Read Plutarch; Think Well, Live Well.

If I could encourage anyone to do anything that might lift their minds from debase thinking (and their eyes from small black mirrors), it would be this: read Plutarch.

Of course, the Bible comes first, as it should. But Plutarch reigns (after).

Why?

Because through reading Plutarch you will learn how to live well, and to think well.

Plutarch Lives is considered one of the most important and influential works of all the classics.

Plutarch’s Lives was the foundation of much of Shakespeare’s works, the bedrock of American political thought as evidenced in the writings and speeches of Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson (and that’s the short list).

Plutarch’s Lives was written for the purpose of instruction, the inculcation of the highest virtues of the ancient world, including wisdom, courage, and duty. He accomplished this through the juxtaposition of prominent Roman and Greek personalities, people who embodied the essential elements of true honor, and in great measure.

As a pastor or scholar who chooses to read Plutarch with intent, you commit to entering the stream of consciousness that permeated the Thomists, the Reformers, the Enlightenment thinkers, and beyond.

Perhaps, in the midst of a contemporary educational system that has lost touch with the classics, your personal reading of Plutarch will generate new ideas in your own thinking, ushering you into the company of the great minds who came before and inviting you to live life well along with them.

That alone is worth the price of admission.

Plutarch’s Lives is now available on the Logos platform. Add it to your library today.