Disciplines
  • History of Philosophy and History of Religions in Late Antiquity.
Research Interests
  • Neoplatonism
  • Gnosticism
  • Plotinus
  • Mysticism
  • Hellenistic Religions
  • Nag Hammadi / Coptic literature
  • Ancient epistemology
  • Rationality and ritual praxis in ancient thought
  • Magic, theurgy, and soteriological ritual in late antique philosophy
  • Ancient theories of sexuality, gender, and embryology.
Education
Dissertation
The essential thesis of this dissertation is that a crucial element of Plotinus’ thought— his conception of contemplative ascent towards mystical union with the One— was tacitly patterned on the structure of ritual ascent that is evident in pre–Plotinian Gnostic sources and is also attested in the extant Coptic translations of the Platonizing Sethian tractates Zostrianos (NHC VIII,1) and Allogenes (NHC XI,3) from Nag Hammadi, whose homonymous Greek Vorlagen were read and critiqued (according to Porphyry, Vita Plotini 16) in Plotinus’ circle in Rome in the mid 260s CE. The conclusion is that Plotinus’ mysticism must be reconceptualized in the broader context of contemporaneous Sethian Gnosticism. Dissertation Committee: Michael Sells (University of Chicago); John D. Turner (University of Nebraska); Kevin Corrigan (Emory University).

  • Currently working under the supervision of Jean–Marc Narbonne (Department of Philosophy, Université Laval) on the annotations for a new French edition and translation of Plotinus' treatise II.9[33] Against the Gnostics (Traité 33) to appear in the Collection des Universités de France / Association G. Budé series; publication is projected for 2014. One particular focus of the annotations will be the precise (but hitherto neglected) echoes of extant Gnostic texts, especially the Platonizing Sethian corpus, throughout the treatise.
  • Revising my dissertation for publication; currently in negotiation with Brill's Nag Hammadi & Manichaean Studies series.
Current Research Topics, Issues and Discussion

Theme: Uncovering Plotinus' tacit dialogue with the Gnostics. A very recent confluence of Plotinian scholarship (of which my dissertation is but one tributary) has made it increasingly apparent that Plotinus was profoundly engaged with Gnostic thought, both positively and negatively, and not only within the scope of his more or less explicitly anti–Gnostic Großschrift, but starting already at the very beginning of his oeuvre. Several prospective studies will address various aspects of this issue.

  • Traces of a competition between Plotinus’ circle and the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics over the interpretation of Plato.
  • “To bring the God in Us back up to the Divine in the All”: Plotinus’ enigmatic last words (Porphyry, Vita Plotini 2.26–27) and Allogenes (NHC XI,3) 59–61.
    • Prospective studies pertaining to II.9[33] in particular
  • Plotinus contra se ipsum in Treatise II.9[33]: on Plotinus’ several curious complaints about aspects of Gnostic doctrine that appear to resemble his own views in other treatises.
  • The intertextual relationship between Plotinus II.9[33] Against the Gnostics and the early–period treatises (1–21): a reconsideration of the position of the Gnostics within the framework of Plotinus’ thought.
  • Plotinus’ allusions to the Platonizing Sethian doctrine of the emergence and reduplication of Intellect through self–apprehension at II.9[33].1–3.
  • Plotinus’ critique of Gnostic theôria at II.9[33].18.35–38 and Gnostic techniques of visionary ascent.
Theme: The relative chronology of Plotinus, Porphyry, the Anonymous Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides, and the Platonizing Sethian tractates Zostrianos (NHC VIII,1) and Allogenes (NHC XI,3). This module of research will be focused upon [a] the pre–Plotinian sources of Platonizing Sethian Gnosticism and [b] a series of challenges to what I call the “redaction hypothesis”— namely, that the extant Coptic versions of Zostrianos and Allogenes are translations not of the Greek tractates known by those titles that were read in Plotinus' seminar (according to Porphyry, Vita Plotini 16) but instead of homonymous post–Plotinian Vorlagen that had been redacted to take the criticisms of Plotinus and especially Porphyry into account. (I disagree). [Abstract] [Online discussion]
  • Intimations of the Noetic (Existence–Life–Intellect or Father–Power–Intellect) Triad in pre–Plotinian Gnostic sources.
  • The pseudo–Simonian Apophasis Megalê preserved by Hippolytus and the origins of Platonizing Sethianism.
  • Researches into the parallels between Marius Victorinus Adversus Arium, the Anonymous Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides, and Allogenes (NHC XI,3).
  • A critical re–evaluation of the widespread scholarly claim that Gnostic pupils frequented Plotinus’ seminar.

