Rethinking the Gods

Philosophical Readings of Religion in the Post-Hellenistic Period

Peter van Nuffelen, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Description

Ancient philosophers had always been fascinated by religion. From the first century BC onwards, the traditionally more hostile attitude of Greek and Roman philosophy was abandoned in favour of the view that religion was a source of philosophical knowledge. This book studies that change, not from the perspective of the history of religion, as is usual, but understands it as part of the wider tendency of Post-Hellenistic philosophy to open up to external, non-philosophical sources of knowledge and authority. It situates two key themes, ancient wisdom and cosmic hierarchy, in the context of Post-Hellenistic philosophy and traces their reconfigurations in contemporary literature and in the polemic between Jews, Christians and pagans. Overall, Post-Hellenistic philosophy can be seen to have a relatively high degree of unity in its ideas on religion, which should not be reduced to a preparation for Neo-Platonism.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Introduction

Part I. Ancient Wisdom

  1. Tracing the origins: ancients, philosophers, and mystery cults;
  2. Plutarch of Chaeronea: ‘History as a basis for a philosophy that has theology as its end’;
  3. Numenius: philosophy as a hidden mystery;
  4. Dio Chrysostom, Apuleius and the rhetoric of ancient wisdom;

Part II. Cosmic Hierarchy

  1. Towards the pantheon as the paradigm of order;
  2. The Great King of Persia and his satraps: ideal and ideology;
  3. Dio Chrysostom: virtue and structure in the Kingship Orations;
  4. Plutarch: a benevolent hierarchy of gods and men;

Part III. Polemic and Prejudice: Challenging the Discourse

  1. Lucian, Epicureanism and strategies of satire;
  2. Philo of Alexandria: challenging Greco-Roman culture;
  3. Celsus and Christian superstition;

Epilogue.

Link

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/rethinking-the-gods/D6DC7CEFBB1F323B3D0E76FB141630FF

La mystique théorétique et théurgique dans l’Antiquité gréco-romaine

Paganismes, judaïsmes, christianismes

Description et organisation

Ce programme de recherche à caractère international est mis en place conjointement par l’UMR 8584 (Laboratoire d’études sur les monothéismes – Centre d’études des religions du Livre, resp. Philippe Hoffmann) et par l’UMR 8167 (Orient et Méditerranée. Mondes sémitiques, Antiquité tardive, monde byzantin, médecine grecque, Islam médiéval, resp. Christian Robin). Il possède une double direction : Simon C. Mimouni et Arnaud Sérandour pour l’EPHE et le LEM ; Madeleine Scopello pour Paris IV-Sorbonne et l’UMR 8167.

Au cours des quatre années du programme, après une double journée d’introduction à la fois historiographique, méthodologique et épistémologique, on posera successivement plusieurs questions, qui seront traitées lors de journées d’études ayant lieu deux fois par an. Chaque fois, la première, celle de janvier, sera conçue plutôt comme une réunion introductive et la deuxième, celle de mai, comme une séance plénière de travail. Toutes, en principe, se dérouleront à Paris. Ces questions se regroupent en trois ensembles tout aussi descriptifs que problématisés : un premier sur les paganismes, un deuxième sur les judaïsmes et un troisième sur les christianismes. Chaque ensemble est placé sous la responsabilité d’un spécialiste en ces domaines de recherche : Constantin Macris pour les paganismes, Arnaud Sérandour pour les judaïsmes et Madeleine Scopello pour les christianismes.

