Browsing Milton Konvitz American Ideals Lectures by Title

Now showing items 7-26 of 46

    • American Ideals 07. Good and Evil, Part 2 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Responding to a student question, Professor Konvitz explains the complexity of biblical analysis. The biblical presumption of human free will and its implications is then discussed as is the meaning of the story of Adam ...

    • American Ideals 08. Viewing Time, Part 1 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The concepts of biblical time and history were unique in the ancient world and were adopted by western civilization. In the Hebrew Bible, there is a straight line of movement from the story of creation, Adam, Abraham and ...

    • American Ideals 09. Viewing Time, Part 2 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The Christian acceptance of linear time and history was challenged by contemporary Greek philosophers who held to the cyclical view. The problem that this view of history held for the Church was simply that if time and ...

    • American Ideals 10. Immortality 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The evolution of the concepts of resurrection and immortality in Judaic-Christian thought are explored by Dr. Konvitz. There are hints in the Book of Daniel of these concepts, which begin to affect Pharisaical Jewish ...

    • American Ideals 11. Responsibility 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The concepts of resurrection and immortality intensified the belief in the uniqueness of the individual and their responsibility for themselves. This belief in humanity’s free will is the foundation for the belief in human ...

    • American Ideals 12. Freedom 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Professor Konvitz responds to student questions about the apparent contradiction between the omnipotence of God and the concept of human freedom. Man is free but always judged, he suggests. This judgment is rendered only ...

    • American Ideals 13. Man in society 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The Judaic-Christian concepts of human responsibility to self and especially to society and their biblical roots are discussed at length. Professor Konvitz elucidates the similarities of Jewish and Catholic viewpoints on ...

    • American Ideals 14. Love Thy Neighbor 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Professor Konvitz quotes the Hebrew and Christian Bibles as well as modern authorities to expound the concept that the self can only be fully developed in context of the rest of humanity rather than by selfish self-interest. ...

    • American Ideals 15. Human Rights 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      God’s love is demonstrated in commandments such as the keeping of the Sabbath and the concepts of charity elucidated in the Bible. Such commandments, Professor Konvitz explains, help define our duties to our fellow beings, ...

    • American Ideals 16. Socrates, Part 1 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Socrates, building on earlier Greek philosophic insights, made the analysis of concept of the soul central to his teaching. For Socrates, the immortal soul was the moral and intellectual center of humanity. It is the soul ...

    • American Ideals 17. Socrates, Part 2 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The business of the soul is to try to grapple with the central moral truths and how mankind must live the good life. Socratic concepts would ultimately also influence Jewish and Christian thinking about the immortality of ...

    • American Ideals 18. Socrates, Part 3 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Socrates believed that essences were discoverable by inductive reasoning. The Socratic Method emphasized understanding the essence of things and abstract concepts such as truth and beauty. His theory of inductive reasoning ...

    • American Ideals 19. Socrates, Part 4 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Responding to a student question, Professor Konvitz uses the incident of the Camden (New Jersey) 28 assault on draft records to distinguish between revolution and civil disobedience. He then goes on to discuss Socrates’ ...

    • American Ideals 20. Greek Playwrights 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Professor Konvitz suggests that the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus enhance humanity’s understanding of guilt, innocence, and Divine punishment. Oedipus Rex and Antigone, in particular, are analyzed in detail.

    • American Ideals 21. Antigone 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      In its discussion of civil law versus higher law, Sophocles’ play expounds on the basic principles that define humanity and reflect human’s godly qualities.

    • American Ideals 22. Alexander the Great 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Professor Konvitz sets Alexander in his historical context as the greatest conqueror in human history. Alexander spread Greek culture and learning throughout his empire by establishing garrisons and cities that stretched ...

    • American Ideals 23. Cosmopolitanism 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      Alexander, in opposition to the Greek parochialism of his time, introduced the concept of world citizenship to his empire. Professor Konvitz explains that the concept that all humankind was to be deemed fellow citizens was ...

    • American Ideals 24. The Stoics, Part 1 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The importance of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations in developing Stoic philosophy, religion, and a way of life are discussed. Understanding the true self, standing apart from the effect of society and ...

    • American Ideals 25. The Stoics, Part 2 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      For Stoics, the real man is the internal man. The real man must be indifferent to what is external to him. True Stoics, Professor Konvitz explains, acted in accordance with virtue and knowledge regardless of their personal ...

    • American Ideals 26. The Stoics, Part 3 

      Konvitz, Milton R. (1973)
      The Stoics recognized that man is social by nature and extended the horizon of human obligations to all of humankind, where the earlier Greek philosophers as well as the Hebrews saw these obligations limited to their own ...