Faith & RitualGreek → English
Theurgy
/ˈθiːɜrdʒi/noun
Ritual practice intended to summon divine presence or unite the soul with the divine.
The Greek roots
θεός
theós
god
ἔργον
érgon
work, deed
Literally: “god-work”
The story of the word
Where theology talks about the gods, theurgy tries to act on them, and the contrast was deliberate. It belongs to late Neoplatonism: Iamblichus defended ritual invocation against Porphyry's objection that a philosopher should need nothing but thought, arguing that the soul cannot climb out of the body by reasoning alone. Renaissance magicians read Iamblichus in Latin translation and brought the word into English with the practice attached.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
liturgyenergysurgerymetallurgytheology
In a sentence
The Chaldean Oracles are the closest thing theurgy has to a handbook.
He drew a sharp line between theurgy and the goetia the law punished.