  1. La mystique : approches historiographiques, méthodologiques et épistémologiques Lors de cette journée organisée sous la responsabilité de Simon C. Mimouni, et qui aura lieu le 16 mai 2009, quatre orientations principales seront privilégiées : celles de l’anthropologie et de la sociologie, ainsi que celles du comparatisme et de l’épistémologie. L’objet de cette journée est de parvenir à l’établissement d’une problématique commune après avoir fixé les grands axes méthodologiques, épistémologiques et terminologiques de la recherche qu’on entend mener. Cette séance plénière sera précédée d’une réunion introductive préparatoire qui aura lieu le 17 janvier 2009 sous la responsabilité de Constantin Macris (CNRS / UMR 8584), afin de tracer collectivement les grandes lignes du projet.
    2. La mystique dans les paganismes (IIe siècle avant notre ère – Ve siècle de notre ère) Organisées sous la responsabilité de Constantin Macris, deux séances plénières portant sur la mystique dans les paganismes auront lieu en janvier et en mai 2010.
    3. La mystique dans les judaïsmes (IIe siècle avant notre ère – Ve siècle de notre ère) Organisée sous la responsabilité d’Arnaud Sérandour, une séance plénière portant sur la mystique dans les judaïsmes aura lieu en mai 2011.
    4. La mystique dans les christianismes (Ier – Ve siècle) Organisée sous la responsabilité de Madeleine Scopello, une séance plénière portant sur la mystique dans les christianismes aura lieu en mai 2012.

D’ores et déjà, plus d’une trentaine de chercheurs appartenant à de très nombreuses Universités ou organismes de recherche de la France et de l’étranger, ont donné leur accord de principe pour participer à ce projet. La publication de deux ouvrages rassemblant les travaux est envisagée à l’issue de chaque période de deux ans.

Simon C. Mimouni (EPHE – LEM), Arnaud Sérandour (EPHE – LEM) et Madeleine Scopello (Paris IV-Sorbonne – UMR 8167) avec la collaboration de Constantinos Macris (CNRS – LEM / CERL).

(Text by the organizers)

Lien

https://lem-umr8584.cnrs.fr/?La-mystique-theoretique-et-theurgique-dans-l-Antiquite-greco-romaine&lang=fr

Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical

Discourse of Late Antiquity

Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta & Israel Muñoz Gallarte (ed), Leyde: Brill, 2012

Description

The works of Plutarch, notably his Moralia, provide us with exceptional evidence to reconstruct the spiritual and intellectual atmosphere of the first centuries CE. As a priest of Apollo at Delphi, Plutarch was a first range witness of ancient religious experience; as a Middle Platonist, he was also actively involved in the developments of the philosophical school. Besides, he also provided a more detached point of view both regarding numerous religious practices and currents that were permeating the building of ancient pagan religion and the philosophical views of other schools. His combining the insider and the sensitive observer s perspectives make Plutarch a crucial starting point for the understanding of the religious and philosophical discourse of Late Antiquity.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Preliminary Material – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Introduction: Plutarch at the Crossroads of Religion and Philosophy – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta

Plutarch on the Sleeping Soul and the Waking Intellect and Aristotle’s Double Entelechy Concept – Abraham P. Bos

The Doctrine of the Passions: Plutarch, Posidonius and Galen – Francesco Becchi

The Adventitious Motion of the Soul (Plu., De Stoic. repugn. 23, 1045B–F) and the Controversy between Aristo of Chios and the Middle Academy – Raúl Caballero

Plutarch and “Pagan Monotheism” – Frederick E. Brenk

Socrates and Alcibiades: A Notorious σχάυδαλου in the Later Platonist Tradition – Geert Roskam

Salt in the Holy Water: Plutarch’s Quaestiones Naturales in Michael Psellus’ De omnifaria doctrina – Michiel Meeusen

Iacchus in Plutarch – Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal

Plutarch’s Idea of God in the Religious and Philosophical Context of Late Antiquity – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta

Plutarch as Apollo’s Priest at Delphi – Angelo Casanova

Plutarch’s Attitude towards Astral Biology – Aurelio Pérez Jiménez

“Cicalata sul fascino volgarmente detto jettatura”: Plutarch, Quaestio convivalis 5.7 – Paola Volpe Cacciatore

The Eleusinian Mysteries and Political Timing in the Life of Alcibiades – Delfim F. Leão

