De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres, Vol. 48 (Studies in the History of Christian Traditions)

Agrippa's encyclopedic review "De Occulta Philosophia" expressed a fruitful contribution to the Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the powers of magic and its relationship with religion. Agrippa' s proposal for a discriminating revival of magic tied up directly both with Ficino's and Pico's proclamation of a new "natural" magic and with Reuchlin's statement of the possible fusion of magic and religion. Agrippa aligned himself with this already widespread programme of reforming magic, but he also proposed an original approach, which broadens the ideas found in his sources of forging a much more generalized conception of magic's potentials. This edition of "De Occulta Philosophia" clarifies a number of controversies about the interpretation of this magical work and, more generally, of this Renaissance "magus", in whom scholarly curiosity stands side by side with a thoughtful revision of culture and a commitment, by no means superficial, to the intellectual and religious problems of his time.