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than submit (he even references the torments of the early martyrs, who were thrown to the lions, or burned to death). 123 However, Weigel then details the Christian’s obligation to be obedient and humble, as God commands in the Bible, an obedience that is mandated only for what he terms the outer man, who must submit to rulers in matters that do not concern the soul. The practical implications of this obligation to obedience depend entirely on how much is classified as “outer” and how much as “inner”—and Weigel is unusual in assigning all physical actions to the outer man, even those that concern religious practice. Luther, for instance, believed that actions concerning matters of religion and salvation, such as monastic exercises, indulgences and offering masses for the dead could be considered “external” insofar as they actually did not affect the soul as the Roman Church claimed. But these practices ultimately fall under the ambit of the inner man because performing these actions would jeopardize the health of the soul, because doing so would cause the faithful to neglect the true basis of salvation. For example, Luther fought long and hard against the sale of papal indulgences because they misled the faithful into thinking that the indulgence itself caused sins to be forgiven. 124 Insofar as 123 “GOtt ist allein in Christo HErr uber die Gläubigen, unnd kein Keyser, Fürst nocht Regent auff Erden, er setzet keinen Stadthalter, er lehret den Glauben selbst.” Should a worldly ruler demand conformity of belief (“darumb gläube wie ich und mein gantzes Land glübet”), it is better to let one’s outer body die as the early martyrs did as a way of proving that one’s internal faith cannot be affected by any earthly force: “So aber der gläubig innere Mensche sich unterwürffe der Gewalt, und wolte gehorsam seyn, er liesse ehe seinen eussern Menschen in den Graben für die Lewen, oder in den fewrigen Ofen werffen, anzuzeigen, daß sein innerlicher Mensche niemands untherthan were auff Erden.” Valentin Weigel, Kirchen- oder Hauspostille, ed. Horst Pfefferl, Vol. 12, Part 1 (Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2010), 88. 124 As Luther writes in his Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum from 1517 (the so-called 95 Theses): “Opinari venias papales tantas esse, ut solvere possint hominem, etiam si quis per imposibile dei genitricem violasset, Est insanire.” Luther argues instead: “Dicimus contra, quod venie papales nec minimum venialium peccatorum tollere possint quo ad culpam.” WA1, 237:7-10. 44
masses for the dead (for instance) are ineffective, they are external, but insofar as they cause a Christian to lose his fear of God, they are internal. 125 Weigel leans far to the other extreme, arguing that all actions are external, including religious practices. To take one example, Weigel considered private confession to be idolatrous because, in forgiving the sins of the penitent, it allowed the priest to “usurp” Christ’s own office by acting as his regent or vicar. 126 Both confessor and penitent sin during private confession—the confessor for pridefully believing himself to be sitting on Christ’s throne, and the penitent for idolatrously ascribing the power to forgive sin to the confessor rather than to Christ. 127 Rather than fighting to reform the Church by campaigning to have private confession abolished (as Luther did in the case of the sale of indulgences), Weigel concludes that Christians have no duty to take up the fight for reform. That is, Weigel argues that whether an action counts as external or internal depends on the attitude of the actor towards the action. In the case of private confession, the confessor and the penitent may safely perform private confession if neither party believes the action to be effective in purifying the penitent’s soul, and if neither party actually believes that the priest has power to forgive sins in Christ’s place— 125 The same logic is at work in Luther’s Tractatus de libertate christiane (1520). Nothing external can either save or damn (“Et constat, nullam prorsus rerum externarum, quocunque censeantur nomine, aliquid habere momenti ad iustitiam aut libertatem Christianam, sicut nec ad iniustitiam aut servitutem parandam”), because even wicked people could perform works and ceremonies (“cum ea quae dicta sunt geri possint a quovis impio”, 27-28). However, insofar as people believe that works and ceremonies are effective, then these things do have a negative effect on the inner man: “Ita non cerimonias nec opera contemnimus, immo maxime quaerimus, opinionem autem operum contemnimus, ne quis existimet illam esse veram iustitiam” WA7, 72:26-28. Those who maintain that Christians must perform works and ceremonies in order to be saved perpetrate a great injustice on Christians: “perversitate factum est, ut penitus interciderit scientia Christianae gratiae, fiei, libertatis et totius Christi, Succedente in locum eius humanorum operum et legum intolerabili captivitate, factique sumus iuxta lamentationes Hieremiae servi hominum vilissimorum, qui in terra sunt, qui nostra miseria abutuntur in omnes turpitudines et ignominias voluntatis suae.” WA7, 58:25- 30. 126 Weigel, Schlüssel, 33. “Denn du [the Priest] setzest dich ann Christi Stadt und masest dich ahn göttlicher Vorgebung.” 127 Ibid, 55. “In deinen inwendigen Menschen liegt die rechte Absolution oder Loßsprechung, die Gott selber thut, und nicht in eusern Menschen.” 45
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 and 46: fellow Lutherans in studying books
Page 47: provoked into action unnecessarily,
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.”
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Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
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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
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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
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
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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
Page 209 and 210:
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
Page 235 and 236:
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
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
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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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