Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447 1500): The Hermetic Writings and Related Documents (Volume 281)

by Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Editor)

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Wouter J. Hanegraaff (1961) studied classical guitar at the Municipal Conservatory at Zwolle (1982-1987) and Cultural History at the University of Utrecht (1986-1990), with a specialization in alternative religious movements in the 20th century. From 1992-1996 he was a research assistant at the department for Study of Religions of the University of Utrecht, where he defendedhis dissertation New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought on 30 november 1995 (cum laude). From 1996 to 2000 he held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dutch Assocation for Scientific Research (NWO), and spent a period working in Paris. On 1 september 1999 he was appointed full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. From 2002-2006 he was president of the Dutch Society for the Study of Religion (NGG). From 2005-2013 he was President of the EuropeanSociety for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE). In 2006 he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, KNAW); since 2013 he is an honorary member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.

Editorial Activities

From 2001-2010 Hanegraaff was editor (with Antoine Faivre and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke) of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism (Brill publ.) and from 2006-2010 editor of the " Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism" (Brill publ.). He is member of the editorial board of the journals Aries (Brill), Numen (Brill), Religion Compass and Esoterica , and of the advisory board of Journal of Contemporary Religion (Carfax) and Nova Religio (University of California Press).

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only all editions of Latin texts couold be like this. Absolutely brilliant and a real pleasure to be able to read the Crater Hermetis - undoubtedly one of the forgotten classics of Western Hermeticism.

[Catholicus Magus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource for gauging the subsequent "dilution" of the Hermetic idea vis-à-vis Western Esotericism more generally—Hanegraaff does an excellent job of highlighting Lazzarelli's adherence to contemporary Christian orthodoxy, while simultaneously demonstrating the uniqueness of this great mind who first called himself a "Hermeticist." The Crater hermetis, operating in the well-worn tradition of the Medieval "Platonic" dialogue, shows glimpses of profound depth which contrast strikingly with the otherwise mendacious, devotionalist tone of certain orations or sonnets; naturally Lazzarelli, like every good Christian esotericist, holds to the dictum of John 21;25 concerning how much one ought to reveal in one's writings to those not "initiated" into Wisdom in a traditional sense:

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Which is to say, that the Crater hermetis ends in precisely the same way as this book does, giving the reader a foretaste of the mysteries which Solomon spoke in the Book of Proverbs & the Psalms. If the reader of this English-Latin text finds his curiosity for the divine piqued, he will discover the secrets which Lazzarelli shows the veiling of to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, namely the fruits of the Tree of Life which quickens to soul to its eternal return.