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the Book of Life, and conversely the Book of Life must be the Word and therefore God. 117 Establishing God’s universal presence in all people (if God is everything, how could he not be in all people?) is the final move in Weigel’s unusual theology, allowing him to claim that each person carries his salvation within him—this “treasure” must be dug up, to be sure, but in principle nobody is denied the possibility of salvation, whether baptised or not. As we will see in Chapter 2, this treasure is unearthed when each person prevents her own cognitive faculties from standing in the way of God’s own knowledge. That is, every Christian should aspire to quiet his mind and senses completely, so that God can contemplate God’s own self in man. 118 By suppressing the individual knower entirely, Weigel can eliminate disagreement entirely because there is, on Weigel’s account, effectively only one knower—God himself. 119 Far from the Book of Life being the only criterion for true judgement, the Book rather does away with criteria altogether. But having found this Book, what kind of instruction does it contain for Weigel? Curiously, Weigel concludes that he need not change his behaviour at all: preaching is useless, but that he should continue preaching all the same, reading (physical) books is useless but he should continue reading, performing ceremonies is useless but he should continue performing them. 120 True believers, that is, should not let themselves be 117 Weigel, Griff, 92. “Gottes gesetze, gottes wort, gottes wille gottes same gottes sinn bildnis Christus geist finger, gottes reich etc. ein ding sey, und sey In allen Menschen.” This idea that God can be called by all names is omnipresent in Weigel’s work and we will encounter it many times in this dissertation, particularly in Chapters 2 and 4. 118 Ibid, 53. 119 Ibid, 49-50. 120 Weigel treats the topic of inaction in numerous places in his work, and this dissertation will deal with all of these texts, particularly in Chapters 2 and 4. Briefly, to offer one such statement here, Weigel writes: “Es seindt hin und her Lehrer heimblich, welche diesem Greuel der Verwustung ann der heiligen Stedte wol erkennen. Doch sitzen sie Beucht, bleiben in ihrem Stande, lauffen nicht dauon, tragen das Creutz geduldig nach dem eusern Menschen. Inwendig klagen sie es Gott und seindt nach dem inwendigen Menschen weder Priester noch Beuchtvater.” (“Ein Gespreche, wie ein Leyhe seinen Beuchtvatter uberzeuget, das der Priester an Gottes Stadt nicht Sunde vorgebe”, 90-91.) Weigel even seems to consider the Priest’s decision to believe in secret and not voice his true beliefs as a kind of devotional suffering—it is a Cross he must 42
provoked into action unnecessarily, since taking action only rarely brings about improvement: Luther’s attempts at reform, Weigel points out, did not amount to much in the end. 121 In the end, nobody is obliged to reform the church: “Es ist dir nicht bevholen, zu reformiren die Ketzer noch ein Neues auffzubringen, sondern in der Geduldt Jesu zu wandeln. Gott wird es wol richten zu seiner Zeit ohne dich.” 122 At first glance, this instruction does not seem to ask much more than the New Testament injunction to turn the other cheek, or even to depart from the Old Testament praise of a God who is slow to anger. However, on closer inspection, Weigel considers it necessary to speak up in only a very few circumstances—so few, in fact, that for all practical purposes, a Christian is entirely relieved of the obligation to witness and confess. That is, Weigel dutifully retains a superficial commitment to the well-established Christian tradition of the witnessing martyr/confessor, while at the same time whittling down the list of circumstances that threaten a person’s faith until he is left with a purely interior faith that is (or can be made) impervious to outer coercion. Such a faith need not be defended by worldly means or by force if threatened. For instance, in one sermon on the subject, Weigel boldly proclaims that in matters of faith, a Christian is not subject to any ruler except God. Should any ruler other than God require a Christian to do anything that goes against his faith, a Christian should be prepared to suffer and even die rather bear with his outer person so that his inner person might believe freely. As he writes, “Also erfullen sie [true Christians] das Gesetz Christi nach den innern Menschen in der Geduldt, in Gehorsam, in der Liebe” Valentin Weigel, Ein Gespreche, wie ein Leyhe seinen Beuchtvatter uberzeuget, das der Priester an Gottes Stadt nicht Sunde vorgebe in Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Winfried Zeller, Vol. 2, (Stuttgart: Friedrich Fromman Verlag, 1965). 121 “Denn ich vormögte kein bessers ann die Stadt zu setzen. Wie es denn dem Lutter ging, der fuhr herfür wieder dem Bapst, griff ahn den Ablaß, sties ihn umb, bracht aber kein bessers an die Stadt.” See also note 1, above, on the failure of the Reformation. Valentin Weigel, Von der Vergebung der Sünden oder vom Schlüssel der Kirche in Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Will-Erich Peudert and Winfried Zeller, Vol. II (Stuttgart: Friederich Fromman Verlag, 1964), 62. 122 Ibid. 43
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 and 42: Alternatively, the so-called four-f
Page 43 and 44: tzeyger und unterrichter ist ynn di
Page 45: fellow Lutherans in studying books
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
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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
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
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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
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It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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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
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Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
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Aristotle would have been glad to h
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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
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presses in Spain (his first publica
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growing body of evidence suggesting
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Weigel concludes that, precisely be
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apart, he suggested that true Chris
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and so did not dwell on the fact th
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Names, as the title suggests, is ba
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animals, through plants and non-liv
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of being.” 580 As we will see lat
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(“God is a rock”) or even a neg
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This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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compositions, most likely dating to
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Dionysius to show that, just as God
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efer to Greek and Hebrew, the bibli
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argues that there cannot be more th
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dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Weigel suggests will allow the soul
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saving sacraments by means of which
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Melanchthon’s Defence of the Augs
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alternative—namely prayer. 643 We
Page 241 and 242:
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
Page 269 and 270:
Appendix • The Works of Valentin
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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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