Mυτηριώδης θεολοΥία: Plutarch’s fr. 157 Sandbach between Cultual Traditions and Philosophical Models – Rosario Scannapieco

A Non-Fideistic Interpretation of « pistis » in Plutarch’s Writings: The Harmony Between « pistis » and Knowledge – George van Kooten

The Colors of the Souls – Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Bibliography – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Index locorum – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Index rerum – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Index nominum – Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Muñoz Gallarte

Link

https://brill.com/view/title/22038

Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth

From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism 

Algis Uzdavinys, Prometheus Trust, 2008

Description

Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth challenges our understanding of philosophy – indeed it challenges many centuries of assumptions which have reduced othodox philosophy to a shadow of its original. Uzdavinys returns to the very roots of philosophy in Ancient Egypt, and shows why the Greeks revered that land of pyramids and priest-kings as the source of divine wisdom. Bringing his understanding of many great traditions of philosophy – Indian, Islamic, Greek, and others – he presents the case for considering philosophy as a human participation in a theophany, or divine drama. Casting aside the unnatural limitations of modern philosophy, as well as the grave misunderstandings of Egyptologists, radical and exciting possibilities emerge for the serious philosopher. These possibilities will certainly change our view of the universe in general, but most particularly our view of ourselves. The Rebirth of the title is one that implies an expansion of consciousness both upwards towards the divine heights of reality, and outwards to embrace the whole of creation as a living image of the gods. The exercises of philosophy thus move from the rational to the intuitive, onward to pure contemplation and, ultimately, to a god-like energy in the divine drama.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

I – UNDERSTANDING ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY 

  1. Philosophy and the Eternal Wonder
  2. Learning to Live and Learning to Die
  3. Ancient Practices of Wisdom
  4. The True Ancient Philosophy and the Way of Pious Living
  5. Understanding of Ancient Philosophy by Porphyry and Augustine
  6. From the Egyptian Soil to Hellas
  7. Translatability of Divine Names in Ancient Civilizations
  8. Heracles and Philosophical Ascent
  9. From Akhenaten to Thales
  10. Thales and the Egyptian Myths
  11. Water as Metaphysical Principle and Divine Substance
  12. Metaphysical Meaning of Ancient Mythologies
  13. Pythagorean Numbers and their Paradigms
  14. Standing on the Solar Barque
  15. Celestial Nile as the Cause of Geometry
  16. The Apollonian Road to Rebirth
  17. Philosophy as Divine Mystagogy and Beneficial Madness
  18. Philosophy and the Power of Faith: Towards the Final Union

II – ETERNAL MEASURES AND SYMBOLS OF EGYPTIAN SAGES 

  1. On the Back of the Heavenly Cow
  2. Proteus and the Egyptian Wisdom
  3. Allegorical Myths and Philosophy in the Temples
  4. Porphyry De abstinentia IV.6-9
  5. Sacred Animals, Philosophers, and Cosmic Numbers
  6. Hieratic Powers and Symbols of the Ineffable Father
  7. Philosophical Life of the Egyptian Priests
  8. Proximity of the Gods and the Bau of Amun
  9. Perfumes, Images, and Contemplations
  10. Divine Knowledge and Paradigms for Philosophical Mysteries
  11. Priests and Spiritual Guides
  12. Egyptian Scribes and the Way of Imhotep
  13. Amenhotep and Theology of Amun

III – IN THE REALM OF DIVINE SEMIOTICS 

  1. The Ramesside Icon and Three Hypostases of Plotinus
  2. Back to One‟s Native Star
  3. Archetypal Foundation of Hieroglyphic Signs and Colours
  4. Divine Ideas and Symbols
  5. Symbolic Interpretation of Hieroglyphic Script
  6. Return to the Golden Age and Paradigms to be Imitated
  7. Hieratic Myths and Symbols
  8. All Things and All Hieroglyphs
  9. Ancient Theories of Ideas
  10. Proclus ‟ Conception of Divine Forms and Unities

