author
Charles Norris Cochrane
1889–1945
A Canadian historian and philosopher who wrote with unusual range about Rome, Christianity, and the shape of Western thought. Best known for Christianity and Classical Culture, he brought ancient history to life for generations of students at the University of Toronto.
1 Audiobook
David Thompson, the explorer
by Charles Norris Cochrane
About the author
Born in Omemee, Ontario, in 1889, Charles Norris Cochrane studied at the University of Toronto and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He returned to Toronto to teach ancient history, and he remained closely associated with the University of Toronto for the rest of his career.
Cochrane became known for bringing together history, philosophy, and classical learning in a way that felt both scholarly and wide-ranging. His work often explored the meeting of the ancient Roman world with early Christianity, and readers still remember him especially for Christianity and Classical Culture, first published in 1940.
He died in Toronto in 1945. Though his life was not long, his writing left a lasting mark on the study of classical antiquity and on readers interested in how the ancient world gave way to a new intellectual and religious order.