Divine Providence Is a Concept

Divine Providence is a concept most often associated with the Puritans, Pilgrims, and other Christina philosophies of the Reformation era and before. But the concept that everything that befalls us mortals is the result of God's or gods' will or wills is much older than the Reformation, and even Christianity itself -- and possibly all forms of monotheism. The concept of divine providence is probably as old as the concept of divinity itself, but it is not limited to the religious sphere many philosophers even in the pre-Christian era demonstrated either an implicit or even an explicit belief in divine providence. One such philosopher was Dio Chrysostomos, one of the founders of the Socratic school of cynicism and better known for his advocacy of a simple life. This life could not happen without the will of the gods, however, as is evidenced by an examination of Dio Chrysostomos' Euboean speech.

Part of this speech concerns a man who rise to defend Dio Chrysostomos in a tale he is telling of one of his earlier speeches. As he recounts the older speech, he notes the difficulties with which some of his views are taken by the citizens of the city where he speaks, until a man rises and speaks of Dio's virtues. The man had been well taken care of by Dio and his family after having narrowly survived a shipwreck, and credits this man with having saved his life, "next after the gods" (Atchity & McKenna, 320). Thus, though Dio Chrysostomos is relating someone else's words in this speech, the story he tells is an effective endorsement of the idea of divine providence. The gods' wills are seen in letting this particular man survive the shipwreck when many did not, and further even in the intervention of Dio Chrysostomos' and his family's virtuous actions to save this man and the other poor survivors. The shipwreck, too, must be seen as an act of the gods if certain men's survival is. Divine providence, then, effects men's actions as well as their opportunities.

The appearance of this man and his story of the shipwreck during Dio Chrysostomos' tale of adversity could also be seen as an instance of divine providence. It would otherwise have to be seen as pure coincidence that this man, who is able to convince the crowd of Dio Chysostymos' virtue and thus ensure that Dio will be taken care of in the same way that the man himself was, happens to be in the crowd while Dio Chrysostomos is attempting to defend himself and ingratiate himself with the citizens of the city. In this way, Dio Chrysostomos both implicitly and explicitly illustrates the concept of divine providence and his belief in its applicability (Atchity & McKenna, 321).