Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times (S U N Y Series in Western Esoteric Traditions) PDF
Preview Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times (S U N Y Series in Western Esoteric Traditions)
cover next page > title : Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions author : Broek, R. van den. publisher : State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin : 079143611X print isbn13 : 9780791436110 ebook isbn13 : 9780585043630 language : English subject Gnosticism--History, Hermetism--History. publication date : 1998 lcc : BT1390.G485 1998eb ddc : 299/.932 subject : Gnosticism--History, Hermetism--History. cover next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_i next page > Page i Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times < previous page page_i next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_ii next page > Page ii SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions David Appelbaum, editor < previous page page_ii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times edited by Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff State University of New York Press < previous page page_iii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv In chapter 4 the Gospel of Truth is quoted from the translation by H. W. Attridge and G. W. MacRae, in Nag, Hammadi Codex I, vol. 1, ed. H. W. Attridge (Leiden, 1985), with permission from Royal E. J. Brill, Leiden. Published by State University of New York Press © 1998 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Marketing by Dana Yanulavich Production by Bernadine Dawes Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gnosis and hermetism from antiquity to modern times/edited by Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff. p. cm. (SUNY series in western esoteric traditions) Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-3611-X (hardcover: alk. paper). ISBN 0-7914-3612-8 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. GnosticismHistory. 2. HermetismHistory. I. Broek, R. van den. II. Hanegraaff, Wouter J. III. Series. BT1390.G485 1998 299'.932dc21 97-26329 CIP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 < previous page page_iv next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_v next page > Page v Table of Contents Preface vii 1 Gnosticism and Hermetism in Antiquity: Two Roads to Salvation 1 Roelofvan den Broek 2 Gnostic and Hermetic Ethics 21 Jean Pierre Mahé 3 Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western Christianity 37 Johannes van Oort 4 A Christian Gnostic Text: The Gospel of Truth 53 Jan Helderman 5 The Asclepius: From the Hermetic Lodge in Alexandria to the Greek Eucharist and the Roman Mass 69 Gilles Quispel 6 A Reading of the Discourse on the Ogdoad and the Ennead (Nag Hammadi Codex VI.6) 79 Jean Pierre Mahé 7 The Cathars: Medieval Gnostics? 87 Roelof van den Broek < previous page page_v next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_vi next page > Page vi 8 Renaissance Hermeticism and the Concept of Western Esotericism 109 Antoine Faivre 9 Francesco Patrizi's Hermetic Philosophy 125 Cees Leijenhorst 10 Spiritual Alchemy: Interpreting Representative Texts and Images 147 Karen Claire Voss 11 Music and the Hermetic Tradition 183 Joscelyn Godwin 12 Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism 197 Roland Edighoffer 13 Christian Theosophic Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 217 Arthur Versluis 14 Romanticism and the Esoteric Connection 237 Wouter J. Hanegraaff 15 William Blake and His Gnostic Myths 269 Jos van Meurs 16 Western Esoteric Schools in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 311 Daniël van Egmond 17 Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht and Gnosticism 347 Joscelyn Godwin 18 The New Age Movement and the Esoteric Tradition 359 Wouter J. Hanegraaff List of Contributors 383 Indexes 385 < previous page page_vi next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Preface It is still often regarded as self-evident that western culture is based on the twin pillars of Greek rationality, on the one hand, and biblical faith, on the other. Certainly, there can be little doubt that these two traditions have been dominant forces in cultural development. The former may be defined by its sole reliance on the rationality of the mind, the latter by its emphasis on an authoritative divine revelation. However, from the first centuries to the present day there has also existed a third current, characterized by a resistance to the dominance of either pure rationality or doctrinal faith. The adherents of this tradition emphasized the importance of inner enlightenment or gnosis: a revelatory experience that mostly entailed an encounter with one's true self as well as with the ground of being, God. In antiquity this perspective was represented by Gnostics and Hermetists; in the Middle Ages by several Christian sects. The Cathars can, at least to a certain extent, be considered part of this same spiritual tradition. Starting with the Italian Renaissance of the late fifteenth century, the newly discovered "Hermetic philosophy" rapidly spread all over Europe. It found many adherents, in particular during the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century. This so-called Hermeticist tradition and its later developmentsthe whole of which may referred to as "western esotericism"was characterized by an organic view of the world that assumed a strong internal coherence of the whole universe, including an intimate relationship between both its spiritual and its material elements. The scientific mechanization of the world, the doctrinal consolidation < previous page page_vii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and the rationality of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century made the Hermetic philosophy, with its strong connections to alchemy, magic, and astrology, scientifically backward and religiously suspect. Nevertheless, the hermeticist current took on new forms in Rosicrucianism and Christian theosophy, and continued to flourish in secret associations such as Freemasonry. Thus, it continued to have a strong impact not only on philosophers, mystics, and occultists, but on many writers, painters, and musicians as well. In our own time many people, disappointed in the perspectives on humanity and the world offered by either rationalism or traditional religion, turn again to the basic principles of Gnosticism and Hermeticism, often integrated with some kind of New Age thinking. The academic study of these developments is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Most literature about the various aspects of "western esotericism" has traditionally been of an apologetic or polemic nature: a debate, basically, among believers and their opponents. Academic researchers generally tended to avoid an area of cultural expression that was widely regarded as inherently suspect; openly to express interest in these traditions might too easily endanger a scholar's prestige among colleagues. During the last few decades, the realization has been growing that this attitude has little to commend it from a scholarly point of view, and may on the contrary have blinded us to important aspects of our cultural past. Even more importantly, it has become increasingly clear that the scholarly recovery of "esoteric" traditions may eventually force us to question basic received opinions about the foundations of our present culture. These considerations apply most directly to those movements that developed in the wake of the Hermetic revival of the Renaissance period. The scholarly study of ancient Gnosticism and Hermetism has been accepted and taken seriously for much longer. This should not surprise us, if we take into account the battle between doctrinal Christian theology and Enlightenment rationality that began around two centuries ago. An impartialinstead of polemichistorical study of Gnosticism was potentially dangerous to the self-understanding of traditional Christianity and its modern representatives. It held little threat, on the other hand, < previous page page_viii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix to the liberal theologians, Bible critics, and religious historians who increasingly came to dominate the academic study of Christianity. On the contrary: the historical study of Gnosticism could serve these scholars as a useful means of undermining the claims of their more conservative colleagues. The situation was entirely different with respects to post-Renaissance "Hermeticist" movements. Not only were these less distant in a strictly chronological sense, they were also much closer in spirit. Having flowered in the same period that saw the emergence of modern science and rationality (and having been, as we now know, crucially involved in that emergence) they evidently touched upon the very roots of modernity itself. If Gnosticism had traditionally been perceived as the enemy of established Christianityexemplifying what were regarded as essentially pagan temptationsmodern Hermeticism held a comparable position in relation to the newly established rationalist worldview. To the intellectual heirs of the Enlightenment, it appeared very much as Gnosticism had appeared to the early church fathers: as a collection of archaic and potentially dangerous superstitions. They were regarded as the epitome of those kinds of error from which human reason had now finally managed to free itself. However, one openly fights an enemy only as long as one fears that he still might win. In this respect as well, history seems to repeat itself. Like the Christian Church before it, modern rationalism, once safely consolidated, could afford itself the luxury of exchanging active combat for a more comfortable (and perhaps more effective) solution: silence. Believing in the inevitable progress of human rationality, one could simply ignore esotericism, in the confident expectation that its still surviving remnants would eventually wither and die by itself. However, even if one avoids the use of currently fashionable labels (most of which seem to begin with "post-" and to produce book titles beginning with "Beyond"), it is clear that the optimistic self-confidence of Enlightenment thinking is no longer widely shared. Together with growing doubts about the doctrine of human progress through science and rationality, we witness a new interest in historical alternatives to the dominant components of western culture. It is only natural that the study of Gnosis and Hermeticism profits from this widespread reorientation. It is the conviction of the editors of this volume, nevertheless, that in < previous page page_ix next page > If you like this book, buy it!
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