Kraftmetaphysik und Mysterienkult im Neuplatonismus

This book shows the connection between Neoplatonic Metaphysics and the mystery cult of Late Antiquity. Based on an analysis of the Platonic term 'power / force' (dynamis) and its connection with the terminology of light, the metaphysics of power / force are shown to be the more fundamental concept which functions as the foundation of the mteaphysics of light, but it also becomes clear, that the metaphysics of power / force need the explicatory value of light concerning their differentiation and especially their application on religious phenomena. Thus the interrelated / interconnected metaphysics of light and power / force become of great importance to describe how the world with its intelligible and material components achieves form and order. At the same time this metaphysical complex was used by the later Neoplatonists to describe and justify phenomena which were part of the religious practice of theurgy and find literary expression in the so called Chaldean Oracles.