DOCSLIB.ORG

“Intruthyou Are the Polytheist!”: Mythic Elements in Ibn Al-ʿarabī

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Intruthyou Are the Polytheist!”: Mythic Elements in Ibn Al-ʿarabī Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 6 (2018) 359–387 brill.com/ihiw “In Truth You are the Polytheist!”: Mythic Elements in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Teachings on the Divine Names Michael Ebstein The Hebrew University of Jerusalem [email protected] Abstract The following article aims at highlighting the mythic elements inherent in Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī’s teachings on the Divine names. The article begins with a very general introduction to the subject of Divine names in Islamic mysticism and then proceeds to clarify the meaning of the term “mythic” as it is used in this study.The core of the article is devoted to an examination of four main areas in which the Divine names, according to Ibn al-ʿArabī, play a central role: the creation of the world (cosmogony); its manage- ment; mystical experiences and knowledge; magic and theurgy. The main claim is that in all four areas, Ibn al-ʿArabī’s discourse is to a great extent mythic. The implications of this claim for the understanding of Akbarian thought and for the study of Islamic mysticism in general are discussed in the concluding paragraph of the essay. Keywords Ibn al-ʿArabī – al-Andalus – Divine names – Divine attributes – theology – philosophy – mysticism – Sufism – magic – theurgy – Kabbalah Introduction: The Problem of Divine Names in Classical Islamic Mysticism In his commentary on al-Ǧuwaynī’s Kitāb al-Iršād, Ibn al-Marʾa (d. 611/1214) refers to the now-lost work Tawḥīd al-mūqinīn (“The Unification of Those Who Possess Firm Knowledge”) by his compatriot Ibn Masarra (269/883–319/931), the earliest Muslim mystic in al-Andalus known to us from his writings: © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/2212943X-00603006Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 04:16:55AM via free access 360 ebstein In his book Tawḥīd al-mūqinīn, Ibn Masarra claimed that there is no limit to the number of attributes belonging to Allāh, glory be to Him. In Ibn Masarra’s view, Allāh’s knowledge is alive, it knows and is able, it hears, sees, and speaks. Allāh’s ability (qudratuhu) is likewise described as being alive, as knowing, able, willing, and as possessing a sense of hearing by which it hears. The same is said concerning all of His attributes; this, Ibn Masarra claimed, is unification. He has thus turned the attributes into gods. He said the same concerning the attributes of the attributes (ṣifāt al-ṣifāt), ad infinitum, thus turning God into an unlimited [number of] gods, may Allāh protect us.1 It is difficult to determine whether or not Ibn al-Marʾa’s account is accurate. Both concepts that he ascribes to Ibn Masarra—i.e. the infinite number of Divine attributes and their mutual reflection—are indeed found or echoed in the works of later Andalusī mystics,2 and they may very well have originated in Ibn Masarra’s own writings.3 Whatever the case might be, what is relevant to the current discussion is Ibn al-Marʾa’s feeling that certain mystical theories regarding the Divine names encroach upon the key tenet of Islam—tawḥīd, the belief in God’s unity. Was Ibn al-Marʾa correct? Can we detect polytheistic undertones in the mystical writings of Ibn Masarra and his Andalusī heirs, chief among them Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (560/1165–638/1240)? In what follows I shall attempt to address this question by highlighting several mythic elements in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s teachings on the Divine names. However, before I begin, two introductory remarks are in order. First, a detailed analysis of the diverse intellectual sources from which Ibn al-ʿArabī derived his teachings on the Divine names falls beyond the scope of the present article.4 Suffice it to say that these sources can be divided into six main groups: 1 Quoted in Massignon, Recueil, p. 70. On the possible contents of Tawḥīd al-mūqinīn and for a discussion of Ibn al-Marʾa’s quotation, see Stroumsa, “Ibn Masarra’s Third Book”. On Ibn al-Marʾa, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Yūsuf b. Muḥammad b. Dahhāq al-Awsī—a Mālikī faqīh, the- ologian, and Sufi who hailed from Malaga—see Urvoy, “Ibn al-Marʾa”. Finally, concerning the famous theologian al-Ǧuwaynī (d. 478/1085) and his Kitāb al-Iršād ilā qawāṭiʿ al-adilla fī uṣūl al-iʿtiqād (“The Book of Guidance to Peremptory Proofs Concerning the Principles of Faith”), see Brockelmann and Gardet, “al-Djuwaynī,”EI2, vol. 2, pp. 605–606. 