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confirmed by Hermes Termaximus [i.e. Trismegistus] who says that God is nothing, and yet that God is all.” 504 Ficino’s interest in Dionysius and Hermes is mirrored in the work of Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, who produced one of the first printed Dionysius edition in 1498, as well as an edition of Ficino’s translation of part of the Corpus Hermeticum in 1594, followed by the entire translation into Latin in 1505. 505 Lefevre d’Étaples travelled to Italy several times and met many of the Italian humanists, including Pico Della Mirandola. Although Lefèvre d’Étaples ultimately disavowed his earlier enthusiasm for (and defence of) white magic, others in his circle took away from Étaples an interest in the Hermetic writings, as well as other less theologically suspect esoteric disciplines like numerology. 506 But while Lefèvre d’Étaples was interested enough in Ficino’s ideas to publish one of his works, he nevertheless only walked a few tentative steps down Ficino’s syncretistic path, as we can see from the introduction to his edition of the Corpus 504 Cited in Yates, 125. The Dionysius passage is from the first chapter of the Divine Names. 505 The 1494 volume contained only the so-called Pimander, as translated and edited by Ficino. The 1505 version contained the entire body of works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the Pimander and the socalled Asclepius. Both works had been printed separately before, but Étaples was the first to bring them together in a single volume (in the 1505 edition). In this volume he also included a hermetic dialogue called the Crater Hermetis by the poet laureate Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500), a work composed in the spirit of the Corpus Hermeticum that Étaples must have considered similar enough in spirit to be published alongside the more ancient Hermetic works (Hanegraaf and Bouthoorn call it “one of the purest and most explicit examples of hermetic-Christian syncretism”, 57). Lazzarelli also translated the last part of the Corpus Hermeticum that was missing from the manuscript Ficino used for his own translation; this second part of the Corpus was published by Symphorien Champier (1470-1540) in 1507. On Lazzarelli, see Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Ruud M. Bouthoorn, Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500): The Hermetic Writings and Related Documents, 2005. On Symphorien Champier, see Brian P. Copenhaver, Symphorien Champier and the Reception of the Occultist Tradition in Renaissance France (The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1978). 506 Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, Lefèvre: Pioneer of Ecclesiastical Renewal in France (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984), 22-24. He did, however, retain his interest in mystical numbers, at least enough to communicate this interest to several students; both Charles de Bovelles (De perfectis numeris ad Iacobum Fabrum Stapulensem philosophum claissimum, 1510) and Clichtove (De mystica numerorum significatione, 1513) published books on numerology. Brian P. Copenhaver, "Étaples d'Étaples, Symphorien Champier, and the Secret Names of God," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 40 (1977): 189-211. 184
Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étaples, Dionysius illuminated hidden knowledge, knowledge that was not exactly extra-biblical (that would be a heretical idea), but that did, at any rate, reveal to the theologian secrets not given to ordinary Christians. In the preface to this work, Lefèvre d’Étaples begins by praising Dionysius for his proximity to the source of sacred knowledge (“unumquodque quanto magis suae propinquat origini, tanto quoque puriorem suam retinet naturam atque servat”). 507 The sacred Scriptures (the New and Old Testaments) flowed out from God himself and so are most authoritative and venerable (“ut quae a Deo proxime manaverint in dispositos animos transfusa”); the writings of the Apostles and the Old Testament prophets rank next in dignity and authority. 508 At only one further remove, however, are the hagiographa and sacred writings produced by those who heard the Apostles speak directly (“quae apostolorum auditores”), and it is with these hagiographa sanctaque scripta that Dionysius’ writings rank, according to Lefèvre d’Étaples. These most sacred works (“sacratissima opera”) are left as a legacy for the future community of the faithful (“ad fidelis ecclesiae instituendam futuram sobolem reliquere”). 509 In short, Dionysius is a light that is brilliant because it is close to the sun: “lumen quanto soli vicinius est, tanto splendet illustrius vimque mortalium superat oculorum.” However much Dionysius is a brilliant light, and however foundational his works might be for the Church, Lefèvre d’Étaples still points out that Scripture is like an ark in which treasures of wisdom are locked up, shrouded in an impenetrable darkness. Dionysius unlocks this ark by the light of the mystical wisdom he offers: “et eloquia persimilia sunt arcae in qua sapientiae thesauri latentius occlusi 507 Eugene Rice, The Prefatory Epistles of Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples and Related Texts (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972), 60-61. Dionysius Areopagite, Theologia viuificans. Cibus solidus., ed. Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (Paris: Johann Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl, 1498/99). 508 Ibid, 61. 509 Ibid. 185
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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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ungewisser”) and finds that his f
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die Blinden an ein ander gehetzett,
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gesagett das ist er selber und ist
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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 155 and 156: destroyer that Dionysius is most of
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Page 161 and 162: served as cornerstones in defences
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Page 167 and 168: Outside the universities, Dionysius
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Page 171 and 172: other leaders of the Protestant Ref
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Page 179 and 180: The primary piece in the compilatio
Page 181 and 182: It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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Page 187: the ancient teaching”) that “be
Page 191 and 192: Aristotle would have been glad to h
Page 193 and 194: enlightens all great thinkers in ev
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Page 207 and 208: Weigel concludes that, precisely be
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Page 217 and 218: of being.” 580 As we will see lat
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Page 221 and 222: This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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Page 231 and 232: dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Page 237 and 238: 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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