Did The Stoics Believe In God?

Wednesday Wisdom #173

Happy Wednesday, wisdom lovers!

Last week, we wrote about What Freedom Meant to Epictetus. 

This week: Did The Stoics Believe In God?

Now, let's get to it 👇

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Weekly Reflection

In the modern application of Stoicism, the focus is ethics, which is concerned with the proper way to conduct ourselves. Ethics is the practical aspect of Stoicism, but the Stoics went beyond ethics. The early Stoics also wrote extensively on Physics (back then Physics dealt with explaining divine forces as opposed to the physics we know today). Respect to the Gods was an integral part of life for the ancients.

As part of their physics, the Stoics believed in God as a craftsman-like force which permeated everything. Unlike many of the traditional religions today which see God as an omnipotent entity in the sky, the Stoic God took up many forms such as plants and animals, like branches on the same tree. The whole of nature was its body. It was highly intelligent and fundamentally good.