2 See, for example, Ibn Barraǧān, Šarḥ asmāʾ Allāh, vol. 1, pp. 29–31, 409–410; Ibn Qasī, Ḫalʿ al- naʿlayni, pp. 257–266, 357, 379; Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, vol. 4, p. 467 (chapter 73, question 42); idem, Fuṣūṣ, pp. 79, 180. 3 See Ibn Masarra, Ḫawāṣṣ al-ḥurūf, pp. 58–61. 4 For basic introductions to Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought (including his theories regarding the Divine Intellectual History of the IslamicateDownloaded World from 6 Brill.com09/29/2021 (2018) 359–387 04:16:55AM via free access “in truth you are the polytheist!” 361 1. Andalusī mystics, namely, Ibn Masarra, Ibn Barraǧān (d. 536/1141), and Ibn Qasī (d. 546/1151).5 2. Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmiḏī (9th century), the idiosyncratic mystic from the East.6 3. Classical Sufism as it developed in the east up to Ibn al-ʿArabī’s time. 4. Theology (kalām). 5. Neoplatonic mystical philosophy, particularly as reflected in the Shiite- Ismāʿīlī Rasāʾil iḫwān al-ṣafāʾ (“The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren”) and in related works.7 6. Early Shiite traditions that deal with the high status of the Imam and his function as an intermediary between God and creation.8 The links between these diverse sources and al-Šayḫ al-akbar’s theories regard- ing the Divine names merit a separate discussion. Yet it seems to me—and the following argument can perhaps serve as a working hypothesis to be proven, modified, or refuted in future studies—that while the impact of eastern theol- ogy and Sufism on Ibn al-ʿArabī cannot be denied, Akbarian teachings on the Divine names are far removed from both these genres.9 In fact, Andalusī mys- ticism at large seems to mark a decisive shift from theology and Sufism alike to a more mythic and theosophical mode of thought. In the works of Ibn al-ʿArabī and his Andalusī predecessors, the Divine names are no longer approached from a strictly linguistic, hermeneutical, or logical perspective as in Islamic the- ology, nor do they pertain solely to the inner-psychological realm of the mystic, to his personal contact with God, as in many classical Sufi treatises. Rather, the Divine names are perceived as crucial elements of reality, as powers or forces that play a central role in cosmogonic and cosmological processes as well as in sacred human history; they signify the dynamic-manifest aspect of Divinity, names), see Affifi, Mystical Philosophy; Corbin, Creative Imagination; Chittick, Sufi Path; idem, Self-Disclosure; Chodkiewicz, Seal; see also http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/journals.html. 5 On Ibn Masarra see Ebstein, “Ibn Masarra,” EI3, and the references given there; on Ibn Barra- ǧān see Böwering and Casewit, A Qurʾān Commentary, pp. 1–45 (the Introduction in English); Casewit, “A reconsideration”; Casewit, The Mystics; and on Ibn Qasī see Ebstein, “Was Ibn Qasī a Ṣūfī?”. 6 On him see Sviri, Mystical Psychology; Radtke, al-Tirmiḏī. 7 See Ebstein, Mysticism, esp. pp. 146–151, 165–168. 8 Ibid. 9 One should bear in mind that various Sufi masters in the classical period, such as al-Kalābāḏī (d. 380s/990s), al-Qušayrī (d. 465/1072), and al-Ġazālī (d. 505/1111), were also theologians or were at least influenced by theology; on these figures see Karamustafa, Sufism, index. Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 6Downloaded (2018) 359–387 from Brill.com09/29/2021 04:16:55AM via free access 362 ebstein which is directly linked to creation and immanent within it.This shift in the way the Divine names are viewed is extremely significant for the self-image of the mystic and for his status and authority in society, given that he now functions as the main channel through which God’s attributes are manifested in the world or are revealed and interpreted; in other words, the mystic is responsible for the very connection between the Creator and creation, a connection embod- ied in the Divine attributes.10 Moreover, in his capacity as a mediator between the Divine and human realms, the mystic may even influence God Himself. I will return to this radical notion in the discussion below (pp. 374–379). Mythic Thought and Mysticism The second introductory remark concerns the term “mythic” employed in this essay. Definitions of “myth” and explanations of its importance and functions in human society and religiosity abound in modern scholarship.11 Strangely enough, the existence and significance of mythic thinking in classical Islamic mysticism have been by and large ignored in