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

Of these forms of indifference, I focus in this dissertation on the two that belong
to the tradition of negative theology, namely Eckhartian Gelassenheit and Dionysian
apophasis to explore the central question of this dissertation, which is about the afterlife
of medieval mystical texts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in particular the
texts belonging to this tradition of negative theology. I challenge the idea that there is a
decisive break between the medieval and early modern periods, particularly when it
comes to mysticism, which is strongly associated with the Middle Ages. Mysticism is
also mainly associated with Catholicism, and is thought to be something Luther rejected
in his sixteenth century reformation of the Church. And yet, I found that Valentin Weigel,
an early modern Protestant, was eagerly reading the mystical writers Meister Eckhart and
Dionysius. In fact, I found that Weigel is not alone in reading Eckhart and Dionysius,
who in fact were read throughout early modern, even though they were no longer front
and centre of theological disputes as they were in the Middle Ages.
A matter of great concern to Weigel was the problem posed by
confessionalization. The tight fit between secular and religious authority in sixteenth
century Saxony placed Weigel in a difficult position when he found his true beliefs at
odds with those of the institution that employed him. This conflict came to a head when
he was asked to sign a confessional document or face being removed from his post,
potentially imprisoned or even exiled. Under pressure, he signed the document and kept
quiet about the fact that he disagreed with much of its content and the fact he was
in times of persecution, it is better to tesitfy to their true beliefs even about indifferent matters and to suffer:
“Wir gläuben, lehren und bekennen, daß zur Zeit der Verfolgung, wann eine runde Bekenntnis des
Glaubens von uns erfordert, in solchen Mitteldingen den Feinden nicht zu weichen...Dann in solchem Fall
ist es nicht mehr umb Mittelding, sondern umb die Wahrheit des Evangelii, umb die christliche Freiheit und
umb die Bestätigung öffentlicher Abgötterei, wie auch umb Verhütung des Ärgernus der
Schwachgläubigen zu thun, darin wir nichts zu vergeben haben, sondern rund bekennen und darüber leiden
sollen, was uns Gott zugeschickt und über uns den Feinden seines Worts verhängt.” “Epitome,” Die
Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979), 815.
53