From Iamblichus to Eriugena: The Prehistory and Evolution of the Pseudo-Dionysian Tradition by Gersh, Stephen;

Short description:

From Iamblichus to Eriugena described the metaphysical and theological system of later (post-Plotinian) Neoplatonism in one of its most important pagan forms and in one of its most significant Christian forms, and especially strove to depict the conceptual analogies and doctrinal intersections between these two often competing sets of ideas. Beginning the survey with Iamblichus of Chalcis in Graeco-Roman Antiquity and ending with Iohannes Scottus Eriugena in the later Carolingian Era, it posited two pagan Neoplatonists, Proclus and Damascius, and two Christian theologians, pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor, as the most crucial historical intermediates. The reprint of this book includes a new introduction that provides a meta-critical analysis of the historical and conceptual method pursued in the original work and a bibliographical discussion of the author’s more recent publications on the same or similar topics. The volume is completed by a new and expanded bibliography of the subject as a whole.

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Long description:

From Iamblichus to Eriugena was completed almost fifty years ago and, having been in considerable demand but out of print for many years, is here made available once more without substantial alteration. The original book described the metaphysical and theological system of later (post-Plotinian) Neoplatonism in one of its most important pagan forms and in one of its most significant Christian forms, striving thereby to depict the conceptual analogies and doctrinal intersections between these two often competing sets of ideas.



The reprint of this book includes a new introduction which is intended to be a substantial document in its own right. This provides a meta-critical analysis of the historical and conceptual method pursued in the original work, especially by drawing the reader’s attention to ideas, topics, and themes given less emphasis in the earlier text. The new introduction also inserts, at critical points in the discussion, bibliographical notices of the present author’s numerous more recent publications dealing with the same or similar issues.

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Table of Contents:

Introduction: From Iamblichus to Eriugena after Fifty Years

Preface (1978)

Citations (1978)

Introduction (1978)

First Part Philosophical Principles of Pagan Neoplatonism

I. Metaphors of Emanation



II. Objective Theory

 1. The Theory of Potency and Act

 2. The Cyclic Theory of Causation



III. Subjective Theory

 1. Intellect as Plērōma

 2. Cognition and Causation

 3. Dialectic

Second Part The Structure of Relaity in Pagan Neoplatonic Thought and its Transformation by Christian Writers

IV. The Structure of Reality

 1. The Pagan Doctrine of Self-Determination

 2. Unity and Multiplicity in Pagan and Christian Thought

 3. The Christian Doctrine of Self-Determination

Third Part Philosophical Principles of Christian Neoplatonism

V. Metaphors of Mixture



VI. Objective Theory

 1. The Theory of Potency and Act

 2. The Cyclic Theory of Causation



VII. Subjective Theory

 1. Wisdom as Plērōma

 2. Cognition, Volition, and Creation

 3. Dialectic



Conclusion



Excursus: The Linguistic Doctrine of Theodorus of Asine and its Background in Philosophy and Magic



Appendix 1: auto-

Appendix 2: Eriugena’s Mathematical Angelology

Bibliography

Indices

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