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(“tout laïc qui accomplit quelque chose sans le prêtre agit en vain” 477 ), and threatening dire consequences for any layperson who transgresses that separation: “tout comme le roi Ozias, qui sans être prêtre avait accompli ce qui revient aux prêtres, fut atteint de la lèpre à cause de sa transgression, de même ne restera-t-il pas impuni le laïc qui aurait méprisé Dieu, outragé ses prêtres et se sera attribué cette dignité.” 478 In addition to the priest/layperson separation, the passages also affirm a hierarchy within the class of ordained ministers, subordinating deacons to bishops (“qu’il [le diacre] ne fasse absolument rien sans l’évêque” 479 ). Like the Unam Sanctam bull many centuries years later, the Constitutions position the bishops as irreproachable and supremely powerful. Deacons, for instance, should not even do good deeds for those in need without their bishop’s consent, because this might be construed as reproaching the bishop with callousness or cold-heartedness for not having performed the good deed himself. Moreover, in doing so, the deacon would be sinning not only against his superior, but against the Lord Himself (“Quiconque dénigre l’évêque en paroles ou en actes offense Dieu” 480 ), and since God is necessarily beyond reproach, then the deacon ought never to criticize his superiors for fear of offending God. The Constitutions ascribe so much dignity to the bishop that he ranks above even kings and princes (the latter only cares for their bodies, the former for their more valuable souls), and should receive greater material tribute than the latter. 481 477 Constitutions, Metzger, Book 2.27: 3. 478 Constitutions, Book 2.27: 4, 241-243. The story of Uzziah/Osiah is found at 2 Chronicles 26: 16-21. 479 Constitutions, Book 2.31: 1, 251. 480 Ibid: 3, 251. 481 For instance: “Que l’évêque reçoive plus que le roi de jadis : celui-ci ne conduisait que les affaires militaires, proclamant la guerre et la paix pour la sauvegarde des corps; tandis que l’évêque est chargé du sacerdoce de Dieu et repousse les dangers du corps et de l’âme. Donc autant l’âme l’emporte-t-elle sur le corps, autant le sacerdoce l’emporte-t-il sur la royauté, car il lie ou délie ceux qui méritent châtiment ou pardon.” Book 2.34: 4. 176
It is hardly surprising that Cochlaeus thought that any Pope might be pleased to hear of such an authoritative source that exalted the bishops above all others—laypeople, priests and kings alike. But the dedicatee, Pope Paul III, might have been particularly pleased by Cochlaeus’ philological offering, presiding as he did over the embattled Roman Church from 1534 to 1549, as the break with the Evangelical movement became permanent. In convening the Council of Trent to reform the Church on his own terms, Paul III was a clergyman struggling to take charge of a church full of both unruly priests and unruly laity, and seeking to affirm the universal Church’s “natural” unity against those who called this unity and universality into question. 482 In his preface, Cochlaeus alludes to the fractured religious community (“nostrae religionis confusionem” 483 ), and attributes the troubles to an insufficient reverence for hierarchy (“id euenisse ob neglectam obseruantiam cuius que fere muneris, ordinis, gradus, dignitatis, amplitudinis, & praesertim diuinae Ecclesiasticae maiestate” 484 ). Order and hierarchy are to be respected everywhere, including in the Church, because they are part of the order of things (“rerum ordinem & conuenientiam”) as God created it (“mundi opifex & effector”). 485 The Constitutions, with their praise of good order, are a salutary antidote to 482 Paul III was Pope from 1534 to 1549. “Many consider Paul III the first pope committed to efficacious reformerof the Catholic church in the sixteenth century.” “He commissioned from [his cardinals] the reform document Consilium de emendanda ecclesia (1537)...revived the Roman Inquisition in 1542, and after long, frustrating delays and despite fear of conciliarist tendencies among prelates, he concvened the Council of Trent (1545-1563)”. Paul III also struggled to “formulat[e] policies that would simultaneously satisfy the archrivals Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor, 1519-1556) and Francis I (king of France, 1515-1547) while maintainin his own neutrality.” In light of this situation, he might have appreciated being granted the upper hand over quarelling kings and princes as well as over his cardinals and bishops. William V. Hudon, "Paul III," The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, ed. Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand, 1996, http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t172.e1067 (accessed June 20, 2012). 483 Cochlaeus, 3r. 484 Ibid. 485 Ibid. 177
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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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truth as an educated theologian or
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Page 135 and 136: Gelassenheit for the Bible, which i
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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 167 and 168: Outside the universities, Dionysius
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Page 221 and 222: This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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Page 225 and 226: Dionysius to show that, just as God
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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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