The Authorship of the Pseudo-Dionysian Corpus

The Authorship of the Pseudo-Dionysian Corpus PDF Author: Vladimir Kharlamov
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000762564
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
This monograph revisits one of the most debated aspects of Dionysian scholarship: the enigma of its authorship. To establish the identity of the author remains impossible. However, the legitimacy of the attribution of the corpus to Dionysius the Areopagite should not be seen as an intended forgery but rather as a masterfully managed literary device, which better indicates the initial intention of the actual author. The affiliation with Dionysius the Areopagite has metaphorical and literary significance. Dionysius is the only character in the New Testament who is unique in his conjunction between the apostle Paul and the Platonic Athenian Academy. In this regard this attribution, to the mind of the actual author of the corpus, could be a symbolic gesture to demonstrate the essential truth of both traditions as derived essentially from the same divine source. The importance of this assumption taken in its historical context highlights the culmination of the formation of the civilized Roman-Byzantine Christian identity.

The Authorship of the Pseudo-Dionysian Corpus

The Authorship of the Pseudo-Dionysian Corpus PDF Author: Vladimir Kharlamov
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000762564
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
This monograph revisits one of the most debated aspects of Dionysian scholarship: the enigma of its authorship. To establish the identity of the author remains impossible. However, the legitimacy of the attribution of the corpus to Dionysius the Areopagite should not be seen as an intended forgery but rather as a masterfully managed literary device, which better indicates the initial intention of the actual author. The affiliation with Dionysius the Areopagite has metaphorical and literary significance. Dionysius is the only character in the New Testament who is unique in his conjunction between the apostle Paul and the Platonic Athenian Academy. In this regard this attribution, to the mind of the actual author of the corpus, could be a symbolic gesture to demonstrate the essential truth of both traditions as derived essentially from the same divine source. The importance of this assumption taken in its historical context highlights the culmination of the formation of the civilized Roman-Byzantine Christian identity.

Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius

Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius PDF Author: Ronald F. Hathaway
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401191832
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
N eoplatonism begins explicitly with Plotinus in the third century of our era. The later Neoplatonism of the fifth and six century schools at Athens and Alexandria was both the continuation of the philosophy of Plotinus and also a pagan ideology. When these schools were closed, despite attempts at compromise at Alexandria and as a result of direct and indirect political pressures and actions, pagan ideology died. Many philosophers, such as Isidore, Asclepiodotus, Damascius, and Olym piodorus, must have foreseen the danger to philosophy, and their extant writings are sprinkled with forebodings. Would the death of pagan ideology, in the form of pagan worship and the Homeric and Orphic traditions, bring about the death of all genuine philosophy as well? One answer to this great question is found in the enigmatic writings of Ps. -Dionysius the Areopagite. Purposing to be the writings of the Athenian convert of St. Paul, they fall within the province of a multitude of so-called "pseudepigraphic" Christian writings. 1. GENERAL ARGUMENT I embarked on the study of Ps. -Dionysius' Letters with two goals in mind: (r) to grasp in clear detail the unknown author's philosophic intentions in writing his famous Corpus and the way in which he set about writing, and (2) to attempt to see with precision the reason for the absence of a political philosophy in Christian Platonism. The Letters provided a richness of detail and information bearing on the first subject which was wholly unexpected.

Pseudo-Dionysius

Pseudo-Dionysius PDF Author: Dionysius
Publisher: Paulist Press
ISBN: 9780809128389
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Here are the complete works of the enigmatic fifth- and sixth-century writer known as the Pseudo Dionysius, prepared by a team of six research scholars.

Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture, c.500–900

Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture, c.500–900 PDF Author: Francesca Dell’Acqua
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030247694
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
This book uses Pseudo-Dionysius and his mystic theology to explore attitudes and beliefs about images in the early medieval West and Byzantium. Composed in the early sixth century, the Corpus Dionysiacum, the collection of texts transmitted under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, developed a number of themes which have a predominantly visual and spatial dimension. Pseudo-Dionysius’ contribution to the development of Christian visual culture, visual thinking and figural art-making are examined in this book to systematically investigate his long-lasting legacy and influence. The contributors embrace religious studies, philosophy, theology, art, and architectural history, to consider the depth of the interaction between the Corpus Dionysiacum and various aspects of contemporary Byzantine and western cultures, including ecclesiastical and lay power, politics, religion, and art.

