Denys - Divine Names Flashcards
1
Q
emanation and participation
A
- God = Source of emanation
- ‘if intelligent beings were defined as having no Existence or Life, the argument would be sound; but since the divine Intelligences do exist in a manner surpassing other existences…they have a nearer place to the Good…and the truth, I think, is that the more anything participates in the One infinitely-bountiful God the more is it brought near to Him and made diviner than the rest’ (134)
o getting to God = process of abstraction
o Existence in God subsumes
o ‘the creatures, as they advance in the scale of creation, draw from Him more and more particular qualities and progress by becoming more concrete and individual instead of more abstract’ (134)
o contemplation = creative process. Unity in God
2
Q
god as cause
A
- God is ‘super-essentially above all existence; He is the substantial Cause and Creator of Being, Existence, Substance and Nature’ (135)
- ‘From Him that Is come Eternity, Essence, Being, Time…For God is not Existent in any ordinary sense, but in a simple and undefinable manner’ (135)
- ‘It is called the Universal Cause since all things came into being through Its bounty, whence all being springs; and It is called Wise and Fair because all things which keep their own nature uncorrupted are full of all Divine harmony and holy Beauty’ (56-7)
o not a first cause, but a universal cause
o first cause implies temporal aspect – God is beyond Time and the whole of creation
o ‘in so far as He acts on the relative plane He may, by virtue of this manifestation of Himself in the creation, be spoken of as a Cause’ (footnote 6, p.56-7)
3
Q
cataphasis
A
need this to get to point of linguistic exhaustion
- cataphatic view of God leads to ‘differentiated manifestations of the God-head’ (footnote 1, p.131)
- there is a sense of mystery when using cataphatic way – God transcends language
- e.g. Trinity – JC came down in incarnated form
o language does not grasp transcendent quality of Trinity
- paradox of personality/love – trinity is ‘beyond union where all distinctions are transcended’ (footnote 2, p.131)
4
Q
apophasis
A
- ‘And godlike Minds, angelically entering (according to their powers) unto such states of union and being deified and united, through the ceasing of their natural activities, unto the Light Which surpasseth Deity, can find no more fitting method to celebrate its praises than to deny It every manner of Attribute’ (60)
o via negativa is based on experience and not mere speculation - ‘they learn that it is the Cause of all things and yet Itself is nothing, because It super-essentially transcends them all’ (60)
- God surpasses ‘all condition, movement, life, imagination…conception, being, rest…infinite, everything that exists’ (60)
- We often use negative language to describe God e.g. ‘Terrible’, ‘Ineffable’
- ‘This transcendent sense, therefore, must be given to our language about God, and not our human sense’ (147)
o doctrine of unknowing
5
Q
paradox of apophasis/cataphasis
A
- ‘Thus, then, the Universal and Transcendent Cause must both be nameless and also possess the names of all things in order that It may truly be an universal Dominion, the Centre of creation on which all things depend…and that, according to the Scriptures, It may be all in all, and may be truly called the Creator of the world’ (63)
- ‘Hence all attributes may be affirmed at once of Him, and yet He is No Thing. He possesses all shape and form, and yet is formless and shapeless’ (140)
6
Q
writing as prayer
A
- ‘And for myself I pray God grant me worthily to declare the beneficent and manifold Names of the Unutterable and Nameless Godhead, and that He do not take away the word of Truth out of my mouth’ (64)
7
Q
union of two through contemplation
A
- Man seeks God – it is a process
- Become more unified the more you seek God
- Process leads to ecstasy
- Involves going outside of oneself
- Psychological state
- In order to understand the mystery of the Super-Essence, you must undertake self-renunciation
- God reveals himself and leads us to contemplation etc.
o Resemblance = final goal
o 2 main dangers
♣ spiritual presumption
♣ temptations of earthly nature
o results in reverence of God
o Scripture provides us with basis of reverence
8
Q
god as knowable and unknowable - process of transformation
A
o Scripture provides us with basis of reverence
- ‘Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the reach of all Reason and Intuition), yet by means of that ordering of all things which (being as it were projected out of Him) possesses certain images and semblances of His Divine Exemplars, we mount upwards (so far as our feet can tread that ordered path), advancing through the Negation and Transcendence of all things and through a conception of an Universal Cause, towards That Which is beyond all things’ (152)
o God exists both in undifferentiation and differentiation
o He is knowable and unknowable
♣ Knowable – he passes outwards into such activity
♣ Unknowable – being passes inwards into Undifferentiation
♣ Known in his acts but not in nature
9
Q
what do we learn from contemplation/scripture
A
- We learn through Scripture that God = the ‘Cause and Origin and Being and Life of all creation’ (55)
o God = efficient, formal and final cause
o Present in all things to a certain extent
o In recognising this, we experience a ‘sacred Grounding’ (55)
o Three stages
♣ Purgation
♣ Illumination
♣ Union
o Desire for God = main drive of soul
10
Q
god’s unity
A
- ‘in almost all consideration of Divine things we see the Supreme Godhead celebrated with holy praises as One and an Unity, through the simplicity and unity of Its supernatural indivisibility’ (56)
o God = ineffable and transcends unity
o But presence in man causes unity in individual, therefore we call God ‘One’
11
Q
trinity
A
- ‘It is called the Trinity because Its supernatural fecundity is revealed in a Threefold Personality’ (56)
o God transcends our conception of Trinity
o We call him Trinity as that is how we experience him
♣ Our ultimate home
♣ Individual personality who was once Incarnate
♣ A power within our hearts
o Though names for God ‘apply to the whole Nature of the Godhead and not merely to some particular element of function thereof, yet cannot express that Nature in Its Ultimate Super-essence but only as manifested in Its relative activity’ (7 – Rolt)
o ‘The various Names of God are thus mere inadequate symbols which seek (though unsuccessfully) to express the undifferentiated Super-Essence’ (7 – Rolt)
o all descriptions of God ‘denote the same undifferentiated Deity’ (7 – Rolt)
12
Q
relationship between finite and infinite
A
- For D, ‘finite things are good, for they point us on to the Infinite; but if we chain ourselves to them they will become a hindrance to our journey, when they can no longer be a guide’ (46)
13
Q
union as end goal
A
- ‘We shall be equal to the angels and shall be the Sons of God, being Sons of the Resurrection. But at present we employs (so far as in us lies), appropriate symbols for things Divine; and then from these we press on upwards according to our powers to behold in simple unity the Truth perceived by spiritual contemplations, and leaving behind us all human notions of godlike things, we still the activities of our minds, and reach (so far as this may be) into the Super-Essential Ray, wherein all kinds of knowledge so have their pre-existent limits (in a transcendently inexpressible manner), that we cannot conceive nor utter It’ (58)
o Luke 20:36
o It is through meditation in the form of symbols that we can contemplate
o Contemplation comes through via negative
14
Q
knowledge and being
A
- ‘For if all the branches of knowledge belong to things that have being, and if their limits have reference to the existing world, then that which is beyond all Being must also be transcendent above all knowledge’ (59)
o there is a positive element to Unknowing
15
Q
essence
A
- ‘all the Exemplars of existent things must pre-exist in It under the form on one Super-Essential Unity. For It produces Essences only by an outgoing from Essence’ (140)
o Platonic idea of essences
o God must contain if he produces the essences of things
o Created Essence can be seen in separate creature having similar tendencies – creation shows a plan
o God as Essence is manifested in world of relationships
