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Spirit, which inspired the Apostles (“bases et columnae ecclesiae”) to institute and organize the Church “in its hierarchy and in its ecclesiastical offices” (“instituta fuit & ordinata in suis gradibus & officijs ecclesia”). 471 The Christianity that the Apostles preached was, in fact, identical to the Christianity that was practiced in the Roman Church of the sixteenth century because, before dispersing to undertake their proselytizing mission, the Apostles set the ceremonies and sacred rites according to which the sacraments of the Church would be administered and the ministers consecrated. 472 As Clichtove argues, Dionysius’ writings prove that the Roman Church is timeless, unchanging and divinely instituted. On this account, there is no need for reform, since the Church has not changed in fifteen centuries—in fact, to change anything would be to act against God’s will, according to which the hierarchical church was established. Less well known than Clichtove’s polemic but equally interesting is the inclusion of an excerpt of Dionysius’ writing in a small compilation entitled the Epitome Apostolicorum Constitutionum from 1546, addressed to Pope Paul III, edited by the Catholic and humanist theologian Johannes Cochlaeus together with the Venetian humanist (and ambassador) Carlo Capello. 473 Though it comprises a mere 23 folios, the compilation, through its prefaces and the arrangement of the works it contains, positions Dionysius alongside other “Apostolic” writers as evidence of the authority of the Church and of its divine origins, and explicitly polemicizes against the “new sects.” 471 Clichtove, 18v-19r. 472 “...caeremoniaeque & ritus sacri ab ijsdem definiti quibus ecclesiastica administrarentur sacramenta & ministrorum sacrorum fieret consecratio antequam dispergerentur in uniuersum orbem, aut per martyrium de mundo tollerentur.” Ibid. 473 Johannes Cochlaeus, Epitome Apostolicarum Constitutionum, In Creta Insula, per Carolum Capellium Venetum repertarum, & e Greco in Latinum translatum (Ingolstadt: Alexander Weissenhorn, 1546). 174
The primary piece in the compilation is an excerpt (Epitome) of the so-called Apostolic Constitutions, which stages itself as a collaboration between Clement I of Rome (said to have been ordained by Saint Peter himself) and the Twelve Apostles. 474 However, the Constitutions were likely not produced until the fourth century, 475 so while it documents the theological milieu of the early Church, it was not, as the title claims, the work of the Apostles themselves. Content-wise, the Constitutions are a compendium of the practices, doctrine and liturgy of the Church—giving instructions, for instance, on how baptisms and ordinations are to be conducted, listing prayers suitable for various occasions, prescribing the proper roles for the laity and for the ministers, as well as promulgating correct doctrine on various points (against idol worship, for instance). The work as a whole offers a vision of a Christian community that is, above all, orderly and hierarchical, but the passages that Cochlaeus includes in his Epitome are particularly pointed statements on the subject of hierarchy. 476 These passages first of all affirm a clear separation between priesthood and laity, where only priests’ actions are pleasing to God 474 The work is attributed to Clement, but also evokes the authorship of the Apostles (‘nous, les Douze’), where Clement is given the part of their secretary (“c’est lui qui était chargé de recueillir leurs directives, de les compiler et de les diffuser”). Metzger concludes that this complicated authorial fiction serves as an authorizing strategy: “Or il ne s’agit pas d’un pseudonyme, mais on a voulu accréditer l’ouvrage en l’attribuant faussement à ce personnage bien connu, saint Clément, un des premiers successeurs de saint Pierre, à la tête de l’Église de Rome.” Marcel Metzger, Le constitutions apostoliques, Vol. 1 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1985), 36. 475 There is much debate about which century the Apostolic Constitutions date from, ranging from the 2 nd century to the 4 th , but relevant here is that they were not, in fact, written by the Apostles, only attributed to them. The history of the Constitutions is actually rather complicated, as it seems to be a collection of older texts that were stitched together (with various interpolations, additions and reworking) by a compilator (posing as Clement and the Apostles) to create the Constitutions, which then circulates independently of those older texts. Nevertheless, most of the text that is integrated into the Constitutions is believed to have been written in Syria in the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries. So the Constiutions, like the Corpus Dionysiacum, is a pseudonymous work stemming from a Syrian Christian writer. A good summary of this complicated history, and for the critical edition (with a translation into French) is Marcel Metzger, Le constitutions apostoliques, Vol. 1 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1985), 18-23. For the Constitutions in English translation see Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, ed. A. Cleveland Coxe, Vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1985). 476 Included in the compilation is Section 5 from Book 8, as well as Sections 27-34 from Book 2. In Cochlaeus’ edition, they are found on pages 1-11. 175
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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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further proof for Weigel’s theory
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understood that the mind cannot pos
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wait in stiller Gelassenheit, recei
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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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