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variety of things, the intellect cannot be materially transformed by any thing it perceives 264 —which means, Eckhart concludes, that intellect is nothing at all: intellect only is as it knows, and can know either all things or no thing in particular, meaning that it is either all things or no thing in particular. 265 As outlined above, the only other instance of being that is nothing at all was the esse indistinctum, and in this sense, the intellect is God—which leads Eckhart to the bold conclusion that the soul, insofar as it is intellect, is God. 266 This does not mean that the intellect does not function in more mundane ways, as it does when it is oriented towards multiplicity—that is, when it is ungelassen. However, when oriented toward the One in stripping away all distinction, the intellect is God. On the subject of intellect (vernünfticheit), Eckhart writes: “In dem, daz disiu kraft nihte glîch enist, sô ist si gote glîch,” and conversely “Rechte, als got nihte glîch enist, als enist ouch disiu kraft nihte glîch.” 267 Of course, Eckhart alludes to the intellect by a plethora of other metaphors as well, chief amongst which are the spark of the soul (Seelenfunke, vünkelîn), a little castle (burgelîn), a desert (wüeste), a silence (ein ieglîichez, daz ez ist, und werdent doch in der würklicheit der angesiht als ein, daz man mac gesprechen in der wârheit: ougeholz, und daz holz is mîn ouge. Waere aber daz holz âne materie und ez zemâle geistlich waere als diu gesiht mines ougen, sô möhte man sprechen in der wârheit, daz in der würklicheit der gesiht daz holz und mîn ouge bestüenden in einem wesene.” Eckhart, Werke, Vol. 1, 506:5-14. 264 Otherwise, if the intellect became square materially when it perceived a square thing, it would no longer be able to perceive a square thing (and all perception is by contrasts), because it would have to be both square and non-square, which is impossible. See Turner, 158. 265 This explanation of Eckhart’s definition of intellect relies on Turner’s presentation of the subject. Turner, Darkness, 156-159. 266 Eckhart, Werke, Vol. 2, 673. Though the intellect can function in these two modes, there are nevertheless not two intellects, but only one that can be gelassen or ungelassen. As Eckahrt writes: “Dâvon, als man die krefte [of the soul, including the five sense] nimet in dem wesene, sô sint sie alle ein und glîche edel; aber dâ man die kreft nimet in irn werken, sô ist einiu [das ungeschaffene Licht] vil edeler und vil hoeher dan diu ander.” Eckhart, Werke, Vol. 1, 508:2-5. (“If we consider the powers of the soul in their being, they are all one and equally noble: but if we take them in their functions, one is much higher and nobler than the other.” Eckhart, Complete Mystical Works, 310.) On the unity of the soul, or rather the unity of the entire man (body and soul), see also Turner, Darkness, 152-156. 267 The passages here are from Sermon 69. Eckhart, Werke, Vol. 2, 46:31 and 48:20-21. (“The very fact that this power is like nothing makes it like God. Just as God is like nothing, so this power is like nothing.” Eckhart, Teacher and Preacher, 313.Though Eckhart addresses the intellect throughout his work, Sermons 5b, 9, 69 and 71, taken together, address in more detail what I have given here in my paraphrase. 102
einvaltig stille), an uncreated light (lieht, daz ist in der sêle, daz ist ungeschaffen), 268 and the ground (grunt) or ground of the soul (seelengrunt), or even more simply as an einez. Behind Eckhart’s concept of Gelassenheit, then, stands a daring (or scandalous, as the fact that he was charged with heresy suggests) metaphysics, anthropology, and epistemology. When the gelassene soul does not distinguish between pleasure and pain, self and world, between self and other people, its indifference mirrors God’s own “indifference,” that is, God’s indistinctness or unity. Gelassenheit is the affective or anthropological correlate of both indistinctness and union, and a shortcut to the core of Eckhart’s theology. Eckhart in Weigel I: Zwene nützliche Tractat (Or, Eckhart teaches how not to love God) Weigel enthusiastically embraced Eckhart’s treatment of spiritual poverty in his first extant work, Zwene nützliche Tractat, der erste von der Bekehrung des Menschen, der ander von Armut des Geistes oder waarer Gelassenheit. 269 In the second of the two tracts, Weigel copies almost the entire text of Eckhart’s well-known sermon Beati pauperes spiritu, in which Eckhart formulates a demanding definition of spiritual 268 These terms occur throughout Eckhart’s work, but see the following as examples: Wüeste and stille are at Werke, Vol. 1, 508:20-21; Grund at Werke, Vol. 1, 70:12; burgelîn, vünkelîn, huote and lieht at Werke, Vol. 1, 32:26-30. 269 Valentin Weigel, Zwene nützliche Tractate, edited by Will-Erich Peuckert and Winfried Zeller, Volume 3, (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, 1966); Weeks, Religious Dissenter, 65. To clarify a point of terminology, Eckhart usually referred to spiritual povery as abgescheidenheit, though he sometimes also used the words gelassen and Gelassenheit. Weigel chooses the latter as his preferred term for spiritual poverty, as the title of the tracts indicates, Armut des Geistes oder waarer Gelassenheit, and this dissertation will follow Weigel in using Gelassenheit as a synonym for spiritual poverty.) 103
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MYSTICISM & CONFESSIONAL CONFLICT I
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ABSTRACT This dissertation investig
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INTRODUCTION • ES IST DIR NICHT B
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mostly undisturbed by his Lutheran
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yet have signalled his assent with
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in a context where action is expect
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Protestant Mysticism: Not a Contrad
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interest, 31 and praised the Theolo
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one can observe the texture of the
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discourse and reasoned debate, or t
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with fragments of Eckhart and Taule
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Dionysius and Eckhart (for differen
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movement, but also profound shifts
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schools, as well as universities wh
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allowed them to cooperate effective
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made clear, would result in dismiss
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and in these external dealings, the
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same laws of physics, but while the
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Tertullian’s De Fuga in Persecuti
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as a martyr. Moreover, Holy Scriptu
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Alternatively, the so-called four-f
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tzeyger und unterrichter ist ynn di
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fellow Lutherans in studying books
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provoked into action unnecessarily,
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masses for the dead (for instance)
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traditional proof texts about the o
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positive understandings of indiffer
Page 55 and 56: insofar as their imperfection is ra
Page 57 and 58: Of these forms of indifference, I f
Page 59 and 60: to Dionysius’ authority. Two grou
Page 61 and 62: PART I • VALENTIN WEIGEL AND MEIS
Page 63 and 64: investigating his early modern read
Page 65 and 66: was a devilish heretic to others (
Page 67 and 68: his neglect of Eckhart. 158 For ins
Page 69 and 70: “unheilvolle Kompliziertheit”).
