enough in common to make their differences deeply illuminating.
Brief description: JAMES BERNARD MURPHY is Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. He is also the author of How to Think Politically (with Graeme Garrard, 2019) and Haunted by Paradise: A Philosopher's Quest for Biblical Answers to Key Moral Questions (2021).
Review Quotes: 'This exciting and learned book offers a coherent framework for reading both Greek philosophy and the Scriptures as pedagogies of ascent. More radically, it recaptures deification as a central - if not the central - task of philosophy.' Christopher Justin Brophy, The Review of Politics