Pseudo-Dionysius

Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works by Pseudo-Dionysius, translated by Paul Rorem, 289 pages

St Dionysius the Areopagite was a Greek who was converted to Christianity by St Paul and later became the first bishop of Athens.  Some 400 years after his death, a set of writings appeared under his name in Syria, the unknown author of which is referred to as Pseudo-Dionysius.  These writings were introduced into the West by the end of the sixth century, where their Neoplatonic theology became immensely influential, especially in the High Middle Ages. 

The two key ideas of Pseudo-Dionysius are the unknowable transcendence of God and the nature of the divinely instituted hierarchy.  The former is at the center of his apophatic mysticism, which concentrates on the unlikeness of God and lesser things and qualities, until the mystic is left alone in the dark "cloud of unknowing", awaiting an enlightenment which can only come from above, from He who is beyond even Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  The second key idea complements this, as Pseudo-Dionysius lays out the hierarchies of angels and men as forming what Medieval thinkers called the "Great Chain of Being", each level of the hierarchy mediating the grace of the Almighty to the level below.  The hierarchy is thus not only a chain binding Earth to Heaven, but also a ladder of ascent to God.

This collection includes all of the extant works of Pseudo-Dionysius, as well as essays by scholars including Jaroslav Pelikan.