Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

Edited by Rich T. Wallis & Jay Bregman

Subjects: Neoplatonism
Series: Studies in Neoplatonism: Ancient and Modern, Volume 6
Paperback : 9780791413388, 544 pages, July 1992
Hardcover : 9780791413371, 544 pages, July 1992

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Table of contents

Preface

R. Baine Harris

Introduction

Richard T Wallis And Jay Bregman

Theourgia - Demiourgia: A Controversial Issue in Hellenistic Thought and Religion

John P. Anton

Dualism: Platonic, Gnostic, and Christian

A.H. Armstrong

The "Second God" in Gnosticism and Plotinus's Anti-Gnostic Polemic, translated from Spanish by Winifred T Slater

Francisco Garcia Bazán

Synesius, the Hermetica and Gnosis

Jay Bregman

Pleroma and Noetic Cosmos: A Comparative Study

John M. Dillon

Plotinus's Anti-Gnostic Polemic and Porphyry's Against The Christians

Christos Evangeliou

Theological Doctrines of the Latin Asclepius

Stephen Gersh

Negative Theology in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism

Curtis L. Hancock

The Platonism of the Tripartite Tractate (NH I, 5)

John Peter Kenney

The Noetic Triad in Plotinus, Marius Victorinus, and Augustine

Peter Manchester

"Plenty Sleeps There": The Myth of Eros and Psyche in Plotinus and Gnosticism

Patricia Cox Miller

"The Name of the Father is the Son" (Gospel of Truth 38)

Raoul Mortley

Theurgic Tendencies in Gnosticism and Iamblichus's Conception of Theurgy

Birger A. Pearson

Beauty, Number, and Loss of Order in the Gnostic Cosmos

Pheme Perkins

Theories of Procession in Plotinus and the Gnostics

Jean Pépin

Titus of Bostra and Alexander of Lycopolis: A Christian and a Platonic Refutation of Manichaean Dualism

Gedaliahu G. Stroumsa

Le Nombre et son Ombre (Résumé)

Ara Alexandru Sismanian

Mani's Twin and Plotinus: Questions on "Self"

Leo Sweeney, S.J.

Gnosticism and Platonism: The Platonizing Sethian Texts from Nag Hammadi in their Relation to Later Platonic Literature

John D. Turner

Soul and Nous in Plotinus, Numenius and Gnosticism

Richard T. Wallis

Higher Providence, Lower Providences and Fate in Gnosticism and Middle Platonism

Michael A. Williams

Index

Description

In recent decades our view of Gnosticism has been revolutionized by the discovery of a Coptic Gnostic library at Nag-Hammadi, Egypt. Currently, Gnosticism is seen as a phenomenon extending far beyond Christianity and displaying a strong Platonic influence. The opposition between the two systems was certainly not as sharp as Plotinus claimed. Where, why, and how the ideological lines were drawn is discussed in the light of the new historical evidence.

Richard T. Wallis was Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma. Jay Bregman is Professor of History at the University of Maine, Orono.