“Homeric Theologia: Fiction or Reality?”
By George Alexander Gazis (Durham University)
The concept of the divine in the Homeric epics is admittedly complicated and has led to intense debate among scholars, particularly in terms of what kind of religious system, if any, hides behind the constant interactions of the gods with the Homeric heroes, as well as whether the concept of institutionalized religion is present in the Iliad and the Odyssey (Myers 2019; Edmunds 2016).
"Hesiod and Theologia"
By Jenny Strauss Clay (University of Virginia)
Aristotle uses the term theologia to define both the pre-philosophical thought of the poets and the highest form of philosophical speculation concerning eternal and universal principles. Hesiod has a rather special place within that polarity. Aristotle does not mention him at Metaph.
"Gods as Movers, Thinkers and Carers in pre-Aristotelian Philosophy"
By Shaul Tor (King's College London)
This paper will explore how some pre-Aristotelian texts construct gods as causes of motion. In particular, it will explore how far – and how successfully – the causation of physical motion, intelligent and deliberate thinking and providential care interrelated in certain pre-Aristotelian theological models, those of Xenophanes, Heraclitus and the Athenian Stranger in Book 10 of Plato’s Laws.
“In the Night of Parmenides: Theologia and Allegory in the Derveni Papyrus”
By Phillip Sidney Horky (Durham University)
This paper will discuss the novel contributions to theology advanced by the author of the Derveni Papyrus (DP). Specifically, this paper will investigate how the new discovery (Janko, in Kotwick 2017; cf. Janko 2016) of the first line of Parmenides’ poem (DK28 B1.1), “The mares that bear me as far as desire reaches…”, conditions our reading of the Derveni Author’s (DA) theology.