7 - How hidden was God? Revelation and pedagogy in ancient and medieval Hermetic writings

Summary

The aim of this essay is to shed some light on the place of the hidden, transcosmic god in the corpus of philosophical and sacred writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. More specifically, I would like to juxtapose what I believe to be a clear didactic intent in the Hermetic writings with the exhortations to secrecy that are the hallmark of many works of esoteric revelation, including the Hermetic corpus. Why did the Hermetic authors think that there should be recorded teachings about a fundamentally hidden god? In other words, how hidden was the Hermetic god, and hidden from whom?

The answers to these questions will depend to some extent on the chronological parameters set for the study, which are to examine the Hermetica in the context of their initial elaboration in antiquity as well as their reception and use in the Middle Ages. My essay will focus first on a broad description of the nature and origin of the Hermetic corpus, followed by an assessment of its initial didactic intent. The use of Hermetic texts in didactic contexts continues into the medieval period, under considerably altered circumstances. I shall then focus on examining the various exhortations to secrecy in the Hermetic writings. The mandates toward secrecy are not universal in the Hermetic tradition, since it is explicitly permitted for the teacher to reveal his knowledge of the divine, but only to those deemed worthy.