Luther’s Antidote to Apophatic Theology
Luther’s theological development brought him through a significant period of mysticism, namely, Pseudo-Dionysius’ negative theology. While previous theologians accused Dionysius of lacking Christ, the negation itself convinced Luther that Dionysius had achieved a significant insight into Christ’s cr...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2021
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| In: |
Lutheran quarterly
Year: 2021, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 249-272 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality FA Theology KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KDD Protestant Church |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Luther’s theological development brought him through a significant period of mysticism, namely, Pseudo-Dionysius’ negative theology. While previous theologians accused Dionysius of lacking Christ, the negation itself convinced Luther that Dionysius had achieved a significant insight into Christ’s cross. In Tauler and the Frankfurt mystics Luther found the fulfillment of Dionysius’ path, that God negated everything finite. Luther preferred the wise silence (apophaticism) of negative mystical theologians to the babbling of the scholastics., However, Luther also moved beyond all mystical negators accusing them of understanding everything in terms of law and merit. This obsession was finally what needed negating more than anything else. Such a negation presented itself to Luther in the form of a promise, namely, a word spoken in the present. Such a promise removed the doubt of dwelling before God’s silence or attempting to convince oneself of the truth of speculative scholastic theology. God’s promise was so certain and objective, it could even be given liturgically. And so Luther’s final antidote to apophaticism was to proclaim to the devil, “I am baptized.”, Luther’s spiritual descendants proceeded to reintroduce the law into matters of faith in various ways. Eventually this led to various German philosophies, including idealism, and the ultimate negative bondage to the law in post-modernism. |
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| ISSN: | 2470-5616 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Lutheran quarterly
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