Turner, John D. and Majercik Ruth, editors. Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts.

Meconi, David Vincent

Williston: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001. xiii + 338 pp. Paper, $44.95--Every year in connection with the Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, a special seminar in gnosticism and later Platonism is held. Ten of the papers presented between 1993 and 1998 have been gathered into this volume. Each essay here examines some particular theme where the exchange between gnostics and later Platonic philosophers has proven particularly rich.

The first two essays here treat various approaches in understanding the origin and essence of matter. Einar Thomassen from the University of Bergen in Norway offers "The Derivation of Matter in Monistic Gnosticism" (pp. 1-17), showing how gnostics, while never abandoning various monistic cosmologies, nonetheless placed the origin of matter in the indefinite Dyad, removing it from any association with the One. In his "Positive and Negative Matter in Later Platonism: The Uncovering of Plotinus's Dialogue with the Gnostics" (pp. 19-56), the University of Saskatchewan's Kevin Corrigan hopes to lay to rest the all too common view that Plotinus equated evil with matter. Also included later on is Corrigan's "Platonism and Gnosticism: The Anonymous Commentary on the Parmenides: Middle or Platonic" (pp. 141-77) in which he examines antignostic reactions in Enneads 3.8, 5.8, 5.5, 2.9 ([pp. 30-3] or the single Grosschrift as recognized by Richard Harder in 1936) to argue for a pre-Plotinian dating of the Commentary.

Next come two papers treating theurgy and ritual, a most welcomed contribution seeing how most secondary scholarship tends to overlook this central soteriological component of gnostic life and practice. Stonehill College's Gregory Shaw provides us with his excellent "After Aporia: Theurgy in Later Platonism" (pp. 57-82). Here Shaw brings out a hitherto unnoticed "humility" in Iamblichus' approach to theurgic rites. Iamblichus' willingness to embrace human lowliness thus emphasized the need dependence on divine power. Coeditor John Turner, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, therefore shows In his "Ritual in Gnosticism" (pp. 83-139) how some liturgical practices enjoyed the character of ex opere operato, as they were something simply received, while other customs were wholly dependent on the wisdom and virtue of the human agent.

Turner also includes his "The Setting of the Platonizing Sethian Treatises in Middle Platonism" (pp. 179-224) in which he examines various Sethian texts in the hope of better clarifying what still remains obscure, the origins of the Sethian gnosticism. Following suit, John Finamore, from the University of Iowa, in his "Iamblichus, the Sethians, and Marsanes" (pp. 225-57), outlines Iamblichus' influence on Sethian principles. Together these two essays serve as nice explications of the main Sethian texts: Allogenes, the Three Steles of Seth, and Zostrianos.

Two essays treating apophaticism include John Peter Kenney's "Ancient Apophatic Theology" (pp. 259-75) and Michael Williams's "Negative Theologies and Demiurgical Myths in Late Antiquity" (pp. 277-302). Whereas Williams sees the "denial of predicative ascription" as an ontological claim, namely the utter transcendence of the One, Williams emphasizes the fact that apophaticism and rational argument are usually found side by side. Both essays realize that the emerging silence in later theologies was a result of the movement from poly- to monotheism, that is, the realization that behind the Pantheon existed an ineffable One.

Finally, Frederick Schroeder from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, closes this volume with his "Aseity and Connectedness in the Plotinian Philosophy of Providence" (pp. 303-17). Derived from a se, "aseity" connotes "horizontal" ontological self-reliance, and Schroeder shows how such mutual independence between material existents can nonetheless be reconciled with civic harmony or "connectedness' when situated within Plotinus's theory of divine providence.

As is often the case with such collections from professional gatherings, these essays assume an in-depth knowledge of Neoplatonic principles, Sethian and Valentinian texts, the importance of ritual and apophaticism in post-Christian Platonism, as well as an acquaintance with the more shadowy figures of these centuries, such as Amelius, Cronius, and Numenius. Unfortunately, this volume lacks an index but the bibliography proves quite helpful. Although the theme, "Gnosticism and Later Platonism" is a broad one indeed, the papers collected here well capture the principal themes which arose between this fruitful philosophical and religious encounter.--David Vincent Meconi, S.J., University of Innsbruck.