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efforts to produce an edition of the Bible in its original languages, a project that had not been seriously pursued since Jerome’s translation work in the 4 th century. 103 As Luther imagined it, the true meaning of Scripture would no doubt shine forth from a New Testament freed of the Latin accretions that encrusted the Vulgate text and restored to its original Greek. Luther participated in the humanists’ project by translating the Bible into German from Erasmus’ Greek edition (completed in 1534), rather than from the Latin vulgate as previous translators had done. 104 Furthermore, Luther polemicized against the four-fold method, arguing that this method generated arbitrary allegorical meanings that strayed too far from the intent of the text, and allowed human invention to take precedence over divine revelation. He did allow that Scripture occasionally used metaphors, but he restricted metaphorical interpretation to cases where the Bible itself signalled that it was using metaphor: Christ’s parables, for instance, were not meant to be read literally, but were acceptable since the text itself provided the key to solving the metaphor. 105 Luther distinguished between the Gospel (God’s single, unified message of salvation for humankind) and Scripture (its written relic), which meant that no other books or commentaries were, in theory at least, necessary since “das Euangeli selbs 103 Jaroslav Pelikan, Whose Bible Is It?: A Short History of the Scriptures (New York: Viking, 2005), 169. 104 Jaroslav Pelikan, Valerie Hotchkiss and David Price, The Reformation of the Bible: The Bible of the Reformation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 51. Luther’s return to the Greek text as the authoritative one was the cause of much controversy, prompting him to defend his translation in his Sendbrief von Dolmetschen. Ibid, 13-17. Later, in the first phase of the Council of Trent (1545-1547), the Roman church’s systematic, institution-wide response to the Protestant schism, affirmed that the Vulgate was the authoritative version of the Bible, rather than the original Greek or Hebrew texts. Irena Backus, Guy Bedouelle, Robert E. Shillenn and R. Gerald Hobbs, "Bible," The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (e-reference edition), ed. Hans J. Hillebrand, Oxford University Press, 2005, www.oxfordreformation.com/entry?entry=t172e0145.s0002. 105 Scott H. Hendrix, "Luther Against the Background of the History of Biblical Interpretation," Interpretation 37, no. 3 (1983): 229-231. Hendrix clarifies that, of course, medieval exegetes did not ignore the literal and historical sense, nor did Luther abandon allegory altogether, but rather that Luther had an “aversion to excessive allegorizing and...[a] willingness to find the legitimate meaning in the grammatical and historical analysis of the text.” (234) 38
tzeyger und unterrichter ist ynn die schrifft.” 106 While such a statement did establish, for Luther, that Scripture was the only book a Christian needed—as summed up in the phrase sola scriptura—it is, in a sense simply renaming the unknown element (now called Gospel instead of Scripture): one would now have to ask what exactly the Gospel is by which Scripture is so clearly interpreted? 107 However, even though the Gospel seemed self-evident to Luther, he did, of course, need to do a certain amount of interpretive work to articulate his message for others, namely by establishing that the Bible had a “core,” a centre around which meaning could cohere. He and his co-reformer Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) agreed that the core of the Bible was Paul’s letter to the Romans. 108 In Romans, the truth of the Bible is most clearly promulgated, and, once the reader had understood this exemplarily clear statement of God’s truth, he might safely venture into 106 From Luther’s Eyn kleyn unterricht, was man ynn den Euangelijs suchen und gewartten soll (1521). WA10.1.1 17:1-2. 107 Although Luther did argue that a return to Scripture was the keystone of the purified church, it is worth considering Kolakowski’s contention that Scripture could never be the foundation for any ecclesiastical institution: as soon as one recognizes the legitimacy of any given institution, there is by definition an authority other than Scripture. As he writes: “Aucune autorité ecclésiastique authentique ne pouvait être fondée sur la principe exclusif de l’autorité de la Bible, du moment que le monde chrétien tout entier acceptait cette autorité; chaque organisation qui voulait se différencier par rapport au monde restant, et qui, donc, tout simplement voulait exister, était contrainte de se définir au moyen d’une Confession particulière...Une alternative se posait à chaque mouvement de réforme : s’en tenir avec esprit de suite au principe de l’autorité exclusive de la Bible, et par conséquent ne pas s’isoler sous une forme organisationnelle; ou bien construire une organisation, et donc établir sa propre Confession sous une forme obligatoire et par là même renier le principe critique même qui avait singularisé le mouvement dans son stade premier.” Leszek Kolakowski, Chrétiens sans Église: La Conscience religieuse et le lien confessionel au XVIIe siècle, trans. Anna Posner (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1969), 78-79. Weigel, as we will see in the following chapters, recognized very clearly the mutual exclusivity of Scripture and Confessional documents. 108 James Simpson, Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and Its Reformation Opponents (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 115. Simpson draws attention to Luther’s preference for the non-narrative books of the New Testament. Of the four gospels, Luther prefers John’s to the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) because it begins already to shape the story of Christ’s life into theological statements. The Gospel of John was composed last, many years after Christ’s death (perhaps around the year 95), and Paul was converted only after Christ’s death and therefore was not an eyewitness account either. "John, gospel of," in A Dictionary of the Bible, ed. W. R. F. Browning, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 206. 39
Page 1 and 2: MYSTICISM & CONFESSIONAL CONFLICT I
Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT This dissertation investig
