Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was once the most important and controversial Anglo-Catholic church in Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024) yesterday, the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated was celebrated in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
StonyLive, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). A variety of cultural activities continues in venues around Stony Stratford this week, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a lunchtime organ recital in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church today (3 June 2024).
The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers The Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887 and 1977). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, between Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Mark 12: 1-12 (NRSVUE):
1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was designed by Francis Goodwin and modelled on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, Birmingham:
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church, about 2 km south-east of Birmingham city centre. But the church is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, isolated in a virtual traffic island between two roundabouts, Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus, on the Middleway ring road.
Holy Trinity Church was consecrated and opened in 1823, and it was once at the centre of the most important Anglo-Catholic controversies in Birmingham that led to its Irish-born vicar, the Revd Richard Enraght, being jailed and dismissed.
Historically, Bordesley was part of the parish and union of Aston, on the edges of Birmingham. The hamlet was originally small, with only a few scattered dwelling-houses, such as Stratford Place, still standing at Camp Hill, and the Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham.
Holy Trinity Church is an example of a Commissioners’ church. It was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architect Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in the decorated perpendicular gothic style. Goodwin’s later works include Lissadell House, Co Sligo, designed for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, and the gatehouse at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo.
Goodwin is said to have modelled Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The church was consecrated on 23 January 1823 by the Bishop of Lichfield, James Cornwallis. A parish was assigned out of the parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Aston. At first, the living was in the gift of the Vicar of Aston, and was called a vicarage from 1872. The patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees in 1884.
The church was built on a conventional rectangular plan with shallow canted apse, faced in Bath stone that is enlivened by spirelet pinnacled buttresses diving the windows and with octagonal pinnacled turrets holding the corners. A larger pair flank the effectively recessed full height entrance bay under the parapeted gable.
The soffit has a pattern of ribs over the large decorated west window, and the tracery is of cast iron. The porch proper is shallow and contained within the recess, a tripartite composition with an ogee arch to the central doorway with an ornate finial.
The east end above the apse has a cast iron tracery rose. It is said the coved ceiling still partially remains, but the interior decoration, which was of a high standard for its time, has been stripped and a floor inserted.
Holy Trinity Church played an important in the history of the High Church or Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England in the 19th century.
The Revd Samuel Crane, who was the first vicar in 1823-1841, was succeeded by the Revd Dr Joseph Oldknow, who is often regarded as Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic or ‘ritualist’ priest.
Oldknow was succeeded in 1874 by the Revd Richard William Enraght, whose trials and tribulations came to a head in the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ were first brought to my attention in 2016 by a friend at Lichfield Cathedral, Stephen Wright.
The Revd Richard William Enraght (1837-1898) was an Irish-born Anglican priest and one of the Anglo-Catholic priests who were prosecuted and jailed in the 19th century for their ritualism. He was born on 23 February 1837 at Moneymore, Co Derry, where his father, the Revd Matthew Enraght (1805-1882), was the Curate of Saint John’s, Desertlynn.
Matthew Enraght was born in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge for five years (2017-2022). When Matthew later moved to England, Richard remained in Ireland and in 1860, at the age of 23, he graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin. He then moved to England, and in 1861 he was ordained deacon in Gloucester Cathedral by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.
Richard Enraght became Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, in 1874. He introduced weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. His practices at Holy Trinity included the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, candles on the altar, wearing a chasuble and alb, using wafers at the Eucharist, mixing water with the wine, making the sign of the Cross, bowing during the Gloria, and allowing the choir to sing the Agnus Dei.
The ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ resulted in Enraght’s conviction on 9 August 1879 on 16 counts. He spent that Christmas in prison and was released after 49 days. Bishop Philpott revoked Enraght’s licence in March 1883 and appointed the Revd Alan H Watts to the parish, against the wishes of the congregation.
The church was closed in 1968. There were plans to demolish the church in the 1970s and proposals to convert the building into an arts centre, but these never came to fruition. Instead, the church was used for some years as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999.
There were plans to retore the building for church and community use as the Birmingham Trinity Centre, a conference and wedding venue and the meeting place of All Nations’ Church, Birmingham. The church was marketed for a residential conversion in 2014, but it remains empty today.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was at the centre of the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 June 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 June 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, bring inspiration to those who take time to share your peace and mercy to others around them. Help them to use words of welcome and grace as they serve others through evangelism.
