Divine guidance : lessons for today from the world of early Christianity / John A. Jillions.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jillions, John A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Decision making--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Decision making.

Holy Spirit.

Presence of God.

Christian life.

Spirituality.

Physical Description:

xiv, 318 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

The twenty-first century opened with the religiously-inspired attacks of 9/11 and in the years since such attacks have become all too common. Over against the minority who carry out violence at God's direction, however, there are millions of believers around the world who live lives of anonymous kindness. They also see their actions as guided by the divine. How is divine guidance to be understood against the background of such diametrically opposed results? How to make sense of both Osama bin Laden and Mother Teresa? In order to answer this question, John A. Jillions turns to the first-century world of Corinth, where Jews, Gentiles, and early Christians intermixed and vigorously debated the question of divine guidance. In this ancient melting pot, the ideas of writers and poets, philosophers, rabbis, prophets, and the apostle Paul confronted and complemented each other. These writers reveal a culture that reflected deeply upon the realities, ambiguities, and snares posed by questions of divine guidance. Jillions draws these insights together to offer an outline for the twenty-first century and suggest criteria for how to assess perceived divine guidance. Jillions opens a long-closed window in the history of ideas in order to shed valuable light on this timeless question.

Contents:

I Divine Guidance among Greeks and Romans: Corinth as a Case Study

1 Roman Corinth p. 15

2 The Archeology of Divine Guidance in Corinth p. 31

3 The Literature of Divine Guidance: Homer, Virgil, and Horace p. 46

4 Other Roman Writers: Propertius, Ovid, Livy, Lucan, and Petronius p. 64

5 The Stoic Philosopher Posidonius p. 77

6 Roman Philosophers: Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, Pliny p. 92

7 Plutarch: Greco-Roman Bridge between Rational and Mystical p. 113

II Jewish Attitudes Toward Divine Guidance

8 The Jewish Community p. 131

9 Philo p. 151

10 Josephus p. 159

11 The Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, and Expansions of Scripture p. 164

12 Rabbinic Sources p. 175

III Paul

13 Neither Jew nor Greek: 1 Corinthians, Pauls Primer on Divine Guidance p. 187

IV Reprise: Divine Guidance in the First and 21st Centuries

14 Divine Guidance: Continuing the Conversation into the 21st Century p. 255.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-313) and index.

ISBN:

9780190055738

0190055731

OCLC:

1129735728

Publisher Number:

99984134446