From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe true subject is publicly visible but its recognition is said to be given to very few.
- In KhunrathThe p. 32 margin explains restricted bestowal by the danger that misuse could harm recipients or others, and tells the reader to pray to belong among the few.
- In this editionKeep divine withholding of recognition distinct from the author's withholding of additional conditions.
- A reading distinction“No respecter of persons” belongs to p. 32 body.
Meaning
The true subject is publicly visible but its recognition is said to be given to very few. Election names this selective divine granting; worthiness also governs what the philosophers disclose. The two should not be collapsed into a single human admission procedure.
Use in the book
The p. 32 margin explains restricted bestowal by the danger that misuse could harm recipients or others, and tells the reader to pray to belong among the few. At pp. 44–452 divine government of perception explains how an ordinary known object remains unrecognized. These are claims about God's freedom and the knower's condition.
The author also withholds information deliberately. At p. 55 he omits further requisites and properties partly so that not every peasant may find a way in. Page 64 says the philosophers' many names hide the subject from the unworthy, and p. 145 refuses indiscriminate public disclosure. This is a human practice of exclusion justified by an account of divine selection.
The classed phrase about peasants should remain visible. It is not erased by the earlier assertion that God is no respecter of persons. The text contains both a denial that high estate guarantees recognition and an explicitly elitist reason for withholding information.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 32 · marginRestricted bestowal is justified by the risks of misuse
- 1599 p. 45Recognition is allowed to only a few despite common acquaintance
- 1599 p. 55The omission of further properties includes an exclusionary reference to peasants
- 1599 p. 64Multiple philosophical names conceal the subject from the unworthy
- 1599 p. 145Public disclosure is refused under a doctrine of divine election
Translation in this edition
Keep divine withholding of recognition distinct from the author's withholding of additional conditions. Translating both as simply “secrecy” would obscure their different agents and explanations.
Source note
“No respecter of persons” belongs to p. 32 body. The tension with p. 55 is a feature of the source to describe, not a contradiction to resolve by deleting either phrase.