The Collect:
O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was closed in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The world map in new edition of the USPG Prayer Diary ‘Pray With the World Church’ from 2 June 2024 to 30 November 2024
03 May 2024
Daily prayer in Easter 2024:
34, 3 May 2024
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15: 12) … graffiti or street art in a laneway off Radcliffe Street in Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (19 May 2024). The week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V). This remains the Season of Great Lent in Greece, where this is Holy Week in the calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church, where today is Great and Good Friday.
Throughout this Season of Easter, my morning reflections each day include the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.
I was at the Service of the Holy Passion (the Twelve Gospels) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford last night, where I received a very warm wlecoome, and then stayed awake for much of the night, watching the local election results on BBC. I have a medical appointment early this morning, and then plan to return for some of the Great and Good Friday services (the Royak Hours) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford.
But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘God is Love, God is Light, God is With Us’ … thoughts in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 15: 12-17 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’
Today is World Press Freedom Day (USPG Prayer Diary) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 May 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Sacred Circle.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update adapted from the Autumn edition of Revive magazine.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 May 2024, World Press Freedom Day) invites us to pray:
We pray for journalists and all who work in the media. May we work to protect press freedom across the world.
Tolling the bell at the Church of Panagia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki on Great and Good Friday … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
The procession of the Epitaphios at the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Patrick Comerford
Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (19 May 2024). The week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V). This remains the Season of Great Lent in Greece, where this is Holy Week in the calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church, where today is Great and Good Friday.
Throughout this Season of Easter, my morning reflections each day include the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.
I was at the Service of the Holy Passion (the Twelve Gospels) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford last night, where I received a very warm wlecoome, and then stayed awake for much of the night, watching the local election results on BBC. I have a medical appointment early this morning, and then plan to return for some of the Great and Good Friday services (the Royak Hours) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford.
But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘God is Love, God is Light, God is With Us’ … thoughts in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 15: 12-17 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’
Today is World Press Freedom Day (USPG Prayer Diary) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 May 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Sacred Circle.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update adapted from the Autumn edition of Revive magazine.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 May 2024, World Press Freedom Day) invites us to pray:
We pray for journalists and all who work in the media. May we work to protect press freedom across the world.
Tolling the bell at the Church of Panagia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki on Great and Good Friday … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
The procession of the Epitaphios at the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Labels:
Crete 2024,
Easter 2024,
Good Friday,
Greece 2024,
Journalism,
Love,
Mission,
Orthodoxy,
Prayer,
Rethymnon,
Saint John's Gospel,
Southwark Cathedral,
Stony Stratford,
Street art,
Thessaloniki,
USPG,
Wolverton
The Greeks have a word for it:
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
Did Socrates ever get drunk? … a bar in Piskopianó in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
There is a bar at the top of the hill in Piskopianó with the name Socrates.
As I looked back at that bar some days ago, I wondered whether, at the height of the season, it is filled with tourists who become bar-room philosophers, arguing and debating, and – if so – whether any of them then stumble out drunk.
In Plato’s Symposium, Alcibiades claims that Socrates, despite allegedly drinking heavily just like the others, never got drunk and that alcohol never has any effect on Socrates: ‘Observe, my friends, said Alcibiades, that this ingenious trick of mine will have no effect on Socrates, for he can drink any quantity of wine and not be at all nearer being drunk.’
There are three great Greek philosophers – Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. Some years ago, back in 2017, I bought a T-shirt in the Plaka in Athens with a slogan I had first spotted over ten years earlier:
To do is to be – Socrates
To be is to do – Plato
Do be do be do – Sinatra
I wondered, as I first photographed the T-shirt, what Aristotle might have said, and was amused at how he had lost out to Frank Sinatra. But, of course, I know Plato and Socrates never said such things or put their views so succinctly.
The quotes attributed to them are simplistic and fanciful, if not facile. But they were good ways to introduce students at the time to thinking about how to make the necessary connections between philosophy and theology, and between popular culture and theology.
The order of the slogans changes over the last half century, and the attributions change too, drawing in a variety of philosophers, including Dale Carnegie, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, William James, William Shakespeare and Bertrand Russell. But the punchline continues to be ascribed to Frank Sinatra.
Socrates is regarded as the founder of Western philosophy … a street name in Koutouloufári in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Socrates (Σωκράτης), who lived in Athens from ca 470 to 399 BCE, is regarded as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. But he is an enigmatic figure, for he wrote no texts, and he is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.
