7: Human Knowledge and Divine Knowledge. In this immensely erudite book, German classicist Bruno Snell traces the establishment of a rational view of the nature of man as evidenced in the literature of the Greeks - in the creations of epic and lyric poetry, and in the drama. Here are the crucial stages in the intellectual evolution of the Greek world: the Homeric world view, the rise of the individual in the early Greek lyric, myth and reality in Greek tragedy, Greek ethics, the origin of scientific thought, and Arcadia.

    Complete in itself, this two-volume Image Books edition opens with an illuminating account of the origins of the Church to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, provides a magnificent study of St. Paul and describes the relations between the infant Church and the imperial Roman government including the persecutions under Nero, Domitian and the Antonines, presents a fascinating picture of Christian line and worship in the Catacombs. Included is a survey of early Christian literature and the crucial period of the third century, ending with the victory of the Cross under Constantine. The intellectual problems of the fourth century which gave rise to the first major heresies and the steps taken to define Catholic dogmas are fully explored. The author vividly re-creates the administrative, cultural and spiritual features of the Church in the closing years of that century when Theodosius the Great established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. This is truly 'a vivid account of the most stirring period of the Church's history.'

    Many Greek scientific treatises were written and read by cultivated people who did not regard themselves as specialists. These works should appeal today to those readers who wish to understand not only the foundations of modern science, but also a vital element of the humanistic tradition.