Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus (2nd edition)

Theurgy and the Soul is a study of Iamblichus of Syria (ca. 240–325), whose teachings set the final form of pagan spirituality prior to the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Gregory Shaw focuses on the theory and practice of theurgy, a term meaning “divine action,” the most controversial and significant aspect of Iamblichus’s Platonism. Unlike previous Platonists, who stressed the elevated status of the human soul, Iamblichus taught that the soul descends completely into the body and requires the performance of theurgic rites—revealed by the gods—to unite the soul with the One. Iamblichus was a seminal Platonic philosopher whose views on the soul and the importance of ritual profoundly influenced subsequent thinkers such as Proclus, Damascius, and Dionysius the Areopagite. Iamblichus’s vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant worldview for the entire medieval world, and played an important role in the Renaissance Platonism of Marsilio Ficino. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he expected a reading of Iamblichus to cause a “revival in the churches.” Yet, until recently, modern scholars have dismissed him, seeing theurgy as ritual magic or an attempt to manipulate the gods. Shaw, however, shows that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence in the material world. This new edition includes a foreword by John Milbank and Aaron Riches showing the Christian sacramental implications of Iamblichean theurgy, and a new preface from the author. Cover Half-title Page Dedication Title Page Copyright c Page Contents Acknowledgments for the First Edition Abbreviations Foreword: Neoplatonic Theurgy and Christian Incarnation Preface to the Second Edition Introduction: To Preserve the Cosmos I Matter and Embodiment 1 Embodiment in the Platonic Tradition 2 Matter as Cosmic Instrument 3 Matter as Obstacle to the Soul 4 Theurgy as Demiurgy II The Nature of the Embodied Soul 5 The Descent of the Soul 6 Soul as Mediator 7 The Constraints of Embodiment 8 The Freedom of Immortal Bodies 9 The Paradox of Embodiment 10 Descending to Apotheosis 11 Eros and the One of the Soul III The Liturgy of the Cosmos 12 Cult and Cosmos 13 Ritual and the Human Hierarchy 14 Ritual as Cosmogony 15 Material Sunthēmata 16 Intermediate Sunthēmata—Seeing and Hearing the Gods 17 Intermediate Sunthēmata—Naming the Gods 18 Noetic Sunthēmata—Mathematics and the Soul 19 Noetic Sunthēmata—The Theurgy of Numbers 20 The Sunthēmata of the Sun IV Toward a Universal Platonism 21 The Platonizing of Popular Religion Conclusion Select Bibliography Index Iamblichus was once considered one of the great philosophers. The Emperor Julian followed Iamblichus's teachings to guide the restoration of traditional pagan cults in his campaign against Christianity. Although Julian was unsuccessful, Iamblichus's ideas persisted well into the Middle Ages and beyond. His vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant worldview for the entire medieval world. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he expected a reading of Iamblichus to cause a "revival in the churches." But modern scholars have dismissed him, seeing theurgy as ritual magic or "manipulation of the gods." Shaw, however, shows that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence in the material world