The Demiurge in Ancient Thought
Secondary Gods and Divine Mediators

This book examines religious and 'scientific'/philosophical accounts of world-generation as represented by the figure of the Demiurge, or Craftsman-god.

Carl Séan O'Brien (Author)

9781107428096, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 November 2018

349 pages, 1 b/w illus. 1 table
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.54 kg

How was the world generated and how does matter continue to be ordered so that the world can continue functioning? Questions like these have existed as long as humanity has been capable of rational thought. In antiquity, Plato's Timaeus introduced the concept of the Demiurge, or Craftsman-god, to answer them. This lucid and wide-ranging book argues that the concept of the Demiurge was highly influential on the many discussions operating in Middle Platonist, Gnostic, Hermetic and Christian contexts in the first three centuries AD. It explores key metaphysical problems such as the origin of evil, the relationship between matter and the First Principle and the deployment of ever-increasing numbers of secondary deities to insulate the First Principle from the sensible world. It also focuses on the decreasing importance of demiurgy in Neoplatonism, with its postulation of procession and return.

1. Demiurgy and other approaches to world-generation
2. Plato's Timaeus, the original concept of the Demiurge and the exegesis of the dialogue
3. Logos into Demiurge: Philo of Alexandria as witness to developments in contemporary Platonism
4. Plutarch and the Demiurge of Egyptian mythology
5. A simplified understanding of God: Maximus of Tyre
6. Numenius and his doctrine of three Gods
7. On the fringes of philosophy: speculations in Hermetism
8. The ignorant Demiurge: Valentinus and the Gnostics
9. Origen, the Demiurge and Christian theology
10. Plotinus and the demise of the Demiurge
11. Concluding remarks.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600 [HPCB], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]