Sortes Biblicae, Sortilege, or Bible Lottery

Bruce Metzger wrote a fascinating article in The Oxford Companion to the Bible (which he also co-edited) called Sortes Biblicae.  Sortes is a very ancient method of fortune-telling (also called sortilege), which consisted of using popular literature in a random way which would in turn be followed as guidance for life.  For example, people would write verses of Virgil or Homer …