Platonic Mysticism

Platonic Mysticism
Author: Arthur Versluis
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2017-08-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438466331

Restores the Platonic history and context of mysticism and shows how it helps us understand more deeply the humanities as a whole, from philosophy and literature to art. In Platonic Mysticism, Arthur Versluisclearly and tautly argues that mysticism must be properly understood as belonging to the great tradition of Platonism. He demonstrates how mysticism was historically understood in Western philosophical and religious traditions and emphatically rejects externalist approaches to esoteric religion. Instead he develops a new theoretical-critical model for understanding mystical literature and the humanities as a whole, from philosophy and literature to art. A sequel to his Restoring Paradise, this is an audacious book that places Platonic mysticism in the context of contemporary cognitive and other approaches to the study of religion, and presents an emerging model for the new field of contemplative science. “An important work on the mystical experience delving deep into its history, particularly from the Platonic perspective. An essential text for anyone interested in mysticism and its relationship to philosophy and creative expression.” — Andrew Newberg, author of How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation “The present work, the latest from the pen of Arthur Versluis, provides a trenchant, learned, and illuminating analysis of the origins of Western mysticism in the Platonist tradition, relayed through such figures as Plotinus and Dionysius the Areopagite, down through Meister Eckhart and others, while suitably excoriating the attempts of certain modern philosophers and sociologists of religion to ‘deconstruct’ it from a materialist perspective. I found it a rattling good read!” — John Dillon, author of The Heirs of Plato: A Study of the Old Academy (347–274 BC)

Philosophical Mysticism in Plato, Hegel, and the Present

Philosophical Mysticism in Plato, Hegel, and the Present
Author: Robert M. Wallace
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2019-12-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350082880

Few twenty-first century academics take seriously mysticism's claim that we have direct knowledge of a higher or more “inner” reality or God. But Philosophical Mysticism argues that such leading philosophers of earlier epochs as Plato, G. W. F. Hegel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Alfred North Whitehead were, in fact, all philosophical mystics. This book discusses major versions of philosophical mysticism beginning with Plato. It shows how the framework of mysticism's higher or more inner reality allows nature, freedom, science, ethics, the arts, and a rational religion-in-the-making to work together rather than conflicting with one another. This is how philosophical mysticism understands the relationships of fact to value, rationality to ethics, and the rest. And this is why Plato's notion of ascent or turning inward to a higher or more inner reality has strongly attracted such major figures in philosophy, religion, and literature as Aristotle, Plotinus, St Augustine, Dante Alighieri, Immanuel Kant, Hegel, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Whitehead, and Wittgenstein. Wallace's Philosophical Mysticism brings this central strand of western philosophy and culture into focus in a way unique in recent scholarship.

Mystical Monotheism

Mystical Monotheism
Author: John Peter Kenney
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2010-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1610970098

In this engaging and provocative study, John Peter Kenney examines the emergence of monotheism within Greco-Roman philosophical theology by tracing the changing character of ancient realism from Plato through Plotinus. Besides acknowledging the philosophical and theological significance of such ancient thinkers as Plutarch, Numenius, Alcinous, and Atticus, he demonstrates the central importance of Plotinus in clarifying the relation of the intelligible world to divinity. Kenney focuses especially on Plotinus's novel concept of deity, arguing that it constitutes a type of mystical monotheism based upon an ultimate and inclusive divine One beyond description or discursive knowledge. Presenting difficult material with grace and clarity, Kenney takes a wide-ranging view of the development of ancient Platonic theology from a philosophical perspective and synthesizes familiar elements in a new way. His is a revisionist thesis with significant implications for the study of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian thought in this period and for the history of Western religious thought in general.

Platonic Theology

Platonic Theology
Author: Marsilio Ficino
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674017191

Platonic Theology is the visionary and philosophical masterpiece of Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), the Florentine scholar-philosopher-magus largely responsible for the Renaissance revival of Plato. This work, translated into English for the first time, is a key to understanding the art, thought, culture, and spirituality of the Renaissance.

