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PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality In ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D’HISTOIRE DES IDÉES INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS 189 PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality in Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Thought WILHELM SCHMIDT-BIGGEMANN PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D’HISTOIRE DES IDÉES INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS 189 PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality in Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Thought By Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann Founding Directors: P. Dibon† (Paris) and R.H. Popkin (Washington University, St. Louis & UCLA) Director: Sarah Hutton (Middlesex University, United Kingdom) Associate-Directors: J.E. Force (Lexington); J.C. Laursen (Riverside) Editorial Board: M.J.B. Allen (Los Angeles); J.R. Armogathe (Paris); A. Gabbey (New York); T. Gregory (Rome); J. Henry (Edinburgh); J.D. North (Oxford); J. Popkin (Lexington); G.A.J. Rogers (Keele); Th. Verbeek (Utrecht) Philosophia perennis Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality in Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Thought By Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann Freie Universitä t Berlin, Germany A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 1-4020-3066-5 (HB) ISBN 1-4020-3067-3 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Sold and distributed in North, Central and South America by Springer, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Springer, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Printed on acid-free paper springeronline.com All Rights Reserved © 2004 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. For Tony Grafton Acknowledgments This book is the English version of a study published under the same title in German in 1998 by Suhrkamp. The English edition is more of a re- working than a mere translation of the German publication. Some sections were left out, others were shortened, and it is my hope that the book has become more understandable as a result. Errors that were brought to my attention in the German version have been corrected. Some new secondary literature has been included in this edition, although I did not attempt a complete treatment of research in the field. Many people and institutions have helped make this book possible. I name them in alphabetical order: Boris Bayer, Barbara Ertl, Tony Grafton, Anja Hallacker, Sarah Hutton, Millay Hyatt, Sebastian Lalla, Sicco Lehmann-Brauns, Gregg Lyon. The institutions: Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Philadelphia; Freie Universität Berlin; Herzog August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel; Volkswagen-Stiftung, Hannover. I extend my sincere gratitude to all of them. - vii - Contents Preface ..............................................................................................xiii A. Introduction 1. FANTASY AND THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF IMAGINATION ................. 3 1. Pious Imagination as a Condition for the Understanding of Spiritual Literature ...................................................................... 3 2. A Short History of Imagination................................................... 9 3. Johann Arndt’s Theology of Emblems ..................................... 22 2.OUTLINES OF PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY........................................... 27 1. Elements of Perennial Philosophy ............................................ 27 2. Perennial Philosophy in Nicholas of Cusa ................................ 36 B. Glory 3. DIVINE NAMES................................................................................ 59 1. Proclus’ Doctrine of Plato’s “Divine Names”........................... 61 2. Dionysius the Areopagite’s Dialectic of Divine Names ........... 67 3. St. Jerome’s and Isidore of Seville’s Positive Philosophy of Divine Names .................................................... 76 4. Raymond Lull’s Theology of Concepts .................................... 81 5. Christian Cabala I: Giovanni Pico, Johannes Reuchlin, and Paulus Ricius ...................................................................... 93 6. Christian Cabala II: Jakob Böhme’s Doctrine of Qualities..... 117 ix x Contents 4. KOSMOS ANTHROPOS ................................................................... 129 1. Theology of the Logos ............................................................ 129 2. Platonic Myths: Androgynous Primeval Man......................... 131 3. Wisdom ................................................................................... 135 4. Philo’s Cosmic Adam ............................................................. 138 5. The Apocalyptic Kosmokrator................................................ 142 6. The Inner Man and the Aim of Creation: Gregory of Nyssia’s “Oratio de Creatione Hominis”............. 143 7. Eriugena’s Angel..................................................................... 150 8. Hildegard of Bingen’s Caritas................................................. 152 9. Exempla Humanitatis: Alain de Lille’s “Anticlaudianus” ...... 156 10. Ficino’s Angel and the Intellectus Agens ............................. 162 11. Giovanni Pico: Pious Philosophy and the Dignity of Man ... 169 12. Paulus Ricius’ Cabalistic Cosmos......................................... 173 13. The Threefold Man of Paracelsus ......................................... 180 14. Jakob Böhme’s Theology of Creation................................... 187 15. Abraham Herrera’s Adam Kadmon ...................................... 192 16. The Pious Practice of the Divine Sophia: Gottfried Arnold’s Conversion ............................................. 202 5. ARCHETYPES................................................................................. 209 1. Creation before Time .............................................................. 209 2. Philo’s Archetypes .................................................................. 211 3. The Book Yezirah and the Archetypes of the Alphabet.......... 220 4. Plotinus’ Spiritualised Space................................................... 228 5. Origen’s Free Spirits ............................................................... 231 6. Augustine’s Trinitarian Archetypes ........................................ 237 7. Dionysius the Areopagite: The Radiance of the Holy............. 245 8. The Echo of the Word: Eriugena’s Seminal Powers............... 250 9. De Vita Coelitus Comparanda: Ficino’s Cosmological Medicine ............................................ 260 10. On the Shadows of Ideas: Giordano Bruno’s Seminal Combinatorics ........................... 265 6. SPIRITUAL SPACES ........................................................................ 273 1. The Eternal and the Temporal Beginning ............................... 273 2. The Dark Beginning: Plotinus and Dionysius the Areopagite....................................................... 274 3. The Infinite Sphere of Light.................................................... 278 4. The Splendour of the Angels................................................... 280 5. Space as Bursting Point: Robert Grosseteste .......................... 283 Contents xi 6. Magical Rays: Al Khindi’s Theories of Light......................... 287 7. The World of Albert the Great ................................................ 292 8. Giorgio Veneto’s Harmonia Mundi ........................................ 305 9. Agrippa’s Doctrine of Spiritual Elements............................... 316 10. The Dimensions of the Spirit: Nicholas of Cusa’s Conceptions of Space............................................................ 319 11. Giordano Bruno’s Infinite Space........................................... 321 C. Theology of Time 7. THE RETURN OF TIME ................................................................... 327 1. Apocalyptic Time.................................................................... 329 2. St. John’s Revelation as the Type of the World’s End............ 335 3. Origenism................................................................................ 339 a. Freedom, Resurrection, and the Inner Image: Origen’s Christian Platonism........................................... 339 b. Eriugena’s Resurrection................................................... 346 c. Pico’s Apology of Origen ................................................ 350 d. The Unification of All Religions: Guillaume Postel’s Synergetic Apokatastasis.................. 352 e. Johann Wilhelm Petersen’s Cosmic Redemption ............ 359 8. EPOCHS AND ERAS........................................................................ 369 1. The Turning of History in Christ: St. Paul’s Theology of History ................................................................................ 329 2. Sex Aetates Mundi: Bede’s World-Times .............................. 375 3. Joachim of Fiore’s Typology of the Coming Time................. 381 4. Daniel’s Visions and the Holy Roman Empire ....................... 392 9. TRANSLATIO SAPIENTIAE ............................................................. 409 1. The Historical Logic of Perennial Philosophy ........................ 409 2. St. Augustine’s
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