Author
Dionysius the Areopagite
Dionysius the Areopagite is the name under which a body of Greek theological writings has come down. Acts 17:34 names Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus at Athens, among those converted by Paul's preaching, and the writings present themselves as his. They first appear in the historical record in the early sixth century. Since the late nineteenth century most scholars have dated them to around 500 and attributed them to an unknown author, often called Pseudo-Dionysius, but the traditional attribution has defenders, and the question remains debated. He is venerated as a saint on 3 October in the East and 9 October in the West.
The writings join Christian doctrine to the Neoplatonic thought of Proclus and his school. They describe a universe ordered in hierarchies through which divine light descends and returns, and they distinguish the affirmative, negative and mystical ways of speaking of God. Translated into Latin by Hilduin, John Scotus Eriugena and others, they carried an authority close to that of the apostles, and Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure all commented on or drew heavily from them.
The library holds On the Divine Names, The Celestial Hierarchy and The Mystical Theology. The Mystical Theology is the shortest, and On the Divine Names is the work the scholastics quoted most often.
Works
Texts currently available in the library.
On the Divine Names
On the Divine Names (De divinis nominibus) is the chief theological treatise of the Christian Neoplatonist writing under the name Dionysius the Areopagite, probably in the late fifth or early sixth century. Addressed to Timothy, it unfolds the names predicated of God — Good, Light, Beauty, Love, Being, Life, Wisdom, Power, Justice, and the rest — through thirteen chapters, grounding each name in Scripture and in the tradition of Hierotheus. Its account of divine procession, participation, and the beautiful-and-good became foundational for Byzantine and medieval Latin theology, and it is among the authorities Aquinas cites most. Schola presents the Greek text with the Latin translation of Balthasar Corderius and the English translation of John Parker (1897).
The Celestial Hierarchy
The Celestial Hierarchy (De caelesti hierarchia) is the principal angelological treatise of the Christian Neoplatonist writing under the name Dionysius the Areopagite, probably in the late fifth or early sixth century. It interprets biblical images of heavenly beings as a graded economy of purification, illumination, and perfection, famously arranging nine angelic orders in three triads. Through its Greek and Latin transmission, its vocabulary of hierarchy and participation became enormously influential in Byzantine and medieval Latin theology, including the angelology of Aquinas and later commentators. Schola presents the work in Latin and English.
The Mystical Theology
The Mystical Theology (De mystica theologia) is the shortest and densest treatise of the Corpus Dionysiacum, addressed to Timothy. In five brief chapters it teaches the ascent beyond every affirmation and negation to union with God 'in the divine darkness' of unknowing — the theology of negation that Aquinas cites most among Dionysius's works and that anchors the scholastic doctrine of God's incomprehensibility. Moses' ascent of Sinai and the Apache Bartholomew's 'theology of much and least' frame the movement through causes to the Cause itself, Who is beyond every assertion and every removal. Schola presents the Greek text with the Latin translation of Balthasar Corderius (as printed in Migne PG3, 1857) and the English translation of John Parker (1897).