Abstract

This work of scholarship examines the use of the Greek terms epistrephein and epistrophë by pagan and Christian writers during the first three centuries A.D. Such a study, though philological, intends also to contrast two distinct attitudes toward human existence: fidelity to oneself and fidelity to God. The findings include the following: 1) these terms appear in the common language of the period in a non-technical sense, 2) the Christian use of them has a Biblical origin, 3) the philosophical use of the terms is of uncertain origin, 4) the expression epistrephein eis eauton is philosophical and not truly Christian, 5) the notion of "conversio Dei" is alien to pagan thought, and 6) these divergent uses had an influence on the mystical traditions of paganism and Christianity.--V. G. P.