Page 71 and 72: and Jerome (wearing what looks like
Page 73 and 74: title page, as mentioned above, des
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Page 87 and 88: more importantly, a theology that a
Page 89 and 90: Mit Recht der Meister genannt: Mode
Page 91 and 92: These role-reversal dialogues were
Page 93 and 94: As this chapter has shown, Eckhart
Page 95 and 96: philosophers from Hegel and Schopen
Page 97 and 98: CHAPTER 2 • GELASSENE GELASSENHEI
Page 99 and 100: the relationship between Tauler and
Page 101 and 102: e “as it was when it was not.”
Page 103 and 104: Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
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Page 109 and 110: e as free of willing and desiring a
Page 111 and 112: nestling inside the soul, but rathe
Page 113 and 114: Gelassenheit, das ist, das er nicht
Page 115 and 116: (necessarily inferior) knowledge pr
Page 117 and 118: context is that he picks up on Eckh
Page 119 and 120: he begins to steer the discussion a
Page 121 and 122: further proof for Weigel’s theory
Page 123 and 124: understood that the mind cannot pos
Page 125 and 126: wait in stiller Gelassenheit, recei
Page 127 and 128: truth as an educated theologian or
Page 129 and 130: ungewisser”) and finds that his f
Page 131 and 132: die Blinden an ein ander gehetzett,
Page 133 and 134: gesagett das ist er selber und ist
Page 135 and 136: Gelassenheit for the Bible, which i
Page 137 and 138: that the kind of Gelassenheit Weige
Page 139 and 140: indifference that allows Weigel to
Page 141 and 142: teacher. 366 However, the turning p
Page 143 and 144: Weigel gives the passage an unexpec
Page 145 and 146: Murren”)—and they do this “in
Page 147 and 148: and all the more so since he saw li
Page 149 and 150: the strength of the intellectual re
Page 151 and 152: CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
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Page 155 and 156: destroyer that Dionysius is most of
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ears good news to the church.” 39
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points out, with a purification, a
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served as cornerstones in defences
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(Acts 17: 15-34), one of the skepti
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to make the interpretation of these
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Outside the universities, Dionysius
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defiled the “sacred things” by
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other leaders of the Protestant Ref
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valorization of hierarchy per se in
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as well as the with the arguments u
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freedom, but rather obedience. 468
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The primary piece in the compilatio
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It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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it does during the Council of Trent
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for a hierarchical church, seizing
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the ancient teaching”) that “be
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Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
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Aristotle would have been glad to h
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enlightens all great thinkers in ev
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offered Dionysius to the Gelehrtenr
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nine distinct editions of Dionysius
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editions of Greek and Latin classic
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(Turin), and is a reprint of Lefèv
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presses in Spain (his first publica
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growing body of evidence suggesting
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Weigel concludes that, precisely be
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apart, he suggested that true Chris
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and so did not dwell on the fact th
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Names, as the title suggests, is ba
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animals, through plants and non-liv
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of being.” 580 As we will see lat
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(“God is a rock”) or even a neg
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This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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compositions, most likely dating to
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Dionysius to show that, just as God
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efer to Greek and Hebrew, the bibli
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argues that there cannot be more th
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dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Weigel suggests will allow the soul
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saving sacraments by means of which
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Melanchthon’s Defence of the Augs
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alternative—namely prayer. 643 We
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Dionysius writes that the summit of
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leibet er illimitatus.” 658 Weige
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work, Weigel had written explicitly
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Luther did not ever use the exact p
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as opposed to an office-holder, an
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writing. By calling his Layman der
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Others are loyal to mere men (the P
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zuerzeigen einen rechtschaffen vnd
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and ceremonial ones at that. 694 Th
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himself returning gloriously from H
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all being. In relinquishing any cre
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improve appearances but, because it
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than resolve it, because the proble
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parcels God, who by rights is supre
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Appendix • The Works of Valentin
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Abad, J. M. (1999). Th
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Chenu O.P., M.-D. (1968). In M.-D.
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Eckhart, M. (1993). Werke I (Vol. 1
Page 277 and 278:
Israel, A. (1888). M. Valentin Weig
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MacCulloch, D. (2010). Christianity
Page 281 and 282:
Payne, R. J. (Ed.). (1981). Meister
Page 283 and 284:
Schindling, A., & Ziegler, W. (1990
Page 285 and 286:
Verkamp, B. J. (1975). The Limits u
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