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

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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). 168
valorization of hierarchy per se in order to defend, by implication, the hierarchical Church headed by the Roman Pope. Briefly, Dionysius’ conception of hierarchy proved particularly useful for anti- Lutheran polemic because it is based on his belief that the celestial and ecclesiastical hierarchies are continuous: the chain of offices stretches from the laity up through the deacons, priests and bishops, all the way up to the three orders of angels. Moreover both hierarchies ultimately derive their sacred force from a single source, God himself. 454 God’s light emanates outward illuminating an orderly progression of angels (the celestial hierarchy), which light then flows downward through the ordained clergy (the ecclesiastical hierarchy) and only then down to the laity. In such a scheme, the clergy are far more than ecclesiastical Beamter performing a useful service by ministering to their fellow Christians. 455 Instead, the clergy are divinely illuminated mediators between God and laypeople. Simply by virtue of having been ordained, the clergy stand closer to the Source than those to whom they minister. This way of reading Dionysius means that the clergy are not only important but necessary, for without them divine illumination could not reach the bottom of the hierarchy—and to do away with the ecclesiastical hierarchy would not only be a breach of worldly order but also of divine order. In the case of the humanist and Catholic polemicist Josse Clichtove’s AntiLutherus (1524), the clue is in the title. 456 Clichtove (1472-1543) did not begin his career as a polemicist, but rather as a reform-minded humanist, editing and studying the 454 A more detailed discussion of Dionysius’ understanding of hierarchy is undertaken in Chapter 4 of this dissertation. 455 The image of the layperson underwent significant changes in the 16 th century, particularly in Lutheran ecclesiology. Chapter 4 discusses Weigel’s understanding of the layperson in much greater detail, in the context of the changing role of the layperson provoked by the Protestant reformation. 456 Josse Clichtove, AntiLutherus Judoci Clichtouei Neoportuensis (Köln: Petrus Quentell, 1525). It was originally published in 1524, but it is almost identical to the 1525 edition that I had consulted first. 169
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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
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insofar as their imperfection is ra
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Of these forms of indifference, I f
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to Dionysius’ authority. Two grou
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PART I • VALENTIN WEIGEL AND MEIS
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investigating his early modern read
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was a devilish heretic to others (
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his neglect of Eckhart. 158 For ins
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“unheilvolle Kompliziertheit”).
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and Jerome (wearing what looks like
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title page, as mentioned above, des
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of a respectable though not fanatic
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himself, but rather cultivated part
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church that Luther, Melanchthon and
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kan”), and specifically the role
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soul become convinced that nothing
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that salvation can be attained thro
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more importantly, a theology that a
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Mit Recht der Meister genannt: Mode
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These role-reversal dialogues were
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As this chapter has shown, Eckhart
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philosophers from Hegel and Schopen
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CHAPTER 2 • GELASSENE GELASSENHEI
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the relationship between Tauler and
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e “as it was when it was not.”
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Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
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one-of-a-kind thing, or the best ki
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einvaltig stille), an uncreated lig
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e as free of willing and desiring a
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nestling inside the soul, but rathe
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Gelassenheit, das ist, das er nicht
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(necessarily inferior) knowledge pr
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context is that he picks up on Eckh
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he begins to steer the discussion a
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Page 151 and 152: CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
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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
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Israel, A. (1888). M. Valentin Weig
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MacCulloch, D. (2010). Christianity
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Payne, R. J. (Ed.). (1981). Meister
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Schindling, A., & Ziegler, W. (1990
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Verkamp, B. J. (1975). The Limits u
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