ENGLISH

Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe

By Noel L. Brann

Book information

Publisher
State University of New York Press
Year
1998
ISBN
0791439623, 9780791439623
LCC
BX4705.T77 B73 1999
Language
english
Format
CHM
Filesize
2 MB (1607568 bytes)
Series
SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions
Pages
354\0
Topic
Education
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Through an examination of Benedictine abbot Trithemius (1462-1516), this book explores the intersection of the early modern debate over occult studies with a number of contemporaneous developments: late medieval mysticism, the revival of ancient letters, the Catholic and Protestant reform movements, the witch hunts, and the scientific revolution.A Benedictine living to the threshold of the Reformation period, Trithemius excelled for most of his career in the fields of monastic reform, mystical theology, and Christian Humanism, and then, suddenly, announced himself to the world as an advocate of magic.In many ways paralleling the life of his more famous contemporary Faustus, Trithemius, in contrast, left to posterity a body of theoretical work in support of his magical operations. Formulated to justify his own specialty, cryptography, Trimethius's occult theory goes beyond establishing the compatibility of magic with orthodox Christian doctrine. Its basic thrust, on the model of mystical theology, is to present magic as an appropriate vehicle to convey the soul from the finite to the infinite.

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