The Platonizing Sethian background of Plotinus's mysticism

Description

Contents Editor’s Preface to the Present Volume Author’s Acknowledgments Editor’s Note on References, Editions, and Translations Abbreviations Tables Author’s Preface Chapter 1 Introduction: The Gnostic Background of Plotinus’s Mysticism 1 The Fundamental Problem of Plotinian Mysticism 2 Problems with the Prior Scholarship on Plotinian Mysticism 3 Platonizing Sethian Visionary Ascent and the Historical Context of Plotinian Mysticism 4 The Current State of the Research Chapter 2 The Structure of Plotinus’s Ascent to Mystical Union with the One 1 Introduction 2 Phase A: Catharsis 3 Phase B: Mystical Self-Reversion 4 Phase C: Autophany 5 Excursus: A First Meditation on the Identity of the Mystical Subject 6 Phase C2: Self-Unification 7 Phase D: Annihilation 8 Excursus: Second Meditation on the Identity of the Mystical Subject 9 Excursus: On Beauty 10 Phase E: Union with the One 11 Vision and Light 12 Ennead VI.9[9].11.22–25 [See Complete Passage in Appendix A8] 13 Ennead VI.7[38].36.10–26 [Appendix A16] 14 Ennead V.3[49].17.28–38 [Appendix A19] 15 Excursus on V.3[49].17–28 16 Ennead V.5[32].8.18–21 [Appendix A12] 17 Convergence of Center-Points 18 Sexual Intercourse 19 Excursus on VI.7[38].35.23–32 20 Rapture or Spatial Displacement 21 Excursus on VI.7[38].35.36–40 22 Excursus on VI.7[38].36.15–18 23 Cultic Praxis 24 Phase E2: Desubjectification 25 Conclusion Chapter 3 The Identity of Prenoetic and Hypernoetic Subjectsin Plotinus 1 Introduction 2 Plotinian Ontogenesis 3 The Identity of the Hypernoetic Subject with the Prenoetic Efflux 4 The Convergence of Prenoetic and Hypernoetic Ecstasy 5 Conclusion Chapter 4 “The Way of Ascent is the Way of Descent”: The Mechanism of Transcendental Apprehension in Platonizing Sethian Gnosticism 1 Introduction 2 The Structure of Ascent in the Platonizing Sethian Ascent Treatises 3 Mystical Self-Reversion and Autophany in Gnostic Visionary Ascent 4 The Faculty of Transcendental Apprehension in Platonizing Sethianism 5 Conclusion Chapter 5 Conclusion: Dissolving Boundaries 1 Introduction 2 Platonists and Gnostics in Alexandria and Rome: Biographical and Socio-historical Reflections 3 Philosophical Contemplation and Ritual Praxis 4 Conclusion Appendices Bibliography