From the Back Cover

"Theurgy and the Soul remains the one essential work not only on the mysterious yet influential figure of Iamblichus, but also on the emergence of religious or theurgical Neoplatonism. Shaw presents the reasoning and classical pedigree behind the sometimes obscure doctrines and practices belonging to this often misunderstood school of thought. His analysis reveals it as a dynamic and distinct form of philosophy in its own right, and not the last gasp of Hellenism before the onset of the Middle Ages."

-- L. MICHAEL HARRINGTON , author of Sacred Place in Early Medieval Neoplatonism



"Gregory Shaw's Theurgy and the Soul is the essential guide for those seeking entry to the experiential dimension of late Neoplatonism. The book is also philosophically sound, but its primary importance lies in bringing alive for sympathetic readers the symbolic and imaginal realities that animated the spiritual practices of Iamblichus and his followers. It reveals Late Antique Platonists clearly as mystical existentialists whose teachings are just as vital now as they were in antiquity."

-- JOHN BUSSANICH , author of The One and Its Relation to Intellect in Plotinus

About the Author

Gregory Shaw is Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College, Massachusetts, and the author of articles on the later Neoplatonists and Iamblichus in particular. He is currently working on a manuscript that explores the embodied aspects of later Platonic philosophy and its similarity to tantric traditions of South Asia and other non-dual religious traditions.