In infinitum ire

In infinitum ire: PseudoDenys' endless approach to God in Parts IX and XIII of On the Divine Names In this paper, a philosophical analysis is carried out into Parts IX and XIII of Pseudo --Denys the Areopagite's major work On the Divine Names. In a first instance, however, a quick reference is made to Part III as well, in order to adumbrate the Dionysian alternative to conceptual theology -which is prayer (cf. Chapter 1 of Part III). A general characterization then follows, of Dionysian theology as an impossible effort to capture God's infinity. This effort presupposes that the Aristotelian principle concerning the impossibility of going to infinity is invalid and that what needs to be done, if we really want to access divine essence, is just the opposite. Next, a short analysis situates Parts IX and XIII in the context of On the Divine Names, after which we delve into an analysis of Part IX. Here I argue that in this part, Denys interprets divine grandeur as inexhaustible productivity or creativity and that hereby, he gives us a preliminary sense of God's infinity. Finally, Part XIII is an explicit rejection of the idea that any divine name will ever be able to pinpoint the divine essence. Hence, ultimately, Denys embraces the proposition that a regressus infinitus would be necessary to reach God; and, apparently, that prayer and unmediated union are better ways of knowing God than conceptual theology

Humanities · Physics · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies