MAGIC, SCIENCE, RELIGION. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WESTERN ESOTERIC TRADITIONS
Course Status:
Elective CEU credits:
2 ECTS credits:
3 Academic year:
2010/2011 Semester:
Fall Start and end dates:
17 Sep 2010 - 7 Dec 2010 Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]:
Academic Program:
Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area:
Culture, Religion and Intellectual History in a Comparative Perspective CEU Instructor(s):
György Szőnyi Full description:
TOPICS AND READINGS
(Extracts from primary sources will be provided in the "Reader". Underlined titles from among the References can be chosen for the "book review-presentation".)
1. September 14 (13:00).
Zero-week lecture – Definitions: The Occult World Picture. The Great Chain of Being – correspondences – macrocosm/microcosm – mysticism-esotericism-magic – a typology of magical practices.
Text: --
Reference: Seligmann, The History of Magic and the Occult; Szőnyi, John Dee, Ch 1-2.
2. September 28.
The Western Esoteric Traditions – A Historical Introduction. Definitions of the esoteric and the historiography of the research of Western esotericism – the Warburg school, Henry Corbin, Antoine Faivre, etc.
Text: Goodrick-Clarke, Studying Western Esotericism; Versluis, Methods in the Study of Western Esotericism (reader).
Reference: Goodrick-Clarke, The Western Esoteric Traditions, Ch 1.
3. October 5.
The Renaissance Revival of Magic. The Renaissance discovery of the Hermetic Tradition and the Christianization of the Kabbalah.
Text: Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate / On the Dignity of Man (reader).
Reference: Idel, "The Magical..."; Szőnyi, John Dee, 90-96; Yates, Giordano Bruno, Ch 5.
4. October 12.
The Hermetica in Context of Ancient Magic. Philosophical hermeticism – the "technical" hermetica – neoplatonic esotericism.
Text: Corpus hermeticum IV, XIII, Ascpelius (Copenhaver, Hermetica, reader); Platonici (Iamblichus, Proclus, reader).
Reference: Copenhaver, Corpus hermeticum, "Introduction"; Szőnyi, John Dee, Ch 3; Yates, Bruno, Ch 1-3.
5. October 19.
Medieval Esotericism (Pseudo-Dionysius, Lullus, Picatrix, Jewish mysticism, Ceremonial/Solomonic magic). Angelology as the basis of later magical theories – A variety of medieval magical theories and practices.
Text: Synopsis of John the Monk's Book of Visions (Fanger, Conjuring Spirits, 242-49, reader); "Salmon's Almadel Art" (from The Lesser Key of Solomon, ed. Joseph H. Peterson, reader).
Reference: Fanger, Conjuring Spirits; Flint, The Rise of Magic; Idel, Ascension on High, Kieckheffer, Magic, Láng, Unlocked Books; Scholem, Major Trends.
6. October 26.
The Transisiton from Medieval to Renaissance Magic. Magia naturalis (Pseudo Albertus Magnus) – Image magic (Ficino).
Text: Albertus, The Book of Secrets (excepts, reader); Ficino, De triplici vita (The Book of Life, 234-241, 321-33, 342-49, reader).
Reference: Szőnyi, John Dee, 79-90; Yates, Bruno, Ch 4.
7. November 2.
The Formation of Renaissance Magic (traditions of classical and medieval heritage). Trithemius – Lazzarelli – "Mercurio" da Correggio – Knowledge, angelology, 'exaltatio'.
Text: Trithemius on "Mercurio" da Correggio (Hanegraaff ed., Lazarelli, 329-35, reader); Lazzarelli, Prefaces to "Mercurio" da Correggio (Hanegraaff ed., Lazarelli, 151-63, reader);
Reference: Brann, Trithemius; Hanegraaff ed., Lazzarelli; Szőnyi, John Dee, 105-10.
8. November 9.
The First Comprehensive Synthesis: Agrippa. The tripartite system of magic: natural, celestial, ceremonial.
Text:Agrippa, De occulta philosophia (Three Books on Occult Philosophy, ed. Tyson, TOC, lxv-lxxii, 1.1-2 [3–7], 2.35 [373], 3.3-4 [448-51] reader).
Reference: Copenhaver, "Astrology and Magic"; Szőnyi, John Dee, 110-131; Yates, Bruno, Ch 7.
9. November 16.
Magic and Science 1: Copernicus, Paracelsus, Servet, della Porta. Magia naturalis – hermetic considerations about the new astronomy – the status of alchemy and astrology in the early modern period.
Text: Paracelsus, Archidoxies... (Waite ed., 3-9, 81-83, reader); Servetus, A Discourse in Favour of Astrology (reader).
Reference: Ball, Paracelsus; Blumenberg, Copernicus; Boorstin, The Discoverers, 294-304, 338-50; Grell, Paracelsus; Szőnyi, John Dee, 131-45; Yates, Bruno, Ch 8.
10. November 23.
Magic as Alternative Universalism 1: Guillaume Postel and John Dee. Early modern universalist concepts: interconfessionalism, general reformation, philosophia perennis, pansophia.
Text: Postel, Concordia mundi (The Concord of the World, Ross, Portable, 372-75, reader); Postel, Introduction to the Zohar (reader); Dee, Mathematical Preface (reader).
Reference: Kuntz, Venice; Szőnyi, John Dee, 145-53, 174-81.
11. November 30.
Magic and Science 2: Bodin, Bruno, Kepler, Fludd. "Scientific approach" to witchcraft – The contexts of the scientific revolution – inductive and deductive methodologies – religious overtones in early modern scientific discourse.
Text: Bodin, Demon-Mania, 93-101 (reader); Bruno, On Magic, 105-118 (reader)
Reference: Boorstin, The Discoverers, 305-27, 386-417; Yates, Bruno.
12. December 7.
Magic as Alternative Universalism 2: The Sociology of Magic. From the medieval 'clerical underworld' through humanist subversion to the secret societies.
Text: Szőnyi, John Dee, Go-Between (reader); The Rosicrucian Manifestos (Yates, The Rosicrucian, reader).
Reference: ; Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.
ASSIGNMENTS, GRADING
–Participation in classes (30%)
–Book review-presentation (30%)
–Essay (40% – 8-10 pages, min. 8 items of references, 30% contents, 10% format/language).
