Catherine Nixey - The Darkening Age (Interview)

When it comes to the ancient world, what Catherine Nixey calls “the story of wicked, oppressing Romans crushing the Christians of the empire who just wanted to be free and wanted to praise God” in this episode of The World in Time is a familiar one. Unfortunately, “when you look at almost any element of that story, it’s nonsense.” In her book The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, she sets out to dismantle this well-trod foundational myth. Nixey spoke with Lapham’s Quarterly about how ancient Christians did much to crush to the world they inhabited.
Lewis H. Lapham talks with Catherine Nixey, author of The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World.

[@leowang5243]

Just bought this book! amazing!

[@furtivedolus2504]

To be clear, Sappho was at most bisexual, not a lesbian in the modern sense at any rate. It's a minor point, but worth mentioning.

[@markmitchell8539]

Stoicism was very close to Christian ethics. A lot of Stoic ethics was borrowed by Christianity.

[@SagesseNoir]

Some aspects of her criticism of ancient Christianity reminds me of Nietzsche's criticism

[@mervincrasto6867]

Her book is critically denounced not only by Christian scholars, but also by atheist scholars like Tim o'Niel.

[@leowang5243]

because they are educated in a Christian way. They are not enlightened like Catherine who has awakened from the instilled social norms forming by Christian ideologies.

[@mervincrasto6867]

@@leowang5243 kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4eQnXdmgMaieKM This is an academic review by another historian. There are many such historians, having similar views of this book.

[@skepticus5705]

And lauded by countless others. Can't please everybody, nor should you expect to.

[@mervincrasto6867]

@@skepticus5705 not exactly lauded by countless. There is an in depth analysis and debunking the narratives in this book. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4eQnXdmgMaieKM

[@arnabkumarbanerjee8150]

we should rethink Christianity again. we should dug the old church ground to find remains of our classical past and we should uncover that past from christian church to reclaim classical victory over christian present.

[@Hoe-numan5]

😂

[@arnabkumarbanerjee8150]

we do it in india already. we dug up babri masjid to find ram mandir remnant below it. that was our classical hindu past. europeans should do it in europe instead of digging in egypt or india.

[@Hoe-numan5]

😂

[@300ik]

Peter Thonemann, professor of ancient history at the University of Oxford, argues that Nixey's work is problematic, and that "the argument depends on quite a bit of nifty footwork", because Nixey makes a large number of broad generalizations based on limited evidence. He also states that the deliberate destruction of ancient temples by Christians "seems to have been exceptionally rare in real life" and that the Christian book-burning was always directed towards heretical or "magical" writing, and not towards classical literature

[@RohitSharma-mi8gt]

And the Christians get to decide what’s “magical or heretical” lol ! Christianity did not have traditio hence it was not religio. This is why Romans did not allow Christians to take part in the “polis” ! To be a traditio you have to show that you have practices based in antiquity. The philosophers around Rome, trier, Alexandria and other parts of black Egypt (Hypatia) were especially critical of Christianity’s aversion to intellectualism. Even many scholars of early Christianity come from Egypt and Aetheopis who mocked Christianity.

[@300ik]

@@RohitSharma-mi8gt ...mocked Christianity because they were Neoplatonists such as Hypatia... according to them human spirit can be united with the internal One (God) via magic, spiritualism and alchemy.... Christianity far more serious, that's why people... mocked.."philosophers"...in the end

[@SagesseNoir]

@@300ik Neoplatonists were not the only pagans who mocked Christianity

[@300ik]

@@SagesseNoir yes worshippers of animals, emperors, planets,.rivers, trees etc.... All sickness of the old world

[@leowang5243]

@@300ik why sickness? all things are one. All things have values and should get respects. People in the old times know this and they respect and value all things.

[@jb3332]

Heard of Nero?

[@alanmacleod6843]

she's got a chapter on him in the book

[@jb3332]

and it’s revisionist

[@zabooza74]

@AnarchoRepublican We didn't start the Fire (of Rome)...

[@zabooza74]

@AnarchoRepublican Well christians set fire to Rome and he made them into marvellous Candlesticks seems like an appropriate retaliation for arson to me...

[@zabooza74]

@AnarchoRepublican Yeah but Tacitus like Cicero was kind of a libtard and a fan of the Republic sort of the hysterical Nevertrumper or Michael Moore of his age, he would have blamed pretty much anything on Nero as long as it would have fited his narrative, so quite unreliable. That is also the only reason the Christians didn't destroy his writings, despite it's pagan character. As for burning being against the Christian Religion I don't think so, didn't they burn a whole lot of Witches and Heretics later? Sounds a lot like what Nero did to his enemies, if you ask me...