Forbidden Knowledge: Cognitive Transgression and “Ascent Above Intellect” in the Debate Between Plotinus and the Gnostics
In: Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic StudiesSearch for other papers by Zeke Mazur in
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Throughout Enneads ii.9[33], commonly called Against the Gnostics, Plotinus repeatedly complains that the gnostics claim to possess an extraordinary capability to undertake a visionary ascent beyond the divine Intellect itself so as to attain the transcendent (and hyper-noetic) deity: a claim which he considers the height of arrogance. Plotinus further implies that this gnostic claim was in some way connected with the disparagement of Plato and the Greek philosophical tradition. No explicit trace of such disparagement has been found. This paper argues that (1) the extant Platonizing Sethian corpus, and in particular the tractate Zostrianos (nhc viii,1), envisions a complex hierarchy of types of souls, each correlated with both a different potential for visionary ascent and a corresponding position in the postmortem cycle of transmigration; that (2) Zostrianos tacitly suggests that the non-Sethian academic Platonists are those condemned to exile in the intermediary strata due to their cognitive overreach for the Good in the absence of Sethian revelation, and that (3) this reflects a gnostic deployment—against the Platonists themselves—of the supposedly Platonic injunction (in the 2nd Letter) that the soul’s attempt to comprehend the supreme principle, with which the soul has no kinship, inevitably leads to a fall into evil.
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Barry Catherine , Funk Wolf-Peter , Poirier Paul-Hubert & Turner John D. Zostrien, (nh viii, 1) 2000 Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section: « Textes » 24 Québec Les presses de l’Université Laval Leuven: Peeters
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Brankaer Johanna “Der Begriff metanoia in gnostischen Schriften.” Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 2011 13.1 87 97
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Burns Dylan Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion 2014 Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press
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Cahana Jonathan “None of Them Knew Me or My Brothers: Gnostic Antitraditionalism and Gnosticism as a Cultural Phenomenon.” The Journal of Religion 2014 94.1 49 73
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Funk Wolf-Peter , Poirier Paul–Hubert & Turner John D. Marsanès (nh x,1) 2000 Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section: “Textes” 25 Québec Les Presses de l’Université Laval Leuven: Peeters
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Funk Wolf-Peter , Poirier Paul-Hubert , Scopello Maddalena & Turner John D. L’Allogène (nh xi, 3) 2004 Bibliotèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 30 Québec Les presses de l’Université Laval Louvain: Peeters
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Mazur Zeke “The Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Background of Plotinus’ Mysticism.” 2010 Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago
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Mazur Zeke DeConick April D. , Shaw Gregory & Turner John D. “The Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Interpretation of Plato’s Sophist.” Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy, and Other Ancient Literature. Essays in Honor of Birger A. Pearson 2013a Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 85 Leiden Brill 469 493
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Mazur Zeke Corrigan Kevin & Rasimus Tuomas “‘Those Who Ascend to the Sanctuaries of the Temples’: The Gnostic Context of Plotinus’ First Treatise, i.6[1] On Beauty.” Gnosticism, Platonism, and the Late Ancient World. Essays in Honour of John D. Turner 2013b Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 82 Leiden Brill 329 368 in collaboration with Dylan M. Burns, Lance Jenott, and Zeke Mazur
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Mazur Zeke Marsola Mauricio Pagotto & Ferroni Lorenzo “Traces of the Competition Between the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics and Plotinus’ Circle: The Case of Zostrianos 44–46.” Estratégias anti-gnósticas nos escritos de Plotino. Atas do colóquio internacional realizado em São Paulo em 18–19 de março 2012 Forthcoming a São Paulo Rosari et Paulus
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Mazur Zeke “A Gnostic Icarus? Traces of the Controversy Between Plotinus and the Gnostics over a Surprising Source for the Fall of Sophia: the Pseudo-Platonic 2nd Letter.” International Journal of the Platonic Tradition Forthcoming b
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Turner John D. Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition 2001 Bibliotèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Études” 6 Québec Les presses de l’Université Laval Louvain: Peeters
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29
As I have argued in Mazur 2010.
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69
See Porphyry, Vit. Plot. 1.1–4, 2.37–38, 3.24–29, 10.1–14, 14.21–25.
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Forbidden Knowledge: Cognitive Transgression and “Ascent Above Intellect” in the Debate Between Plotinus and the Gnostics
In: Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic StudiesSearch for other papers by Zeke Mazur in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Throughout Enneads ii.9[33], commonly called Against the Gnostics, Plotinus repeatedly complains that the gnostics claim to possess an extraordinary capability to undertake a visionary ascent beyond the divine Intellect itself so as to attain the transcendent (and hyper-noetic) deity: a claim which he considers the height of arrogance. Plotinus further implies that this gnostic claim was in some way connected with the disparagement of Plato and the Greek philosophical tradition. No explicit trace of such disparagement has been found. This paper argues that (1) the extant Platonizing Sethian corpus, and in particular the tractate Zostrianos (nhc viii,1), envisions a complex hierarchy of types of souls, each correlated with both a different potential for visionary ascent and a corresponding position in the postmortem cycle of transmigration; that (2) Zostrianos tacitly suggests that the non-Sethian academic Platonists are those condemned to exile in the intermediary strata due to their cognitive overreach for the Good in the absence of Sethian revelation, and that (3) this reflects a gnostic deployment—against the Platonists themselves—of the supposedly Platonic injunction (in the 2nd Letter) that the soul’s attempt to comprehend the supreme principle, with which the soul has no kinship, inevitably leads to a fall into evil.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 514 | 44 | 1 |
| Full Text Views | 237 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 94 | 4 | 0 |