The Demiurge in Ancient Thought: Secondary Gods and Divine Mediators PDF
Preview The Demiurge in Ancient Thought: Secondary Gods and Divine Mediators
THE DEMIURGE IN ANCIENT THOUGHT How was the world generated and how does matter continue to be ordered so that the world can continue functioning? Questions like these have existed as long as humanity has been capable of rational thought.Inantiquity,Plato’sTimaeusintroducedtheconceptofthe Demiurge,orCraftsman-god,toanswerthem.Thislucidandwide- ranging book argues that the concept of the Demiurge was highly influential on the many discussions operating in Middle Platonist, Gnostic,HermeticandChristiancontextsinthefirstthreecenturies ad.Itexploreskeymetaphysicalproblemssuchastheoriginofevil,the relationship between matter and the First Principle and the deploy- mentofever-increasingnumbersofsecondarydeitiestoinsulatethe FirstPrinciplefromthesensibleworld.Italsofocusesonthedecreas- ingimportanceofdemiurgyinNeoplatonism,withitspostulationof processionandreturn. carl se´an o’brien is Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in the DepartmentofPhilosophyatRuprecht-Karls-Universita¨tHeidelberg andResearchAssociate,CentrefortheStudyofthePlatonicTradition, TrinityCollege,Dublin. THE DEMIURGE IN ANCIENT THOUGHT Secondary Gods and Divine Mediators ´ CARL SEAN O’BRIEN UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107075368 ©CarlSe´anO’Brien2015 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2015 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary isbn978-1-107-07536-8Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Formymother,Gloria,whofirstplacedme uponthepathof scholarship Contents Acknowledgements pagex Listofabbreviations xiii 1 Demiurgyandotherapproachestoworld-generation 1 1 Thetheoreticalbackground 4 InfluenceoftheStoicLogos 11 TheChristianaspect 14 Thinkersinvestigatedandcriteriaforselection 2 Plato’sTimaeus,theoriginalconceptoftheDemiurgeand theexegesisofthedialogue 18 18 TheTimaeus 19 TheDemiurgeofthePlatonicdialogues 24 AristotleandtheOldAcademy 27 InterpretationsoftheTimaeus:firsttothirdcenturiesad 32 ModernapproachestotheTimaeus 3 LogosintoDemiurge:PhiloofAlexandriaaswitnessto developmentsincontemporaryPlatonism 36 36 Introduction 39 TheForms 43 TheLogosandtheLogos-Cutter 57 DeOpificioMundi 62 Themechanismofcreation 67 ThecreationofMan 75 Matter 78 DeAeternitateMundi 80 Conclusion 4 PlutarchandtheDemiurgeofEgyptianmythology 83 83 Introduction 84 Plutarch’sreligiousdevelopment 86 TheDemiurgeandtheForms vii viii Contents 87 Plutarch’sresponsetoStoicphysics 96 DeIsideetOsiride 105 QuaestionesConvivales 111 Othertexts 113 DeAnimaeProcreationeinTimaeo 115 Conclusion 5 AsimplifiedunderstandingofGod:MaximusofTyre 117 117 Introduction Oration11 118 120 ConflictingconceptsoftheDemiurgeinMaximus 124 LimitsimposedupontheDemiurge 135 Unityofthedivine 137 Conclusion 6 Numeniusandhisdoctrineofthreegods 139 139 Introduction 141 TheFirstPrinciple 144 TheDemiurgeandhisrelationshipwiththeFirstGod 158 Matter 167 Conclusion 7 Onthefringesofphilosophy:SpeculationsinHermetism 169 169 Introduction 171 ThePoimandres 185 Themechanicsofdemiurgy 188 Othertexts 190 CHviiiandix 192 CHx 195 Asclepius 204 Conclusion 8 TheignorantDemiurge:ValentinusandtheGnostics 205 205 Introduction 208 TheoriginsofValentinianGnosticism 211 ThelifeandworksofValentinus 215 Sources 216 ValentinianmythofSophia 227 TheDemiurge 230 Theendofcreation 231 ThesignificanceoftheSophiamyth 235 LettertoFlora 238 SummerHarvest 239 TheSethians 242 Conclusion
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