Western academia. One might contrast this unfortunate situation with the field of Jewish studies and specifi- cally Kabbalah scholarship, in which much research has been carried out on the relationship between religion and myth in general and between mysti- cism and mythic thought in particular.12 In the future I hope to address this issue with regard to Islamic mysticism in an in-depth study. For now, several points should be emphasized in order to clarify the premise of my discus- sion here. To begin with, one ought to distinguish between “mythology” and “mythic”. The former term signifies a cluster of stories (“myths”) dealing with issues such as gods and their relationships with human beings, the creation of the world, heroes and their ventures, the sacredness of specific geographi- cal spaces, the origins of social and religious institutions, and so forth; a good 10 To what degree the Andalusī shift described here was heralded by the teachings of cer- tain idiosyncratic Sufis in the east is a question that cannot be answered here.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Solovyov's Metaphysics Between Gnosis and Theurgy
    religions Article Solovyov’s Metaphysics between Gnosis and Theurgy Aleksandr Gaisin The Graduate School for Social Research, IFiS PAN, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected]; Tel.: +7953-154-6247 Received: 29 September 2018; Accepted: 8 November 2018; Published: 13 November 2018 Abstract: This article provides a reading of Vladimir Solovyov’s philosophy as expressed in his ‘Lectures on Divine Humanity’ and ‘The Meaning of Love’. It seeks to unpack his eclectic thought in order to answer the question of whether there is a Jewish Kabbalistic influence on the Russian thinker amidst his usual platonic, gnostic, and Schellengian tropes. Interested as a young man in Jewish Mysticism, Solovyov fluctuates in his ‘Lectures on Divine Humanity’ between a platonic reading of Schellengian Gnosticism and some elements of Kabbalistic origin. In ‘The Meaning of Love’, he develops a notion of love that puts him very close to what Moshe Idel calls ‘theosophic-theurgical Kabbalah’. Showing how ‘The Meaning of Love’ completes the narrative of ‘Lectures’, we can affirm that there is a certain Christian Kabbalistic line in Solovyov’s thought that culminates in his theurgical understanding of love. In this sense, Solovyov might be called a philosophical Marrano as he is certainly a heterodox theosopher that fluctuates between Christian Gnosis and Christian Kabbalah, never assuming a solid identity. Keywords: philosophical theology; heterodoxy; Judeo-Christianity; Russian religious renaissance; Christian Kabbalah; Vladimir Solovyov The enigmatic and eclectic nature of Solovyov’s thought is unveiled if we simply look at the early readings of his philosophy. Already, the Silver Age’s thinker and poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky deemed Solovyov as a Gnostic writer, immersed in Christian heresy (Merezhkovsky 1991, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Plotinus on Theurgy and Magic 1 HANDOUT
    Public Lecture Plotinus on Theurgy and Magic HANDOUT [P1] Porphyry Life of Plotinus 10.33-35 When Amelius grew ritualistic and took to going round visiting the temples at the New Moon and the feasts of the gods and once asked if he could take Plotinus along, Plotinus said, “They ought to come to me, not I to them”. What he meant by this exalted utterance we could not understand and did not dare to ask. [trans. Armstrong] [P2] Ennead IV.4.40.1-9 But how do magic spells work? By sympathy and by the fact that there is a natural concord of things that are alike and opposition of things that are different, and by the rich variety of the many powers which go to make up the life of the one living creature. For many things are drawn and enchanted without anyone else’s magical contrivance: and the true magic is the Philia and also the Strife in the All. And this is the primary wizard and enchanter, from observing whom men came to use his philtres and spells on each other. [trans. Armstrong] [P3] Ennead IV.4.26.1-4 Their [i.e. the heavenly bodies] knowledge of prayers is the result of a sort of linking and a particular disposition of things fitted into the whole, and the same applies to their accomplishment of what we pray for; and in the arts of the magicians everything is directed to this linking: this means that magic works by powers which follow on sympathetically [trans. Armstrong modified] [P4] Ennead IV.4.41.4-10 … for if the string is plucked at the lower end, it has a vibration at the upper.