Theme: A new working hypothesis concerning the unacknowledged debt of Neoplatonism to Gnostic creativity: Post–Plotinian Neoplatonism and the Gnostics. The hypothesis put forth in my dissertation— namely, that Plotinus himself had emerged from a Gnostic background— suggests that the Gnostics deserve a more important place in the course of intellectual history than they have hitherto been accorded. Unconstrained by the kind of reverence for an authoritative textual canon and its traditions of interpretation as was common among both ‘orthodox’ Christians and Academic Platonists, the Gnostics were agents of considerable intellectual innovation, at the very cusp of the emergence of what has come to be known as Neoplatonism. A field of possible investigation is the persistance of the tacit influence of Gnostic thought among later Pagan Neoplatonists (such as Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Syrianus, Hermias, and Damascius) or Christian Platonists (such as Marius Victorinus, Synesius, and pseudo–Dionysius) who— unlike Plotinus and his Roman circle— were no longer in immediate contact (or direct conflict) with Gnostic sectaries themselves, but who may have had access to their writings. This project is too large for a single individual; my intention is eventually to secure funding for an international working group on this topic.

  • The identity of the unnamed philosophers in Proclus’ Commentary on the Parmenides 1105–1111 and the Platonizing Sethians.
  • The Platonizing Sethian accounts of visionary ascent ‘above Intellect.’
  • Proclus’ enigmatic “henads” and the Neopythagorean substrate of the Valentinian Pleroma.
  • Was the young Porphyry a Gnostic? An evaluation of the evidence.

Additional Curiosities and Useful Items

  • A Spatial Diagram of the Social and Pedagogical Relationships of Plotinus' Circle in Rome, c. 245–270 CE. [PDF]
  • Textual parallels between Allogenes (NHC XI,3) 59.4–64.4, Plotinus III.8[30].9.21–10.35 and V.5[32].8.3–8.23. [PDF table]
  • Textual Paralles between the Anonymous Turin Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides, Platonizing Sethian Tractates, and pre–Plotinian Gnostic literature. [HTML table (in progress)]
  • Bibliography on Plotinus and the Gnostics. [HTML (in progress)]
  • A reconsideration of the putative “chronological” order of Plotinus’s first 21 pre–Porphyrian treatises.
  • Prospective postdoctoral research / future book project: “Eroticism, Sexual Physiology and Embryological Themes in Late Antique Soteriology.” [HTML Abstract]

      Articles

  • 2013 a. “The Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Interpretation of Plato’s Sophist,” pp. 469–493 in A. D. DeConick, G. Shaw, and J. D. Turner, eds. Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy, and Other Ancient Literature. Essays in Honor of Birger A. Pearson. [Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 85]. Leiden: Brill, 2013 . [PDF]
  • 2013 b. “‘Those Who Ascend to the Sanctuaries of the Temples’: The Gnostic Context of Plotinus’ First Treatise, I.6[1] On Beauty,” pp. 329–368 in K. Corrigan and T. Rasimus et al., eds. Gnosticism, Platonism, and the Late Ancient World. Essays in Honour of John D. Turner. [Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 82]. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
  • 2013 c.“Traces of the Competition Between the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics and Plotinus’ Circle: The Case of Zostrianos 44—46,” in M. P. Marsola and L. Ferroni, eds. Estratégias anti-gnósticas nos escritos de Plotino. Atas do colóquio internacional realizado em São Paulo em 18-19 de março 2012. São Paulo: Rosari et Paulus, 2013 [forthcoming]. [PDF]
  • 2009. “Having Sex with the One: Erotic Mysticism in Plotinus and the Problem of Metaphor,” pp. 67–83 in P. Vassilopoulou and S. R. L. Clark, eds. Late Antique Epistemology: Other Ways to Truth. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. [PDF]
  • 2008 a. “Harmonius Opposition (Part I): Pythagorean Themes of Cosmogonic Mediation in the Roman Mysteries of Mithras,” pp. 203–222 in Á. Szábo and P. Vargyas, eds. Cultus Deorum. Studia Religionum ad Historiam, vol 2. De Rebus Aetatis Graecorum et Romanorum. In Memoriam István Tóth. [Ókortudományi Dolgozatok nr. 2]. Pécs — Budapest: University of Pécs, 2008. [PDF]
  • 2008 b. “Unio Intellectualis? A Response to Professor Werner Beierwaltes on Unio Magica,” Dionysius 26 (2008): 193–200.
  • 2005. “Plotinus’ Philosophical Opposition to Gnosticism and the Axiom of Continuous Hierarchy,” pp. 95–112 in J. Finamore and R. Berchman, eds. History of Platonism: Plato Redivivus. New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2005. [PDF]
  • 2004. “Unio Magica, Part 2: Plotinus, Theurgy, and the Question of Ritual,” Dionysius 22 (2004): 29–56. [PDF]
  • 2003. “Unio Magica, Part 1: On the Magical Origins of Plotinus’ Mysticism,” Dionysius 21 (2003): 23–52. [PDF]

