The Philosophy of the Few against the Christians: An Inquiry into the Textual Transmission of Porphyry’s Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles ... Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, 31)

by Pier Franco Beatrice

This book provides a rediscovery of one of the most influential philosophical and religious works of Late Antiquity.

600 pages, Hardcover

Published November 13, 2023

Reviews

[Mateusz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a precise giant, dealing with scattered knowledge like a vulture, a corax, or a hyena—and by no means do I intend to demean its genius. I approached it equipped with volumes of background knowledge and theurgic praxis pursued for years in the privacy of the noetic and noeric realms; yet, I felt like a schoolboy. I was instructed in apophatic approaches: how to delineate the known through the completely unknown—a sociology of ignorance born of the author's committed love for the topic.

While I initially intended to scavenge the "useful" from the "superficial" for my theological perspectives, I found not a single superficiality in this book; it is entirely a question of utility. I am thankful to Pier Franco Beatrice for such a great contribution, especially in these dark times, when the "philosophy of the few" in Plato’s cave has become a weeping across the catacombs, daring to shed the illuminative torches of Hekate to guide us through the dark caverns of Hades. All in all, it is a pity Porphyry’s On the Styx did not survive. As a Dante Intrepid, I could attempt to reconstruct his philosophies on the topic, albeit in a wholly modernized form, and without the pretense of uttering a truth that never belonged to mortals.

Thank you! Eoai Paean!