IV – BEING IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN AND NEOPLATONIC THOUGHT 

  1. From Eidology to Metaphysics of Being and Beyond-Being
  2. Hierarchy of Priority and Posteriority
  3. Indivisible and Divisible Being
  4. The One as Foundation of Being
  5. Incomprehensible Divine Unities
  6. Images of Divine Light
  7. The One and Many according to Egyptians
  8. Levels of Being and Non-being
  9. The Lord of Totality and His Magic
  10. Cosmogonical and Ontological Principles
  11. Invisible God and His Theophanies

V – RITUALS OF DEIFICATION AND THEURGIC ASCENT 

  1. Depreciation of Hieratic Rites
  2. Rituals and Sacred Masks
  3. Climbing to the Divine State
  4. Cosmos and the Sacred Harmony of Strings
  5. On the Wing of Thoth: the Theurgic Way of Ra
  6. Divine Triads in Egyptian and Neoplatonic Thought
  7. Theurgic Assimilation to the Gods
  8. Deification through the Eye of Horus
  9. Spiritual Teachers and Sacred Masters
  10. Radiant Power of Names and Flight to the Throne
  11. Theurgic Union with the Divine Principle
  12. Intellect of the Father and His Cosmic Drama
  13. Elevating Powers in the Pharaonic State-Body
  14. The Perfect Man who Slew the Lords
  15. Theurgic Rites and Sacramental Theologies

VI – ANIMATION OF STATUES IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS  AND NEOPLATONISM 

  1. Sacred Images and Idols
  2. Vehicles of Divine Forces
  3. The Living Images of Everlasting Gods
  4. Animation as Ritual of Union with the Descending Rays of Ra
  5. Opening of the Mouth and Awakening to Light
  6. The Sacramental Birth of Statues in Mesopotamia and Egypt
  7. The Way of the Golden Falcon
  8. When the Womb-like Tomb is Opened
  9. Divine Beauty and the Inner Golden Statue: From Egyptian Theology to Plotinus

VII – TELESTIC TRANSFORMATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL REBIRTH 

  1. Philosophy in the Tomb-Sanctuary
  2. The Tomb as a Threshold of Light
  3. Sacrificial Alchemy of Tombs and Altars
  4. Alchemical Passage through Death
  5. Mummification and Dialectic
  6. Musicians, Lovers, and Philosophers
  7. Divine Knowledge and Theurgic Prayers
  8. Intellect as the Spirit of Light
  9. The Osirian Initiation and Separation from the Mortal Body
  10. Resurrection of the Golden Phoenix
  11. Two Ways of theAmduat 
  12. The Union of Osiris and Ra
  13. The Inner Alchemical Work and Return to Itself
  14. Metaphysics of the Heart
  15. Understanding of Soul and Body
  16. The Homecoming of Odysseus
  17. From the Homeric Ghost to the Immortal Soul of Plato
  18. Reawakening of Intellect and Rehabilitation of Images

GLOSSARY

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

CATALOGUE

Link

https://www.themathesontrust.org/library/philosophy-as-a-rite-of-rebirth

Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism

by Albert Camus

Albert Camus , Ronald D. Srigley (trans.), South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 2008

