the mystical theology of valentin weigel - DataSpace at Princeton ...

uch ist In mir und auch In allen menschen, In grossen und kleinen, In Jungen und alten,
In gelerten und ungelerten”). 340 And moreover, Weigel’s vision tells him that the interior
book of life is the source of all the books that were ever written: “doraus waren alle
bucher geschrieben, von anfang der Welt.” 341 Having affirmed the universal presence of
this book on the one hand, Weigel concedes that only a few people are able to read this
book because they are so confused and blinded by sin. Those who can read it are granted
the sum total of all the wisdom and knowledge there is to be had, and, more importantly,
the ability to confidently read Scripture, sure of being able to discern its true meaning
(“dardurch ich sicher lesen kan die heilige schrift”). 342
Weigel then pushes the implications of this inner book’s existence even further,
arguing that the book must be God himself. Weigel heaps up names for this book—it is
God’s word, God’s wisdom, his image, spirit, seed, and kingdom, it is Christ and it is
God’s law. 343 And yet, all of these things are not separate from God, since God’s
properties are part of God’s very being. Weigel makes a familiar distinction between a
thing’s essence and its accidents; its accidents are qualities that can be changed without
changing the nature of the thing. All birds, for instance, have wings, and having wings is
part of the essence of a bird, but not all birds have blue feathers, and “blueness” is an
accident for birds: a bird with red feathers is still a bird. The situation is different for God,
who is perfectly one, and therefore cannot have any distinction between essence and
accidents, such that God is all of God’s properties. As Weigel writes, “alles was von gott
340 Weigel, Griff, 90.
341 Ibid.
342 Ibid, 91.
343 Ibid, 92.
128