Have you ever heard someone describe something as sublime? Over the past 2,000 years, this lofty term has been explained, lost, reexamined, and re-explained. One of its earliest interpretations comes from the first-century Greek literary critic Longinus. “On the Sublime”—a text of uncertain authorship traditionally attributed to Longinus—he describes the sublime as that which “carries one up to where one is close to the majestic mind of God.” What do we know about the mind of God? For Longinus, a response can be found in the “answer that was given by the man who, when asked what we have in common with the gods, replied, ‘Benevolence and truth.’” Thus, we might call the sublime the experience that divinely elevates us through the things in our very nature that we share with God: benevolence and truth. According to Longinus: “Nature had adjudged us men to be creatures of no mean or …
-
Recent Posts
-
Archives
- May 2025
- April 2025
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- September 2013
- July 2013
- March 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- December 1
-
Meta