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Libra Esoterica

Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination

Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023

by Francesca Bonini, Amalia Cerrito & Alessandro Palazzo

  • First published:
  • 21st century
  • Language: English

Description

Description from Directory of Open Access Books (opens in a new tab)

This volume offers a comprehensive examination of medieval conceptions of foreknowledge—understood both as divine prescience and as the human capacity to anticipate future events—across a range of intellectual traditions. It investigates key themes such as future contingents, prophetic discourse (both divinely inspired and natural), divinatory dreams, eschatology, scientific prognostication (in astrology and medicine), and conjectural disciplines such as geomancy, physiognomy, meteorology, and magic. Through historical reconstructions and doctrinal analyses, the contributions illuminate the theoretical frameworks and distinctive positions advanced by medieval authors within diverse cultural and scholarly contexts. Building on an extensive body of prior research, the volume documents the multiplicity of medieval strategies for engaging with the future, thereby challenging the historiographical assumption that the notion of an open and indeterminate future emerged only in the Modern period.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Astrology, Divination and oracles, Prophecy, oracles, and revelation, and Ritual magic and grimoires.

  • Ritual magic and grimoires

    Retained metadata contains “Magic” in the description.

    • “Magic”· in description
  • Astrology

    Controlled discovery queries from doab matched “astrology”. Retained metadata contains “Astrology” in the description and “Astrology” in the subject metadata.

    • “astrology”· via Directory of Open Access Books
    • “Astrology”· in description
    • “Astrology”· in subject
  • Divination and oracles

    Controlled discovery queries from doab matched “divination”. Retained metadata contains “Divination” in the title, “Geomancy” in the description, “Divination” in the subject metadata, and 1 additional metadata match(es).

    • “divination”· via Directory of Open Access Books
    • “Divination”· in title
    • “Geomancy”· in description
    • “Divination”· in subject
    • “Divination”· in edition title
  • Prophecy, oracles, and revelation

    Controlled discovery queries from doab matched “prophecy”. Retained metadata contains “Prophecy” in the title, “prophetic” in the description, and “Prophecy” in the edition title.

    • “prophecy”· via Directory of Open Access Books
    • “Prophecy”· in title
    • “prophetic”· in description
    • “Prophecy”· in edition title

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023

Directory of Open Access Books edition

2026-03-30—English—Open access

Subjects

8 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Identifiers

DOI
DOAB
  • 20.500.12854/176353

Cataloged from

Catalog id
doab:20.500.12854/176353
Edition coverage
Multi source partial
Retrieved