Download or read book Cicero on the Philosophy of Religion written by J. P. F. Wynne and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do the gods love you? Cicero gives deep and surprising answers in two philosophical dialogues on traditional Roman religion.
Download or read book The Nature of the Gods and on Divination written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by Great Books in Philosophy. This book was released on 1997 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In THE NATURE OF THE GODS, the eminent Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.E.) analyzes the positions of the Stoic, Epicurean, and Academic schools on the existence and nature of the gods, and whether they act in the interests of humankind. In the dialogue of ON DIVINATION, Cicero and his brother Quintus examine various sorts of divination against Stoic principles.
Download or read book Divination and Human Nature written by Peter T. Struck and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divination and Human Nature casts a new perspective on the rich tradition of ancient divination—the reading of divine signs in oracles, omens, and dreams. Popular attitudes during classical antiquity saw these readings as signs from the gods while modern scholars have treated such beliefs as primitive superstitions. In this book, Peter Struck reveals instead that such phenomena provoked an entirely different accounting from the ancient philosophers. These philosophers produced subtle studies into what was an odd but observable fact—that humans could sometimes have uncanny insights—and their work signifies an early chapter in the cognitive history of intuition. Examining the writings of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Neoplatonists, Struck demonstrates that they all observed how, setting aside the charlatans and swindlers, some people had premonitions defying the typical bounds of rationality. Given the wide differences among these ancient thinkers, Struck notes that they converged on seeing this surplus insight as an artifact of human nature, projections produced under specific conditions by our physiology. For the philosophers, such unexplained insights invited a speculative search for an alternative and more naturalistic system of cognition. Recovering a lost piece of an ancient tradition, Divination and Human Nature illustrates how philosophers of the classical era interpreted the phenomena of divination as a practice closer to intuition and instinct than magic.
Download or read book Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism written by Crystal Addey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did ancient philosophers consult oracles, write about them, and consider them to be an important part of philosophical thought and practice? This book explores the extensive links between oracles and philosophy in Late Antiquity, particularly focusing on the roles of oracles and other forms of divination in third and fourth century CE Neoplatonism. Examining some of the most significant debates between pagan philosophers and Christian intellectuals on the nature of oracles as a central yet contested element of religious tradition, Addey focuses particularly on Porphyry's Philosophy from Oracles and Iamblichus' De Mysteriis - two works which deal extensively with oracles and other forms of divination. This book argues for the significance of divination within Neoplatonism and offers a substantial reassessment of oracles and philosophical works and their relationship to one another. With a broad interdisciplinary approach, encompassing Classics, Ancient Philosophy, Theology, Religious Studies and Ancient History, Addey draws on recent anthropological and religious studies research which has challenged and re-evaluated the relationship between rationality and ritual.
Download or read book To Become a God written by Michael J. Puett and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evidence from Shang oracle bones to memorials submitted to Western Han emperors attests to a long-lasting debate in early China over the proper relationship between humans and gods. One pole of the debate saw the human and divine realms as separate and agonistic and encouraged divination to determine the will of the gods and sacrifices to appease and influence them. The opposite pole saw the two realms as related and claimed that humans could achieve divinity and thus control the cosmos. This wide-ranging book reconstructs this debate and places within their contemporary contexts the rival claims concerning the nature of the cosmos and the spirits, the proper demarcation between the human and the divine realms, and the types of power that humans and spirits can exercise. It is often claimed that the worldview of early China was unproblematically monistic and that hence China had avoided the tensions between gods and humans found in the West. By treating the issues of cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divinization in a historical and comparative framework that attends to the contemporary significance of specific arguments, Michael J. Puett shows that the basic cosmological assumptions of ancient China were the subject of far more debate than is generally thought.
Download or read book Divining the Self written by Velma E. Love and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divining the Self weaves elements of personal narrative, myth, history, and interpretive analysis into a vibrant tapestry that reflects the textured, embodied, and performative nature of scripture and scripturalizing practices. Velma Love examines the Odu—the Yoruba sacred scriptures—along with the accompanying mythology, philosophy, and ritual technologies engaged by African Americans. Drawing from the personal narratives of African American Ifa practitioners along with additional ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Oyotunji African Village, South Carolina, and New York City, Love’s work explores the ways in which an ancient worldview survives in modern times. Divining the Self also takes up the challenge of determining what it means for the scholar of religion to study scripture as both text and performance. This work provides an excellent case study of the sociocultural phenomenon of scripturalizing practices.
Download or read book On the Nature of the Gods written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by . This book was released on 1902 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Norse Divination written by Gypsey Elaine Teague and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2021-11-08 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journey into the Norse Pantheon to Uncover the Secrets of Your Past, Present, and Future Reveal your life's path in a brand-new way with Norse Divination, the only book designed around the Nordic gods themselves rather than the Futhark. Through concise yet enlightening analyses of these deities and their relationships to each other, you'll unlock answers to your deepest questions and find more happiness and success. An excellent primer on Norse mythology, this book teaches you how to easily create your own thirty-six-piece divination set and use it to explore the gods and goddesses' beliefs, customs, loves, and deaths. Each deity, along with important mythological items, has a dedicated chapter outlining who they are, what their role is, and how they can help you divine the best course of action in any scenario. Featuring clear and thorough instruction on how to read all thirty-six pieces in their past, present, and future positions, Norse Divination helps you harness hidden knowledge and forge a unique practice.
Download or read book Athenian Popular Religion written by Jon D. Mikalson and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2017-10-06 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most modern studies of Athenian religion have focused on festivals, cult practices, and individual deities. Jon Mikalson turns instead to the religious beliefs citizens of Athens spoke of and acted upon in everyday life. He uses evidence only from reliable, mostly contemporary sources such as the orators Lysias and Demosthenes, the historian Xenophon, and state decrees, sacred laws, religious dedications, and epitaphs. "This is in no sense a general history of Athenian religion," Mikalson writes, "even within the narrow historical boundaries set. It is rather an investigation of what might be termed the consensus of popular religious belief, a consensus consisting of those beliefs which an Athenian citizen thought he could express publicly and for which he expected fo find general acceptance among his peers." What emerges in Mikalson's study is a remarkable homogeneity of religious beliefs at the popular level. The topics discussed at length in Athenian Popular Religion include the areas of divine intervention in human life, the gods and human justice, gods and oaths, divination, death and the afterlife, the nature of the gods, social aspects of popular religion, and piety and impiety. Mikalson challenges the common opinion that popular religious belief in Athens deteriorated significantly from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth century B.C. "The error in understanding the development of Athenian religion has arisen, it seems to me, because scholars have failed to distinguish properly between the differing natures of the sources for our knowledge of religious beliefs in the earlier and later periods," Mikalson writes. The difference between those sources "is more than simply one of years. It is a difference between poetry and prose, with all the factors which that difference implies."
Download or read book The Treatises of M T Cicero written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by . This book was released on 1853 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Treatises of M T Cicero written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by . This book was released on 1853 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Signs Wonders and Gifts written by Jennifer Eyl and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In much of the scholarship on Paul, activities such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miracle healings are either ignored or treated as singular occurrences. Typically, these practices are categorized in such a way that shields Paul and his followers from the influence of so-called paganism. In Signs, Wonders, and Gifts, Jennifer Eyl masterfully argues that Paul did, in fact, engage in range of divinatory and wonder-working practices that were widely recognized and accepted across the ancient Mediterranean. Eyl redescribes, reclassifies, and recontextualizes Paul's repertoire vis-á-vis such widespread, similar practices. Situating these activities within the larger framework of reciprocity that dominated human-divine relationships in antiquity, she demonstrates that divine powers and divine communication were bestowed as benefactions toward Paul and his gentile followers in proportion to their faithfulness and loyalty.
Download or read book Ancient Greek Divination written by Sarah Iles Johnston and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-04-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first English-language survey of ancient Greek divinatorymethods, Ancient Greek Divination offers a broad yetdetailed treatment of the earliest attempts by ancient Greeks toseek the counsel of the gods. Offers in-depth discussions of oracles, wandering diviners,do-it-yourself methods of foretelling the future, magicaldivinatory techniques, and much more Illustrates how the study of divination illuminates thementalities of ancient Greek religions and societies
Download or read book Honor Thy Gods written by Jon D. Mikalson and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Honor Thy Gods Jon Mikalson uses the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to explore popular religious beliefs and practices of Athenians in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. and examines how these playwrights portrayed, manipulated, and otherwise represented popular religion in their plays. He discusses the central role of honor in ancient Athenian piety and shows that the values of popular piety are not only reflected but also reaffirmed in tragedies. Mikalson begins by examining what tragic characters and choruses have to say about the nature of the gods and their intervention in human affairs. Then, by tracing the fortunes of diverse characters -- among them Creon and Antigone, Ajax and Odysseus, Hippolytus, Pentheus, and even Athens and Troy -- he shows that in tragedy those who violate or challenge contemporary popular religious beliefs suffer, while those who support these beliefs are rewarded. The beliefs considered in Mikalson's analysis include Athenians' views on matters regarding asylum, the roles of guests and hosts, oaths, the various forms of divination, health and healing, sacrifice, pollution, the religious responsibilities of parents, children, and citizens, homicide, the dead, and the afterlife. After summarizing the vairous forms of piety and impiety related to these beliefs found in the tragedies, Mikalson isolates "honoring the gods" as the fundamental concept of Greek piety. He concludes by describing the different relationships of the three tragedians to the religion of their time and their audience, arguing that the tragedies of Euripides most consistently support the values of popular religion.
Download or read book Nature is Our Window to God s Creation Some Pages From God s Picture Book written by Frank Young and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is not an evangelical diatribe which seeks to convert anyone to Christianity and it does not advocate any religion. Instead, it's universal appeal is to all denominations and faiths, non-believers and believers, as well as agnostics. It simply asks you to take the time to smell the roses, witness the miracles of Nature, and come to your conclusions as to whether everything in Nature is a result of some big bang theory (evolution) or God's Creation, however you conceive of your God. The title mainly attempts to influence your mind and thought process to encourage you to think about your surroundings, and focus on all living things which co-exist in your environmental habitat. The incentive will be that you derive your own observations and opinions about all living things the way they are or appear to be. On the contrary, this book is not a complex, esoteric, or profound dialog but a discussion of the generalities of life. The hope is that you, the reader, will take a journey into the realm of wonder, including the visible and invisible, and assess the big picture or the forest for the trees, creating your own conception of reality. It encourages you to not wait, however, till the time has expired for free thought and your coherent ability, at that juncture, to seek answers. Instead, it attempts to motivate you to derive answers in the interim period between the dawn and dusk of your life and encourage you to engage in a conversation about God, Life, and Nature now.
Download or read book On the Nature of the Gods On Divination On Fate On the Republic On the Laws and On Standing for the Consulship written by Marcus Tullius Cicero and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Invoke the Gods written by Kala Trobe and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2001 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the power of male archetypes by calling upon the energies of specific godforms. This guidebook and companion volume to Invoke the Goddess shows you how to activate a positive and powerful connection to fifteen gods from three different pantheons--Hindu, Greek, and Egyptian--with ritualized meditations and visualizations. ·To increase initiative-elicit the dynamic energy of Hermes ·For greater power-invoke the might of Zeus ·For career success-seek the business savvy of Ganesh ·For magickal prowess-call upon the prophetic wisdom of Thoth The gods live in our very midst, inside as well as outside of our own psyches. Invoke the Gods presents the history, lore, and instruction you need to incorporate their archetypal powers into your life.