These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer. They gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre.
Contradictory accounts of Socrates make it almost impossible to reconstruct his philosophy, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarising figure in Athenian society. He was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth in 399 BCE. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape, and died drinking the cup of hemlock he was given.
Plato’s dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy, including epistemology and ethics.
The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomised by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood.
Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance. He said the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realisation of our ignorance is the first step in philosophising.
Yet, Socrates never wrote about his teachings. All we know about him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; from the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes, who was a contemporary of Socrates; and from Plato’s pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates died.
The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars’ ability to reconstruct Socrates’s true thoughts reliably, a predicament known as the Socratic problem. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates, his life and his thinking.
Socratic dialogues (Σωκρατικὸς λόγος, logos sokratikos) was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. While the exact dates of their composition are unknown, some were probably written after the death of Socrates. As Aristotle first noted, the extent to which the dialogues portray Socrates authentically is a matter of some debate.
Socrated has a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and continues to influence philosophers to this day. He was studied by mediaeval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture – including T-shirts – have made Socrates a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.
And, of course, he continues to give his name to bars, such as the one I know in Piskopianó, and to streets, including a back street I know in the neighbouring village of Koutouloufári.
Previous word: 37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
Next word: 39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
Socrates gives his name to streets in many towns in Greece … a back street in the village of Koutouloufári in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
There is a bar at the top of the hill in Piskopianó with the name Socrates.
As I looked back at that bar some days ago, I wondered whether, at the height of the season, it is filled with tourists who become bar-room philosophers, arguing and debating, and – if so – whether any of them then stumble out drunk.
In Plato’s Symposium, Alcibiades claims that Socrates, despite allegedly drinking heavily just like the others, never got drunk and that alcohol never has any effect on Socrates: ‘Observe, my friends, said Alcibiades, that this ingenious trick of mine will have no effect on Socrates, for he can drink any quantity of wine and not be at all nearer being drunk.’
There are three great Greek philosophers – Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. Some years ago, back in 2017, I bought a T-shirt in the Plaka in Athens with a slogan I had first spotted over ten years earlier:
To do is to be – Socrates
To be is to do – Plato
Do be do be do – Sinatra
I wondered, as I first photographed the T-shirt, what Aristotle might have said, and was amused at how he had lost out to Frank Sinatra. But, of course, I know Plato and Socrates never said such things or put their views so succinctly.
The quotes attributed to them are simplistic and fanciful, if not facile. But they were good ways to introduce students at the time to thinking about how to make the necessary connections between philosophy and theology, and between popular culture and theology.
The order of the slogans changes over the last half century, and the attributions change too, drawing in a variety of philosophers, including Dale Carnegie, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, William James, William Shakespeare and Bertrand Russell. But the punchline continues to be ascribed to Frank Sinatra.
Socrates is regarded as the founder of Western philosophy … a street name in Koutouloufári in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Socrates (Σωκράτης), who lived in Athens from ca 470 to 399 BCE, is regarded as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. But he is an enigmatic figure, for he wrote no texts, and he is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.
These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer. They gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre.
Contradictory accounts of Socrates make it almost impossible to reconstruct his philosophy, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarising figure in Athenian society. He was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth in 399 BCE. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape, and died drinking the cup of hemlock he was given.
Plato’s dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy, including epistemology and ethics.
The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomised by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood.
Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance. He said the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realisation of our ignorance is the first step in philosophising.
Yet, Socrates never wrote about his teachings. All we know about him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; from the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes, who was a contemporary of Socrates; and from Plato’s pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates died.
The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars’ ability to reconstruct Socrates’s true thoughts reliably, a predicament known as the Socratic problem. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates, his life and his thinking.
Socratic dialogues (Σωκρατικὸς λόγος, logos sokratikos) was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. While the exact dates of their composition are unknown, some were probably written after the death of Socrates. As Aristotle first noted, the extent to which the dialogues portray Socrates authentically is a matter of some debate.
Socrated has a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and continues to influence philosophers to this day. He was studied by mediaeval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture – including T-shirts – have made Socrates a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.
And, of course, he continues to give his name to bars, such as the one I know in Piskopianó, and to streets, including a back street I know in the neighbouring village of Koutouloufári.
Previous word: 37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
Next word: 39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
Socrates gives his name to streets in many towns in Greece … a back street in the village of Koutouloufári in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)