Christian Platonism

Christian Platonism
Author: Alexander J. B. Hampton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 875
Release: 2020-12-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1108676472

Platonism has played a central role in Christianity and is essential to a deep understanding of the Christian theological tradition. At times, Platonism has constituted an essential philosophical and theological resource, furnishing Christianity with an intellectual framework that has played a key role in its early development, and in subsequent periods of renewal. Alternatively, it has been considered a compromising influence, conflicting with the faith's revelatory foundations and distorting its inherent message. In both cases the fundamental importance of Platonism, as a force which Christianity defined itself by and against, is clear. Written by an international team of scholars, this landmark volume examines the history of Christian Platonism from antiquity to the present day, covers key concepts, and engages issues such as the environment, natural science and materialism.

Mystical Theology and Platonism in the Time of Cusanus

Mystical Theology and Platonism in the Time of Cusanus
Author: Jason Aleksander
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2023-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004536906

Mystical Theology and Platonism in the Time of Cusanus engages with the history of mystical theology and Neoplatonic philosophy through the lens of the 15th century philosopher and theologian, Nicholas of Cusa. The volume comprises nineteen essays that break down the barriers between medieval and Renaissance studies, reinterpreting Cusanus’ place in the history of thought by exploring the archive that informed his thinking, while also interrogating his works by exploring them from the standpoint of their later reception by modern philosophers and theologians. The volume also offers tribute to the career of Donald F. Duclow, a leading scholar in the field of Cusanus studies in particular and of the history of mystical theology and Neoplatonic philosophy more generally.

The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition

The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition
Author: Andrew Louth
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2007-01-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191608777

Scholars of the patristic era have paid more attention to the dogmatic tradition in their period than to the development of Christian mystical theology. Andrew Louth aims to redress the balance. Recognizing that the intellectual form of this tradition was decisively influenced by Platonic ideas of the soul's relationship to God, Louth begins with an examination of Plato and Platonism. The discussion of the Fathers which follows shows how the mystical tradition is at the heart of their thought and how the dogmatic tradition both moulds and is the reflection of mystical insights and concerns. This new edition of a classic study of the diverse influences upon Christian spirituality includes a new Epilogue which brings the text completely up to date.

The Christian Platonism of Simone Weil

The Christian Platonism of Simone Weil
Author: E. Jane Doering
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN:

In this book, a group of renowned international scholars seek to discern the ways in which Simone Weil was indebted to Plato, and how her provocative readings of his work offer challenges to contemporary philosophy, theology, and spirituality. This is the first book in twenty years to systematically investigate Weil's Christian Platonism. The opening essays explore what actually constitutes Weil's Platonism. Louis Dupre addresses the Platonic and Gnostic elements of her thought with respect to her negative theology, and the Christian Platonism of her positive theology as found in her reflections on beauty and the Good. degree to which her teacher Alain influenced her Platonism. Michael Ross contends that Weil's interest in Plato is in ethical Platonism. Essays by Robert Chenavier and by Patrick Patterson and Lawrence Schmidt consider the importance of matter and materialism in Weil's Platonism and argue that it is key to understanding her political thought. A middle group of essays addresses more classically metaphysical themes in Weil's thought. Vance G. Morgan examines her use of Greek mathematics. Florence de Lussy analyzes Weil's distinctive, mystical Platonic reflections on Being in the last notebooks from Marseilles. Emmauel Gabellieri discusses Weil's metaxology, that is, the mediation and relatedness of Being, shown in her speculative thought. set of essays considers Weil's relevance for contemporary spirituality and moral theology. Cyril O'Regan examines her thinking on violence and evil. Eric Springsted looks at the conceptual links that exist between Weil and Augustine. Finally, David Tracy contends that Weil is the foremost predecessor of recent attempts to reunite the mystical and prophetic. Drawing together some of the top Weil scholars in the world, this collection offers important new insights into her thought, and will be appreciated by philosophers and theologians.

Orpheus and the Roots of Platonism

Orpheus and the Roots of Platonism
Author: Algis Uždavinys
Publisher: The Matheson Trust
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2011
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1908092076

A book on the religious, mystic origins and substance of philosophy. This is a critical survey of ancient and modern sources and of scholarly works dealing with Orpheus and everything related to this major figure of ancient Greek myth, religion and philosophy. Here poetic madness meets religious initiation and Platonic philosophy. This book contains fascinating insights into the usually downplaid relations between Egyptian initiation, Greek mysteries and Plato's philosophy and followers, right into Hellenistic Neoplatonic and Hermetic developments.