    [Show full text]
  • Kabbalah, Magic & the Great Work of Self Transformation
    KABBALAH, MAGIC AHD THE GREAT WORK Of SELf-TRAHSfORMATIOH A COMPL€T€ COURS€ LYAM THOMAS CHRISTOPHER Llewellyn Publications Woodbury, Minnesota Contents Acknowledgments Vl1 one Though Only a Few Will Rise 1 two The First Steps 15 three The Secret Lineage 35 four Neophyte 57 five That Darkly Splendid World 89 SIX The Mind Born of Matter 129 seven The Liquid Intelligence 175 eight Fuel for the Fire 227 ntne The Portal 267 ten The Work of the Adept 315 Appendix A: The Consecration ofthe Adeptus Wand 331 Appendix B: Suggested Forms ofExercise 345 Endnotes 353 Works Cited 359 Index 363 Acknowledgments The first challenge to appear before the new student of magic is the overwhehning amount of published material from which he must prepare a road map of self-initiation. Without guidance, this is usually impossible. Therefore, lowe my biggest thanks to Peter and Laura Yorke of Ra Horakhty Temple, who provided my first exposure to self-initiation techniques in the Golden Dawn. Their years of expe­ rience with the Golden Dawn material yielded a structure of carefully selected ex­ ercises, which their students still use today to bring about a gradual transformation. WIthout such well-prescribed use of the Golden Dawn's techniques, it would have been difficult to make progress in its grade system. The basic structure of the course in this book is built on a foundation of the Golden Dawn's elemental grade system as my teachers passed it on. In particular, it develops further their choice to use the color correspondences of the Four Worlds, a piece of the original Golden Dawn system that very few occultists have recognized as an ini­ tiatory tool.
    [Show full text]
  • Pattison, Kirsty Laura (2020) Ideas of Spiritual Ascent and Theurgy from the Ancients to Ficino and Pico. Mth(R) Thesis
    Pattison, Kirsty Laura (2020) Ideas of spiritual ascent and theurgy from the ancients to Ficino and Pico. MTh(R) thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/81873/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Ideas of Spiritual Ascent and Theurgy from the Ancients to Ficino and Pico Kirsty Laura Pattison MA (Hons) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of MTh (by Research). School of Critical Studies College of Arts University of Glasgow Supervisors Prof Charlotte Methuen Dr Mia Spiro October 2020 Declaration of Originality Form – Research Degrees This form must be completed and signed and submitted with your thesis. Name Kirsty Laura Pattison ............................................................................................................. Student Number ........................................................................................................... Title of degree MTh (by Research) .................................................................................................. Title of thesis Ideas of Spiritual Ascent from the Ancients to Ficino and Pico .................................. The University's degrees and other academic awards are given in recognition of a student's personal achievement. All work submitted for assessment is accepted on the understanding that it is the student's own effort.