Description

Contemporary scholarship tends to view Albert Camus as a modern, but he himself was conscious of the past and called the transition from Hellenism to Christianity the true and only turning point in history. For Camus, modernity was not fully comprehensible without an examination of the aspirations that were first articulated in antiquity and that later received their clearest expression in Christianity. These aspirations amounted to a fundamental reorientation of human life in politics, religion, science, and philosophy. Understanding the nature and achievement of that reorientation became the central task of Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism. Primarily known through its inclusion in a French omnibus edition, it has remained one of Camus’ least-read works, yet it marks his first attempt to understand the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christianity as he charted the movement from the Gospels through Gnosticism and Plotinus to what he calls Augustine’s second revelation of the Christian faith. Ronald Srigley’s translation of this seminal document helps illuminate these aspects of Camus’ work. His freestanding English edition exposes readers to an important part of Camus’ thought that is often overlooked by those concerned primarily with the book’s literary value and supersedes the extant McBride translation by retaining a greater degree of literalness. Srigley has fully annotated Christian Metaphysics to include nearly all of Camus’ original citations and has tracked down many poorly identified sources. When Camus cites an ancient primary source, whether in French translation or in the original language, Srigley substitutes a standard English translation in the interest of making his edition accessible to a wider range of readers. His introduction places the text in the context of Camus’ better-known later work, explicating its relationship to those mature writings and exploring how its themes were reworked in subsequent books. Arguing that Camus was one of the great critics of modernity through his attempt to disentangle the Greeks from the Christians, Srigley clearly demonstrates the place of Christian Metaphysics in Camus’ oeuvre. As the only stand-alone English version of this important work–and a long-overdue critical edition–his fluent translation is an essential benchmark in our understanding of Camus and his place in modern thought.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Translator’s Introduction

Introduction

  1. Evangelical Christianity
  2. Gnosis
  3. Mystic Reason
  4. Augustine

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Link

https://www.staugustine.net/our-books/books/christian-metaphysics-and-neoplatonism/

Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity 

Algis Uzdavinys (Author), John Finamore (Foreword), New York: Angelico Press, 2010

Description

The Ancient Philosophy, in its original Orphico-Pythagorean and Platonic form, is not simply a way of life in accordance with the divine or human intellect (nous), but also the way of alchemical transformation and mystical illumination achieved through initiatic “death” and subsequent restoration at the level of divine light. As a means of spiritual reintegration and unification, ancient philosophy is inseparable from the hieratic rites. The theurgic “animation” of statues appears to be among the main keys for understanding how various royal and priestly practices, related to the daily ritual service and encounter with the divine presence in the temples, developed into the Neoplatonic mysticism of late antiquity.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Foreword

Introduction

  1. The origins and meaning of philosophy

Eidothea and Proteus: the veiled images of philosophy

The distinction between philosophical life and philosophical discourse

Standing face to face with immortality

Philosophy and the hieratic rites of ascent

The task of ‘Egyptian philosophy’: to connect the end to the beginning

The Kronian life of spectator: ‘to follow one’s heart in the tomb’

Thauma idesthai: ‘a wonder to behold’

The invincible warriors as models of philosophical lifestyle

The inward journey to the place of truth

To be like Osiris

The death which detaches form the inferior

Entering the solar barque of Atum-Ra

Philosophical initiations in the Netherworld

Self-knowledge and return to one’s innermost self

Recovered unity of Dionysus in ourselves

Philosophical mummification inside the cosmic tomb

Platonic dialectic: the science of purificarion and restoration of unity

Philosophy as a rite of becoming like God

The ancient logos and its sacramental function

Riddles of the cosmic Myth

Philosophy, magic, and laughter

  1. Voices of the fire : ancient theurgy and its tools

Definitions of theurgy in antiquity

Descending lights and animated cult images

Figures, names, and tokens of the divine speech

The prophet Bitys and the overwhelming Name of God

The descending and ascending paths of Heka

The Silence beforer the gods and its creative magic

Hekate’s golden ball as a rotating ‘vocal image’ of the Father

The Sounding breaths of the All-Working Fire

The Elevating rays of the resounding light

The rites of hieratic invocation and ascent

The Tantric alchemy and the Osirian mummification

Golden seeds of the noetic Fire

Theurgic speech of the birds and solar knowledge

Tongues of the gods and their songs

Back to the life-giving wombs and the ineffable Silence

Chanting out the universe by the Name of everything

When Orontes flowed into Tiber: the revived tradition

  1. Sacred images and animated statues in antiquity

Myth and symbol: what makes the impossible happen?

