The End of Dialogue in Antiquity

276 Pages·2008·1.63 MB·English

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THE END OF DIALOGUE IN ANTIQUITY
‘Dialogue’wasinvented asawrittenformindemocratic Athensand
made a celebrated and popular literary and philosophical style by
Plato. Yet it almost completely disappeared in the Christian empire
oflateantiquity.Thisbook,thefirstgeneralandsystematicstudyof
thegenreinantiquity,asks:whowrotedialoguesandwhy?Whydid
dialoguenolongerattractwritersinthelaterperiodinthesameway?
Investigatingdialoguegoestotheheartofthecentralissuesofpower,
authority, openness and playfulness in changing cultural contexts.
Thisbookanalysestherelationshipbetweenliteraryformandcultural
authorityinanewandexcitingway,andencouragescloserreflection
aboutthepurposeofdialogueinitswidersocial,culturalandreligious
contextsintoday’sworld.
simon goldhill is Professor of Greek at the University of
CambridgeandaFellowofKing’sCollege.Hehaspublishedwidely
onmanyaspectsofGreekliterature,includingReadingGreekTragedy
(1986),Foucault’sVirginity(1995),WhoNeedsGreek?(2002)andHow
toStageGreekTragedyToday(2007).Heisindemandasalecturerall
overtheworldandisaregularbroadcasteronradioandtelevision.

THE END OF DIALOGUE
IN ANTIQUITY
edited by
SIMON GOLDHILL
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521887748
© Cambridge University Press 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-46397-6 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-88774-8 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
NotesonContributors pagevii
Introduction:Whydon’tChristiansdodialogue?
SimonGoldhill 1
part i classical models 13
1 FictionsofdialogueinThucydides
EmilyGreenwood 15
2 Thebeginningsofdialogue:Socraticdiscourses
andfourth-centuryprose
AndrewFord 29
3 Plato’sdialoguesandacommonrationale
fordialogueform
AlexLong 45
part ii empire models 61
4 Ciceroniandialogue
MalcolmSchofield 63
5 SympoticdialogueinthefirsttofifthcenturiesCE
JasonKönig 85
part iii christianity and the theological
imperative 115
6 Canwetalk?Augustineandthepossibilityofdialogue
GillianClark 117
v
vi Contents
7 ‘Let’s(not)talkaboutit’:Augustineandthecontrol
ofepistolarydialogue
RichardMiles 135
part iv christianity and the social imperative 149
8 Christians,dialoguesandpatternsofsociability
inlateantiquity
RichardLim 151
9 Boethius,GregorytheGreatandtheChristian‘afterlife’
ofclassicaldialogue
KateCooperandMatthewDalSanto 173
part v judaism and the limits of dialogue 191
10 Nodialogueatthesymposium?ConvivialityinBenSira
andthePalestinianTalmud
SethSchwartz 193
11 DialecticanddivinationintheTalmud
DanielBoyarin 217
Bibliography 242
Index 263
Notes on Contributors
daniel boyarin isProfessorofRabbinicsatBerkeley,California,isone
of the best-known figures in Jewish studies, particularly for his use of
moderntheorywithancienttexts.HisnumerousbooksincludeMidrash
andIntertextuality(1990);CarnalIsrael(1993);Paul:aRadicalJew(1997);
Border Lines (2004), which have become standards of the modern
academy.
gillian clark isProfessorofAncientHistoryatBristolandarenowned
scholarofthephilosophyandhistoryoflateantiquityandof Augustine
in particular: she published Augustine: The Confessions (1993) and a
commentaryonthefirstfourbooksoftheConfessions(1995).Womenin
Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Life Styles and Christianity and
RomanSocietywerebothpublishedin2004.
kate cooper isLecturerinTheologyatManchester.Herfirstbook,The
VirginandTheBride (1996), wasoninterrelations betweenclassical and
Christianliteraturearoundthetopicofvirginity.Hermostrecentbook,
TheFalloftheRomanHousehold,waspublishedin2007.
matthew dal santo isaJuniorResearchFellowinHistoryatTrinity
College,Cambridge.
andrew ford is Professor of Greek at Princeton, and an expert on the
developmentofGreekgenresandliterarycultureinarchaicandclassical
Greece. His book The Origins of Criticism: Literary Culture and Poetic
TheoryinClassicalGreeceontheinventionofcriticismintheclassicalcity
wasoneofChoice’soutstandingacademicbooksof2003.
simon goldhill isProfessorofGreekatCambridgeUniversityandhas
published very widely on Greek literature. His most recent books are
WhoNeedsGreece?(2002);TheTempleofJerusalem(2004);Love,Sexand
Tragedy(2004);HowtoStageGreekTragedyToday(2007);andJerusalem,
CityofLonging(2008).
vii
viii Notes on Contributors
emily greenwood isLecturerinClassicsatStAndrews.Herfirstbook,
Thucydides and the Shaping of History, was published in 2006. She has
alsoco-editedtwovolumesofessays,oneonHerodotus,ReadingHerodotus
(2007), and one on the modern reception of Homer, Homer in the
TwentiethCentury(2007).
jason ko¨nig is Lecturer in Classics at St Andrews. His first book,
Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire, was published in 2005.
His second book will be on the symposium and its literature in Empire
culture.
richard lim is Professor of History at Smith College. His book Public
Disputation,Power,andSocialOrderinLateAntiquity(1995)hasbecome
astandardworkonthehistoryoflateantiquity.
alex long is now a Lecturer in Classics at St Andrews. His PhD thesis
discussesPlato’sconceptionofdialecticandusesofdialogueform.
richard miles is a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He is an expert
on late antique culture who is currently writing a book for Penguin on
Carthage,followingonfromhismajorexcavationsthere.Heistheeditor
ofConstructingIdentitiesinLateAntiquity(1999).
malcolm schofield isProfessorofAncientPhilosophyatCambridge.
He has worked in many fields of ancient philosophy,and is author of a
series of major articles on Cicero’s philosophical writings, as well as the
seminalThePresocraticPhilosophers(withG.KirkandJ.Raven)andThe
Stoic Idea of the City. His most recent book is Plato: Political Philosophy
(2006).
seth schwartziscurrentlyProfessorofHistoryattheJewishTheological
Seminary in New York. His prize-winning book, Imperialism and Jewish
Society(2001),isontheculturalinteractionofJewsandEmpireculture,
andheisnowfinishingabookonideasofreciprocityinJewishculture.