ABSTRACT
We should note at the outset that the suspicion with which postmodern culture views the concept of false consciousness is unprecedented. In the past, civilizations have generally developed sophisticated criteria to demonstrate the errors of their victims or rivals. The Greeks declared foreigners to be uncivilized, primitive ‘barbarians’ who lacked the gift of rational thought; the early Christians portrayed pagans as sinful, worldly ‘idolaters’, addicted to the things of this world and the pleasures of the flesh. It is beyond the scope of this book to analyse such ancient discourses in detail. For our purposes, the relevant task is to describe the theories of false consciousness which typify the modern world. In order to do this, however, we will first need to mention the essential
Greek and biblical understandings of the relation between spirit and matter.