Metaphysics of creation and its images in pharaonic Egypt

Theogonic appearances and animated stones

Theology of images and its esoteric dimension

Privileged habitations for the immortal gods

Beholding the ineffable beauties

Divine bodies and representations in Indian Tantrism

Sense perception and intellection in Neoplatonism

Divine light and luminous vehicle of the soul

Divine presence in images

Living images of the Egyptian gods

To be made into a spirit of light

Rites of alchemical transformation

The opening of the statue’s mouth

Mystical union with the noetic Sun

Revelation of the divine face

Divine statues and their sacred gifts

Salvation as return to the divine

  1. Metaphysical symbols and their function in theurgy

Symbols as ontological traces of the divine

The anagogic power of secret names and tokens

Animated theurgic hieroglyphs of the hidden Amun

Neoplatonic rites of metaphysical reversion

The ineffable statues of trancendent light

  1. Divine rites and philosophy in neoplatonism.

Ritual and cosmic order

The aim of philosophy

Different aspects of divine acts

Theurgy and spiritual hermeneutics

Hieratic rites of ascent

The common metaphysical background

Philosophers as sacred statues

To be reborn into the solar world

The cosmic theatre of sacrificial fires

Golden cords of Apollo

The shining forth like a god

Appendix: The limits of Speculation in Neoplatonism

The Hermeneutical program of reading Neoplatonism

Non-discursive divine presence and relational transcendence

Masks and tongues of the ineffable

The distinction between looking up at the Sun and looking down at reflections

Modes of intellection and union

To live means to read

Golden cords of Apollo

The shining forth like a god

Bilbiography of works on Philosophy&Theurgy

Glossary of terms

Biographical note

Link

https://www.angelicopress.org/philosophy-and-theurgy-in-late-antiquity-uzdavinys

The Platonic Heritage

Further Studies in the History of Platonism and Early Christianity

John Dillon, Ashgate Variorum, London: Routledge, 2012

Description

Cet ouvrage constitue un recueil des articles publiés entre 1996 et 2006. Cinq articles ont retenu notre attention plus particulièrement étant donné leur lien plus direct avec la thématique de notre cahier :  Plotinus, Speusippus and the Platonic Parmenides; The social role of the philosopher in Athens in the 2nd century CE: some remarks; Pedantry and pedestrianism? Some reflections on the middle Platonic commentary tradition; Monotheism in the Gnostic tradition; An unknown Platonist on God. Voici la présentation générale de l’ouvrage, faite par l’éditeur : This third collection of articles by John Dillon covers the period 1996-2006, the decade since the appearance of The Great Tradition. Once again, the subjects covered range from Plato himself and the Old Academy, through Philo and Middle Platonism, to the Neoplatonists and beyond. Particular concerns evidenced in the papers are the continuities in the Platonic tradition, and the setting of philosophers in their social and cultural contexts, while at the same time teasing out the philosophical implications of particular texts. Such topics are addressed as atomism in the Old Academy, Philo’s concept of immateriality, Plutarch’s and Julian’s views on theology, and peculiar features of Iamblichus’ exegeses of Plato and Aristotle, but also the broader questions of the social position of the philosopher in second century A.D. society, and the nature of ancient biography.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

The riddle of the Timaeus: is Plato sowing clues?;

Plotinus, Speusippus and the Platonic Parmenides;

The Timaeus in the old Academy;

Philip of Opus and the theology of Plato’s Laws;

Atomism in the old Academy;

Theophrastus’ critique of the old Academy in the Metaphysics;

The pleasures and perils of soul-gardening;

Asômatos: nuances of incorporeality in Philo;

Thrasyllus and the Logos;

Plutarch’s debt to Xenocrates;

Plutarch and the inseparable intellect;

Plutarch and God: theodicy and cosmogony in the thought of Plutarch;

Plutarch’s use of unidentified quotations;

