DIONYSIUS,PAUL AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PSEUDONYM |
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| Authors: | CHARLES M. STANG |
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| Affiliation: | Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
cstang@hds.harvard.edu |
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| Abstract: | This essay interprets the CD through the lens of the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the corresponding influence of Paul. First, this essay argues that the author of the CD writes under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite in order to suggest that, following Paul, he will effect a new rapprochement between the wisdom of pagan Athens and the revelation of God in Christ. Second, this essay demonstrates how crucial Paul is for Dionysius' own “apophatic anthropology,” that is, his view of how the human self that would solicit union with the “unknown God” must also become somehow “unknown.” Finally, this essay hazards a final hypothesis regarding the significance of the pseudonym: that the practice of pseudonymous writing is itself an ecstatic devotional practice in the service of “unknowing” both God and self. |
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