This volume presents the first modern English translation of Iamblichus’s De mysteriis alongside the standard critical edition of the text by Édouard Des Places (Les Belles Lettres, 1966). This important work, which provides a unique insight into the mystical side of late Neoplatonism, has hitherto been neglected to an unfortunate degree, partly due to its inaccessibility. Iamblichus argues that the only true good is union with the gods and that the only route to this divine union is theurgy—religious ritual demonstrating supernatural power—which both symbolizes and encapsulates the extraordinary miracle of the soul’s conversion back to its divine origin. The process of sacrifice, the activities of angels and demons, the meaning of divine possession, and the functioning of oracles are all examined in this extraordinary defense of theurgic mysticism against contemporary critics such as Porphyry. Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell bring this famous and fascinating text to light through their introduction and extensive notes.

This book proposes a method of mystagogy based on the preaching of Ambrose of Milan. Chapter 1 establishes the need for mystagogy. chapter 2 lays out the historical context of Ambrose and his church. Chapters 3-8 are a series of six historical studies on Ambrose and his church that correspond to the components of a homiletic method. Chapter 9 proposes a method of mystagogy for the contemporary church based on Ambrose's preaching.

An account of the astrological controversies that arose in Renaissance Italy in the wake of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem, published in 1496.

This first volume of the new Brill series “Ancient Philosophy & Religion” offers analyses of Platonic philosophy and piety, the emergence of a common religio-philosophical discourse in Antiquity, the place of Jesus among ancient philosophers, and responses of pagan philosophers to Christianity from the second century to Late Antiquity.

Why did ancient philosophers consult oracles, write about them, and consider them to be an important part of philosophical thought and practice? This book explores the extensive links between oracles and philosophy in Late Antiquity, particularly focusing on the roles of oracles and other forms of divination in third and fourth century CE Neoplatonism. Examining some of the most significant debates between pagan philosophers and Christian intellectuals on the nature of oracles as a central yet contested element of religious tradition, Addey focuses particularly on Porphyry's Philosophy from Oracles and Iamblichus' De Mysteriis - two works which deal extensively with oracles and other forms of divination. This book argues for the significance of divination within Neoplatonism and offers a substantial reassessment of oracles and philosophical works and their relationship to one another. With a broad interdisciplinary approach, encompassing Classics, Ancient Philosophy, Theology, Religious Studies and Ancient History, Addey draws on recent anthropological and religious studies research which has challenged and re-evaluated the relationship between rationality and ritual.

Reveals how the divorce of divine perfection from human perfection undergirds the divorce of theology and philosophy. This work shows how these discourses were originally joined by the Church Fathers, to how they were separated in the Middle Ages and modern Anglicanism, to how they can be rejoined.