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

himself returning gloriously from Heaven to speak for himself, and in this sense, the
Layman remains a Zuhörer even once he is no longer in danger of persecution on earth.
In Weigel’s application of Dionysian apophasis to the ecclesiological problems
that Weigel observed in the Lutheran church in Saxony in the late 16 th century, the
Layman’s way of speaking—what I have termed indifferent signification in this
chapter—will bring about peace amongst Christians, unlike the way of using language
that he observed in official Lutheran religious practice of his time, which created and
encouraged divisions within the church. The crucial distinction that Weigel’s indifferent
signification undoes is the distinction between Law and Gospel that was so central to
Lutheran theology, because Weigel is keen to demonstrate that God’s full self is
indwelling in each and every person—baptised and unbaptized, Christian and heathen,
orthodox and heterodox. As was also the motivation behind Weigel’s acute interest in
Eckhartian Gelassenheit, Weigel’s writings emphasize repeatedly that every person has
access to salvation and a harmonious relationship with God even without the mediation
of the institution of the church.
255