Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World (Studies in Greek and Roman Religion)

Religious Mentality In Ancient Prayer / H.s. Versnel -- Gifts For The Gods / F.t. Van Straten -- Religious History As The History Of Mentality : The Believer As Servant Of The Deity In The Greek World / H.w. Pleket -- Greek Hymns / J.m. Bremer -- Philosophers, Intellectuals And Religion In Hellas / P.a. Meijer. Edited By H.s. Versnel. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. FAITH HOPE AND WORSHIP 4 Contents 8 Introduction 12 Religious mentality in ancient prayer 16 I. Introduction 16 II. Prayers expressing wishes: direct and indirect objects 19 III. 'Gebetsegoismus' 32 IV. Offensive, indecent and improper prayers 36 V. Hearing gods 41 VI. Deaf gods and angry men 52 VII. Prayers of gratitude 57 VIII. The end of a circle 78 Gifts for the gods 80 I. Introduction 80 II. Votive offerings 93 1. Participants and concomitants 96 a) God 96 b) Man 96 c) Prayer 97 d) Sacrifice 98 2. Occasion 103 a) Initiation 103 b) The course of life 104 c) Contests 106 d) Work 107 e) Disasters and dangers 111 f) Illness 112 3. Desired effect 117 Appendix. Votive offerings representing parts of the human body (the Greek world) 120 Religious history as the history of mentality: the 'believer' as servant of the deity in the Greek world 167 I. Introduction 167 II. 'Orthodoxy' and its gradations 169 III. Ad fontes 171 1. Kneeling 171 2. Commands 173 3. Servant of the deity 174 a) Θεpαπευτής, Θεpαπεύω, Θεpάπων 174 b) Ύπoνργóς 176 c) Λάτρις 178 d) Ύπηρέτης - ∆oūλоς 181 4. Divine omnipotence 186 a) Пαvτoxpάτωp, (Пαμ)βασιλεύς 186 b) Kύpιoς, ∆εσπóτης, Tύpαννoς 189 C) ∆ύναμις 193 5. 'Advertisement' of the deity: eulogy (εύλоγία) and penance 198 IV. Final chord 204 Greek hymns 208 I. 'Hymn': the meaning of the word and the conventional structure 208 II. Some remarks on the performance of hymns 212 III. A survey of the remaining texts and some interpretations 218 Philosophers, intellectuals and religion in Hellas 231 I. Atheism 231 1. Introduction, problems 231 2. The attitude towards cult and atheism in Athens 234 3. Two pre-socratic thinkers on religion 236 4. An obstacle to atheism 239 5. The origin of atheism 243 II. The philosophers' prayer 247 1. Xenophanes and Heraclitus 247 2. Socrates 249 3. Plato's view of prayer, his devotional experience 255 III. Sacrifice 260 1. Plato and sacrifice 260 2. Theophrastus and sacrifice 265 a) The object of the sacrifice 265 b) The attitude of the sacrificer and the mode of the sacrifice 268 IV. ∆εισιδαιμovία 274 1. Theophrastus 274 2. Plutarch 276 Indices 280 I. Names and subjects 280 II. Greek and Latin words 287 III. Sources 291 Plates: F. T. van Straten, Gifts for the gods, Figures 1-64 300