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BRILLIANT GODS, a five-volume cycle, begins with a non-fiction essay about Greek Polytheism, the ancient religion still valid today. Each of the other books tells a moral tale focusing on a single god or goddess. THE HOURS OF APHRODITE is the third of these fictions. Elena, a Berkeley undergraduate, enjoys classes in art history, literature, and choreography. She enjoys sex even more. When she can't be with her lover, she finds good alternatives. When she can't be making love at all, she still thinks about it. THE HOURS OF APHRODITE shows the events of her typical day as acts of worship, organized into a kind of prayer book. The text of a traditional book of hours was often accompanied by small paintings. Here each episode is paired with music. You are encouraged to read the story, hear the music, and decide whether Elena's life of worship might be a suitable model for your own devotions.

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9781463748999

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From the age of ten I tried to reconcile what I learned in school with what I learned in church. Science gave me a convincing way to understand physical reality. A Christian upbringing gave me inspiring stories that saw the world in a wholly different light. Although each approach was compelling in its sphere, the two often disagreed about matters of fact. One could not believe both at once. At Oberlin, at Berkeley, and in the college towns that followed, I wondered if this conflict might be irresolvable. Two things looked to be certain. The scientific model, while always evolving, values a single method consistent across cultures. By contrast, religions vary widely in their notions of evidence as well as in their claims. I began to compare the paths to religious truth, looking first West and then East. In the 1970s I took my first trip to Greece, visiting many classical sites and collections. Back home, I paid more attention to mythology. In museums, I sought out classical art. I read extensively about ancient polytheism. I returned to Greece for research. Forty years later, I know that scientific knowledge and spiritual knowledge can exist amicably together, each reinforcing the other, because they have done so before. This conclusion derives from scholarship, but even more from direct experience of the architecture, art, and literature of the Greeks and those whom they inspired.

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