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Weigel and Dionysius use metaphors of both ascent and enfolding with equal ease, but access to the divine seems to be chiefly a matter of turning inward rather than upward. As discussed in Chapter 2, Weigel speaks often of a treasure buried inside every person to describe the indwelling of God in man, a gift implanted in Adam in the form of God’s spirit at the moment of creation. In De vita beata as well, Weigel contrasts the external goods that are the gifts of Fortuna (who can take them away again at will) with this internal good that is man’s inalienable possession. 621 The real existence of God in man implies, for Weigel, that the means of salvation are always at hand, and can be approached by turning inwards away from the multiplicity of the created world into the One: “Omnia procedunt ab isto primo Uno, et reguntur ab Uno, et consistunt in Uno, nam omnia lumina ab uno patre luminum descendunt, et quo quid magis ad hoc Unum appropinquare potest eo foelicius, perfectius, augustius et beatius esse potest.” 622 Thus far in De vita beata, Weigel has insisted that salvation is to be attained by turning inwards towards the One, but has not discussed in any detail how one might achieve this inward turn. The next section shows how, for Weigel, the types of communal religious devotion commonly practiced in the Lutheran church—reading the Bible, listening to sermons, receiving the sacraments—are not the way to do so. These are all ineffective in and of themselves, because, as Weigel argues, these practices only derive their effectiveness from the inner reality of faith, just as a shadow is dependent on the object casting it. 623 The next section discusses the alternative devotional practice that 621 “O mortales caeci extra quaeritis beatitudinem et foelicitatem anxie cum intro vos ipsos eam possideatis abundanter.” Weigel, De vita beata, 23. 622 Ibid, 9. 623 “Gleich wie vom wesen fleüßet ein schatten, und weiset zum wesen, von deme er gefloßen ist, oder wie eine rinde und schale vom Kern Kompt, und begreiffet den Kern, also die ganze Schrift und Ceremonien kommen von Christo, und fließen von ihm, wie ein schatten und Zeiger, und leiten in den Ursprung.” Valentin Weigel, Vom Gesetz oder Willen Gottes, in Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Horst Pfefferl, vol. 9 228
Weigel suggests will allow the soul to turn inwards to the One, namely prayer. Moreover, as we will see, the form of prayer Weigel advocates turns out to be a practice very similar to Dionysian apophasis. Dionysius in Weigel II: No Unity without Hierarchy (Or, why does God need a Church anyway?) In this section, I show how Weigel deprives his church of its two most important functions (preaching the Word and administering the sacraments) by embedding God himself and the entire universe inside each person, such that there is hardly anything left for the Church to do that every layperson could not do herself. Christians can still participate in normal church life (be baptized, receive communion and so on) if they wish, but Weigel specifies that the sacraments can only function as valid salvific currency, so to speak, because they are linked to the spiritual gold standard of the internal treasure. As Weigel puts it, external ceremonies only derive their effectiveness from the inner reality of faith, as a shadow from the object casting it. 624 Likewise, Scripture can only convey the Gospel message because it is an expression of the inner Word. 625 For Weigel, what is most real and most meaningful is God within. 626 Any external manifestations thereof remain connected to their source but ultimately fall far short of it—and, since God himself is indwelling in every person, why would anybody settle for scraps of paper or (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann Holzboog, 2008), 25. The idea that Scripture and the Sacraments are only effective on account of an inner faith is omnipresent in Weigel’s work, but see for instance Weigel, Seligmachende Erkenntnis, 80; Vom Leben Christi, 112-116; Der güldene Griff, 66-67. 624 Weigel, Vom Gesetz, 25. The idea that Scripture and the Sacraments are only effective on account of an inner faith is omnipresent in Weigel’s work, but see for instance Weigel, Seligmachende Erkenntnis Gottes, 112-116; Weigel, Der güldene Griff, 66-67. 625 “Die Schrifft ist nicht auß der schrifft kommen, ist auch nicht von ihr selbst da, sondern aus dem geiste ist sie gefloßen, und gedictiret.” Weigel, Seligmachende Erkenntnis Gottes, 76. 626 For a discussion of God’s indwelling in Weigel’s work, see p. 131ff (Chapter 2), above. 229
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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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that the kind of Gelassenheit Weige
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indifference that allows Weigel to
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teacher. 366 However, the turning p
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Weigel gives the passage an unexpec
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Murren”)—and they do this “in
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and all the more so since he saw li
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the strength of the intellectual re
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CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
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demonstrated for Eckhart, I will de
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destroyer that Dionysius is most of
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ears good news to the church.” 39
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points out, with a purification, a
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served as cornerstones in defences
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(Acts 17: 15-34), one of the skepti
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to make the interpretation of these
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Outside the universities, Dionysius
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defiled the “sacred things” by
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other leaders of the Protestant Ref
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valorization of hierarchy per se in
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as well as the with the arguments u
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freedom, but rather obedience. 468
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The primary piece in the compilatio
Page 181 and 182: It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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Page 189 and 190: Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
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
Page 209 and 210: apart, he suggested that true Chris
Page 211 and 212: and so did not dwell on the fact th
Page 213 and 214: Names, as the title suggests, is ba
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Page 217 and 218: of being.” 580 As we will see lat
Page 219 and 220: (“God is a rock”) or even a neg
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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Page 229 and 230: argues that there cannot be more th
Page 231: dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Page 237 and 238: Melanchthon’s Defence of the Augs
Page 239 and 240: alternative—namely prayer. 643 We
Page 241 and 242: Dionysius writes that the summit of
Page 243 and 244: leibet er illimitatus.” 658 Weige
Page 245 and 246: work, Weigel had written explicitly
Page 247 and 248: Luther did not ever use the exact p
Page 249 and 250: as opposed to an office-holder, an
Page 251 and 252: writing. By calling his Layman der
Page 253 and 254: Others are loyal to mere men (the P
Page 255 and 256: zuerzeigen einen rechtschaffen vnd
Page 257 and 258: and ceremonial ones at that. 694 Th
Page 259 and 260: himself returning gloriously from H
Page 261 and 262: all being. In relinquishing any cre
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Page 265 and 266: than resolve it, because the proble
Page 267 and 268: parcels God, who by rights is supre
Page 269 and 270: Appendix • The Works of Valentin
Page 271 and 272: BIBLIOGRAPHY Abad, J. M. (1999). Th
Page 273 and 274: Chenu O.P., M.-D. (1968). In M.-D.
Page 275 and 276: Eckhart, M. (1993). Werke I (Vol. 1
Page 277 and 278: Israel, A. (1888). M. Valentin Weig
Page 279 and 280: MacCulloch, D. (2010). Christianity
Page 281 and 282: Payne, R. J. (Ed.). (1981). Meister
Page 283 and 284:
Schindling, A., & Ziegler, W. (1990
Page 285 and 286:
Verkamp, B. J. (1975). The Limits u
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