The Iliad by Homer
From the author's perspective the answer to Are We Preaching Another Gospel? is a resounding, Yes. It isn't that we don't understand the basic tenants of Christianity, she writes, but that we have added to them. We used to joyfully proclaim, Christianity isn't a religion. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ, but if this is so, then why are so many Christians today miserable? Why do they have a sense that God is far off or lack confidence that He loves them? What happened to the joy they knew the hour they first believed? Why does their relationship with Jesus actually seem more like a religion-a very difficult, demanding, and unsatisfying religion? Why are so many believers, even though they love Jesus with all of their hearts, giving up on church or simply attending out of duty or tradition? The answers to these questions found in the content of this book are challenging-not that they are difficult to understand-but that our long-held traditions and false beliefs which keep getting passed on from generation to generation stand in our way of perceiving the truth. Jesus said that knowing the truth would set us free, but if our teaching nullifies that truth, bondage follows. So it is reasonable for us, the church, to consider whether or not what we teach is the grace of Christ that sets believers free or whether we are preaching another gospel which is tying God's people in hundreds of painful and complicated knots. So, let the journey begin toward rediscovering the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24) Be prepared to be stretched, challenged, and then set free into the glorious good news of your relationship with God.
Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives. He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey - are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.
In the Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope. We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact 'Homer' may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps 'the hostage' or 'the blind one'. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.
Robert Fagles (1933-2008) was Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Comparative Literature, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His translations include Sophocles's Three Theban Plays, Aeschylus's Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer's Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer's Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid. Bernard Knox (1914-2010) was Director Emeritus of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He taught at Yale University for many years. Among his numerous honors are awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles' Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780453007740 |
| ISBN 10 | 0453007740 |
| Title | The Iliad |
| Author | Homer |
| Series | Classics On Cassette |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Audio cassette |
| Publisher | HighBridge Audio |
| Year published | 1991-11-05 |
| Number of pages | 0 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |