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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Christian Divination in Late Antiquity

Christian Divination in Late Antiquity

Wisniewski, Robert

Hardcover

Series: Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

Religion General Ancient History GeneralGeneral World History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 9462988706
ISBN13: 9789462988705
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Nov 16 2020
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.35
Height: 0.81 Width: 6.11 Depth: 9.41
Language: English
In Late Antiquity, people commonly sought to acquire hidden knowledge about the past, the present, and the future, using a variety of methods. While Christians acknowledged that these methods could work effectively, in theory they were not allowed to make use of them. In practice, they behaved in diverse ways. Some probably renounced any hope of learning about the future. Others resorted to old practices regardless of the consequences. A third option was to construct divinatory methods that were effective yet religiously tolerable. This book is devoted to the study of such practices and their practitioners, and provides answers to essential questions concerning Christian divination. How did it develop? How closely were Christian methods related to older, traditional practices? Who used them and in which situations? Who offered oracular services? And how were they perceived by clerics, intellectuals, and common people? This book studies a phenomenon which is most interesting in itself, but also helps to understand religious and social life in the period in which they were swiftly changing, o covers the entire field, and not a single method, o deals with the evidence from all parts of Christendom.

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