Article ID: CBB307825298

Cross and Crucible: Alchemy in the Theology of Paracelsus (2020)

unapi

Paracelsus was not only a reformer of medicine with a preference for medical alchemy, but also emerged as a radical church reformer. However, he only rarely used the imagery of alchemy as a parable for theological salvation. Fire as the driving force for every alchemical process was also suitable as an image for the purification of souls. A central idea of alchemy, to transfer a substance from its still impure original state into the purified final state, was very much in line with Paracelsus’s doctrine of the Last Supper, according to which the mortal human who had descended from Adam is to be brought to a new birth through baptism with the Holy Spirit. As an alchemist, Paracelsus was keenly interested in the transfiguration of Christ, which he first explained alchemically, but later magically, probably according to the model of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

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Article Didier Kahn; Hiro Hirai (2020) Paracelsus, Forgeries and Transmutation: Introduction. Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (pp. 1-3). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Kahn, Didier
Rey Bueno, Mar
Ball, Philip
Bobory, Dóra
Classen, Albrecht
Daniel, Dane T.
Journals
Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Medical History
Atti e Memorie, Rivista di Storia della Farmacia
Publishers
Brill
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Corona Brealis
de Gruyter
Dover
Heinemann
Concepts
Alchemy
Medicine
Science and religion
Theology
Chemistry
Magic
People
Paracelsus, Theophrast von Hohenheim
Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni
Pseudo-Paracelsus
Aristotle
Batthyány, Boldizsár
Boerhaave, Herman
Time Periods
16th century
17th century
Renaissance
15th century
Early modern
18th century
Places
Europe
Germany
Spain
Austria
Belgium
Hungary
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