Negative Theology from Gregory of Nyssa to Dionysius the Areopagite

2012 ◽  
pp. 161-176
Author(s):  
Charles M. Stang
Keyword(s):  
Negative Theology ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite

scholarly journals A Negative Theological Critique of Postmodern Identity Politics

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 488
Author(s):  
William Franke
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Literary Imagination ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Negative Theology ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
Theological Critique

This paper leverages the Christian tradition of negative theology (Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus) in order to think past the impasses of identitarian politics and culture. It essentially bears on Christianity and on literary imagination by valorizing their focus on the mystery of who we are beyond all divisive identities and on how an orientation to negative-theological transcendence can save us from a toxic obsession with identities in a postmodern, postcolonial, post-gender society.

scholarly journals On the Origins of the Very First Principle as Infinite: The Hierarchy of the Infinite in Damascius and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-152
Author(s):  
Tiziano F. Ottobrini
Keyword(s):  
First Principle ◽  
Negative Theology ◽  
Theoretical Relationship ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
The One ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius

This paper discusses the theoretical relationship between the views of Damascius and those of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. While Damascius’ De principiis is a bold treatise devoted to investigating the hypermetaphysics of apophatism, it anticipates various theoretical positions put forward by Dionysius the Areopagite. The present paper focuses on the following. First, Damascius is the only ancient philoso­pher who systematically demonstrates the first principle to be infinite (traditional Greek thought tended to regard the arkhē as finite). Second, Damascius modifies the concept and in several important passages shows the infinite to be superior and prior to the finite (previously this assumption was held only by Melissus and, sporadically, by Gregory of Nyssa and Plotinus). Third, Damascius’ theory of being (infinite, endless and ultrarational) is the strongest ancient articulation of the nature of the One which is a clear prefiguration of the negative theology developed by Dionysius the Areopagite.

Three Ways to Imitate Paul in Late Antiquity: Ekstasis, Ekphrasis, Epektasis

2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-117
Author(s):  
Michael Motia
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius ◽  
Scholarly Attention

AbstractRobert Orsi’s argument that religion, more than a system of “meaning making,” is a “network of relationships between heaven and earth” helps us understand what is at stake in imitation for early Christians. The question for Orsi is not, “What does it mean to imitate Paul?” as much as it is, “In what kind of relationship is one engaged when one imitates Paul?” Christians argue over both what to imitate (Who is Paul?) and how to imitate (How should Christians relate to Paul in order to be like him or to render him present?). The what has received lots of scholarly attention; this paper focuses on the how. I compare the range of possibilities of how to imitate Paul by focusing on three influential accounts of mimesis: Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (ekstasis), John Chrysostom (ekphrasis), and Gregory of Nyssa (epektasis).

From Dionysius to al-Ġazālī

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-236
Author(s):  
Alexander Treiger
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
First Principle ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Philosophical Texts ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The present article reports the discovery of a previously unknown ninth-century Arabic paraphrase of Dionysius the Areopagite and demonstrates that this paraphrase was accessible to al-Ġazālī (and, probably, to other authors, notably the Brethren of Purity). It also proves that this paraphrase was produced by the same translator as the Doxography of Pseudo-Ammonius. The doctrinal content of the Arabic Dionysian paraphrase is then analyzed in relation to Arabic Neoplatonic texts as well as al-Ġazālī’s writings. The influence of Gregory of Nyssa and John of Damascus on some Arabic philosophical texts (notably al-Kindī’s Book of Definitions) is also considered. The origin of “Interpositional Neoplatonism” (i.e., the kind of Neoplatonism that interposes an intermediate hypostasis between the First Principle and the Intellect) is examined. The Appendix discusses the relationship between the Doxography of Pseudo-Ammonius and Hippolytus of Rome’s Refutatio omnium haeresium.

scholarly journals Toward the philosophy of creation: Maximus the confessor

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-155
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
The Core ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Philosophical Argumentation ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The article aims to present the philosophical argumentation in favor of the Christian idea of the creation of the world exposed in the work of the seventh century author Maximus the Confessor. Maximus the Confessor developed his doctrine of creation on the basis of the philosophical arguments of his Christian predecessors, above all, Gregory of Nyssa, Nemesius of Emesa and Dionysius the Areopagite. The core of Maximus? argumentation on the creation of the world is similar to the position of the Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus (6th century), but it is additionally enriched with ideas deriving from the works of the aforementioned Christian authors. Some of the ideas that form the scaffolding of Maximus? doctrine of creation are: the fivefold division of beings, which has its climax in the division between the created and uncreated nature, the movement of creatures towards God, who alone is the true goal of their movement, the eternal existence of the world in logoi as expressions of divine will, God?s providential care not only for the universal but also for the individual beings and the deification of the entire created world as the initial purpose of creation. Maximus? views on creation are conveyed in a language that combines Aristotelian, Stoic and Neoplatonist philosophical vocabulary.

