Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works

According to traditional scholars, here are the complete works yet discovered of the enigmatic fifth and sixth-century writer known as the Pseudo Dionysius, prepared by a team of six research scholars. But up until the age of scientific enlightenment, many theologians held it to be the work of an 1st century Athenian judge converted by St.Paul himself, as described in Acts 17:34.

Acts 17:34: "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

Many prominent Church fathers relished this work as a philosophical-apologetic, grounding their faith in Neo-platonic reason until the theories of enlightenment scholars cast doubt on it's purported 1st century origins. Hence the forthwith prefix of "pseudo".

"Indeed the inscrutable One is out of the reach of every rational process. Nor can any words come up to the inexpressible Good, this One, this Source of all unity, this supra existent Being. Mind beyond mind, word beyond speech, it is gathered up by no discourse, by no intuition, by no name."

Pseudo-Dionysius (5th or 6th century)
There are few figures in the history of Western Spirituality who are more enigmatic than the fifth or sixth-century writer known as the Pseudo-Dionysius. The real identity of the person who chose to write under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite is unknown. Even the exact dates of his writings have never been determined. Moreover the texts themselves, though relatively short, are at points seemingly impenetrable and have mystified readers over the centuries. Yet the influence of this shadowy figure on broad range of mystical writers from the early Middle Ages on is readily discernible.

His formulation of a method of negative theology that stresses the impotence of humans' attempt to penetrate the cloud of unknowing is famous, as is his meditation on the divine names. Despite his influence, relatively few attempts have been made to translate the entire corpus of his written into English. Here in one volume are collected all of the Pseudo-Dionysius's works. Each has been translated from the Migne edition, with reference to the forthcoming Göttingen critical edition of A.M. Ritter, G. Heil, and B. Suchla. To present these works to the English-speaking public, an outstanding team of six research scholars has been assembled. The lucid translation of Colm Luibheid has been augmented by Paul Rorem's notes and textual collaboration. The reader is presented a rich and varied examination of the main themes of Dionysian spirituality by René Roques, an incisive discussion of the original questions of the authenticity and alleged heresies in the Dionysian corpus by Jaroslav Pelikan, a comprehensive tracing Dionysius'sinfluence on medieval authors by Jean Leclercq, and a survey by Karlfried Froehlich of the reception given the corpus by Humanists and sixteenth-century Reformers.

Reading these books one is brought yet again to hope that our society as a whole will be seriously drawn to a more systematic study of the deeper aspects of man's life.
- A.M. Ritter

Pseudo-Dionysius (1AD-599AD?), according to traditional scholars, was an enigmatic fifth and sixth-century Syrian writer. But up until the age of scientific enlightenment, many theologians held it to be the work of a 1st century Athenian judge converted by St.Paul himself in Acts 17:34.

Acts 17:34: "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."