Editing Divinity (section)

== Philosophical and theological reflections ==
Ancient philosophy developed increasingly abstract conceptions of divinity, seeking to understand the nature of the divine beyond anthropomorphic gods. For [[Plato]], the divine was not confined to the traditional pantheon but was associated with the eternal and unchanging [[Form of the Good]]—the highest reality and source of truth, intelligibility, and order.{{sfnp|Sedley|2007}} The divine, in this framework, was radically transcendent but also the ultimate cause and goal of all existence.

Later [[Middle Platonism]] and [[Neoplatonism]] extended this abstraction. In the writings of [[Plotinus]], the divine was identified with the ineffable [[One (Neoplatonism)|One]], from which all reality emanates in hierarchical stages. Divinity, in this view, was not a person or force but the source of being itself. Below the One were successive layers of reality: the [[Nous]], the [[Anima mundi|World Soul]], and the material world. Each stage retained something of the divine, though to lesser degrees.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johnston|1y=2011|2a1=Shaw|2a2=Milbank|2y=2014}}

[[Stoicism|The Stoics]] offered a contrasting, more immanent view. For them, the divine was not separate from nature but identical with it—expressed as {{transliteration|grc|[[logos]]}}, the rational principle that ordered the cosmos. Every part of the universe, including the human soul, participated in this divine reason.{{sfnp|Long|1986}} Stoic ethics were grounded in living according to this divine nature, aligning the individual will with the cosmic order.

These philosophical developments interacted with evolving religious traditions. In [[Hellenistic religion]], philosophical conceptions of the divine coexisted with traditional cultic practices and new forms of personal piety. Ideas about divine immanence, transcendence, and [[Great chain of being|hierarchical being]] shaped how [[mystery religion]]s, [[astrology]], and theurgy were interpreted and practiced.{{sfnmp|1a1=Versnel|1y=2011|2a1=Marmodoro|2a2=Viltanioti|2y=2017}}

In [[Gnosticism]], emerging in the same intellectual milieu as Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism, a radical reinterpretation of divinity developed. In many Gnostic systems, true divinity was wholly transcendent and unknowable—often called the ''[[Pleroma]]'' or ''Invisible Spirit''—while the visible world was the flawed creation of a lesser being, the [[Demiurge]], ignorant of the higher realms. This [[cosmological dualism]] recast divine hierarchy not as a continuum of emanation but as a rupture between divine fullness and cosmic error. Gnostic texts such as the ''[[Apocryphon of John|Secret Book of John]]'' describe the soul’s entrapment in materiality and its path of ascent through layers of hostile [[archon]]s, aided by inner revelation (''[[gnosis]]'') and the remembrance of its [[divine spark]].{{sfnmp|1a1=Jonas|1y=1992|2a1=Davies|2y=2012}} In this view, divinity was present as a spark within the human being, a fragment of the higher world seeking return.{{sfnp|Rudolph|2001}}

The elasticity of the concept also allowed for overlap between divine beings and metaphysical principles. [[Theurgy]], as practiced by [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonists]] like [[Iamblichus]], emphasized ritual engagement with divine intelligences, asserting that divine powers could be invoked and experienced through specific acts.{{sfnp|Shaw|Milbank|2014}} Gnostic traditions likewise incorporated theurgical elements—especially in their use of invocations, names of power, and visionary ascent texts—to transcend the material realm and rejoin the divine source.{{sfnp|DeConick|Shaw|Turner|2013}} In such contexts, ritual was not merely symbolic but transformative. Through prescribed invocations, visualizations, and gestures, practitioners sought a form of [[ritual identification]] with divine powers, temporarily embodying aspects of the divine as a means of ascent or union.{{sfnp|Shaw|Milbank|2014}}

By late antiquity, such reflections had laid the groundwork for later [[Christian theology]], [[Islamic philosophy]], and [[Jewish mysticism]], all of which engaged with and reinterpreted these classical philosophical insights into the nature of the divine.{{sfnp|Armstrong|2004}}