Measures of Wisdom. the Cosmic Dance in Classical and Christian Antiquity.

This analysis of evidence for images of dance in relation to philosophical visions of the cosmos focuses upon nine crucial passages from Plato, Philo, Acts of John, Plotinus, Calcidius, Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, Proclus, and Pseudo-Dionysius. Miller interprets the cosmic dance as an evolving variation on the Platonic (and Neoplatonic) archetypal conception of culture as a choral imitation of the universe. He compresses his intricate thesis into one sentence: "to be considered cultured one must be fully trained in the dance." There is more to his learned argument than such brevity immediately suggests, and his imaginative synthesis will appeal most to the historian of ideas. Robert J. Lenardon, Professor Emeritus of Classics, Ohio State Univ., ColumbusCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.