      Co–edited volume

  • 2013 d. Gnosticism, Platonism, and the Late Ancient World. Essays in Honour of John D. Turner. [Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 82]. Edited by K. Corrigan and T. Rasimus, in collaboration with Dylan M. Burns, Lance Jenott, and Zeke Mazur. Leiden: Brill, 2013 [forthcoming Autumn 2013].
      Reviews
      Upcoming in the near future
  • “Forbidden Knowledge: Cognitive Transgression and ‘Ascent Above Intellect’ in Platonizing Gnosticism,” to be presented at a conference entitled “Gnostic Countercultures: Terror and Intrigue,” March 26—28, 2015, Rice University.
     Recent past
  • “The Gnostic Background of Plotinus’ Last Words,” presented at the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism section of the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature in San Diego, 23 November 2014.
  • “A Gnostic Icarus? The Platonic Source(s) for the Fall of Sophia,” presented at the the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in Lisbon, June 2014.
  • “The Anonymous Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides and Gnostic Readings of Plato,” presented at a conference entitled “Commentating as Philosophy and the Abrahamic Interpreters,” Istanbul, 2–5 July 2014.
  • “Intimations of the pre—Plotinian Gnostic Use of the Noetic (Existence—Life—Intellect) Triad in Chapter 6 of Plotinus’ Treatise Against the Gnostics, II.9[33],” presented at the colloquium of the Projet Plotin—Budé entitled “La contemplation chez Plotin,” at the Université Laval, Québec, 4 March 2014.
     Past Conference Papers and Other Presentations 2001–2013
  • Lecture entitled “The three modalities of generative contemplation according to the Gnostics, and the birth of Neoplatonism,” presented at a colloquium entitled “Gnosticismo y Neoplatonismo: las raices desconocidas del pensamiento occidental,” at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, 4 November 2013.
  • Three day (12 hour) graduate seminar entitled “Visionary ascent ‘above Intellect’ in Platonizing Sethian Gnosticism and Plotinus’ contemplative ascent to the One,” at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, 5—7 November 2013.
  • “Traces of the Competition Between the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics and Plotinus’ Circle Over the Interpretation of Plato, Part 3: Plotinus’ criticism of the ‘New Earth’ (II.9[33].5.24), the Platonizing Sethian ‘Airy Earth,’ and Plato’s ’True Earth’ (Phaedo 110a1),” presented at the Neoplatonism and Gnosticism panel at the ISNS conference in Cardiff, Wales, June 2013.
  • Platonism and Gnosticism lecture for Prof. Nicola Denzey Lewis’ undergraduate course on Gnosticism, Brown University, 21 March 2013.
  • “Traces of the Competition Between the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics and Plotinus’ Circle, Part 2: Plato’s Sophist in Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Interpretation,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in Cagliari, Sardinia, 20–23 June 2012. [HTML abstract]
  • “Traces of the Competition Between the Platonizing Sethian Gnostics and Plotinus’ Circle, Part 1: The Case of Zostrianos 44—46,” presented at a colloquium entitled “ Estratégias anti–gnósticas nos escritos de Plotino,” at the University of São Paulo, 19 March 2012. [HTML résumé en français]
  • “Plotinus and the Gnostics: the Current State of the Field,” lecture presented to the Ókortudományi Társaság (Society for the Study of Antiquity) at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest on December 16, 2011.
  • “Le contexte gnostique du premier écrit de Plotin, traité 1 [1,6], Sur le Beau,” presented at a colloquium entitled “Par-delà la tétralogie antignostique: Plotin et les Gnostiques, colloque en hommage à Pierre Hadot” organized by the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the Université de Paris–Ouest, Nanterre–La Défense, 7—10 December 2011. [PDF résumé en français]
