by Mircea Eliade · ALIANZA: BOLSILLO · tapa blanda · ISBN 9788420615332
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In 'Herreros y alquimistas' ('The Forge and the Crucible'), Mircea Eliade explores the rich history of archaic and primitive cultures, highlighting their uniqueness in contrast to Eurocentric perspectives. Through essays, Eliade examines the myths, rites, and symbols associated with the trades of miners, metallurgists, and blacksmiths, revealing how this knowledge was transmitted through initiation rites. Furthermore, he analyzes alchemy as a sacred science that seeks the transmutation of matter and human life, showing the connection between the experimental and the mystical in the search for the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian 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 interpreter of religious experience, he established paradigms in religious studies. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential. One of his most instrumental contributions to religious studies was his theory of eternal return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but actually participate in them.
