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

as a Hermeticists and Alchemists like Oswaldus Crollius, or a disaffected Lutheran like
Weigel. This chapter now investigates two networks of Dionysius readers, focusing first
on Catholic apologists polemicizing against Luther, turning then to Reform-minded
humanists (both Catholic and Protestant) with a side line in the esoteric (Hermeticism,
astrology and alchemy). The chapter concludes with an overview of Dionysius’ various
printers and publishers. Despite the claims of modern scholars that Dionysius was not
read in the early modern era, there were in fact a large number of editions of Dionysius
(more than a hundred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries alone). 453 Examining the
history of printed Dionysius editions reveals that the Areopagite’s writings were printed
by both Catholics and Protestants, by those who supported a robust ecclesiastical
authority and those who would like to see church power devolved to laypeople.
Dionysius Readers I: Anti-Lutheran Polemicists and the Early Church
Jesus Christ never went to Rome, but if he had gone, he would have founded a
church very much like the one that existed in 1515. This was the proposition that our first
set of Dionysius readers set out to defend, arguing that the Protestant reformers were
wrong to want to restrict the authority of the Pope: the Church was fine as it was, or
perhaps needed only a few cosmetic reforms to correct isolated abuses. The two authors
in this section (Josse Clichtove and Johannes Cochlaeus) focus particularly on Dionysius’
453 Much more work could be done in this area, building on the incredible philological undertaking of
Philippe Chevallier, the Dionysiaca. The primary task of the Dionysiaca is a critical edition of eight Latin
translations, plus two Greek editions, rather than a detailed discussion of the manuscript and printed
versions that are the basis for his edition. However, he does provide a helpful list of every printed
Dionysius edition up to the 20 th century, which could serve as the basis for future historical work.
Dionysius the Areopagite, Dionysiaca: recueil donnant l'ensemble des traductions latines des ouvrages
attribués au Denys de l'Areopage, and Ed. Philippe Chevallier, 2 vols. (Paris, Bruges: Desclée, de Brouwer
& Cie, 1937).
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