The Demiurge in Ancient Thought: Secondary Gods and Divine Mediators
Carl Séan O'Brien
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. In antiquity, Plato's Timaeus introduced the concept of the Demiurge, or Craftsman-god, to answer them. This lucid and wide-ranging book argues that the concept of the Demiurge was highly influential on the many discussions operating in Middle Platonist, Gnostic, Hermetic and Christian contexts in the first three centuries AD. It explores key metaphysical problems such as the origin of evil, the relationship between matter and the First Principle and the deployment of ever-increasing numbers of secondary deities to insulate the First Principle from the sensible world. It also focuses on the decreasing importance of demiurgy in Neoplatonism, with its postulation of procession and return.
年:
2015
出版商:
Cambridge University Press
語言:
english
頁數:
346
ISBN 10:
110707536X
ISBN 13:
9781107075368
文件:
PDF, 2.25 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 2015