Overview

A vivid and accessible new translation of Cicero's influential Stoic writings on the divine Most ancient Romans were deeply religious and their world was overflowing with gods--from Jupiter, Minerva, and Mars to countless local divinities, household gods, and ancestral spirits. One of the most influential Roman perspectives on religion came from a nonreligious belief system that is finding new adherents even today: Stoicism. How did the Stoics think about religion? In How to Think about God, Philip Freeman presents vivid new translations of Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods and The Dream of Scipio. In these brief works, Cicero offers a Stoic view of belief, divinity, and human immortality, giving eloquent expression to the religious ideas of one of the most popular schools of Roman and Greek philosophy. On the Nature of the Gods and The Dream of Scipio are Cicero's best-known and most important writings on religion, and they have profoundly shaped Christian and non-Christian thought for more than two thousand years, influencing such luminaries as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and Thomas Jefferson. These works reveal many of the religious aspects of Stoicism, including an understanding of the universe as a materialistic yet continuous and living whole in which both the gods and a supreme God are essential elements.

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9781665119603

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Shaun Grindell, actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator, was born and raised in Southampton, England. His training includes the Calland School of Speech and Drama and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in London. He has been seen on stage in London and Las Vegas. Philip Freeman is the author of more than twenty books on the ancient world, including the Cicero translations How to Be a Friend, How to Grow Old, and How to Run a Country. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair as a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University and lives in Malibu, California. Philip Freeman is the author of more than twenty books on the ancient world, including the Cicero translations How to Be a Friend, How to Grow Old, and How to Run a Country. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair as a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University and lives in Malibu, California. Philip Freeman is the author of more than twenty books on the ancient world, including the Cicero translations How to Be a Friend, How to Grow Old, and How to Run a Country. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair as a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University and lives in Malibu, California. Philip Freeman is the author of more than twenty books on the ancient world, including the Cicero translations How to Be a Friend, How to Grow Old, and How to Run a Country. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair as a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University and lives in Malibu, California. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), commonly known as Cicero, was a Roman statesman, philosopher, orator, and lawyer. Born into an aristocratic family, he studied law and served a term as consul in 63 BC. Following the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC, to which he was a witness, he argued in front of the senate for the restoration of the republic but was unsuccessful. In 43 BC, he was murdered on the orders of Mark Antony. Cicero's works include philosophic writings, speeches made as a lawyer and a senator, and letters.

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