Podcast Episodes Themed "Plotinus"

Michæl Griffin on the Higher Virtues in Late Platonism

Plotinus said that our task is not to be good, but to be god. In this interview we explore what that meant to later Platonists, from Iamblichus to Olympiodorus and taking in a host of thinkers in-between. The answer given is apophatic, but we also learn that divinisation may be closer than we suspect.

Episode 189: Danielle Layne on Proclus’ Religious Life and Thought

We are delighted to discuss what you might call Proclean spirituality with Danielle Layne. Platonic prayer as a way of living, the erotic quest for the Good, and the ever-elusive Platonic Dyad feature in a wide-ranging conversation combining proper philosophical-historical rigour with the true love of wisdom.

Episode 187: The Esoteric Proclus, Part II: Esoteric Exegesis and the Occult Ontology of Language

We enter the interconnected webwork of a reality where signs are things, things are signs, and everything means everything, but appropriately. Come for the visionary semiotics, stay for the occult sigils.

Stephen Rego on the Nous in Proclus, Part II: Metaphysics and Myth

We enter into the dynamic architecture of Proclus' noētos kosmos, a non-spatial place where all of reality unfolds triadically through gods and goddesses, metaphysics and myth working in exquisite harmony.

Stephen Rego on the Nous in Proclus, Part I: Exegesis

We begin to explore the radiant, interconnected world of divine triads that is Proclus' noētos kosmos with Stephen Rego. Before approaching the metaphysics, we explore what Proclus takes to be the traditional canon of texts and ideas which tell us about the nous, the ways in which this canon is expressed esoterically, and how to read it.

Edward Butler on Proclus, Part II: On (the Metaphysics of) Polytheism and Monotheism

We discuss further with Dr Butler, looking at polytheism, monotheism, and some of the metaphysics underlying both options.

Edward Butler on Proclus, Part I: ‘Henadology’

We discuss the One and the Henads in Proclus with Edward Butler. Henology meets henadology on a metaphysical terrain where gods are the primary unities.

Dylan Burns with the Noetic Fire: On Proclus and Christianity

We let the tape run and explore some further aspects of the life and work of the great Proclus with Dylan Burns, looking in particular at his relationship to Christianity. Come for the scholarly debate, stay for the sacrificed piglet.

Episode 185: Dylan Burns on Proclus the Successor

We welcome Dylan Burns back to the podcast to discuss the life, works, and philosophy of Proclus the Successor. ‘All in all, but appropriately to each’

Storytime: Reading Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Part II

We continue our read-through of Macrobius through a major section on arithmology, a palate-cleansing taxonomy of the virtues, and a detail-rich discussion of the descent of the soul, her acquisition of planetary subtle bodies, and a host of astrological lore both eschatological and indeed psychological.

Storytime: Reading Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Part I

We begin to read through Macrobius' Commentary with an eye for the esoteric. A whole world of literary/discursive theory opens before our eyes, wherein fictions hide the truth, the truth may be ineffable, and dreams are a weird kind of esoteric text. So what does that make a fictional dream which tells the genuine truth?

Mateusz Stróżyński on Spiritual Practices in Augustine

We continue our discussion of Augustine, turning to Prof Stróżyński's fruitful approach to spiritual practices as recorded (but often ignored) in the texts of Plotinus and Augustine. It emerges that there is a quiet but insistent thread of divinisation ‘hiding’ in the text of the Confessions, and that the human self may be, in a sense, god.

Mateusz Stróżyński on Augustine and Platonism

We are delighted to welcome Prof Stróżyński back to the podcast to deepen our understanding of Augustine's engagement with Platonist philosophy. The saint emerges as, in some ways, a model Plotinian thinker, in other ways something totally different from that, and, above all, as a philosophic thinker struggling with the reality of daily life in the collapsing western Roman empire.

Episode 178: Stephen A. Cooper on Marius Victorinus and Latinate Christian Platonism

We discuss Marius Victorinus, a fascinating character from the tumultuous Roman scene in the mid fourth century who converted from Platonism to Platonism-plus-Christianity. His life and thought give us a valuable window onto the cultural scene in fourth-century Rome, as well, as some crucial data for the transmission of Platonist ideas into the Latinate middle ages.

Episode 175: Jay Bregman on Synesius of Cyrene

We dive into the fascinating life and thought of Synesius of Cyrene, Platonist philosopher and student of Hypatia of Alexandria, and Orthodox bishop of Ptolemaïs. Committed Christian or pagan bishop? We'll see ....

Episode 174: Noble Lies and Philosophic Silence: Hypatia, Synesius, and the New Esotericism in the Fourth Century

Fear, loathing, violence, and persecution. How does the philosopher operate under such circumstances? We look at the case-studies of Hypatia of Alexandria and her student Synesius of Cyrene, for some pointers.

Into the Darkness with Michæl Motia

In a special episode, we ask Michæl Motia some more questions about Gregory of Nyssa. Come for the apophatic theology, stay for the apophatic anthropology.

Episode 163: Father Sergey Trostyanskiy on the Cappadocian Fathers, Part II

In Part II with Father Sergey, we explore the Platonist ‘mystical’ themes, esoteric imagery of divine darkness, and the limits of human knowledge in the Cappadocians. Христос воскрес!

Episode 162: Father Sergey Trostyanskiy on the Cappadocian Fathers, Part I

We discuss the great theologians, ascetics, and philosophers of fourth-century Christianity, the Cappadocian Fathers with Father Sergey Trostyanskiy. Come for the Philokalia, the collection which smuggles Origenistic and other anathematised ideas into the very bosom of orthodoxy, stay for the presence of divine darkness to the soul.

Into Syriac Spirituality in Theory and Practice with Paul Pasquesi

In an extended interview, Paul Pasquesi discusses the Makarian Homilies – an influential set of texts which is one of the key ingredients in the cultural synthesis later known as ‘Christian mysticism’ – the work of Isaac of Ninevah, and many other texts and ideas from the late-antique Syriac ascetical movement.

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