He was undoubtably the biggest influence on Plotinus in his development of Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views.

Little is known about Ammonius's role in the development of Neoplatonism.

Early Christian Dualism is largely based on Platonic Dualism ( See: Neoplatonism and Christianity ).

The Demiurge of Neoplatonism is the Nous ( mind of God ), and is one of the three ordering principles:

Plotinus is noted as the founder of Neoplatonism ( along with his teacher Ammonius Saccas ).

* Neoplatonism is Monistic.

In Neoplatonism the world itself is God 37.

There is a distinct difference between Neoplatonism and Eastern Christianity.

In Neoplatonism, it is often said, all life returns to the source to be stripped of individual identity, a process called henosis, However, in orthodox Christianity, theosis restores the Likeness of God in man by grace ( by being united to God the Holy Trinity through participation in His divine energies ).

The first principle in Neoplatonism is the One ( Greek: to Hen ).

* Origen, disciple of Ammonius Saccas, founder of Neoplatonism, is exiled in Caesarea.

In late Neoplatonism, the spiritual Universe is regarded as a series of emanations from the One.

It is viewed either as a strength or weakness that this theory requires a second theory about how the Neoplatonism was transmitted to the troubadours ; perhaps it can be coupled with one of the other origins stories or perhaps it is just peripheral.

His work makes no mention of Neoplatonism, even though it is addressed to a woman who was " an enthusiastic Platonist.

As far as is known, his writings may be classified into philosophical ( interpretations of Aristotle, Porphyry, and others, translations of Petrus Hispanus and Thomas Aquinas, and defenses of Aristotelianism against the recrudescence of Neoplatonism ) and theological and ecclesiastical ( partly concerning the union and partly defending Christianity against Muslims, Jews, and pagans ), in addition to numerous homilies, hymns, and letters.

In Neoplatonism, the Intelligence ( Nous ) is the true first principle — the determinate, referential " foundation " ( arkhe )— of all existents ; for it is not a self-sufficient entity like the One, but rather possesses the ability or capacity to contemplate both the One, as its prior, as well as its own thoughts, which Plotinus identifies with the Platonic Ideas or Forms ( eide ).

The Lives of the Sophists, a collection of the biographies of twenty-three older and contemporary philosophers and sophists of the author, is valuable as the only source for the history of the Neoplatonism of that period.

The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.

) Aristotelianism finds no favor in Judah ha-Levi's eyes, for it is no less given to details and criticism ; Neoplatonism alone suited him somewhat, owing to its appeal to his poetic temperament.

It is often described as having been influenced by Neoplatonism.

Ammonius Saccas ( 3rd century AD ) () was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria who was often referred to as one of the founders of Neoplatonism.

Two of Ammonius's students-Origen the Pagan, and Longinus-seem to have held philosophical positions which were closer to Middle Platonism than Neoplatonism, which perhaps suggests that Ammonius's doctrines were also closer to those of Middle Platonism than the Neoplatonism developed by Plotinus ( see the Enneads ), but Plotinus does not seem to have thought that he was departing in any significant way from that of his master.

Several churches, such as the Anabaptists and Socinians of the Reformation, then Seventh-day Adventist Church, Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and theologians of different traditions reject the idea of the immortality of a non-physical soul as a vestige of Neoplatonism, and other pagan traditions.

Druze beliefs incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and other philosophies.

Armstrong alluding to Gnosticism being a Hellenic philosophical heresy of sorts, which later engaged Christianity and Neoplatonism.

During the Italian Renaissance, for example, translators such as Ficino and Pico della Mirandola turned their attention to the classical literature of Neoplatonism, and what was thought to be the pre-Mosaic tradition of Hermeticism.

Consequent discussions of Christian Gnosticism included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism ( especially Zurvanism ), and Neoplatonism.

The work of Frances Yates, especially influential in anglophone scholarship, argues that Bruno was deeply influenced by the astronomy found in Arab astrology, Neoplatonism and Renaissance Hermeticism.

Christian theologians have held idealist views, often based on Neoplatonism, despite the influence of Aristotelian scholasticism from the 12th century onward.

Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher, and then Neoplatonic theurgy from Aedesius ' student, Maximus of Ephesus.

