Authors: Paul Rorem
ISBN-13: 9780195076646, ISBN-10: 0195076648
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: February 1993
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago
"Dionysius the Areopagite" is the biblical name chosen by the pseudonymous author of an influential body of Christian theological texts, dating from around 500 C.E. The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, and The Mystical Theology offer a synthesis of biblical interpretation, liturgical spirituality, and Neoplatonic philosophy. Their central motif, which has made them the charter of Christian mysticism, is the upward progress of the soul toward God through the spiritual interpretation of the Bible and the liturgy. Dionysius continually reminds his readers, however, that all human concepts fall short of the transcendence of God and must therefore be abandoned in negotiations and silence. In this book, Rorem provides a commentary on all of the Dionysian writings, chapter by chapter, and examines especially their complex inner coherence. The Dionysian influence on medieval theology is introduced in essays on specific topics: hierarchy, biblical symbolism, angels, Gothic architecture, liturgical allegory, the scholastic doctrine of God, and the mystical theology of the western Middle Ages. Rorem's book makes these texts more accessible to both scholars and students and includes a comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources.
Abbreviations | ||
Pt. I | The Letters as Introduction | 3 |
Orientation | 3 | |
Reading Method for "An Obscure Style" | 5 | |
Letters 1 Through 6 as a Preview | 7 | |
Letter 7 to Polycarp, a Hierarch: The Questions of Authorship | 12 | |
Letter 8: Issues of Hierarchy and Authority | 18 | |
Letter 9: Biblical and Liturgical Symbolism | 24 | |
Letter 10: Summary | 27 | |
Influence in the Middle Ages | 29 | |
Pt. II | The Celestial Hierarchy | 47 |
Introduction: Chapters 1 Through 3 | 49 | |
Presentation of the Heavenly Hierarchy: Chapters 4 Through 10 | 60 | |
Specific Problems: Chapters 11 Through 14 | 68 | |
The Biblical Descriptions of the Angels: Chapter 15 | 72 | |
The Influence in the Middle Ages | 73 | |
Pt. III | The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy | 91 |
Chapter 1 as Introduction | 91 | |
Chapter 2: Baptism, or "The Divine Birth" | 96 | |
Chapter 3: The Synaxis or Communion | 99 | |
Chapter 4: The Consecration of the Ointment (Myron) | 104 | |
Chapter 5: The Clergy and Their Ordinations | 107 | |
Chapter 6: The Lay Orders, Including Monastic Tonsure | 111 | |
Chapter 7: Funerals, and Conclusion | 114 | |
The Medieval Genre of Liturgical Commentaries | 118 | |
Pt. IV | The Divine Names | 133 |
Chapter 1 as Introduction | 133 | |
Chapter 2 | 137 | |
Chapter 3 | 145 | |
Chapter 4 | 148 | |
Chapters 5, 6, and 7 on Being, Life, and Wisdom | 153 | |
Chapters 8 Through 12 on Various Names | 158 | |
Chapter 13 and Conclusion | 162 | |
The Medieval Influence of The Divine Names | 167 | |
Pt. V | The Mystical Theology | 183 |
Chapter 1 | 184 | |
Chapter 2 | 193 | |
Chapter 3 | 194 | |
Chapter 4 | 205 | |
Chapter 5 | 210 | |
Influence in the Middle Ages | 214 | |
Afterword On the Question of Influence in the Middle Ages | 237 | |
Appendix: Overview of the Dionysian Writings | 241 | |
Bibliographies | 245 |