Tag Archives: Neoplatonism

Platonism and the Trinity: Apophaticism and Pure Relationality

Posted on 6 April 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Alexander Earl APOPHATICISM To recapitulate, in Plotinus there are several levels of reality: the Cosmos (from our discus­sion of beauty and bodies), Soul (especially discursive reasoning), Intellect (the all-at-once act of intellect intellecting the intelligibles), and then the One … Continue reading →

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Platonism and the Trinity: Hierarchy and Participation

Posted on 1 April 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

By Alexander Earl PLOTINIAN HIERARCHY To provide an initial sketch, Plotinus has three primary hypostases in his philosophical system: The One, Intellect (nous), and Soul (psyche). In brief, the soul, despite countless misconceptions, is not a foreign homunculus inhabiting a … Continue reading →

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Platonism and the Trinity

Posted on 29 March 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

By Alexander Earl That it is especially with the Platonists that we must carry on our disputations on matters of theology, their opinions being preferable to those of all other philosophers. —Augustine of Hippo1 Whether in education or previous adherence, … Continue reading →

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Dionysian Ponderings: Out with the Gods, in with the Names

Posted on 13 August 2018 by Fr Aidan Kimel

St Dionysius is a Neoplatonist, which means that he teaches a metaphysics of participation. In general terms, David Schindler explains, “to speak of metaphysical participation is to say that one thing has what it is with and indeed after and … Continue reading →

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Dionysian Ponderings: Created by the Good as Desire for the Good

Posted on 6 August 2018 by Fr Aidan Kimel

The transcendent Deity, states St Dionysius the Areopagite, is beyond all naming, for it exists beyond differentiation and intelligibility, beyond being and beings, surpassing classification, taxonomy, and categories, even thought itself. “It is at a total remove from every condition, … Continue reading →

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Dionysian Ponderings: Transcending Freedom and Necessity

Posted on 14 July 2018 by Fr Aidan Kimel

“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 →

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Dionysian Ponderings: Creatio ex Nihilo, Divine Energies, and the Erotic God

Posted on 1 July 2018 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Did St Dionysius the Areopagite espouse the catholic understanding of the creatio ex nihilo? As noted in the preceding article, this understanding comprised three elements: (1) rejection of pre-existent matter, (2) absolute beginning, and (3) divine freedom. Neither rejection of eternal … Continue reading →

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Dionysian Ponderings: Plotinian Emanation and the Creatio ex Nihilo

Posted on 24 June 2018 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Did St Dionysius the Areopagite teach the creation of the cosmos from out of nothing? This is a live question for readers of the Corpus Areopagaticum. Dionysius does not explicitly cite the creatio ex nihilo and therefore can easily (some would … Continue reading →

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