Ioan Petru Culianu or Couliano (5 January 1950 – 21 May 1991) was a Romanian historian of

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, and ideas, a philosopher and political essayist, and a short story writer. He served as professor of the history of religions at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

from 1988 to his death, and had previously taught the history of Romanian culture at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

. An expert in

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...

and Renaissance magic, he befriended, was encouraged by

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...

, though he gradually distanced himself from his mentor. Culianu published seminal work on the interrelation of the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

, magic,

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, and history. Culianu was murdered in 1991. It has been much speculated his murder was in consequence of his critical view of Romanian national politics. Some factions of the Romanian political right openly celebrated his murder. The Romanian '' Securitate'', which he once lambasted as a force "of epochal stupidity", has also been suspected of involvement and of using puppet fronts on the right as cover.

Biography

Education and career

Culianu was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, the son of Elena Bogdan (1907–2000), a chemistry professor at the University of Iași, and Sergiu-Andrei Culianu (1904–1964), a lawyer and a teacher. His maternal grandfather was Petru Bogdan, a chemistry professor and a Mayor of Iași, while one of his paternal grand-grandfathers was Nicolae Culianu, a professor of mathematics and astronomy. He studied at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

, graduating in May 1972 with a major in Italian language and literature. He then traveled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he was granted

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

while attending lectures in

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

in July 1972. He graduated in November 1975 from the

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, colloquially the Catholic University of Milan () or simply the Cattolica, is an Italian private research university founded in 1921. Its main campus is located in Milan, Italy, with satellite campuses in B ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

with a doctorate in the history of religion; his thesis, ''Gnosticismo e pensiero contemporaneo: Hans Jonas'', was written under the direction of . Culianu lived briefly in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and from 1976 to 1985 he taught at the

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He left Europe for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1986, becoming a

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...

in January 1991. After a stint as visiting professor at the

, he became a professor there; he was due to receive a permanent appointment in July 1991. He took a second

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the University of Paris IV in January 1987, with the thesis ''Recherches sur les dualismes d'Occident. Analyse de leurs principaux mythes'' ("Research into Western Dualisms. An Analysis of their Major Myths"), coordinated by Michel Meslin. Having completed three doctorates and being proficient in six languages, Culianu specialized in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

magic and

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

. He became a friend, and later the

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

, of

, the famous historian of religions. He also wrote fiction and political articles. Culianu had divorced his first wife, and at the time of his death was engaged to Hillary Wiesner, a 27-year-old graduate student at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Death

On Tuesday, May 21, 1991, at noon, just minutes after concluding a conversation with his doctoral student, Alexander Argüelles, on a day when the building was teeming with visitors to a book sale, Culianu was murdered in the bathroom of Swift Hall, of the University of Chicago Divinity School. He was shot once in the back of the head with a .25 caliber automatic weapon. The identity of the killer and the motive are still unknown. Speculation arose that he had been killed by former Securitate agents, due to political articles in which he attacked the Communist regime. The murder occurred a year and a half after the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

of December 1989 and

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

's death. Before being killed, he had published a number of articles and interviews that heavily criticized the Ion Iliescu post-Revolution regime, making Culianu one of the government's most vocal adversaries. Several theories link his murder with the Romanian Intelligence Service, which was widely perceived as the successor of the Securitate; several pages of Culianu's Securitate files are inexplicably missing. Some reports suggest that Culianu had been threatened by anonymous phone calls in the days leading up to his killing. Ultra-

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and neo-fascist involvement, as part of an

Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...

revival in connection with the nationalist discourse of the late years of Ceauşescu's rule and the rise of the Vatra Românească and România Mare parties, was not itself excluded from the scenario; according to Vladimir Tismăneanu: " ulianugave the most devastating indictment of the new union of far left and

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

in Romania".Tismăneanu, in Anton As part of his criticism of the Iron Guard, Culianu had come to expose

's connections with the latter movement during the interwar years (because of this, relations between the two academics had soured for the final years of Eliade's life). Culianu was buried at Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași.

