supplemental reading

I’ve included a link to Dionysius’ The Mystical Theology.

reflection

This week marks a shift from the more tradition atheism of people like Epicurus, towards a type of theological atheism. The atheism of the mystics, as exemplified in the work of Pseudo-Dionysius, is of a particular kind. While it is not a rejection of God as such, it is a thoroughgoing rejection of any concept that would claim to grasp the meaning of the word ‘God’. 

In the apophatic tradition of the mystics, every affirmation about God must be followed by a negation of that affirmation. What we witness in today’s reflection is a particular type of a/theism that that moves through three phases. First, there is the via positiva (nomination), then the via negativa (denomination), and finally the via eminentia (which is an enlightened affirmation freed from understanding).

For Pseudo-Dionysius, and those who follow in his wake, there is a reality that stands beyond all affirmation and negation. The religious individual is one who opens themselves up to this hyper-reality.

In this way, Pseudo-Dionysius can be seen as among the first to explore the idea of atheism as a type of purification process. A spiritual discipline that would help purge us of idolatry (an idea that we will see being taken up by Simone Weil). It is with Anselm that we will gain the clearest philosophical vision of what Pseudo-Dionysius is expressing here.

The Mystical Theology

Dionysius - also known as Pseudo-Dionysius - was a Christian thinker who wrote in the late fifth or early sixth century CE. While he is preceded by various religious mystics, he is widely regarded as the first person to systematically raise mystical reflections into a philosophical position. His work influenced many great medieval thinkers, such as Meister Eckhart, and continues to be of interest to those studying Mystical Theology.

In the following excerpts from The Mystical Theology we read some classical examples of Negative Theology. Negative theology - also called Apophatic theology - exists in a type of dialectical relationship with Positive - or Kataphatic - theology. While Negative Theology has a rich and varied history within Confessional religious settings, it has also been of continued interest to many philosophers who have found in it an antecedent to types of thought related to issues such as the Noumenal, Difference and the Unconscious. One recent philosopher who engaged seriously with Negative Theology was Derrida.

Negative Theology is important within the context of Atheism for Lent, as it represents the first systematic theological form of atheism, and can be seen to have laid the groundwork to more contemporary forms.