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THE SPIRITUAL ANTHROPOLOGY of CORNELIUS AGRIPPA By

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THE SPIRITUAL ANTHROPOLOGY of CORNELIUS AGRIPPA By Doctoral Dissertation OBTINERE MENTEM DIVINAM: THE SPIRITUAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF CORNELIUS AGRIPPA By: Noel Putnik Supervisors: György E. Szőnyi György Geréby Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department, Central European University, Budapest in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies, CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION: Cornelius Agrippa through Anthropological Glasses .......................................11 The “Agrippan question”: the magus versus the Christian? ................................................................11 Anthropology as the crux of the problem ........................................................................................... 15 Demarcational boundaries and terminological considerations ........................................................... 20 The sources ......................................................................................................................................... 28 De occulta philosophia libri tres (1510/1533) ................................................................................ 28 Agrippa’s anthropological treatises (1515–18) .............................................................................. 30 De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum atque artium (1526) ........................................................ 31 The structure of the dissertation .......................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER ONE: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, PROBLEMS, METHODS........................... 33 Agrippa’s Life and Main Works ...................................................................................................... 33 The early years: education and encounters with important men ..................................................... 34 Oriundus Colonia, educatione Italus: Аgrippa’s Italian period ...................................................... 38 Back to the North: the years of steady municipal service ............................................................... 40 The French period: a bitter life at the court .................................................................................... 41 Agrippa’ closing years: finally at the printing press ....................................................................... 42 Agrippa’s retraction: the epitome of the problem ........................................................................... 44 Research Questions in Light of Present-Day Scholarship ............................................................. 45 The main research themes ............................................................................................................... 45 A redeemed humanist: scholars on Agrippa and his work .............................................................. 47 Mapping a No-Man’s Land: How to Approach an Esoteric Author? .......................................... 69 How to read Agrippa? ..................................................................................................................... 70 Difficulties of interpretation ............................................................................................................ 72 CHAPTER TWO: SETTING THE COSMOLOGICAL SCENE: HOMO MINOR MUNDUS .... 78 CEU eTD Collection The Universe of the De Occulta Philosophia ................................................................................... 78 The opening sentence ...................................................................................................................... 80 Imagines imaginum: the sequence of mirrors ................................................................................. 83 Elements and correspondences ....................................................................................................... 90 2 Contested Views: Emanation or Creation? .................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER THREE: TWO TRIADS OF AGRIPPA’S ANTHROPOLOGY ............................... 105 The First Triad: Anima, Corpus, Spiritus ...................................................................................... 106 Soul and body: a polar conception of man? .................................................................................. 108 A definition of soul ........................................................................................................................110 Embodiment and body ...................................................................................................................113 The perspective of the Dialogus de homine ...................................................................................118 Is body good or bad? ..................................................................................................................... 121 Vehiculum: the ethereal carrier of the soul .................................................................................... 127 The Second Triad: Mens, Ratio, Idolum ........................................................................................ 134 How do earthly bodies accommodate celestial souls? .................................................................. 135 Which soul is actually immortal? .................................................................................................. 137 Anima stans et non cadens: the source of all magical power ........................................................ 141 Animus and anima: a conundrum of terms.................................................................................... 144 In conclusion: Agrippa’s Plotinian soul ........................................................................................ 145 CHAPTER FOUR: FIXA INTENTIO: THE MECHANISMS OF MAGICAL OPERATION ... 149 Passiones Animi: Operating by Affects and Emotions ................................................................. 151 The magician’s driving forces ....................................................................................................... 151 External and internal senses .......................................................................................................... 152 The types of passions .................................................................................................................... 157 The influence of passions upon one’s own body and soul ............................................................ 161 The influence of passions upon other bodies and souls ................................................................ 167 The process of harmonization: capturing and exposing ................................................................ 169 Fides: Operating by Religion ......................................................................................................... 175 Acquiring the mind. The supercelestial Bacchus .......................................................................... 176 Agrippa’s understanding of fides .................................................................................................. 178 Dignification and corporal mortification ...................................................................................... 182 The magic of Logos. Theurgy ....................................................................................................... 185 CEU eTD Collection CHAPTER FIVE: ESCHATOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: THE FALL AND SALVATION ..... 195 The Original Sin .............................................................................................................................. 196 Liber de triplici ratione cognoscendi Deum ................................................................................. 197 De originali peccato disputabilis opinionis declamatio ............................................................... 200 Commixtio carnis displicet Deo: the problem of sex .................................................................... 206 3 The nature’s embrace: a Hermetic interpretation of the carnal copulation ................................... 208 Spiritual Regeneration ................................................................................................................... 212 Two kinds of generation. Spiritual rebirth .................................................................................... 213 The Christian ingredient................................................................................................................ 219 Гνῶσις and power ......................................................................................................................... 222 Again: what about the body? ........................................................................................................ 223 Contested Notions of Piety ............................................................................................................. 231 Power and piety ............................................................................................................................. 232 An exegetical way out: towards a tripartite interpretation of Christianity .................................... 236 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................
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