Proclus was a prolific writer of philosophical texts. His works include commentaries on Plato, Euclid and even Ptolemy's astronomy. Employing arcane language, he embellished his ontology with Chaldean theology, Neoplatonic mysticism, science and Platonic philosophy. In his works, soteriological and theurgic rhetoric combine seamlessly with systematic philosophy, and the resulting fusion of ideas can be baffling to a contemporary reader. C. remedies this by writing a complete and informative ‘guide for the perplexed’ allowing both students and scholars to gain entry into these profound and complex texts. As C. explains, ‘The Neoplatonist universe represents a hologram: each sphere of knowledge mirrors all the others and is convertible to them’ (p. 10).

In order to provide a ‘vision of the whole’ in a manner that renders Proclus understandable for the modern reader, C. acknowledges that he has had to employ ‘deliberate simplifications’ (p. 47). He describes Proclus' world as one that is an intelligible and logically consistent ‘… network of fixed channels enabling the flow of divine energy’ (p. 48). The One, ultimately unfathomable, is totally ungraspable and indefinable and a subject for negative theology. Proclus' concept of ‘henads’, however, and formulations about the effects of the One on lower hypostases, render a positive understanding of Proclus' ontology possible. Further, participation of lower in higher realms of being and desire make the ontology, at the same time, an ‘ethics’ based on the attraction of all things to a final cause: the Good. The One, in this multilayered hierarchy, is simultaneously distant and yet present to all levels of reality allowing even the remotest individual entities to be under its control (p. 49). C. succeeds in conveying the ‘sense’ of the complex hierarchically organised Procline ontology that includes grades of reality and levels of participation and he regularly supplies contrasts with Plotinus. While Plotinus, for example, associates the gods with the intelligible universe, Proclus, going even beyond Iamblichus, identifies the gods with the One as such.

Proclus' universe of elaborate hierarchically determined ontology processing from a ‘One’ which is indefinable and unknowable, C. points out, can subject Proclus to attacks such as that of Dodds who characterise it as ‘a rigid determinism’. C. supplies an apologetic defence of the Procline universe in terms of the indefinable nature of the One. ‘Were the One definable in any way, its supervision would necessarily have the form of strict rules to which all things must conform’ thus justifying Dodds' critique. Proclus' negative theology combines here with the idea that the One supervenes on all of reality even down to matter (as opposed to Plotinus whose ‘matter’ is still not under full control of the One). The One's providential care of the world, though never known by mortals, leaves room for individual decisions and a certain amount of freedom. C. supplements this discussion with a well-developed examination of the paradoxes of the relation of the gods and the Good to evil in a chapter on Proclus' theodicy citing his Ten Doubts concerning Providence.

This is but one instance of C.'s meticulousness in including discussions of some of the less well-known works of Proclus. His chapter on inspired poetry and its symbols, for example, is an area known to a wider area of academic studies on the topic of ancient literary criticism but not usually included in an introduction to Proclus' work. C. associates Proclus' study of mythic and poetic symbols with his views on Theurgy (the preceding chapter), affording the reader a nuanced understanding of how Proclus' literary criticism fits in with his larger vision. The Neoplatonist treatment of Plato and Homer as divine authorities served the function of preserving the endangered Hellenic cultural tradition in the wake of Christianity. C., referring to Proclus' commentary on the Republic, explains that Proclus' approach goes beyond regarding Homer as allegory and treats Homer as inspired symbolism. Proclus' hermeneutic strategy is to regard the monstrous incidents in the earlier myths, for example, as expressing the inexpressible power and transcendence of the gods.

C.'s chapter on Ethics is another good example of his ability to venture into an area of interest to modern readers but not often explored by scholars of Proclus, who generally concentrate on metaphysics and theology. Exploring the ‘more practical consequences implicit in Proclus’ abstract conception' (p. 234), he extracts an ‘ethical’ doctrine. He proposes the possibility that an amalgam of Proclus' lesser known works, On the Existence of Evils, Commentary on Alcibiades and others can combine with the views of Plotinus, Porphyry and Iamblichus on the ‘virtues’ to form an ethics. (Plotinus' purified soul free from corporeal states, Porphyry's purificatory, contemplative and paradigmatic virtues and Iamblichus' theurgic or hieratic virtues all bear upon this discussion.) He refers to the Neoplatonist idea of ‘becoming like god’ (as stipulated in Plato's Theatetus) as relevant here. In support of a Procline ethics, C. adds Marinus' depiction of Proclus as a saint, detached from the world who aided his friends and acted in matters of political justice. All these pieces provide, for C., the ingredients of a cogent theory of moral action. Further, the Commentary on Alcibiades allows for speculation that the providential care for the world on the part of the gods gives guidance to a philosopher who should behave in his effort to become like the gods by applying the ordering virtues to the lower parts of this world. This is analogous to the Commentary on Timaeus where Proclus answers the question why the soul descends into the world: it is to imitate the providential care of the gods. Thus the superhuman moral integrity of the sage makes him a powerful ethical model for moral actions.

In ‘World View’ C. tackles the geopolitical situation that impacted on the Athenian School that Proclus led for many years. He asserts that the Greek philosophical religion was removed from local cults corresponding to the tension between imperial and local patriotism. Here, C. relies primarily on Peter Brown's views on Plotinus' attitude towards civic polytheism. While Christianity was capable of bridging the gap between universal and local concerns, as well as that between philosophers and ordinary believers (p. 263), Neoplatonist theology was for the elite. Plotinus in the third century was ‘the first clear example of a philosopher with no local connections whatsoever … as a philosopher he felt above them …’. This analysis perhaps sets up a false dichotomy. Although late-antiquity Neoplatonists were politically competitive with Christians and disdained their impiety, they were not setting out to construct an organised religion, as was Christianity (see E. Kutash, Ten Gifts of the Demiurge: Proclus on the Timaeus [2011], Chapter 2). Their ‘elitism’ was not a disdain for local civil religions as much as a sincere attempt to unify philosophical theories and mystical texts and practices, both oracular and theurgic. Still it is of the utmost relevance to discuss the geopolitical situation when contextualising Proclus and his school within the Christian–pagan conflicts of his time. The theory that the ideology of the Neoplatonists was somehow a failed ‘religion’ may sacrifice complexity for a facile generalisation.

C. provides a guide to Proclus' texts in one compact volume and at the same time he engages the interest of contemporary readers. At times, this leads him to construe Proclus as though he could address ‘postmodern’ issues. In the concluding chapter, for example, he speculates concerning deconstruction and negative theology, characterising Neoplatonism as a ‘perfect answer to deconstruction’. The mixing of postmodern discourse and Proclus' exotic but pagan Athenian school with its Chaldean loyalties, without the time or space to devote a more systematic treatment of this connection, is intriguing but risky. Overall, C. has arrived at what he set out to do. Working with the assumption that Proclus can be appreciated by readers outside the inner circle of specialised Proclus scholars, he has achieved the formidable task of allowing an uninitiated reader to peruse the mysterious, arcane and rich world of Proclus' thought.