Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Quick Summary of my Theurgy Problem



I'm looking at Copenhaver's use of theurgy to describe Pico's mysticism positively and negatively. Copenhaver argued that Pico "recognized" the theurgy in neoplatonism and kabbalah, but doesn't explain himself much. On the other hand in another spot Copenhaver argues Pico doesn't want to be "guilty of theurgy" but does angel magic. Following Moshe Idel I don't think Pico was doing what Jewish Mysticism scholars mean by Kabbalistic theurgy. Iamblichean and Proclan theurgy don't seem to work for Pico, rather he's interested in their philosophical angelology. Even the theurgy of Dionysius doesn't seem to work. Pico isn't interested in liturgical theurgy, but contemplation. Does the Dionysian concept of "becoming theurgic" shed some light on Pico's concept of "becoming angelic?" It's a possibility but still an unknown.

No comments:

Post a Comment