Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy

Download or read book Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy written by Jon Mikalson and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-06-24 with total page 950 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jon D. Mikalson examines how Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers described, interpreted, criticized, and utilized the components and concepts of the religion of the people of their time - practices such as sacrifice, prayer, dedications, and divination. The chief concepts involved are those of piety and impiety, and after a thorough analysis of the philosophical texts Mikalson offers a refined definition of Greek piety, dividing it into its two constituent elements of `proper respect' for the gods and `religious correctness'. He concludes with a demonstration of the benevolence of the gods in the philosophical tradition, linking it to the expectation of that benevolence evinced by popular religion.