Pagan divination in the Greek patristic. The terms used in criticizing oracles

Abstract

The theme of divination and prophecy is one of the topics that best allow analysis of the meeting and confrontation of the new Christian message and Greco-Roman civilization. In the earliest Apologetics there was already criticism of pagan prophesying, and this remained present with greater or lesser intensity throughout the life of the genre. The particular religious and spiritual context of the second century was favourable to the existence of oracles with a theological content, concerning the destiny of the soul, divine worship, the nature and characteristics of divinity and similar topics, a long way from the traditional consultations about material life.