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Tag Archives: God
Dionysian Ponderings: Transcending Freedom and Necessity
“There is no evidence in the Dionysian corpus of creatio ex nihilo,” avers Timothy D. Knepper; “rather, the divine names, the properties they source, and the beings that participate in them, all preexist in and process from God” (Negating Negation, … Continue reading
Posted in Dionysius the Areopagite
Tagged creatio ex nihilo, divine freedom, emanation, God, Neoplatonism, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, the One
2 Comments
Dionysian Ponderings: To let be or not let be–that is the question
Did the Lord God Almighty have to create the world? This is the question I now wish to pose to St Dionysius the Areopagite. It is a pressing question for Christian students of the Areopagite because he is so deeply … Continue reading
“Neither the One nor God can be the same as Mega-Big, Galactic Engineers, nor yet the Gnostic demiurge laldobaoth”
The first, historical, answer to the question my title poses (‘What has Plotinus’ One to do with God?‘) is obviously that theologians in all three major Abrahamic faiths shared Plotinus’ conception, of a transcendent and incomprehensible simple, having no properties, … Continue reading
Dionysian Ponderings: The God Who is Theophany
All created being, all that is and will ever be, flows from the one transcendent Deity who is Father, Son, and Spirit. St Dionysius the Areopagite seems to be clear on this point, but it’s difficult to pigeonhole him in one … Continue reading
Posted in Dionysius the Areopagite
Tagged creator, divine creation, Eriugena, God, Neoplatonism, panentheism, Pseudo-Dionysius, theophany
65 Comments
Dionysian Ponderings: Emanation, Cosmos, and the Plotinian One
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of The Divine Names by St Dionysius the Areopagite is his discussion of divine creation—or perhaps more accurately (or not), divine emanation. Dionysius was greatly influenced by the writings of Neoplatonic philosophers, particularly, Plotinus and … Continue reading
Posted in Dionysius the Areopagite
Tagged beyond being, creatio ex nihilo, divine freedom, emanation, God, Neoplatonism, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, the One
14 Comments
Dionysian Ponderings: Beyond the Beyond … and then Beyond
“Dionysius adopts the doctrine of God as ‘nameless,’ ‘unknowable,’ and ‘beyond being’ from the Neoplatonic tradition established by Plotinus,” writes Eric Perl, “and his thought can be understood only in that context” (Theophany, p. 13). We will need to revisit … Continue reading