Works

Scholarly works

* ''Mircea Eliade'', Assisi, Cittadella Editrice, 1978; Roma, Settimo Sigillo, 2008(2); ''Mircea Eliade'', București, Nemira, 1995, 1998(2); Iași, Polirom, 2004(3) * ''Iter in Silvis: Saggi scelti sulla gnosi e altri studi'', Gnosis, no. 2, Messina, EDAS, 1981 * ''Religione e accrescimento del potere'', in G. Romanato, M. Lombardo, I.P. Culianu, ''Religione e potere'', Torino, Marietti, 1981 * ''Psychanodia: A Survey of the Evidence Concerning the Ascension of the Soul and Its Relevance'', Leiden, Brill, 1983 * ''Éros et Magie à la Renaissance. 1484'', Paris, Flammarion, 1984; ''Eros and Magic in the Renaissance'', Chicago,

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, 1987; ''Eros e magia nel Rinascimento: La congiunzione astrologica del 1484'', Milano, Il Saggiatore – A. Mondadori, 1987; ''Eros şi magie în Renaştere. 1484'', București, Nemira, 1994, 1999(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2003(3), 2011, 2015; ''Eros y magia en el Renacimiento. 1484'', Madrid, Ediciones Siruela, 1999 * ''Expériences de l'extase: Extase, ascension et récit visionnaire de l'hellénisme au Moyen Age'', Paris, Payot, 1984; ''Experienze dell'estasi dall'Ellenismo al Medioevo'', Bari, Laterza, 1986 * ''Gnosticismo e pensiero moderno: Hans Jonas'', Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1985 * ''Recherches sur les dualismes d'Occident: Analyse de leurs principaux mythes'', Lille, Lille-Thèses, 1986; ''I miti dei dualismi occidentali'', Milano, Jaca Book, 1989 * ''Les Gnoses dualistes d'Occident: Histoire et mythes'', Paris, Plon, 1990; '' The Tree of Gnosis'', New York,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 1992; ''Gnozele dualiste ale Occidentului. Istorie si mituri'', București, Nemira, 1995; Iaşi, Polirom, 2002(2), 2013 * ''Out of this World: Otherworldly Journeys from Gilgamesh to Albert Einstein'', Boston, Shambhala, 1991; ''Mas alla de este mundo'', Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1993; ''Călătorii in lumea de dincolo'', București, Nemira, 1994, 1999(2); Iași, Polirom, 2003(3), 2007, 2015; ''Jenseits dieser Welt'', Munchen, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, 1995 * ''I viaggi dell'anima'', Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1991 * ''The Tree of Gnosis : Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism'', San Francisco,

, 1992; ''Arborele gnozei. Mitologia gnostică de la creştinismul timpuriu la nihilismul modern'', București, Nemira, 1999; Iasi, Polirom, 2005, 2015 * ''Experiences del extasis'', Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1994; ''Experienţe ale extazului'', București, Nemira, 1997; Iași, Polirom, 2004(2) * ''Religie şi putere'', București, Nemira, 1996; Iași, Polirom, 2005 * ''Psihanodia'', București, Nemira, 1997, Iași, Polirom, 2006 * ''Păcatul împotriva spiritului. Scrieri politice'', București, Nemira, 1999; Iași, Polirom, 2005, 2013 * ''Studii româneşti I. Fantasmele nihilismului. Secretul Doctorului Eliade'', București, Nemira, 2000; Iași, Polirom, 2006 * "Studii românești II. Soarele și Luna. Otrăvurile admirației", Iași, Polirom, 2009 * "Iter in silvis I. Eseuri despre gnoză și alte studii", Iași, Polirom, 2012 * "Iter in silvis II. Gnoză și magie", Iași, Polirom, 2013 * ''Jocurile minţii. Istoria ideilor, teoria culturii, epistemologie'', Iaşi, Polirom, 2002 * ''Iocari serio. Ştiinţa şi arta în gîndirea Renaşterii'', Iaşi, Polirom, 2003 * ''Cult, magie, erezii. Articole din enciclopedii ale religiilor'', Iaşi, Polirom, 2003 * ``Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) si problemele platonismului in Renastere, Iasi, Polirom, 2015 * ``, 2004, 2013 (2)

Co-author

* With Mircea Eliade and H.S. Wiesner: ''Dictionnaire des Religions'', Avec la collaboration de H.S. Wiesner. Paris, Plon, 1990, 1992(2); ''The Eliade Guide to World Religions'', Harper, San Francisco, 1991; ''Handbuch der Religionen'', Zürich und München, Artemis-Winkler-Verlag, 1991; Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch, 1995; ''Diccionario de las religiones'' Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1993; ''Dicţionarul religiilor'', București,

Humanitas (from the Latin , "human") is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word corresponded to the Greek concepts of (loving ...

