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FROM POIMANDRES TO JACOB BOHME.

INTRODUCTION

The studies collected in this volume deal with ancient, medieval and early
modern forms of Gnosis the inner experience of ultimate reality
and the diverse expressions of their myths, rites, ideas and expectations
They have been written with empathy for the gnostic and Hermetic tradi-
tion in western culture but in a strictly historical and critical vein.
The studies on Hermetism and Gnosticism in Antiquity unmistakably
show the paradigm shifts caused by the discovery of the Nag Hammadi
Library in 1945. In the middle of the 2oth century, the monumental work
on ancient Hermetism by A.-]. Festugière seemed to have settled most of
the questions raised by the then known Hermetic literature. According to
this great French scholar, the Hermetic view of God, world and man was
no more than a compilation of popular Greek philosophical ideas, there
was no connection at all with ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices and
the alleged mysteries of Hermes did not exist in reality but only in the
minds of the authors. The discovery of three Hermetic texts in Codex vi
of Nag Hammadi, especially the previously unknown On the Ogdoad and
the Ennead, and also the publication of the Armenian Hermetic Definitions
have given a new impetus to the study of Hermetism. This has resulted in
a new understanding of the genesis of the Hermetic treatises, a better
appreciation of the esoteric meaning of these seemingly superficial philo-
sophical writings, a more positive evaluation of the Egyptian background
of Hermetism, and strong arguments in favour of the real existence of
Hermetic groups in which initiation into the mysteries of Hermes, prayers,
hymns, and vegetarian meals played a central part.

With respect to Gnosticism and its relation to early Christianity it has
become increasingly clear that the gnostic movement of the first three
centuries of our era was much more variegated than the polemics of the...