Eriugena S Commentary On The Dionysian Celestial Hierarchy

"The book is a comprehensive study of John Scotus Eriugena's commentary (Expositiones) on the Pseudo-Dionysian Celestial Hierarchy, with special attention given to its literary form and theological content." "The order for introducing various aspects of the Expositiones follows the format of the work itself: first in John's own order comes the Dionysian text in translation, followed by a paraphrase or two and then by Eriugena's own comments, sometimes on particular sources, more often on the points of doctrine he wants to expound. Thus this book starts with the author, that is, John's perspective on Dionysius himself (Chapter I: "Dionysian Biographies"). For Eriugena, Dionysius was the Athenian Areopagite, but was he also the Parisian martyr Saint Denis? Turning to the text of The Celestial Hierarchy, the particular Greek codex John was working with contained its own variants and challenges (Chapter II: "The Greek Manuscript and Its Problems"). Next comes a study of John's "Patterns of Translation and Paraphrase" (Chapter III). After his multiple paraphrases, Eriugena often adds his own expository remarks, sometimes invoking other sources, especially the remaining works of the Dionysian corpus (Chapter IV)." "Those interested primarily in John's philosophical theology could turn directly to the last three chapters, spanning the arc of "procession and return" so characteristic of the Periphyseon. The Expositiones show a particular interest in creation (Chapter V), anthropology (Chapter VI) and "Christ and Salvation" (Chapter VII). Eriugena's treatment of the doctrine of creation includes a particularly innovative understanding of creatio ex nihilo. His anthropology turns on the question of humanity's relationship to the divine, whether immediate (unmediated) or mediated or somehow both. The discussion of Christ includes skillful expansions of the biblical and Dionysian images for Christ, and a presentation of salvation as "theosis" or deification." "Translations of major sections of the Expositiones are appended, as well as John's prologue to his earlier translation of the Dionysian corpus. The book also contains a bibliography, an index of premodern and modern names, a scriptural index, and an index to the works of Eriugena."--BOOK JACKET.

"Dionysius the Areopagite" is the biblical name chosen by the pseudonymous author of an influential body of Christian theological texts, dating from around 500 C.E. The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, and The Mystical Theology offer a synthesis of biblical interpretation, liturgical spirituality, and Neoplatonic philosophy. Their central motif, which has made them the charter of Christian mysticism, is the upward progress of the soul toward God through the spiritual interpretation of the Bible and the liturgy. Dionysius continually reminds his readers, however, that all human concepts fall short of the transcendence of God and must therefore be abandoned in negotiations and silence. In this book, Rorem provides a commentary on all of the Dionysian writings, chapter by chapter, and examines especially their complex inner coherence. The Dionysian influence on medieval theology is introduced in essays on specific topics: hierarchy, biblical symbolism, angels, Gothic architecture, liturgical allegory, the scholastic doctrine of God, and the mystical theology of the western Middle Ages. Rorem's book makes these texts more accessible to both scholars and students and includes a comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources.

An overview of the context, thought, writings and legacy of John Scottus Eriugena, the most important philosopher and theologian in the Latin West from the death of Boethius until the thirteenth century.

Dionysius the Areopagite, the early sixth-century Christian writer, bridged Christianity and neo-Platonist philosophy. Bringing together a team of international scholars, this volume surveys how Dionysius’s thought and work has been interpreted, in both East and West, up to the present day. One of the first volumes in English to survey the reception history of Dionysian thought, both East and West Provides a clear account of both modern and post-modern debates about Dionysius’s standing as philosopher and Christian theologian Examines the contrasts between Dionysius’s own pre-modern concerns and those of the post-modern philosophical tradition Highlights the great variety of historic readings of Dionysius, and also considers new theories and interpretations Analyzes the main points of hermeneutical contrast between East and West

This book introduces the Pseudo-Dionysian mystical theology, with glimpses at key stages in its interpretation and critical reception through the centuries. Part one reproduces and provides commentary on the elusive Areopagites own miniature essay, The Mystical Theology, impenetrable without judicious reference to the rest of the Dionysian corpus. Stages in the reception and critique of this Greek corpus and theme are sketched in part two, from the sixth-century through the twelfth and to the critical reaction and opposition by Martin Luther in the Reformation.

Winner of the Ezra Pound Society Book Prize 2014 Ezra Pound's sustained use of ancient and medieval philosophical sources, particularly those within the Neoplatonic tradition, is well known. Yet the specific influence of the ninth-century theologian Johannes Scottus Eriugena on Pound's poetry and prose has received limited scholarly attention. Pound developed detailed plans to publish a commentary on Eriugena alongside his translations of two of the books of Confucianism, plans that ultimately went unrealised. Drawing on unpublished notes, drafts and manuscripts amongst the Ezra Pound papers held at Yale University, this book investigates the pivotal role of Eriugena in Pound's thought and, perhaps surprisingly, in his deployment of non-Western philosophical traditions.

Sailing to Byzantium brings together ten probing and pertinent critical papers, presented at the First and Second Postgraduate Forums in Byzantine Studies, held at Trinity College Dublin on 17-18 April 2007 and 15-16 May 2008 respectively. These essays engage with various facets of Byzantine history and culture. Many of them seek to shed new light on frequently controversial subject matters relating to history, historiography, and religion (the contentious nature of Jerusalem in Byzantine imperial ideology; medieval Western attitudes and perceptions of the Byzantine Empire; and the translation and use of Greek theologians in the West). Elsewhere, there are papers that tackle aspects of Byzantine literature (Encyclopaedism; the circulation of poetry; and a case study of political rhetoric in Manuel II’s Dialogue with the Empress-Mother on Marriage). Finally, history of art and cult come under the microscope in the last two essays of the volume (the meaning of the eight-century apsidal conch at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome and the origins of the cult of Saint Martin in Dalmatia). Sailing to Byzantium is a provocative, wide-ranging collection and a must for students and academics who wish to broaden their understanding of one of history’s most fascinating civilizations.

Providing a broad, definitive account of how the 'archival turn' in humanities scholarship has shaped modernist studies, this book also functions as an ongoing 'practitioner's toolkit' (including useful bibliographical resources) and a guide to avenues for future work. Archival work in modernist studies has revolutionised the discipline in the past two decades, fuelled by innovative and ambitious scholarly editing projects and a growing interest in fresh types of archival sources and evidence that can re-contextualise modernist writing. Several theoretical trends have prompted this development, including the focus on compositional process within genetic manuscript studies, the emphasis on book history, little magazines, and wider publishing contexts, and the emphasis on new material evidence and global and 'non-canonical' authors and networks within the 'New Modernist Studies'. This book provides a guide to the variety of new archival research that will point to fresh avenues and connect the methodologies and resources being developed across modernist studies. Offering a variety of single-author case studies on recent archival developments and editing projects, including Samuel Beckett, Hart Crane, H.D., James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair and Virginia Woolf, it also offers a range of thematic essays that examine an array of underused sources as well as the challenges facing archival researchers of modernism