{"product_id":"the-philosophy-of-the-few-against-the-christians-an-inquiry-into-the-textual-transmission-of-porphyry-s-philosophy-according-to-the-chaldean-oracles-9789004680067","title":"The Philosophy of the Few against the Christians: An Inquiry into the Textual Transmission of Porphyry’s Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book gives us a new perspective on the Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles by Porphyry of Tyre (ca. 232\/305 CE), demonstrating that much of what we thought we knew about this work and its fragments is mistaken. Here, for the first time, the attempt is made at reconstructing the original text by following the vicissitudes of its reception and transmission from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance up to modern scholarship.   The extensive and painstaking study of the surviving fragments leads to the radically innovative conclusion that this encyclopedic treatise, written by Porphyry in the last decades of the 3rd century CE, consisted of fifteen books organized in various sections. After an initial discussion of the nature of theurgy and of its subordinate role with respect to philosophy, Porphyry describes the entire history of Greek philosophy from Homer up to his own teacher Plotinus, to then go on to present “introductions” to the seven encyclical disciplines whose study is required for the comprehension of theosophy, that is, the esoteric speculation on the three parts of philosophy: anthropology-ethics, physics, and metaphysics-theology.  By harmonizing the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and the Chaldean Oracles, Porphyry intends to present the complete and definitive philosophic system, with the aim of showing the universal way for the liberation of the souls of initiates and of contextually fighting the final battle of the Greco-Roman civilization against Christianity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface and Acknowlegments  Abbreviations    Introduction    Part 1 Preliminary Questions    1 A Philosophy Conforming with the “Chaldean Oracles”    2 An Esoteric Philosophy for the Salvation of the Soul    3 The First Commentary on the “Chaldean Oracles”    4 Zoroaster, the Magi, and the “Chaldean Oracles”    5 Polemics against the Christians    6 Some Further Consequences    Part 2 Χρηστικη Πραγματεια Statues, Sacrifices and Oracles    7 Philosophy versus Theurgy    8 The Orphic Prorrhesis and the Statues of the Gods    9 The Universal Way for the Salvation of the Soul    10 Sacrifices and Oracles    11 The Letter to Anebo and the Response by Iamblichus    12 Chaldean Philosophy versus Chaldean Theology    13 The Anti-Christian Oracles of Hekate and Apollo    14 Against Origen’s Allegorical Interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures    15 Against Origen’s Allegorical Interpretation of Homer    Part 3 Πολλων Των Κατα Φιλοσοφιαν Δογματων Αναγραφη The History of Philosophy and the Encyclical Disciplines    16 The Chronicle of Greek Philosophy from the Fall of Troy to the Reign of Claudius    17 The History of Greek Philosophy from Homer to Plato    18 The History of Greek Philosophy from the Old Academy to Plotinus    19 The Two Editions of the Life of Plotinus    20 The Truest Philosophy of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle    21 The Oracle of Apollo on Plotinus’s Soul    22 Porphyry and the Encyclical Disciplines    23 The Mathematical Disciplines    24 Augustine on the Encyclical Disciplines    25 The Encyclical Disciplines against the Christians    Part 4 Θεοσοφια Theological Wisdom for the Salvation of the Soul    26 The Threefold Division of Philosophy    27 Two Preliminary Methodological Issues    28 On the Union of Soul and Body    29 A Collection of Hieroi Logoi on the Soul    30 The Immortality of the Soul    31 Self-Determination and Transmigration of the Soul    32 Homer’s Philosophy of the Soul    33 From Anthropology-Ethics to Physics    34 From Physics to Metaphysics-Theology    35 Theology as the Fulfilment of Theosophy    36 Further Theological Fragments    37 Three Books against the Religion and Name of the Christians    Part 5 Reception in the Latin, Byzantine, and Arabic Traditions    38 The Latin Reception    39 Augustine and Macrobius    40 The Byzantine Reception    41 The Relationship with “On Abstinence”    42 A Byzantine Epitome of Porphyry’s Theosophy    43 An Arabic Translation of Porphyry’s Theology    44 The Philosophy of the Few    Conclusion: A Tentative Reconstruction of the Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles    Bibliography  Index of Ancient, Medieval and Modern Authors","brand":"Brill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53210871955799,"sku":"9789004680067","price":209.76,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-philosophy-of-the-few-against-the-christians-an-inquiry-into-the-textual-transmission-of-porphyry-s-philosophy-according-to-the-chaldean-oracles-9789004680067","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}