On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
His doctrines are dangerous. Perhaps that is a mark of their truth. For the Ultimate Truth of things is so self-contradictory that it is bound to be full of peril to minds like ours which can only apprehend one side of Reality at the time. Therefore it is not perhaps to be altogether desired that such doctrines should be very popular. They can only be spiritually discerned, through the intensest spiritual effort. Without this they will only too readily lead to blasphemous arrogance and selfish sloth. And yet the Via Negativa, for those who can scale its dizzy ascent, is after all but a higher altitude of that same royal road which, where it traverses more populous regions, we all recognize as the one true Pilgrim’s Way. For it seeks to attain its goal through self-renunciation. And where else are the true principles of such a process to be found if it be not in the familiar virtues of Christian humility and Christian love?
X.— BIBLIOGRAPHY
[The writings of the Areopagite consist of four important treatises: De divinis Nominibus, De mystica Theologia, De Celestt Hierarchia, De ecclestatica Hierarchia ; some letters; and a number of lost documents referred to in the treatises. Little has been done as yet towards the provision of a critical text. The Syriac, Armenian and Arabic versions have not been investigated. Migne’s text contains many manifest errors; it is a reprint of the Venice edition of 5755-6.
The ideas of Dionysius’s system are discussed in all books on Mysticism, and a multitude of magazine articles, mainly in German, deal with isolated points in the actual treatises besides the problem of authorship. The brief list given below will suffice for the present purpose.
His doctrines are dangerous. Perhaps that is a mark of their truth. For the Ultimate Truth of things is so self-contradictory that it is bound to be full of peril to minds like ours, which can apprehend only one side of Reality at a time. It is therefore perhaps not altogether to be desired that such doctrines should be very popular. They can be discerned only spiritually, through the most intense spiritual effort. Without this they will all too readily lead to blasphemous arrogance and selfish sloth.
And yet the Negative Way (Via Negativa), for those who can scale its dizzy ascent, is after all only a higher altitude of that same royal road which, where it crosses more populous regions, we all recognize as the one true Pilgrim’s Way. For it seeks to attain its goal through self-renunciation. And where else are the true principles of such a process to be found, if not in the familiar virtues of Christian humility and Christian love?
X.— BIBLIOGRAPHY
[The writings of the Areopagite consist of four important treatises—On the Divine Names (De divinis Nominibus), On the Mystical Theology (De mystica Theologia), On the Celestial Hierarchy (De Celesti Hierarchia) and On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy (De ecclesiastica Hierarchia)—some letters, and a number of lost documents referred to in the treatises. Little has yet been done towards providing a critical text. The Syriac, Armenian and Arabic versions have not been investigated. Migne’s text contains many obvious errors; it is a reprint of the Venice edition of 5755-6.
The ideas of Dionysius’s system are discussed in all books on Mysticism, and a multitude of magazine articles, mostly in German, deal with isolated points in the treatises themselves as well as with the problem of authorship. The brief list given below will suffice for the present purpose.