Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Restoring the Ancient Religion: The Theurgic Orthopraxy of Iamblichus

Restoring the Ancient Religion: The Theurgic Orthopraxy of Iamblichus

Koutsoukos, Marios

Hardcover

Series: New Antiquity

Religion General Ancient History GeneralGeneral European History

ISBN10: 3032096405
ISBN13: 9783032096401
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: Jan 22 2026
Pages: 324
Weight: 1.23
Height: 0.81 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.27
Language: English

This book reconsiders Iamblichus' Response to Porphyry, Late Antiquity's seminal work on theurgy, which is often referred to as De Mysteriis. Was this text intended to be more than just a defence of ritualism or a philosophical crossing of metaphysical wits between Porphyry and Iamblichus? This volume examines whether De Mysteriis constituted a manifesto of restoration, a call to resignify and revive a religion that Iamblichus felt was spiralling into barren traditionalism.

Through a nuanced examination of Iamblichus' theurgy, this book shows the emergence of a sophisticated philosophico-ritualistic system, one designed to reform religious practice through divine epiphanies and direct communication with the gods. Using a thorough textual analysis, this book uncovers crucial distinctions between theurgy and magic and explores the mechanics of divine illumination during theurgic rituals in the context of Iamblichus' intricate hierarchy of spiritual beings. In this system, this book demonstrates, material objects could become vessels of divine power and humans could become interlocutors with the divine itself.

Also from

Koutsoukos, Marios

View All

Also in

General European History

View All