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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] themselves to a large degree on the public consciousness. In addition to dismantling Paracelsus theories, Erastus turned to smudging his reputation with claims of documentations, letters, and personal testimonies; this is where Paracelsus reputation as an alcoholic, and devil-worshiping, charlatan is first formulated. For the next few centuries Paracelsus and Paracelsianism remained controversial, as well as political, with the implications of its radical medical and pharmacological theories slowly penetrating and taking hold throughout the rest of Europe. The inauguration of modern Paracelsus scholarship, however, can be traced to the monumental work of Karl Sudhoff, the German historian of medicine who published the first authoritative Paracelsus bibliography in 1894, and the fourteen volume edition of the German translation of Paracelsus collected works entitled Abteilung 1: Medizinische, naturwissenschaftliche und philosophische Schriften between the years 1922 and 1933.53 This foundation for modern Paracelsus scholarship was largely focused on the medical and naturalistic contributions of Paracelsus. But Sudhoff had also planted the seeds for further research into his philosophical, theological, and occult dimensions by amassing a substantive collection of Paracelsus non-medical treatises and encouraging scholars of religion to undertake their publication. The first attempt at the publication of Hohenheim s theological writings followed suit later, in 1923, when the first volume of Wilhelm Matthieben s collection was published, but then stalled following Mattheiben s death. Although it was taken up by the respected historian of religion Kurt Goldammer after the Second World War, it remains to this 53 P. Dilg, Paracelsus research past and present: basic results, frustrated attempts, new approaches (Sudhoffs Arch Z Wissenschaftsgesch Beih. 1993;(31):9-24), www.pubmed.com , A Service of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8153974&dopt=Abstract 29 day unfinished. Goldammer, building on Sudhoff s work, has thus far published (through 1986) only six volumes of the projected fourteen for the second part of Abteilung, entitled Abteilung 2: Theologische und religionsphilosophische Schriften. 54 Beginning in the early twentieth century, there grew an interest in the mystical and occult aspects of Paracelsus. With the passionate mysticism of the Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber, the occult interpretations of Paracelsus by the theosophist scholar Franz Hartmann, and the spiritualistic theories of the Anthroposophist author Rudolf Steiner, there emerged a desire to understand the spiritual side of Paracelsus philosophy.55 Entering the picture was also Arthur Edward Waite s comprehensive translation of Paracelsus collected works on alchemy, first published in England in 1894, and which became a very influential publication for esoteric and occultist scholars. This turn away from the scientific contributions of Paracelsus upset many historians and Paracelsus scholars, and Matthieben reacted with a lengthy dissertation in 1917 entitled Die Form des religiosen Verhaltens bei Theophrast von Hohenheim in an attempt to free Paracelsus from the disagreeable association of mysticism. This internal schism within the scholarship of Paracelsus was somewhat soothed by the important recognition and emerging acknowledgement of Paracelsus religious attitude.56 The Catholic scholar Franz Strunz convincingly argued for theology and piety as the guiding principle for Paracelsus philosophies, and by doing so instigated a major shift in the historiography and scholarship of Paracelsus. Likewise Wilhelm Ganzenmuller s studies in pre- Paracelsian medieval alchemy revealed the profound religious and spiritual components of the practice of alchemy, and thus reaffirmed Paracelsus dedication to the mystical and 54 Weeks, 33 55 Ibid., 33-35 56 Ibid., 33-35 30 metaphysical.57 Noting this significant moment in the scholarship on Paracelsus, historian Andrew Weeks says: In their own ways, Strunz and Ganzenmuller laid the groundwork for an integrated understanding of Paracelsus: Strunz by showing that the authority of the naturalist and of the religionist was indivisible; Ganzenmuller by establishing that even what seemed an empirical element in Paracelsus s experience, his alchemical experimentation, was, in its theoretical sources, medieval and devout.58 Subsequently, it has been the pioneering work of Kurt Goldammer, as well as the historian Walter Pagel, that has continued to shed light on the theological components of Paracelsus thought. The movement initiated by Goldammer, but continued by Pagel, Weeks, and Hartmut Rudolph, was one that believed Paracelsus medicine and chemistry was fundamentally informed by his religious mysticism, and that the study of his scientific contributions to the exclusion of his theological ones merits a warning of imbalance. This interest in the non-scientific side of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |