Deus est Homo: The Concept of God in the Magical Writings of the Great Beast 666 (Aleister Crowley)
Abstract Despite the centrality of the concept of God in Christian theology and Western philosophy for over two millennia, little attention has been given the concept of God in twentieth-century occultism in general, and in the writings of Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) in particular. In this article...
| Published in: | Aries |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2021
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| In: |
Aries
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Crowley, Aleister 1875-1947
/ Literature
/ Thelemites
/ Orden der Goldenen Dämmerung
/ Ordo Templi Orientis
/ Occultism
/ God
/ Magical thinking
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AZ New religious movements |
| Further subjects: | B
Plymouth Brethren
B Phallicism B Concept of God B Thelema B Aleister Crowley B empirical scepticism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Abstract Despite the centrality of the concept of God in Christian theology and Western philosophy for over two millennia, little attention has been given the concept of God in twentieth-century occultism in general, and in the writings of Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) in particular. In this article it is argued that Crowley’s multifaceted and sometimes conflicting approaches to God, are dependent on five main factors: (1) his childhood experiences of Christianity in the form of the Plymouth Brethren, (2) the impact of Empirical Scepticism and Comparative Religion, (3) the emanationist concept of God that he encountered through his membership in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, (4) the revelation of The Book of the Law and the claim of being a Prophet, The Great Beast 666, of a New Age, and finally (5) solar-phallicism as expressed through the Ordo Templi Orientis. These apparently contradictory strands in Crowley’s biography and intellectual armoury are in fact interlinked, and it is by studying them together that it is possible to identify the concept of God in Crowley’s magical writings. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0593 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Aries
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700593-02101006 |