Dionysius the Areopagite is the peudonymous author of an influential body of early (about 500 AD) Christian theological texts. The Pseudo-Dionysian writings offer a synthesis of Christian dogma and Neo-platonic thought. Their leading idea which has made them the charter of Christian mysticism, is the intimate union between God and the soul and the progressive deification of man. In this book, Paul Rorem examines and elucidates these difficult texts and explores their profound influence on medieval theology both in the East and west. As Rorem shows, the Pseudo-Dionysian writings were regarded almost as a "Summa Theologica" in the Eastern Church. In the West, they were commented on by virtually all of the great medieval theologians. Thomas Aquinas alone cites Dionysius is some 1,700 places. Rorem is co-translator of the 1984 edition (Paulist Press) of the complete Pseudo-Dionysius (the first English-language edition in modern times) and provided the notes, indices, and bibliography. The present book will make these texts more accessible to both scholars and students. A comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources will be included.
Paul Rorem, Associate Professor of Early and Medieval Church History, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago
"`This magisterial work by Rorem will serve excellently anyone who is interested in knowing better a major molder of Christian thought.' Religious Studies Review, Vol 19, No 4/ Ocotober 1993"
"`Anyone interested in the Areopagite's influence will find a reliable orientation (and invaluable bibliography) in these pages ... Rorem wears his learning lightly ... fine book.' Expository Times"
"`There are few scholars alive better qualified to undertake such a commentary than Paul Rorem.' David Evans, Department of Theology, St John's University"
"he sets the Dionysian texts in their sixth-century historical context, He elucidates them clearly and accessibly without minimizing any of the considerable difficulties of interpretation that they present...This book is another major step in the very important process of describing and evaluating for English readers the long march which the Pseudo-Dionysian texts have taken through history, and of clarifying the principles on which a contemporary reading of them might be based." - The Way April 1995
"the edition of a commentary on all these works, chapter by chapter, is a most welcome event, especially for the cross references it gives to the whole Dionysian corpus and to medieval mystics." - Bijdragen, tijdschrift voor filosofie en theologie 56 (1995)
