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

work, Weigel had written explicitly or implicitly in the voice of a minister of the church,
but in the Dialogus he inhabits, for the first time, the position of the layperson. This shift
in perspective mirrors Weigel’s changing views on the importance of the earthly Church,
and his corresponding positive valuation of the layperson’s spiritual independence.
Ultimately, the Dialogus stages a battle between clerics and the laity, a battle in which
the laity triumphs and gains spiritual independence. Indeed, the Dialogus ends with the
promise of eternal happiness for those who follow their own religious path, and the threat
of eternal suffering for those who coerce others to obey them in matters of religion. In the
Dialogus, the Layman signals this independence by means of a peculiar way of using
language that can only be described as what I call indifferent signification. And although
Weigel nowhere in the Dialogus mentions Dionysius’ name, this indifferent signification
bears many of the traits of the apophatic speech described in the Mystical Theology, as
the Layman strings together nouns and adjectives in a way that the Preacher finds
objectionable. To give one example here, he says that “die Wiedergeburth in uns ist
Christus inhabitans et regnans und ist der Glaube und die Liebe, die Gerechtigkeit,
Friede und Seiligkeit.” 665 The Preacher tells him that he speaks strangely and confusedly
(“Du bringest seltzame, frembde Reden fur und mengest eins in das ander”), 666
admonishing him to practice what he calls orthotomia, which translates from the Greek as
“correctly cutting” his words. 667 Separating off the Law from the Gospel, sin from
salvation, man from God, and preachers from laypeople constitutes sound theology, in
the Preacher’s opinion. The Layman on the other hand, believes that this parsing of nouns
665 Weigel, Dialogus, 17.
666 Ibid.
667 Ibid, 18.
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