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The Theory and Practice of Cosmic Ascent
Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches
Series:
The theme of cosmic ascent â of leaving behind the mundane realm and soaring to a better place beyond the travails of the everyday â has been a central preoccupation of religious, philosophical, and scientific thought in western cultures since antiquity. This book is the first collection of multidisciplinary essays devoted to exploring this thematic territory. Taking in cultural contexts from archaic Greece to medieval Europe, religious traditions pre-monotheist and Abrahamic, and methodologies from close textual study to neuroscience, it elucidates the trans-mundane âlandscapesâ which more than two millennia of thinkers have sought to outline and indeed to explore. ââ
Nicholas Banner, Ph.D. (2012), University of Exeter, is an independent researcher focusing on the intersections between religion, philosophy, and magic in late antiquity. His published works include Philosophic Silence and the One in Plotinus (2018).
John Dillon is Regius Professor of Greek (Emeritus) at Trinity College Dublin. The main focus of his research is Plato and the Platonic Tradition. His chief works include The Middle Platonists (1977, repr. 1996), Alcinous, The Handbook of Platonism (1993), Iamblichus, De Anima (with John Finamore, 2000), The Heirs of Plato (2003), The Roots of Platonism (2018), and three volumes of collected essays.
John Dillon is Regius Professor of Greek (Emeritus) at Trinity College Dublin. The main focus of his research is Plato and the Platonic Tradition. His chief works include The Middle Platonists (1977, repr. 1996), Alcinous, The Handbook of Platonism (1993), Iamblichus, De Anima (with John Finamore, 2000), The Heirs of Plato (2003), The Roots of Platonism (2018), and three volumes of collected essays.
This book will be of interest to students of western cultures generally, and to historians of religions and of science in particular. The academic standard is high, but the book is accessible to non-specialists.â