John of Scythopolis and the Dionysian Corpus

John of Scythopolis and the Dionysian Corpus PDF Author: Paul Rorem
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198269700
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This book casts light on the figure of John of Scythopolis, the sixth-century theologian who composed a series of annotations to the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite (whose conversion by St Paul is mentioned in Acts 17: 34). It surveys John's sources, methods, and doctrinal concerns in the context of the important theological debates that wracked the eastern churches in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon.

The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite

The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite PDF Author: Dionysius the Areopagite
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Dionysius the Areopagite (or Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite) remains one of the most enigmatic figures of the early Christianity. He was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum. The author pseudonymously identifies himself in the corpus as "Dionysios", portraying himself as Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian convert of Paul the Apostle mentioned in Acts 17:34. This attribution to the earliest decades of Christianity resulted in the work being given great authority in subsequent theological writing in both the East and the West. The Dionysian writings and their mystical teaching were universally accepted throughout the East, amongst both Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians, and also had a strong impact in later medieval western mysticism, most notably Meister Eckhart. Its influence decreased in the West with the fifteenth-century demonstration of its later dating, but in recent decades, interest has increased again in the Corpus Areopagiticum.

Re-thinking Dionysius the Areopagite

Re-thinking Dionysius the Areopagite PDF Author: Sarah Coakley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405180897
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Dionysius the Areopagite, the early sixth-century Christian writer, bridged Christianity and neo-Platonist philosophy. Bringing together a team of international scholars, this volume surveys how Dionysius’s thought and work has been interpreted, in both East and West, up to the present day. One of the first volumes in English to survey the reception history of Dionysian thought, both East and West Provides a clear account of both modern and post-modern debates about Dionysius’s standing as philosopher and Christian theologian Examines the contrasts between Dionysius’s own pre-modern concerns and those of the post-modern philosophical tradition Highlights the great variety of historic readings of Dionysius, and also considers new theories and interpretations Analyzes the main points of hermeneutical contrast between East and West

Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Aquinas

Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Aquinas PDF Author: O'Rourke
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004451773
Category : Philosophy
Languages : la
Pages : 320

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Book Description
In Aquinas' encounter with Pseudo-Dionysius can be discovered an integral philosophy of reality — a comprehensive vision of existence, depicting the universe in its procession from and return to the Absolute, according to each grade of reality, including man, its place in the hierarchy of being. The point of divergence is the primacy attributed, in turn, by the authors to the Good or to Being as a universal principle. Against this background the present work investigates the influence of Dionysius with respect to the central themes of Aquinas' metaphysics: knowledge of the Absolute, and its nature as transcendent; Being as primary and universal perfection; the diffusion of creation; the hierarchy of creatures and return of all to God as the final end. This is one of the few studies to date which considers in a comprehensive way the relation between these remarkable thinkers. By concrete example and continual reference it illustrates both the pervasive influence of Pseudo-Dionysius and the profound originality of Aquinas.

Negating Negation

Negating Negation PDF Author: Timothy D Knepper
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
ISBN: 0227902653
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
'Negating Negation' critically examines key concepts in the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: divine names and perceptible symbols; removal and negation; hierarchy and hierurgy; ineffability and incomprehensibility. In each case it argues that the Dionysian corpus does not negate all things of an absolutely ineffable God; rather, it negates few things of a God that is effable in important ways. Dionysian divine names are not inadequate metaphors or impotent attributes but transcendent divine causes. Divine names are not therefore flatly negated of God but removed as ordinary properties to be revealed as divine causes. It is concluded that since the Dionysian corpus does not abandon all things to apophasis, it cannot be called to testify on behalf of (post)modern projects in religious pluralism and anti-ontotheology. Quite the contrary, the Dionysian corpus gives reason for suspicion of such projects, especially when they relativize or metaphorize religious belief and practice in the name of absolute ineffability.

On the Divine Names

On the Divine Names PDF Author: Pseudo-Dionysius
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781482536218
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, was a Christian theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, the author of the Corpus Areopagiticum (before 532). The author is identified as "Dionysos" in the corpus, which later incorrectly came to be attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian convert of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 17:34. His surviving works include Divine Names, Mystical Theology, Celestial Hierarchy, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and various epistles. Some other works, such as Theological Outlines, are presumed to be lost.His works are mystical and show strong Neoplatonic influence. For example he uses Plotinus' well-known analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which does not enhance the desired image. He shows familiarity with Proclus, which indicates he wrote no earlier than the 5th century, as well as influence from Saint Clement of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers, Origen of Alexandria, and others. The liturgical references in his writings also date his works after the 4th century. His writings were first cited in 519 in a work by Severus of Antioch, Adversus apologiam Juliani, who cited the Fourth Letter. Debates over the author of the Dionysian corpus began in the Renaissance.