The Zurich Paracelsus Project
The Scope of Paracelsus Studies
The Swiss physician, natural philosopher, alchemist, and radical theologian Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493-1541), belongs to the most well known figures in Renaissance history. The systematic research regarding his collected works is still rather neglected. Paracelsus's writings cover a vast range including medicine, surgery, natural philosophy, alchemy, astronomy, natural magic, and reformation theology. The scholarly focus of the last decades was rather on Paracelsus's influence on the development of the sciences than on the very origins: his life and works. For example a whole quarter of his extensive theological oeuvre was never printed in spite of his fame. The situation looks hardly better for the printed medical and philosophical writings. For the most part they lack a scholarly edition which includes a critical apparatus and specific comments.
The Zurich Paracelsus Project and the New Paracelsus Edition were founded to meet these editorial requirements. The main objectives of the Paracelsus project are the completion of the edition of the works and the indexing of the content by means of a general index and a database.
Research Objectives
- Promotion of Paracelsus Studies especially on the life and teachings
- Scholarly edition of the unprinted theological works New Paracelsus Edition
- Re-edition of selected medical, theological, prophetic, and magical works
- Construction of the comprehensive searchable Paracelsus Database THEO of the complete works
- General index of the complete works