Sibyls and Seers (Routledge Revivals)

Book excerpt: The ancient world as a whole believed in the existence of a world of spirits beyond, or alongside, the visible, tangible world. They believed also that communications between these two worlds frequently took place: everywhere we find diviners and prophets, oracles and visionaries. First published in 1928, Sibyls and Seers investigates the various aspects of this ‘superstition’ in the Ancient Near East, in Homer, the Greek tragedians, and the myriad religions of the Roman Empire. The theophanies of Yahweh in the Old Testament - Enoch, Jeremiah, Ezekiel – are given some attention, as is the tradition in Christian theology and literature: St Paul, Pope Gregory the Great, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the Scholastics. These lectures are clearly written, broad in scope and full of insight for contemporary students of religion, theology and anthropology.