Mysticism and mystagogy in Dionysus Pseudo Areopagite
Abstract
The Corpus Dionysiacum is one of the most important and challenging cases of pseudography in the history of Western thought. The textual references, consecrated by a wide and influential list of commentators over the centuries, from West to East, attributing four treatises and ten letters to Dionysius, a self-styled disciple of Paul of Tarsus and of a master called Hierotheos, not only served as a structuring for a complex Christian worldview that included mystagogic, ontological and cosmological aspects, but also founded radical reflections on language. These reflections culminated, in large part, in what we now call mysticism. In this sense, referring to Dionysius Pseudo Areopagite, Pseudo Dionysius Areopagite, or Dionysius Areopagite, entails addressing a textual corpus that even today continues to stimulate research thanks to its boundary nature, which brings together Greek philosophical aspects, particularly Neoplatonists, and Christian elements. In the present work, I aim to expose the links between mysticism and mystagogy in Dionysius Pseudo Areopagite, prioritizing the theological-initiatory character of language as the unifying axis between Mystical theology and the Ecclesiastical hierarchy. To achieve this, it seems crucial to begin by analyzing Proclus' Platonic Theology as a Neoplatonic source for the pseudo-Dionysian text, particularly in its initiatory aspects of language.Downloads
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