- Lived:
- c. 245–325 CE · Chalcis in Syria; taught at Apamea
- Tradition:
- Late Neoplatonism — the "theurgic" turn, where philosophy joins hands with ritual
- The Big Idea:
- Thinking alone cannot lift a soul to the divine. Because we are fully embodied creatures, the gods must be met — through rites, symbols, and sacred matter — not merely thought about.
- In their words:
- "It is not thinking that unites theurgists to the gods — else what would hinder those who philosophize theoretically from enjoying union with them?"
- If you remember one thing:
- He is the philosopher of why humans light candles, kneel at thresholds, and gather for rituals — the one who argued, against his own teacher, that some things cannot be gotten by thinking.