Marios Koutsoukos
Marios Koutsoukos was born in August 1983. He writes both in his native Greek and in English. His first epic fantasy novel was published in 2001 and, since then, he refuses to quit this nonsense and get a real job. He has published across a wide variety of genres, from the purely academic to outright fiction, and also works as an editor, literary translator, screenwriter, and (though he’ll never openly admit it) ghostwriter. He has a Bachelor’s in French Language and Literature, a Master’s in Creative Writing, and a PhD in Classics, specializing in the history of ancient religions and philosophy in Late Antiquity.
Livre du Jour
Restoring the Ancient Religion
The Theurgic Orthopraxy of Iamblichus
Perhaps it's time to reconsider 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 study is an attempt to examine 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, we see emerging 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, crucial distinctions between theurgy and magic are made and we explore the mechanics of divine illumination during theurgic rituals in the context of Iamblichus' intricate hierarchy of spiritual beings. In this system, material objects could become vessels of divine power and humans could become interlocutors with the divine itself.
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