  • “‘If You Should Know Him, ‘Un—know’ Him’: ‘(Un–) Knowing’ the Unknowable Deity in Allogenes (NHC XI,3) and the Paradox of Transcendental Epistemology in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism,” presented at the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism section of the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature in San Francisco, November 2011. [HTML abstract]
  • “Gnostic Traces in the Transcendental Epistemology of the Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Parmenides,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in Atlanta, June 22–26, 2011. [HTML abstract] [PDF]
  • “‘To Become an Eikôn’: an Intrapsychic Image as Mediator of Transcendental Apprehension in Platonizing Sethian Gnosticism and Academic Platonism,” presented at the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Network conference, Yale University, 13 May 2011. [PDF]
  • Platonism and Gnosticism lectures for Prof. Nicola Denzey Lewis' Graduate and Undergraduate Courses on Gnosticism, Brown University, April 19 and 20, 2011. [PDF of texts (password protected)]
  • “The Delphic Maxim ‘Know Yourself’ as Ritual Praxis: Self–Knowledge and Self–Apprehension in Gnosticism and the Roots of Plotinian Mysticism,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, [Program], June 17, 2010. [HTML Abstract] [PDF (password protected)]
  • “‘First Thought’ and / or ‘Pre–Thinking’ (prôtê ennoia, pronoein, etc.) as Faculty of Transcendental Apprehension in Plotinus and Gnosticism,” presented at a colloquium entitled “Contempler, connaître, toucher, devenir Dieu: Les stratégies diverses chez Plotin et dans la gnose,” at the Université Laval, Québec, March 2010. [Abstract] [PDF]
  • “The Relation of Mysticism and Metaphysics in Plotinian Union with the One,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies at the Ignatianum Jesuit University in Kraków, June 18–21, 2009. [Abstract] [PDF]
  • “Mystical Self–Reversion in Sethian Gnosticism and Plotinus,” presented at a colloquium entitled “La mystique dans la gnose et chez Plotin,” at the Université Laval, Québec, March 2009. [PDF]
  • “Self–Manifestation and ‘Primary Revelation’ in the Platonizing Sethian Ascent Treatises and Plotinian Mysticism,” presented at the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism section at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston, November 2008. [Abstract] [PDF]
  • “Are the Plotinian Hyper–Noetic and Pre–Noetic Selves Identical? Apprehension of the One at Enneads VI.9[9].11.16–26,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in New Orleans, June 2008. [Abstract] [PDF]
  • “What is the Self to Which One Must Revert? A ‘Crypto–Hypostasis’ as Both Subject and Object of Plotinian ‘Autocentric’ Mysticism,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies at the University of Helsinki, June 2007. [PDF]
  • “Embryological Themes in Platonic Ontogenesis,” presented at the Rethinking Plato’s Parmenides seminar at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington DC, November 18, 2006. [PDF]
  • “Western ‘Tantrism’ in Gnosticism and Neoplatonic Theurgy: Embodied Ritual and the Chaldaean Oracles,” presented at the conference of the Society for Indian Philosophy and Religion in Calcutta, July 2006. [PDF]
  • “Plotinus on Sexual Love (Enneads III.5[50].1): A Remarkable Defense of Nonprocreative Sex,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in Québec City, June 2006. [PDF]
  • “Transcendental Hyperontology, Primordial Self–Reversion, and the Utility of the Category of ‘Gnosticism’,” presented in the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism section at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Philadelphia, November 2005. [PDF]
  • “Primordial Self–Reversion and the Gnostic Background of Plotinian Procession,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in New Orleans, June 2005. [PDF]
  • “The Metaphysics of Mystical Experience or the Experience of Mystical Metaphysics: Primordial and Mystical Self–Reversion in Plotinus and Gnosticism,” presented at the graduate student workshop in Cross–Cultural Mysticism, Harvard University, April 2005.
  • “How Can One Attain the One–Beyond–Being? Reflections on the Penultimate Stage of Plotinian and Gnostic Mystical Ascent,” presented at the Platonism and Neoplatonism Section of the American Academy of Religion conference in San Antonio, November 2004. [PDF]
  • “Having Sex with the One: Erotic Mysticism in Plotinus and the Problem of ‘Metaphor’,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies at the University of Liverpool, June 2004. [PDF]
  • “Plotinus’ Philosophical Opposition to Gnosticism and the Axiom of Continuous Hierarchy,” presented at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in New Orleans, June 2003. [PDF]
  • “Plotinus’ Response to Demiurgic Mimêsis in Platonic Gnosticism” presented at conference of International Society for Neoplatonic Studies at the University of Maine at Orono, June 2002. [PDF]
  • “The Neoplatonic–Theurgical Sources of al–Kindi’s De radiis,” presented at the Second Islamicate Philosophy Conference at the University of Chicago, April 2001. [PDF]
Graduate Course Papers on Hellenistic Philosophy and Religion 2000–2003
  • “The Life of the Spectator: the Origin and Nature of the Early Pythagoreans Reconsidered” (February 2000). [PDF]
  • “The God Within: Divine Psychology in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations” (June 2001).
  • “Philo’s Two Adams: Some Pagan Philosophical Influences on the Pneumatic Anthropogony in Philo of Alexandria” (March 2002). [PDF]
  • “The Harmonious Opposition of Mithras’ Legs: Pythagorean Themes of Cosmic Mediation in Roman Mithraism” (July 2002). [PDF]
  • “The ‘So–Called Pipe’ in the Mithras Liturgy, PGM IV.549” (November 2002). [PDF]
  • “‘You Will Become the Father’: the Epistemological Roots of Gospel of Philip 44” (February 2003). [PDF]
Additional Academic History and Memberships in Academic Societies
Prospective Course Syllabi
  • Mysticism and Sexuality: Exploring the association of eroticism and transcendence in the premodern imagination (undergraduate seminar). [HTML]
  • Philosophy and Salvation in Late Antiquity (undergraduate / graduate seminar). [HTML]
  • Un–Knowing the Unknowable God: Apprehension of the Transcendent in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism (graduate seminar). [HTML]
  • Neoplatonism (undergraduate lecture course). [HTML]
  • Introduction to Plotinus (undergraduate / graduate lecture course). [HTML]
  • Plotinus and the Gnostics (advanced graduate seminar). [HTML]
    Film / Video

  • The Infinity of Desire: the Erotic Mysticism Documentary Film Project. Co–directed with S. Makarova [Adocentyn Films]. In progress, projected completion Autumn 2012. [Abstract]
  • The Divine Origin of Evil in Valentinian Gnosticism. Co–directed with S. Makarova. Documentary short, April 2010. Winner of a Special Achievement Award in the 2010 Harvard University Shorts Film Competition Scholarly Documentary Serials Category [View]
Co–founder of Adocentyn Films. Adocentyn Films is seeking funding for a future series of scholarly and / or artistic—experimental documentary films on various forms of mysticism, each based upon an individual historical text. Potential topics include the apocryphal Acts of John, the Hymn of the Pearl, the visions of the 13th century sufi saint Najm–al Din al–Kubra, and the diary of of the Schema–monk Ilarion— Na Gorakh Kavkaza (1907)— concerning the Prayer of the Heart.
    Still Photography

  • Photographs of Mithraic Sites. [View]
  • Photographs of Harran. [View]
Academic Curriculum Vitae [PDF]

This page was last modified on 5 September 2014, and is still under construction.