Providence
idea · 6 works · 14 mentions · 21 anchored passages
providence · Pronoia · divine providence · providence of the gods · God's ordering · divine oversight · the dispensation · the works of the gods are full of providence
in the texts
Stromata
Divine providence, whose denial by Epicureanism is criticized and whose affirmation is credited to true philosophy.
" For the philosophy that is according to the divine tradition establishes providence and makes it firm, and, this being done away, the whole dispensation concerning the Saviour appears a fable, since we are then borne along "according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ.
"See, then, that there be no one who carries you off as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ" — not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul also mentions in the Acts of the Apostles, slandering it as doing away with providence and deifying pleasure, and any other that has over-honoured …
yet they are steered by the universal providence to a wholesome end, even though the cause be disease-producing.
On the Nature of the Gods
The Stoic doctrine that the world is governed by divine foresight, clarified as an elliptical expression rather than a personified single goddess.
The next thing is for me to show that the world is administered by the providence of the gods.
so, when we say that the world is administered by providence, judge that the word 'of the gods' is wanting, and reckon that it is fully and completely said thus:
As for the remaining causes which Cleanthes brings forward, of which one is about the abundance of the conveniences we receive, the other about the order of the seasons and the constancy of the sky, these shall be handled by us when we discuss the providence of the gods, about which very much has been said by you, Balbus;
Letters
The doctrine that God, not blind fate, orders all human events for good.
For He surely orders our affairs better, in every case, than we ourselves would have chosen.
But our affairs are not unforeseen by Providence, since we have learned in the Gospel that not even a sparrow falls without the will of our Father.
For there is some cause, incomprehensible to men, for which some are taken from here sooner, while others are left to toil on longer in this painful life.
Meditations
The doctrine that the universe is governed by divine providence that ensures the good of the whole and protects rational beings from true evil.
The works of the gods are full of providence.
And if there are no gods, or if they take no care for human affairs, why should I wish to live in a universe empty of gods, empty of providence?
On Providence
The doctrine that the world is governed by a benevolent, ordering divine power that cares for human affairs.
You have asked me, Lucilius, how it is that, if the world is governed by providence, so many evils befall good men.
But let these matters be reserved for their proper time—the more so since you do not doubt providence, but only complain of it.
Apologeticum
The doctrine that the world is ordered by divine reason from its foundation.
seventy-two interpreters were furnished, whom even the philosopher Menedemus, that champion of providence, looked up to for their agreement of judgment.
For this whole body of the world — whether unborn and unmade, as Pythagoras holds, or born and made, as Plato holds — once for all, in its construction, was found ordered and equipped and arranged with every governance of reason.