Paracelsian Moments

Scientific ideas inspired by religious, magical, and alchemical themes competed alongside traditional Aristotelian science and the emerging mechanical philosophy in the early modern era. At the center of this ferment was a quirky and creative German physician, Paracelsus, whose religious-alchemical worldview served as an inspiration for countless scientific innovators.

This collection is about Paracelsus and the wide range of issues he explored, and ones taken up by many who were directly or indirectly affected by the same mental universe that sustained his thought and writings. This volume includes strong contextual studies on Paracelsianism and the larger cultural history of early modern science, including groundbreaking studies on Robert Boyle, François Rabelais, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Johannes Praetorius.

“In its visually and intellectually enjoyable presentation, and in the unity of its composition, Paracelsian Moments shows conference proceedings at their finest. To a large part, this is due to the expertise of the contributing authors. Their detailed footnotes and acknowledgments of collaborations with international Paracelsus scholars attest to the fact that they have a genuine interest in unraveling the figure of Paracelsus from the mythical web that his contemporaries had spun around him.”—Ambix

“The editors and contributors are to be commended for addressing narrowly defined topics and beginning a discussion of larger broader themes: historical authority and validity, early modern perceptions of reality and certainty. Although many of these essays will invite debate, this volume is a notable accomplishment.”—Renaissance Quarterly

“A worthwhile volume full of exciting new work on early modern science and medicine.”—Journal of Early Modern History

“The collection also has a useful if hardly exhaustive bibliography of Paracelsus and Paracelsianism, and a good index.... It will be of interest primarily to specialist historians of early modern science, magic, and medicine.”—Sixteenth Century Journal

Paracelsiana

Paracelsus’s Biography among His Detractors.....Charles D. Gunnoe Jr.

Paracelsus and the Boundaries of Medicine in Early Modern Augsburg.....Mitchell Hammond

To Be or Not to Be a Paracelsian: Something Spagyric in the State of Denmark.....Jole Shackelford

“A Spedie Reformation”: Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor London.....Lynda Payne

Seeing “Microcosma”: Paracelsus’s Gendered Epistemology.....Hildegard Elisabeth Keller

Paracelsus on Baptism and the Acquiring of the Eternal Body....Dane Thor Daniel

Paracelsus and van Helmont on Imagination: Magnetism and Medicine before Mesmer.....Heinz Schott

Natural Magic and Natural Wonders

Unholy Astrology: Did Pico Always View It That Way?.....Sheila Rabin

Wine and Obscenities: Astrology’s Degradation in the Five Books of Rabelais.....Dené Scoggins

Robert Boyle, “The Sceptical Chymist,” and Hebrew.....Michael T. Walton

Johannes Praetorius: Early Modern Topography and the Giant Rübezahl.....Gerhild Scholz Williams

Demons, Natural Magic, and the Virtually Real: Visual Paradox in Early Modern Europe.....Stuart Clark