He learned theurgy from Maximus of Ephesus, a student of Iamblichus ; his system bears some resemblance to the Neoplatonism of Plotinus ; Polymnia Athanassiadi has brought new attention to his relations with Mithraism, although whether he was initiated into it remains debatable ; and certain aspects of his thought ( such as his reorganization of paganism under High Priests, and his fundamental monotheism ) may show Christian influence.

Bowersock in particular ), Julian's paganism was highly eccentric and atypical because it was heavily influenced by an esoteric approach to Platonic philosophy sometimes identified as theurgy and also Neoplatonism.

Christianity as it emerged out of Second Temple Judaism ( or Hellenistic Judaism ) stood in competition with other religions advocating " pagan monotheism ", including Neoplatonism, Mithraism, Gnosticism, Manichaeanism, and the cult of Dionysus.

During the pre-Christian Roman Empire, Stoicism was one of the three dominant schools of philosophy, along with Epicureanism and Neoplatonism.

He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism.

He was also instructed in the " theurgic " Neoplatonism, as derived from the Orphic and Chaldean Oracles.

The One causes all things by conferring unity, in the form of individuality, on them, and in Neoplatonism existence, unity, and form tend to become equivalent.

Proclus can be considered as the spokesman of mature Neoplatonism.

Abimelech was most prominently the name of a polytheistic king of Gerar who is mentioned in two of the three wife-sister narratives in Genesis.

A minority Jewish view, which appears in some codes of Jewish law, is that while Christian worship is polytheistic ( due to the multiplicity of the Trinity ), it is permissible for them to swear in God's name, since they are referring to the one God.

By accommodating the conquered people's gods, religion became more polytheistic and government became somewhat more secular ; the title of lugal, big man, appears alongside the earlier religious titles, although his primary duty is still the worship of the state gods.

Antipater argues that marriage is the foundation of the state, and considers it to be based on divine ( polytheistic ) decree.

Related to rationalisation is the process of disenchantment, in which the world is becoming more explained and less mystical, moving from polytheistic religions to monotheistic ones and finally to the Godless science of modernity.

Hinduism cannot be said to be purely polytheistic, as all great Hindu religious leaders have repeatedly stressed that while God's forms are many and the ways to communicate with him are many, God is one.

The term " Neopagan " is deemed offensive and not used by many contemporary Pagans, who claim that the inclusion of the term " neo " disconnects them from their ancient polytheistic ancestors.

One view in the Pagan community is that these polytheistic deities are not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes that exist in the human psyche.

It has been noted that many Pagans argue that the adoption of a polytheistic worldview would be beneficial for western society, replacing the dominant monotheism that they believe is by its very nature politically and socially repressive.

Paganism ( from Latin paganus, meaning " country dweller ", " rustic ") is a blanket term, typically used to refer to religious traditions which are polytheistic or indigenous.

It is primarily used in a historical context, referring to Greco-Roman polytheism as well as the polytheistic traditions of Europe and North Africa before Christianization.

Panentheism ( from Greek ( pân ) " all "; ( en ) " in "; and ( theós ) " God "; " all-in-God ") is a belief system which posits that the divine ( be it a monotheistic God, polytheistic gods, or an eternal cosmic animating force ), interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it.

In the eighteenth dynasty, Akhenaten changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to a monotheistic one, Atenism of the solar-disk and is the first recorded state monotheism.

However other Jewish sources accept that the fact that there are various names of God used in the Hebrew Bible, and that Elohim is a plural word may suggest a polytheistic origin.

Ásatrú, meaning " faith in the Æsir ", is a new religious movement of polytheistic reconstructionism based on Norse paganism.

In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities.

The reforming churches believe that human weakness is naturally drawn to a form of false religion that is worldly, pompous, ritualistic, anthropomorphic, polytheistic, infected with magical thinking and legalism, and that values human accomplishment more highly or more practically than the work of God ( divine grace ) is valued.

It changed Egypt's religion from a polytheistic religion to a religion which may have been better described as a monolatry ( the depiction of a single god as an object for worship ) or henotheism ( one god, who is not the only god ).

Polytheistic reconstructionism is not a religion itself, but is the methodology for re-establishing a historical polytheistic ( or pre-Christian ) religion in the modern world.