    [Show full text]
  • Western Esotericism” 67 Liana Saif
    New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism - 978-90-04-44645-8 Downloaded from Brill.com01/05/2021 03:08:58PM via Stockholm University Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion Editorial Board Aaron W. Hughes (University of Rochester) Russell McCutcheon (University of Alabama) Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen) Volume 17 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/smtr - 978-90-04-44645-8 Downloaded from Brill.com01/05/2021 03:08:58PM via Stockholm University New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism Edited by Egil Asprem Julian Strube - 978-90-04-44645-8 Downloaded from Brill.com01/05/2021 03:08:58PM via Stockholm University This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2060 “Religion and Politics. Dynamics of Tradition and Innovation” – 390726036; as well as by the Open Access Fund of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster Cover illustration: mycelium, copyright Taviphoto.
    [Show full text]
  • Plotinus and Magic
    The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition The International Journal ofthe Platonic Tradition 4 (2010) 114-146 brill.nl/jpt Plotinus and Magic Wendy Elgersma Helleman Religious Studies and Philosophy University of Jos, Nigeria, West Africa [email protected] Abstract Contemporary scholarship accents incipient theurgical practice for Plotinus; this lends a certain urgency to the question of his acceptance of magic. While use of magic recorded in Porphyry’s Vita Plotini has received considerable attention, far less has been done to analyze actual discussion in the Enneads. Examination of key passages brings to light the context for discussion of magic, particularly issues of sympathy, prayer, astrology and divination. Equally important is Plotinus’ understanding of the cosmos and role of the heavenly bodies. Plotinus’ affirma- tion of the highest part of the soul as undescended, together with the claim that our soul has a common origin with the World Soul in Soul-Hypostasis, is signifi- cant for the relative unimportance he attributes to the role and effect of magic. Keywords Plotinus, magic, soul, sympathy, astrology, divination, enchantment, prayer, δαίμονες, cosmology, correspondence, analogy, mystical union. Just how did the Neoplatonists regard magic and theurgy? This topic has attracted considerable attention in the last few years.1 A number of decades have passed since A.H. Armstrong appeared to have answered successfully Merlan’s thesis on Plotinus as magician.2 Significant new scholarly work on later Neoplatonists like Iamblichus has reopened the question, particularly in the effort to establish lines of continuity between 1) Shaw (1995); Rappe (2000); Mazur (2003) and (2004).
    [Show full text]
  • A Theurgic Reading of Hermetic Rebirth
    1 Taking the Shape of the Gods: A Theurgic Reading of Hermetic Rebirth Gregory Shaw Stonehill College To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal. -Jorge Luis Borges1 The way of Hermes is the ‘way of immortality’ -Garth Fowden2 In Iamblichus’ well-known defense of theurgy, On the Mysteries, he invokes Hermes as his inspiration and guide. Iamblichus writes: Hermes, the god who presides over learning has from ancient times been rightly considered the common patron of all priests; he who presides over true knowledge about the gods is one and the same, in all circumstances. It was to him indeed that our ancestors dedicated the fruits of their wisdom, by attributing all their own writings to Hermes.3 Through the pseudonym of Abamon, an Egyptian priest, Iamblichus asks that he might be inspired by Hermes in his answers to Porphyry’s questions about theurgy. The practice of this hieratic art united theurgists with gods through rituals specifically coordinated with their conditions and capacities. It was a mystagogy strikingly similar to the mystagogy portrayed in Hermetic writings. The way of Hermes, Garth Fowden has succinctly put it, is a way of immortality;4 theurgy, a hermetic art, is also a way of immortality. Hermes insists that rebirth into divinity “cannot be taught,” and Iamblichus maintains that theurgy cannot even be thought. For Iamblichus “contact with the divine is not knowledge (oude gnôsis).”5 True knowledge of the gods, he says, cannot be reached through dialectical discussion, for “what would prevent theoretical philosophers from achieving theurgic union with the gods? This,” he states, “is simply not possible.”6 1 Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, edited and translated by Donald A.
