Discussion regarding the origin of the concept of monads from Pythagorean, Hermetic, and Neo-Platonistic sources took place in the context of multitude of differing debates from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Over the course of these debates, the concept went through numerous modifications and reinterpretations. This volume examines these contexts and discusses the implications that changes in the concept of monads had for metaphysics, universal science, and theology as well as mathematics, physics, and the life sciences.

Examination of the works of Johann Arndt (1555-1621), a Lutheran author of edifying literature, reveals an understanding of piety based on natural theology and influenced by Florentine neo-Platonism, Paracelsus, Paracelsianism, and the alchemy of Heinrich Khunrath. The present study traces the relevant lines of this tradition with close reference to the sources and analyzes the way in which they were interpreted by Arndt and incorporated into his writings. It closes with a systematic discussion of the coherence existing between nature philosophy and mysticism in the early modern age.