, 1993, 1996(2); Iași, Polirom, 2007 *''The Encyclopedia of Religion'', Collier Macmillan, New York, 1987 *''The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions'', Harper, San Francisco, 2000

Fiction

* ''La collezione di smeraldi. Racconti'', Milano, Jaca Book, 1989 * ''Hesperus'', București, Univers, 1992; București, Nemira, 1998(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2003(3) * ''Pergamentul diafan. Povestiri'', București, Nemira, 1994 * ''Pergamentul diafan. Ultimele povestiri'', București, Nemira, 1996(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2002(3) * ''Arta fugii. Povestiri'', Iași, Polirom, 2002 * ''Jocul de smarald'', Iași, Polirom, 2005, 2011(2) * "Tozgrec'', Iași, Polirom, 2010

Other

* ''Dialoguri întrerupte. Corespondența Mircea Eliade – Ioan Petru Culianu'', Iași, Polirom, 2004

Works about Culianu

*A biography and an analysis of his death was published by Ted Anton under the title ''Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Professor Culianu'', 2013, (alluding to Culianu's most influential work, ''Eros and Magic in the Renaissance''). *

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

alludes to Culianu's murder in his novella '' Ravelstein'', 2000, with the protagonist (based on Bellow) and his friend Ravelstein (based on

Allan Bloom Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Un ...

) speculating that the murder was perpetrated by far-right activists. * Elemire Zolla, ''Ioan Petru Culianu'', Alberto Tallone Editore, 1994. *

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, ''Murder in Chicago'', in ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'', April 10, 1997 * Sorin Antohi (ed.), ''Religion, Fiction, and History. Essays in Memory of Ioan Petru Culianu'', Volumes I-II, Bucharest, Nemira, 2001. *Sorin Antohi (coordinator), ''Ioan Petru Culianu. Omul și opera'', Iași, Polirom, 2003 * Matei Călinescu, ''Despre Ioan Petru Culianu și Mircea Eliade. Amintiri, lecturi, reflecții'', Iași, Polirom, 2002, 2005(2). * Andrei Oișteanu, ''Religie, politică şi mit. Texte despre Mircea Eliade și Ioan Petru Culianu'', Polirom, Iași, 2007 (ediția a doua, revăzuta, adăugita și ilustrată, Polirom, Iași, 2014) *Marcello De Martino, ''Mircea Eliade esoterico. Ioan Petru Culianu e i "non detti"'', Roma, Settimo Sigillo, 2008. *Olga Gorshunova
''Terra Incognita of Ioan Culianu''
in '' Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie'', 2008 № 6:94-110. *Raul Popescu, ''Ioan Petru Culianu. Ipostazele unui eretic'', Eikon, Bucuresti, 2017.

Notes

References

* * * * Olga Gorshunov
'' Ioan Culianu: v chetvjortom izmerenii''
(''Ioan Culianu: In The Fourth Dimension''), in ''Etnoragraficheskoe Obozrenie Online'', September, 2008. *

External links

* David Levi Strauss
"Magic & Images/Images & Magic"
in '' The Brooklyn Rail''
Guide to the Ioan P. Culianu Papers 1883-1991
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culianu, Ioan Petru 1950 births 1991 deaths 1991 murders in the United States 20th-century Romanian historians 20th-century Romanian short story writers 20th-century Romanian essayists 20th-century Romanian philosophers Anti-Gnosticism Romanian historians of religion Writers from Iași Romanian emigrants to the United States Romanian defectors Romanian male short story writers Romanian writers in French Romanian people murdered abroad Academic staff of the University of Groningen People murdered in Chicago Deaths by firearm in Illinois Burials at Eternitatea cemetery Romanian expatriates in France Historians of Gnosticism University of Bucharest alumni University of Chicago faculty University of Paris alumni Unsolved murders in the United States