Seekers after God

F. W. Farrar brings biography and religious reflection together through the lives of Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. The opening follows Seneca's family from Cordova to Rome, placing his upbringing within the wider history and society of the Roman Empire. The contents move from his education and exile to his relationship with Nero, then introduce the teachings of Epictetus and the life and Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

A Christian understanding of moral truth guides Farrar's account. He admires the ethical insights of ancient philosophy while comparing them with the beliefs of his own faith. In the discussion of Seneca and St. Paul, he examines likenesses between their ideas and rejects the supposed letters exchanged between them as a forgery. Readers interested in ancient biography, ethics or religious history will find a study that connects the circumstances of these men's lives with the questions their writings raise.