Paracelsus

Andrew Weeks teaches German at Illinois State University. His books published by SUNY Press include Boehme: An Intellectual Biography of the Seventeenth-Century Philosopher and Mystic and German Mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Literary and Intellectual History.

"This book treats as a unity the two sides of Paracelsus's thought—its speculative and theological aspects and its medical and scientific side, generally dealt with as separate and unrelated—and thus provides a convincing interpretation of his concerns that is plausibly developmental and fully historical. Thus, Paracelsus is made to cast further light on his times, and the times are made to illuminate him. This is an extremely solid and well-written work based on fully adequate scholarship and an impressively broad—and deep—understanding of the period." — William J. Bouwsma, University of California, Berkeley"This is a successful analysis of the life and writings of a seminal thinker of the sixteenth century, whose theories have had major influence on Western thought since his time. The author proceeds by discussing the salient features of difficult texts within the historical context. Weeks describes his task as a 'text-centered historicism.' I know of nothing recent in English that would rival this work." — D.F. Durnbaugh, Juniata College

• Preface Introduction Chapter 1 The Ambiguities of Paracelsus Chapter 2 Plague and Salvation Chapter 3 Peasant War and Iconoclasm Chapter 4 The Liberation of the Divine Image Chapter 5 The Voyage of Medicine Chapter 6 The World as Mirror Chapter 7 The Illumination of Theory Conclusion Notes Select Bibliography Index