Clifford Herschel Moore

Name: The Harvard Classics Vol. 51
Author: Clifford Herschel Moore

The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

Summary

“The Harvard Classics Vol. 51”, published in 1914, is a work by Clifford Herschel Moore. It explores elements such as gods, worship and religion.

Quotes from The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (Clifford Herschel Moore)

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ Yet it is a mistake to suppose that Greek religion had its origin in a worship of natural objects and forces; undoubtedly the worship of natural phenomena and of inanimate objects, of ancestors, and possibly of animals, all contributed to the religious sum total, but it is impossible to trace to-day all the factors which made up religion in historical times. We can only say that the Greeks worshiped a multitude of spiritual beings who filled all nature and were to be found in every field of activity. Man, therefore, was always in social relation to the gods. ”

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Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ Athens emerged as the chief state in Greece; during the fifty years which followed she enjoyed an unprecedented prosperity and an imperial position which bound all citizens closely together, in spite of the strife of political parties. Now in the preceding century Peisistratus had done much to exalt and establish the Olympian type of religion at Athens; and it was natural that in the time of the power of Athens the ideal of the state religion should predominate. All citizens united in dedicating to the gods their material wealth and their noblest art. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ GREEK religion includes all the varied religious beliefs and practices of the peoples living in Greek lands from the beginning of history to the end of paganism. In contrast to Christianity it had no body of revealed teachings, no common dogma or fixed ritual binding at all shrines and on every worshiper, but each locality might have its own distinctive myths and practices, and the individual might believe what he pleased so long as he did not openly do violence to tradition. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ The religion of the Greeks exhibited at every stage its composite character. As early as the second millennium B.C., so far as we can judge from the results of excavations in Greece proper and in Crete, the inhabitants of these lands had anthropomorphic ideas about some of their deities, that is, they thought of them and represented them in their art essentially as human beings; on the other hand, we find in the later centuries such primitive elements as the worship of sacred stones, trees, and symbols still existing. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ Ares and Aphrodite represent little more than the passions of rage for slaughter and love; the god of fire, Hephaestus, Artemis, the sister of Apollo, Hermes, the higher servant of the greater gods and the companion of men, and others are of still lower rank; while Demeter and Dionysus, although known, have no place on Olympus. All these divine beings are represented as larger, stronger, wiser than mortals, but they are no whit less subject to the passions of body and mind; their superiority over men lies chiefly in the possession of immortality. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ Of these the most significant is the worship of the dead and of heroes. On the side of ethics also we find higher concepts of justice and of the moral order; and in general there is much more reflection on man's relation to the gods and to society than we see in Homer.
In spite of the influence of Homer and Hesiod, no single god or system of gods ever became wholly universal, but each divinity was connected with some locality. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ Sophocles emphasized the divine source of the higher moral obligations which transcend all human laws. He further taught that pain may have its place even when the sufferer is innocent; and that purity of heart, faith in Zeus, and acquiescence in the divine will are fundamental principles of righteous life. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Clifford Herschel Moore, The Harvard Classics Vol. 51 (1914)

“ The movements thus started in Greek religion tended to break down men's real dependence on social worship, although the old cults continued to the end of paganism. Yet, in Athens especially, political events during the fifth century checked the individualistic movements in religion temporarily. ”

Clifford Herschel Moore

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