    [Show full text]
  • Real Magic Or Theurgy, Purpose and Pitfalls
    Real Magic or Theurgy, Purpose and pitfalls Magic or Theurgy, purpose and pitfalls v. 12.11, www.philaletheians.co.uk, 25 March 2018 Page 1 of 31 BUDDHAS AND INITIATES SERIES MAGIC OR THEURGY: PURPOSE AND PITFALLS Abstract and train of thoughts 1 Quick definitions. 4 Proclus on the Alliance and Sympathy that underpins all Kingdoms of Life Mastery of the universal magnetic sympathy that exists between men, animals, plants, and minerals, selects and directs powers by sympathy; and expels unwanted ones by antipathy. As love of physical beauty grows to an appreciation of Divine Beauty, so the old priests, realising the mutual alliance and sympathy that underpins all kingdoms of life, and investigating the kinship between the manifested world and the occult powers that govern it, they fathomed out the relationship between Concealed Potentiality and Infinite Potencies at every level. 5 Inspired by the presence of a Divine Virtue within, the lower classes sing the praises of the pinnacle of their respective order; some intellectually, others rationally; some in a natural manner, others physically. 6 Every order of being proceeds gradually, in a beautiful descent, from the highest to the lowest. Stones and plants honour the sun and, in turn, they receive the bounty of Divine Love according to their ruling divinities. 6 Magic is based on the affinities between organic and inorganic bodies, the visible productions of the four kingdoms, and the invisible powers of the universe, says Blavatsky. 7 Thus, inferior ranks of the same order invariably venerate their superiors. That is why the cock is very much feared and revered by the lion.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy, Ἱερατική, and the Damascian Dichotomy: Pursuing the Bacchic Ideal in the Sixth-Century Academy Todd Krulak
    Philosophy, Ἱερατική, and the Damascian Dichotomy: Pursuing the Bacchic Ideal in the Sixth-Century Academy Todd Krulak HE BEGINNING of the sixth century CE found the venerable Athenian Academy unexpectedly struggling T to maintain its very existence. The institution enjoyed both curricular and political stability for much of the fifth century under the capable leadership of Proclus of Lycia, but after his death in 485, the school struggled to find a capable successor. Edward Watts has suggested that the failing fortunes of the Academy in this period were due to a dearth of candi- dates who possessed the right combination of the intellectual heft required to carry on the grand tradition of the Academy and the political deftness needed to protect it against encroach- ing Christian authorities. As a result, the school was perched on the razor’s edge. In particular, Watts postulates that an im- politic emphasis on traditional forms of religious ritual in the Academy in the post-Proclan era, especially by the indiscrete Hegias, the head of the school around the beginning of the sixth century, intensified Christian scrutiny.1 Thus, the assump- tion of the position of scholarch, the head of the school, by the 1 See E. J. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria (Berke- ley 2006) 118–142; and “Athens between East and West: Elite Self-Presen- tation and the Durability of Traditional Cult,” GRBS 57 (2017) 191–213, which contends that, with regard to religion, Athens retained a decidedly traditional character well into the fifth century. Even after the temples were shuttered in the second quarter of that century, elites supportive of ancestral practices extended financial support to the Academy, for it was known to be sympathetic to traditional deities and rites.