The Negative Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite

1963 ◽  
Vol 81 (263) ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
James W. Douglass
Keyword(s):  
Negative Theology ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite

scholarly journals Cosmological aspects of unity of the affirmative (kataphatic) and negative (apophatic) theological perspective

Sabornost ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Predrag Petrović
Keyword(s):  
Negative Theology ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
True Statement ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Divine Knowledge ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Negative Statements ◽  
The Many

Expressions of an affirmative and negative semantic determination are the basis of human linguistic communication. In order to communicate with one another, we must use true statements. We call true statements all those statements whose meaning is agreed upon by a large number of people. Each true statement consists of affirmative or negative statements, or both affirmative and negative statements. There are two ways of expression in the theological literature of theurgy, divine designation, and the many-faceted aspects of divine knowledge. The first way of expression is affirmative or cataphatic (gr. cataphaticή), and the second one is negative or apophatic (gr. ἀpophaticή). Although theological literature is full of problematic topics related to various aspects of affirmative and negative theological statements, we believe that for the sake of their fuller coverage it is necessary to include cosmological aspects in the discussion, since the cosmological dimension of existence is revealed as one of the basic assumptions of the theological problem of divine designation, which we find and in the theological tradition of the divine Dionysius the Areopagite. Finally, this theological aspect in contemporary theological studies of the various dimensions of affirmative and negative theology is particularly insufficient when considering its significance for the daily Christian life.

Sculpting God: The Logic of Dionysian Negative Theology

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Logical Structure ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Negative Theology ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Postmodern Theology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius

In recent decades, the theology of Dionysius the Areopagite (pseudo-Dionysius) has recaptured the attention of a number of scholars. These scholars address Dionysius's importance for the history of philosophy, for Christian aesthetics and liturgical and biblical symbols, and for postmodern theology. Much of this attention focuses on the brief and historically influentialThe Mystical Theology, written ca. 500 CE. For scholars, however, this text, like the God of which it speaks, seems to embody contradictions. I s there a consistent logic in the text, or is it deliberately inconsistent? In this essay, I shall analyze passages throughout the Dionysian corpus in order to interpret the sometimes dense expressions ofMystical Theologyand uncover the logical structure of Dionysius's negative theology. I shall suggest that Dionysius's primary task is to deny that God is a particular being. By identifying the patterns of language used to speak of beings, Dionysius can identify both affirmative and negative language that avoids such patterns and hence is appropriate for speech about God. This interpretation demands close attention to the distinction between particular assertions or denials and the assertion or denial of all beings. By focusing on this distinction and on the higher status of negative over affirmative theology, I shall show, against the dominant trend in Dionysian scholarship, that this negative theology logically coheres; it is neither self-negating nor logically contradictory.

scholarly journals Exegetical Puzzles and the Mystical Theologies of Gregory of Nyssa and Dionysius the Areopagite

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Ann Conway-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Text ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
Exodus Narrative

Abstract Gregory of Nyssa and Dionysius the Areopagite both contemplate the Exodus narrative of Moses’ experiences on Sinai. That narrative is complex, with Moses ascending and descending the mountain several times, sometimes in company, sometimes alone. Gregory follows the biblical twists and turns in Life of Moses; the relevant paragraph in Dionysius’ Mystical Theology tells of just one ascent. This article re-examines their dependence on the details of the biblical text, arguing that its exegetical puzzles proved fertile ground for their apophatic insights. Both seize on Exodus 20:21 as symbolising the utter incomprehensibility of God. But they resolve the enigmas of Exodus 33-34 differently. Gregory uses Exodus 33:18-23 as a springboard to his articulation of a never-ending journey into the infinite divine, while Exodus 34:29-35 provides the biblical impetus behind Dionysius’ concept of “union.”

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