Also, Axial Age in History, more resonance

[Mark Kohut]

Monte,
 
That first reading regarding Axial is Michael's, of course.  
And, I think you are surely right in your judgment of level of currency.
 
And, even suggestively, I think it must be .....just a chance connection, most likely. 
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, as is said.
 
But, here is why I even looked up Axial after MB's right-on definition.........
 
In a first-rate, beyond-me, comparative religion course I took as a freshman, surely geared for
older students, adapted from his graduate courses by a semi-famous guy at U. Toronto, is where I think I
first heard the word Axial in an historical context...........(I thought it meant something like "axis of value"???,whatever
that might mean...I never looked it up.....I was a mental reviser even then)........It was meant in the sense defined and the prof talked
of that 'great' period when so many foundational ideas in various religions all over the world were born.
 
But, here from Derrick it does seems off, besides my feeling that TRP knows EVERY connection we can find [stupid, I know], I
did add it here because I did think TRP might have run across it when he did do much of
his "comparative religious' readings.......which I assume he did........................maybe it is in Eliade, or others?
 
However, if it isn't in Toynbee, esp. with his religious awareness and longest views, then it must never have
gained much traction as a phrase.
 
MK
 
 
 

 
----- Original Message ----
From: Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net>
To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 2:23:50 PM
Subject: RE: Also, Axial Age in History, more resonance


Mark Kohut sez:
 
> Pynchon adds undertones?: 
> Historically, the Axial Age refers to the period from 800 to 200 b.c. during which ...
 
Meh. Could be, but -- at least in my admittedly patchy and overwhelmingly Anglophone reading --Jaspers' schema (and this term from it) don't seem to have reached even a Spengler or Toynbee level of currency. 
 
I'm inclined to stick with your first reading for this author, who was after all briefly an engineering major back in the day.


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