The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance

The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance PDF Author: Urszula Szulakowska
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443893560
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study explores the survival of Roman Catholic doctrine and visual imagery in the alchemical treatises composed by members of the Lutheran and Anglican confessions during the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. It discusses the reasons for such unexpected confessional survivals in a time of extreme Protestant iconoclasm and religious reform. The book presents an analysis of the manner in which Catholic doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity and the Eucharist were an essential factor in the development of alchemical theory and illustration from the medieval period to the seventeenth century. The role of the Joachimites, radical members of the Franciscan Order, in the history of alchemy is an important issue. The Apocalypse of St. John (the Book of Revelation) and other scriptural texts and specifically Roman Catholic Marian devotions are also considered regarding their influences on late medieval alchemy and on the sixteenth and seventeenth century alchemical literature composed by Protestants. Additional issues explored here include the role played by alchemy in strengthening the leaders of the European defence against the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the importance of the figure of the Virgin Mary as the Apocalyptic Woman in the same cause. Special consideration is given to the role played by the apocalyptic Mary within alchemical texts and pictures as an emblem of the mercurial quintessence and also in her form as the Bride of the scriptural Wisdom books which also entered alchemical discourse. Additional issues discussed in this book include the little-regarded problem of “confessional” alchemy, namely, whether there were distinct “Protestant” and “Roman Catholic” types of alchemy. The treatises under consideration include the Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1419; 1433), the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), Reusner’s Pandora (1582; 1588) and the Pandora of Faustius (1706), as well as the work of Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Johann Daniel Mylius, Jacob Boehme and pseudo-Nicolas Flamel, among many others. Their works are contextualised within the religious reforms instigated by Martin Luther, as well as within the unorthodox radical theology devised by Paracelsus and his alchemical followers. The Marian theology of Paracelsus is also of particular interest here.

The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance

The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance PDF Author: Urszula Szulakowska
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443893560
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study explores the survival of Roman Catholic doctrine and visual imagery in the alchemical treatises composed by members of the Lutheran and Anglican confessions during the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. It discusses the reasons for such unexpected confessional survivals in a time of extreme Protestant iconoclasm and religious reform. The book presents an analysis of the manner in which Catholic doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity and the Eucharist were an essential factor in the development of alchemical theory and illustration from the medieval period to the seventeenth century. The role of the Joachimites, radical members of the Franciscan Order, in the history of alchemy is an important issue. The Apocalypse of St. John (the Book of Revelation) and other scriptural texts and specifically Roman Catholic Marian devotions are also considered regarding their influences on late medieval alchemy and on the sixteenth and seventeenth century alchemical literature composed by Protestants. Additional issues explored here include the role played by alchemy in strengthening the leaders of the European defence against the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the importance of the figure of the Virgin Mary as the Apocalyptic Woman in the same cause. Special consideration is given to the role played by the apocalyptic Mary within alchemical texts and pictures as an emblem of the mercurial quintessence and also in her form as the Bride of the scriptural Wisdom books which also entered alchemical discourse. Additional issues discussed in this book include the little-regarded problem of “confessional” alchemy, namely, whether there were distinct “Protestant” and “Roman Catholic” types of alchemy. The treatises under consideration include the Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1419; 1433), the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), Reusner’s Pandora (1582; 1588) and the Pandora of Faustius (1706), as well as the work of Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Johann Daniel Mylius, Jacob Boehme and pseudo-Nicolas Flamel, among many others. Their works are contextualised within the religious reforms instigated by Martin Luther, as well as within the unorthodox radical theology devised by Paracelsus and his alchemical followers. The Marian theology of Paracelsus is also of particular interest here.

The Reformation of the Heart

The Reformation of the Heart PDF Author: SARAH. APETREI
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198836007
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Get Book Here

Book Description
This groundbreaking study offers fresh insight into the relationship between radical theology and gender radicalism in the seventeenth-century English Revolution. Examining published works and previously unexplored archival material, Sarah Apetrei shows the transformative role that women played in religious reform during the period.

The Mage's Images: Heinrich Khunrath in His Oratory and Laboratory, Volume 1

The Mage's Images: Heinrich Khunrath in His Oratory and Laboratory, Volume 1 PDF Author: Peter J. Forshaw
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004691391
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 498

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the 1st volume in a 4-volume work entitled The Mage’s Images. The work provides the first in-depth examination of the life and works of Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605), ‘one of the great Hermetic philosophers’, whose Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom (1595/1609) has been described as ‘one of the most important books in the whole literature of theosophical alchemy and the occult sciences’. Khunrath is best known for his novel combination of ‘scripture and picture’ in the complex engravings in his Amphitheatre. In this richly illustrated monograph, Forshaw analyses occult symbolism, with previously unpublished material, offering insight into Khunrath’s insistence on the necessary combination of alchemy, magic, and cabala in ‘Oratory and Laboratory’.

Eloquent Images

Eloquent Images PDF Author: Giuseppe Capriotti
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9462703272
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Christian image in the process of modern globalisation Drawing on original research covering different periods and spaces, this book sets out to appreciate the specific place of images in the history of evangelisation in the long modern period. How can we reconceptualise the functions of the visual mediation of the gospel message, both in terms of the production and reception of this message and in terms of its effective mediators, artists, religious, and cultural ambassadors? The contributions in this book offer multiple geographical and historical insights regarding the circulation of the image on the global scale of the Christianised world or the world in the process of being Christianised, from China to Iberia. Combining the contribution of historians and art historians, the authors highlight the points of intercultural encounter and tension around preaching, catechesis, devotional practices and the propagandistic use of images. Through its aesthetic and social study of the image, and by examining the inner and outer borders of Europe and the mission lands, Eloquent Images contributes significantly to the history of evangelisation, one of the major dynamics of the first European globalisation.