    [Show full text]
  • Gregory Shaw – Theurgy and the Soul
    Theurgy and the Soul For my parents, Norman J. Shaw and Rita G. Shaw gregory shaw Theurgy and the The Neoplatonism Soul of Iamblichus second edition John Milbank Foreword & Aaron Riches Second Edition, Angelico Press/Sophia Perennis, 2014 © Gregory Shaw 2014 Foreword © John Milbank & Aaron Riches, 2014 Revised edition of the work originally published by The Pennsylvania State University Press 1995 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. For information, address: Angelico Press 4709 Briar Knoll Dr. Kettering, OH 45429 angelicopress.com Ppr. 978-1-62138-063-4 Cloth 978-1-62138-072-6 Cover Image: Figure of Iamblichus from the oldest manuscript of De Mysteriis Liber; and a modified detail of folio 4r from the Nuremberg Chronicles, ca. 1493. Cover Design: Michael Schrauzer contents Acknowledgments for the First Edition i Abbreviations iii Foreword: Neoplatonic Theurgy and Christian Incarnation v Preface to the Second Edition xix Introduction: To Preserve the Cosmos 1 I Matter and Embodiment 1 Embodiment in the Platonic Tradition 23 2 Matter as Cosmic Instrument 31 3 Matter as Obstacle to the Embodied Soul 41 4 Theurgy as Demiurgy 50 II The Nature of the Embodied Soul 5 The Descent of the Soul 67 6 Soul as Mediator 78 7 The Constraints of Embodiment 90 8 The Freedom of Immortal Bodies 98 9 The Paradox of Embodiment 110 10 Descending to Apotheosis 121 11 Eros and the One of the Soul 134 1 III The Liturgy of the Cosmos 12 Cult and Cosmos 147 13 Ritual and the Human
    [Show full text]
  • THE IMMATERIAL THEURGY of BOETHIUS by Martin H
    THE IMMATERIAL THEURGY OF BOETHIUS by Martin H. Curran Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2012 © Copyright by Martin H. Curran, 2012 DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis entitled “THE IMMATERIAL THEURGY OF BOETHIUS” by Martin H. Curran in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Dated: 24 August, 2012 Supervisor: _________________________________ Readers: _________________________________ _________________________________ ii DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DATE: 24 August, 2012 AUTHOR: Martin H. Curran TITLE: THE IMMATERIAL THEURGY OF BOETHIUS DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL: Department of Classics DEGREE: MA CONVOCATION: October YEAR: 2012 Permission is herewith granted to Dalhousie University to circulate and to have copied for non- commercial purposes, at its discretion, the above title upon the request of individuals or institutions. I understand that my thesis will be electronically available to the public. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s written permission. The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material appearing in the thesis (other than the brief excerpts requiring only proper acknowledgement in scholarly writing), and
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles “A Fullness of Living Forces”: Viacheslav Ivanov's Poetics of Theurgy a Dissertation
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles “A Fullness of Living Forces”: Viacheslav Ivanov’s Poetics of Theurgy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures by Jeffrey T. Riggs 2018 © Copyright by Jeffrey T. Riggs 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “A Fullness of Living Forces”: Viacheslav Ivanov’s Poetics of Theurgy by Jeffrey T. Riggs Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Ronald W. Vroon, Chair Developing poetry into a form of theurgy (“divine work,” from the Greek θεουργία) is perhaps the most heraldically proclaimed yet scantly defined preoccupation of the Russian Symbolist poet Viacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949). The Symbolist movement’s philosophical progenitor, Vladimir Solov’ev (1853-1900), sounded the clarion call for theurgic art in his treatise Crisis of Western Philosophy (1874), however the concept of theurgy dates to late antiquity, when the Neoplatonist philosophers Iamblichus (c. 245–c. 325 CE) and Proclus (412– 485 CE) posited theurgic ritual as superior to theological discourse. While it has been established that Ivanov followed Solov’evian paradigms in creating theurgic art, the Neoplatonic context of Ivanov’s engagement with theurgy has remained hitherto unexplored in Slavist scholarship. This dissertation argues for Neoplatonic theurgy as an active constituent in Ivanov’s poetics and theory of the symbol. Being an accomplished classical historian and philologist as ii well as a poet and theoretician, Ivanov incorporated both Solov’evian and Neoplatonic theurgic ideas into his highly allusive, richly symbolic, and archaically stylized poetry. Neoplatonism supplied Ivanov with a notion of the symbol as a conduit of divine mysteries, a mythopoetic device, and a functional element of ritual practice.
    [Show full text]