While Christian authors in Late Antiquity firmly condemned pagan divination of any kind, their attitude toward the Christian or Christianized forms was more complicated. They were hardly enthusiastic about such practices, but usually did not condemn them either. In effect they seldom wrote about them at all. That is why we don’t know much even about quite popular late antique divinatory practices. In this paper I am going to focus on the beginnings of such practices as incubation, book and lot divination, inquiring energumens and holy monks, with a focus on two questions, namely, what was the relation between relics and divination? and How deeply were Christian practicese rooted in pagan customs?
Robert Wiśniewski earned his PhD at the University of Warsaw in 2002 with a thesis on the role of the devil in early Latin hagiography. He works on late antique Christian religious mentality and practice, although his attention is sometimes attracted by Gallic druids. Robert is currently writing a book on the beginnings of the cult of relics and is involved in a project on Christian divination in Late Antiquity. He is perplexed by the question of how it was possible to be well informed about the future and remain a good Christian.
Related works by Robert Wiśniewski:
- “Lucilla and the Bone. Remarks on an Early Testimony to the Cult of Relics.” Journal of Late Antiquity 4 (2011), 157-161
- „Początki dzielenia relikwii świętych w chrześcijaństwie antycznym: Czy Grecy są winni?” [Dividing relics. Are the Greeks guilty?] in: Timai: Studia poświęcone profesorowi Włodzimierzowi Lengauerowi przez uczniow i młodszych kolegów z okazji Jego 60. urodzin, red. A. Wolicki. Warszawa 2009, 168-185
- „I los padł na Macieja…”. Kilka uwag o późnoantycznym stosunku do losów i pewnym epizodzie z początków Kościoła [“And the Lot Fell on Matthew...”. Some Remarks on the Late Antique Attitude to Drawing Lots and an Episode of the Early Beginnings of the Church], U Schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze 10 (2011), 229-236.
- Początki kultu relikwii na Zachodzie [The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics in the West. A Sourcebook], Warsaw, 2011.
- “Looking for Dreams and Talking with Martyrs. Internal Roots of the Christian Incubation.” [submitted to Studia Patristica, forthcoming]