Sisters of Prometheus

Sisters of Prometheus PDF Author: João Paulo André
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031571363
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Art of Picturing in Early Modern English Literature

The Art of Picturing in Early Modern English Literature PDF Author: Camilla Caporicci
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000734838
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
Written by an international group of highly regarded scholars and rooted in the field of intermedial approaches to literary studies, this volume explores the complex aesthetic process of "picturing" in early modern English literature. The essays in this volume offer a comprehensive and varied picture of the relationship between visual and verbal in the early modern period, while also contributing to the understanding of the literary context in which Shakespeare wrote. Using different methodological approaches and taking into account a great variety of texts, including Elizabethan sonnet sequences, metaphysical poetry, famous as well as anonymous plays, and court masques, the book opens new perspectives on the literary modes of "picturing" and on the relationship between this creative act and the tense artistic, religious and political background of early modern Europe. The first section explores different modes of looking at works of art and their relation with technological innovations and religious controversies, while the chapters in the second part highlight the multifaceted connections between European visual arts and English literary production. The third section explores the functions performed by portraits on the page and the stage, delving into the complex question of the relationship between visual and verbal representation. Finally, the chapters in the fourth section re-appraise early modern reflections on the relationship between word and image and on their respective power in light of early-seventeenth-century visual culture, with particular reference to the masque genre.

Aries

Aries PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hermetism
Languages : en
Pages : 576

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz

The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz PDF Author: Joscelyn Godwin
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
ISBN: 1609259246
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, often looked upon as the third Rosicrucian manifesto, has an entirely different tone from the other Rosicrucian documents. Unlike the Rosicrucian manifestoes, which address the transformation of society, The Chemical Wedding is concerned with the inner transformation of the soul. It is a deeply interior work, one which asks the reader to step into its world of symbols and walk with Christian Rosenkreutz along his path of transformation. Despite its importance as a key text of the Western esoteric traditions, this is the first ever contemporary English translation of The Chemical Wedding, made especially for this edition by Joscelyn Godwin. Also included in this edition is an introduction and commentary by Adam McLean, which illuminates the transformative symbolism.

Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy

Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Niccolò Guicciardini
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780239483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
Isaac Newton is one of the greatest scientists in history, yet the spectrum of his interests was much broader than that of most contemporary scientists. In fact, Newton would have defined himself not as a scientist, but as a natural philosopher. He was deeply involved in alchemical, religious, and biblical studies, and in the later part of his life he played a prominent role in British politics, economics, and the promotion of scientific research. Newton’s pivotal work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which sets out his laws of universal gravitation and motion, is regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science. Niccolò Guicciardini’s enlightening biography offers an accessible introduction both to Newton’s celebrated research in mathematics, optics, mechanics, and astronomy and to how Newton viewed these scientific fields in relation to his quest for the deepest secrets of the universe, matter theory and religion. Guicciardini sets Newton the natural philosopher in the troubled context of the religious and political debates ongoing during Newton’s life, a life spanning the English Civil Wars, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, and the Hanoverian succession. Incorporating the latest Newtonian scholarship, this fast-paced biography broadens our perception of both this iconic figure and the great scientific revolution of the early modern period.

Anna Zieglerin and the Lion's Blood

Anna Zieglerin and the Lion's Blood PDF Author: Tara Nummedal
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812250893
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1573, the alchemist Anna Zieglerin gave her patron, the Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, the recipe for an extraordinary substance she called the lion's blood. She claimed that this golden oil could stimulate the growth of plants, create gemstones, transform lead into the coveted philosophers' stone—and would serve a critical role in preparing for the Last Days. Boldly envisioning herself as a Protestant Virgin Mary, Anna proposed that the lion's blood, paired with her own body, could even generate life, repopulating and redeeming the corrupt world in its final moments. In Anna Zieglerin and the Lion's Blood, Tara Nummedal reconstructs the extraordinary career and historical afterlife of alchemist, courtier, and prophet Anna Zieglerin. She situates Anna's story within the wider frameworks of Reformation Germany's religious, political, and military battles; the rising influence of alchemy; the role of apocalyptic eschatology; and the position of women within these contexts. Together with her husband, the jester Heinrich Schombach, and their companion and fellow alchemist Philipp Sommering, Anna promised her patrons at the court of Wolfenbüttel spiritual salvation and material profit. But her compelling vision brought with it another, darker possibility: rather than granting her patrons wealth or redemption, Anna's alchemical gifts might instead lead to war, disgrace, and destruction. By 1575, three years after Anna's arrival at court, her enemies had succeeded in turning her from holy alchemist into poisoner and sorceress, culminating in Anna's arrest, torture, and public execution. In her own life, Anna was a master of self-fashioning; in the centuries since her death, her story has been continually refashioned, making her a fitting emblem for each new age. Interweaving the history of science, gender, religion, and politics, Nummedal recounts how one resourceful woman's alchemical schemes touched some of the most consequential matters in Reformation Germany.