 It remains beyond doubt that his stance on the matter is anti-intellectualist in nature and thus in stark contrast with the teachings of Plotinus and Porphyry. One does not start with self-knowledge, as Porphyry had set out to demonstrate in a treatise On the phrase: “Know thyself”, which he had dedicated to Iamblichus, no doubt cognizant of all the implications of this (Fr. 273 Smith = Stobaeus, Anthology III, 21, 26). Instead, knowledge of the gods encompasses self-knowledge (Reply to Porphyry X, 1 [SS-2013: 212.2–3]) and should be taken as the correct starting-point. What remains intellectualistic in Iamblichus’ approach is the conviction that not acting in the light of theological knowledge leads to the failure of the ritual process (ibid. II, 10 [SS-2013: 68.25–69.20]). Accordingly, the best theurgist is also the best theologian: and since Iamblichus’ theology is highly philosophical in nature, insofar as it strives to identify the Pagan gods with metaphysical forces or concepts and submits them to the authority of the Platonic One, it seems necessary that, in Iamblichus’ system, precedence be given to Neoplatonist religious specialists deriving their information from the appropriate literature. In this respect, theurgy represents a rationalization of the irrational, rather than the converse. It is also important to note that the conflict between the Plotino-Porphyrian approach and Iamblichus’ one does not simply amount to a conflict between philosophy and religion; rather, it opposes two different modes of access to the divine, with Iamblichus’ predecessors laying emphasis on silent ascesis and the shedding of our external identity, and accordingly viewing corporeality and materiality as something inherently negative.