The social role of the philosopher in Athens in the 2nd century CE: some remarks; Pedantry and pedestrianism? Some reflections on the middle Platonic commentary tradition;

Monotheism in the Gnostic tradition;

An unknown Platonist on God;

Holy and not so holy: on the interpretation of late antique biography;

Plotinus on whether the stars are causes;

Iamblichus’ Noera Theoria of Aristotle’s Categories;

Iamblichus’ identifications of the subject-matters of the hypotheses;

Iamblichus on the personal daemon;

The theology of Julian’s Hymn to King Helios;

A case-study in commentary: the neoplatonic exegesis of the Prooimia od Plato’s dialogues;

Damascius on procession and return;

‘The eye of the soul’: the doctrine of the higher consciousness in the neoplatonic and sufic traditions;

Indexes

Link

https://www.routledge.com/The-Platonic-Heritage-Further-Studies-in-the-History-of-Platonism-and-Early/Dillon/p/book/9781138110335

Religion and Philosophy in the Platonic and Neoplatonic Traditions

From Antiquity to the Early Medieval Period

Kevin Corrigan, John D. Turner and Peter Wakefield, Baden-Baden: Academia Verlag, 2012

Description

This book explores the intimate connections, conflicts and discontinuities between religion and philosophy in the Platonic and Neoplatonic traditions from Antiquity to the early Medieval period. It presents a broader comparative view of Platonism by examining the strong Platonist resonances among different philosophical/religious traditions, primarily Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Hindu, and suggests many new ways of thinking about the relation between these two fields or disciplines that have in modern times become such distinct and, at times, entirely separate domains.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Abbreviations

Introduction: Kevin Corrigan, John D. Turner and Peter Wakefield

In Memory of Steven K. Strange

Part I: Religion, Philosophy, Divine Inspiration and Religious Piety in the pre-Platonic and Platonic Traditions

  1. Suzanne Stern-Gillet (University of Bolton, UK): “Divine Inspiration Transformed: From Hesiod to Ficino.”
  2. Kevin Corrigan (Emory University): “Religion and Philosophy in the Platonic tradition.”
  3. John Dillon (Trinity College, Dublin, Emeritus): “The Religion of the last Hellenes.”

Part II: Religion and Philosophy in the Platonic and Neoplatonic Traditions

  1. Steven K. Strange (Emory University): “Plotinus and the Ancients”
  2. Michael Harrington (Duquesne University): « The Emperor Julian’s Use of Neoplatonic Philosophy and Religion.
  3. John Phillips (University of Tennessee): “Proclus and others on Divine Causation”.
  4. John Dillon (Trinity College, Dublin, Emeritus): “Philosophy and Theology in Proclus.”
  5. Gerald Bechtle (University of Bern, Switzerland): “Categories and Conversion.”
  6. Luc Brisson (CNRS, Paris, France): “Allegory as used by the later Neoplatonic philosophers.”

Part III: Comparative Perspectives: Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Hindu

   10 Sarah Pessin (University of Denver): “Divine Presence, Divine Absence and the Plotinian Apophatic Dialectic: Isaac Israeli.”

  1. John D. Turner (University of Nebraska, Lincoln): “The Curious Philosophical World of Later Religious Gnosticism: The Symbiosis of Antique Philosophy and Religion.”
  2. Volker Drecoll (Tübingen University, Germany): “Middle Platonic elements in Augustine’s De Civitate 8.”
  3. Svetla Slaveva-Griffin (Florida State University): « Contemplative Ascent as Dance in Plotinus and Rūmī. »
  4. Deepa Majumdar (Purdue University): “The Enneads of Plotinus and the Bhagavadgītā: Harmony amidst Differences.”
  5. Rkia Elaroui Cornell (Emory University): “The Muslim Diotima? Traces of Plato’s Symposium in Sufi Narratives of Rabi’a al- ‘Adawiyya”
  6. Daniel Regnier (St. Thomas More College): “The Simple Soul: Plotinus and Śaṅkara on Self and Soul as Partless”
  7. Benjamin Gleede (Universität Tübingen): “Endorsing a cliché: On Liberty and Necessity in Christian and Neoplatonist Accounts of Creation”
  8. Suzanne Stern-Gillet (University of Bolton, UK): “Virtues of Selfknowledge: Aristotle, Augustine, and Siger of Brabant”
  9. Bibliography
  10. Contributors
  11. Subject and Name Index