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION • ES IST DIR NICHT B
Page 7 and 8: mostly undisturbed by his Lutheran
Page 9 and 10: yet have signalled his assent with
Page 11 and 12: in a context where action is expect
Page 13 and 14: Protestant Mysticism: Not a Contrad
Page 15 and 16: interest, 31 and praised the Theolo
Page 17 and 18: one can observe the texture of the
Page 19 and 20: discourse and reasoned debate, or t
Page 21 and 22: with fragments of Eckhart and Taule
Page 23 and 24: Dionysius and Eckhart (for differen
Page 25 and 26: movement, but also profound shifts
Page 27 and 28: schools, as well as universities wh
Page 29 and 30: allowed them to cooperate effective
Page 31 and 32: made clear, would result in dismiss
Page 33 and 34: and in these external dealings, the
Page 35 and 36: same laws of physics, but while the
Page 37 and 38: Tertullian’s De Fuga in Persecuti
Page 39 and 40: as a martyr. Moreover, Holy Scriptu
Page 41: Alternatively, the so-called four-f
Page 45 and 46: fellow Lutherans in studying books
Page 47 and 48: provoked into action unnecessarily,
Page 49 and 50: masses for the dead (for instance)
Page 51 and 52: traditional proof texts about the o
Page 53 and 54: positive understandings of indiffer
Page 55 and 56: insofar as their imperfection is ra
Page 57 and 58: Of these forms of indifference, I f
Page 59 and 60: to Dionysius’ authority. Two grou
Page 61 and 62: PART I • VALENTIN WEIGEL AND MEIS
Page 63 and 64: investigating his early modern read
Page 65 and 66: was a devilish heretic to others (
Page 67 and 68: his neglect of Eckhart. 158 For ins
Page 69 and 70: “unheilvolle Kompliziertheit”).
Page 71 and 72: and Jerome (wearing what looks like
Page 73 and 74: title page, as mentioned above, des
Page 75 and 76: of a respectable though not fanatic
Page 77 and 78: himself, but rather cultivated part
Page 79 and 80: church that Luther, Melanchthon and
Page 81 and 82: kan”), and specifically the role
Page 83 and 84: soul become convinced that nothing
Page 85 and 86: that salvation can be attained thro
Page 87 and 88: more importantly, a theology that a
Page 89 and 90: Mit Recht der Meister genannt: Mode
Page 91 and 92: These role-reversal dialogues were
Page 93 and 94:
As this chapter has shown, Eckhart
Page 95 and 96:
philosophers from Hegel and Schopen
Page 97 and 98:
CHAPTER 2 • GELASSENE GELASSENHEI
Page 99 and 100:
the relationship between Tauler and
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e “as it was when it was not.”
Page 103 and 104:
Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
Page 105 and 106:
one-of-a-kind thing, or the best ki
Page 107 and 108:
einvaltig stille), an uncreated lig
Page 109 and 110:
e as free of willing and desiring a
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nestling inside the soul, but rathe
Page 113 and 114:
Gelassenheit, das ist, das er nicht
Page 115 and 116:
(necessarily inferior) knowledge pr
Page 117 and 118:
context is that he picks up on Eckh
Page 119 and 120:
he begins to steer the discussion a
Page 121 and 122:
further proof for Weigel’s theory
Page 123 and 124:
understood that the mind cannot pos
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wait in stiller Gelassenheit, recei
Page 127 and 128:
truth as an educated theologian or
Page 129 and 130:
ungewisser”) and finds that his f
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die Blinden an ein ander gehetzett,
Page 133 and 134:
gesagett das ist er selber und ist
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Gelassenheit for the Bible, which i
Page 137 and 138:
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
Page 147 and 148:
and all the more so since he saw li
Page 149 and 150:
the strength of the intellectual re
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CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
Page 153 and 154:
demonstrated for Eckhart, I will de
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destroyer that Dionysius is most of
Page 157 and 158:
ears good news to the church.” 39
Page 159 and 160:
points out, with a purification, a
Page 161 and 162:
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
Page 167 and 168:
Outside the universities, Dionysius
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defiled the “sacred things” by
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other leaders of the Protestant Ref
Page 173 and 174:
valorization of hierarchy per se in
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as well as the with the arguments u
Page 177 and 178:
freedom, but rather obedience. 468
Page 179 and 180:
The primary piece in the compilatio
Page 181 and 182:
It is hardly surprising that Cochla
Page 183 and 184:
it does during the Council of Trent
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for a hierarchical church, seizing
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the ancient teaching”) that “be
Page 189 and 190:
Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
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Aristotle would have been glad to h
Page 193 and 194:
enlightens all great thinkers in ev
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offered Dionysius to the Gelehrtenr
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nine distinct editions of Dionysius
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editions of Greek and Latin classic
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(Turin), and is a reprint of Lefèv
Page 203 and 204:
presses in Spain (his first publica
Page 205 and 206:
growing body of evidence suggesting
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
Page 215 and 216:
animals, through plants and non-liv
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
Page 223 and 224:
compositions, most likely dating to
Page 225 and 226:
Dionysius to show that, just as God
Page 227 and 228:
efer to Greek and Hebrew, the bibli
Page 229 and 230:
argues that there cannot be more th
Page 231 and 232:
dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
Page 233 and 234:
Weigel suggests will allow the soul
Page 235 and 236:
saving sacraments by means of which
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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improve appearances but, because it
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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