ABSTRACT
Scholarly debate about Meditations continues to center on the question of its genre and structure. Many of its ideas persist, of course, in the writings of those who shared with Marcus the basic Stoic outlook on reality. But one problematic and recurring feature of many interpretations of Meditations since its retrieval and publication in the sixteenth century is puzzlement over the organization and structure of the work. Although Meditations has not given rise to any distinctive schools of thought, it remains one of the best and most accessible accounts of Stoic philosophy. The resemblance to representative thinkers of the Christian tradition is not accidental, since it is clear that Meditations is best understood as a text that aims to guide the spiritual formation of its reader. Within Stoic theology, God is understood very differently from the theology of the Abrahamic faiths.