Link

https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2013/2013.08.06/

Late Antique Epistemology

Other Ways to Truth

Vassilopoulou, P., Clark, S. (Eds.), New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

Description

Late Antique Epistemology explores the techniques used by late antique philosophers to discuss truth. Non-rational ways to discover truth, or to reform the soul, have usually been thought inferior to the philosophically approved techniques of rational argument, suitable for the less philosophically inclined, for children, savages or the uneducated. Religious rituals, oracles, erotic passion, madness may all have served to waken courage or remind us of realities obscured by everyday concerns. What is unusual in the late antique classical philosophers is that these techniques were reckoned as reliable as reasoned argument, or better still. Late twentieth century commentators have offered psychological explanations of this turn, but only recently had it been accepted that there might also have been philosophical explanations, and that the later antique philosophers were not necessarily deluded.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Introduction – Vassilopoulou, Panayiota

Part 1 – Rituals, Religion and Reality

1. Porphyry and the Debate Over Traditional Religious Practices – Busine, Aude

2. St John in Amelius’ Seminar – Dillon, John

3. Eternal Time and Temporal Expansion: Proclus’ Golden Ratio – Kutash, Emilie F.

4. Having Sex with the One: Erotic Mysticism in Plotinus and the Problem of Metaphor – Mazur, Zeke

 

Part II – Crossing Boundaries

5. Ibn Ṭufayl and the Wisdom of the East: On Apprehending the Divine – Kukkonen, Taneli

6. Plotinus, Porphyry, and India: A Re-Examination – Lacrosse, Joachim

7. Animation of Statues in Ancient Civilizations and Neoplatonism – Uzdavinys, Algis

 

Part III – Art and Poetry

8. Platonists and the Teaching of Rhetoric in Late Antiquity – Heath, Maclcom

9. Proclus’ Notion of Poetry – Kuisma, Oiva

10. The Homeric Tradition in Ammonius and Asclepius – Manolea, Christina-Panagiota Manolea

 

Part IV – Later Influences

11. Nous and Geist: Self-Identity and Methodological Solipsism in Plotinus and Hegel – Rerchman, Robert M.

12. Μεστὰ πάντα σημείων. Plotinus, Leibniz, and Berkeley on Determinism – Bertini, Daniele

13. Proclus Americanus – Bregman, Jay

14. Ecology’s Future Debt to Plotinus and Neoplatonism – Corrigan, Kevin

15. Heathen Martyrs or Romish Idolaters: Socrates and Plato in Eighteenth-Century England – Poster, Carol

Conclusion – Clark, Stephen R. L.

Glossary – Prepared by Crystal Addey

Index of Names

Subject Index

Link

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230240773

Journée d’Étude sur Antonio Orbe

Description et organisation

En occasion de la sortie de la traduction française de l’important ouvrage d’Antonio Orbe, l’Introduction à la théologie des second et troisième siècles, en deux volumes au Cerf en juin 2012 (collection « Patrimoines »), une journée d’études est organisée le 22 juin 2012 au Centre Sèvres (35 bis, rue de Sèvres, 75 006 Paris, en salle 5).

Plusieurs intervenants discuteront alors sur divers aspects de cette ouvrage monumentale (1600 p. dans la traduction française) qui englobe toute la littérature chrétienne des second et troisième siècles, y compris les textes gnostiques ou apocryphes – dont il était possible d’avoir connaissance dans les années 1980.

(Texte des organisateurs)

Link

antonio orbe