I was born in Denver Colorado. I grew up near Albany, New Yok. Educated at Emory, Duke, and the University of Virginia (UVA), I had a wonderful Doktorvater in Harry Gamble. I am author of over a dozen academic books. My vision for the Gnostic Archive is to make good scholarship accessible to everybody, not just those with a university affiliation. I believe that education is for all, and the best way I can serve the community is to offer my skills, my teaching, and advising online.
Website: MDavidLitwa.com
Now on Amazon & Audible
The Hermetic corpus is a spiritual and intellectual treasure stemming from ancient Egyptian sages who could write and think in Greek. Since the Renaissance, this corpus has appeared in an order that does not fit the path of spiritual initiation suggested by the corpus itself.
The present edition reorders the corpus—including the Latin Asclepius and the Nag Hammadi Hermetica—into four progressing parts: introductory tractates, general discourses, detailed discourses, and revelatory discourses. A short spiritual commentary follows each tractate.
The book is written for all lovers of the Hermetica, but in particular for those who are willing, in some sense, to join the way of immortality.
Cambridge (2022) & Now on Audible
This volume presents in new English translations the scattered fragments and testimonies regarding Hermes Thrice Great that complete Brian Copenhaver's translation of the Hermetica (Cambridge, 1992). It contains the twenty-nine fragments from Stobaeus (including the famous Kore Kosmou), the Oxford and Vienna fragments (never before translated), an expanded selection of fragments from various authors (including Zosimus of Panopolis, Augustine, and Albert the Great), and testimonies about Hermes from thirty-eight authors (including Cicero, Pseudo-Manetho, the Emperor Julian, Al-Kindī, Michael Psellus, the Emerald Tablet, and Nicholas of Cusa).
All translations are accompanied by introductions and notes which cite sources for further reading. These Hermetic texts will appeal to a broad array of listeners interested in western esotericism including scholars of Egyptology, the New Testament, the classical world, Byzantium, medieval Islam, the Latin Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.
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