Denys - Mystical Theology

Question 1

opening

Answer 1

• ‘Trinity, which exceedeth all Being, Deity, and Goodness!’ (191)
  o starts with a poem
• ‘Guide us to that topmost height of mystic lore…where the simple, absolute and unchangeable mysteries of heavenly Truth lie hidden’ (191)
• ‘For, by the unceasing and absolute renunciation of thyself and all things, thou shalt in pureness cast all things aside…and so shalt be led upwards to the Ray of that divine Darkness which exceedeth all existence’
• ‘these things thou must not disclose to any of the uninitiated, by whom I mean those who cling to the objects of human thought, and imagine there is no super-essential reality beyond, and fancy that they know by human understanding Him that has made Darkness His secret place’ (192)

Question 2

apophasis and cataphasis together (Chapter 1)

Answer 2

• ‘while it possesses all the positive attributes of the universe (being the universal Cause)… in a stricter sense It does not possess them, since It transcends them all, wherefore there is no contradiction between affirming and denying that It has them inasmuch as It precedes and surpasses all deprivation, being beyond all positive and negative distinctions?’ (192-3)
  o via negative vs. positive
• ‘the divinest and the highest of the things perceived by the eyes of the body or the mind are but the symbolic language of things subordinate to Him who Himself transcendeth them all’ (194)

Question 3

Unknowing involved in knowledge (Chapter 2-3)

Answer 3

• need to be plunged in the darkness of unknowing
• ‘we pray that we may come, and may attain unto vision through the loss of sight and knowledge, and that in ceasing thus to see or to know we may learn to know that which is beyond all perception and understanding’ (194)
• idea of marble – removing impediments that obstruct vision
• starts with universal, cataphatic statements, ascent towards universal followed by descent towards the particular
• we gain knowledge of Unknowing
• ‘For the more that we soar upwards the more our language becomes restricted to the compass of purely intellectual conceptions’ (198)
• reduced to ‘dumbness both of speech and thought’

Question 4

Union that comes with unknowing

Answer 4

• ‘when the whole ascent is passed it will be totally dumb, being at last wholly united with Him Whom words cannot describe’ (198)
  o has moved from via positiva to negativa

Question 5

how we start with cataphasis

Answer 5

• ‘when affirming the existence of that which transcends all affirmation, we were obliged to start from that which is most akin to It, and then to make the affirmation on which the rest depended; but when pursuing the negative method, to reach that which is beyond all negation, we must start by applying our negation to those qualities which differ most from the ultimate goal’ (198)

Question 6

jesus

Answer 6

• ‘Jesus being above all essence has stooped to an essential state in which all truths of human nature meet’ (197)

Question 7

god as not subject to reason

Answer 7

• ‘Nor can the reason attain to It to name It or to know It…nor can any affirmation or negation apply to it; for while applying affirmations or negations to those orders of being that come next to It, we apply not unto It either affirmation or negation, inasmuch as It transcends all affirmation by being the perfect and unique Cause of all things and transcends all negation by the pre-eminence of Its simple and absolute nature – free from every limitation and beyond them all’ (201)
  o God is not
  ♣ A thinking subject
  ♣ An act or faculty of thought
  ♣ An object of thought
  o Truth = object of thought
  ♣ God is not truth as he is beyond objectivity
  ♣ But, it is not error either
  o Even if we undertake process of apophasis and cataphasis, it is restricted by our reason?
  o We should speak about God through apophasis/cataphasis, but ultimately he is beyond both of them

Question 8

move from concrete to general - apophasis

Answer 8

• The strategy is to begin with the maximum number of terms, starting with the most concrete, and move to the more general and abstract, recognizing that at each stage every word (even the most general) will prove incapable of encapsulating the divine.
• In this way, apophasis is a strategy that allows language to wear itself out in its efforts to approach the transcendent.

Question 9

move from concrete to general - apophasis cont.

Answer 9

• starts with aspect of creation which is the least descriptive of God e.g. rock
  o the word rock does not encapsulate God, so we can get rid of it
  o even the most expansive term e.g. good, falls short of infinite God
  o goal of process = not knowledge but impossibility of knowledge through language. It does not equate with God’s being
  o when we have exhausted realm of language, we realise that none of this truly encapsulates the power of God
  o we therefore move from concrete to general (reverse of cata)
  o at the end, God imposes himself and we realise that he is above predication
  o knowledge = idolatry
  o end goal = union. One goes beyond the mind by knowing nothing i.e. the fullness of God