“Readingthesebooksoneisbroughtyetagaintohopethatoursocietyasawholewillbeseriouslydrawntoamoresystematicstudyofthedeeperaspectsofman’slife...“A.M.AllchinPseudo-Dionysius:TheCompleteWorkstranslationbyColmLuibheidforward,notes,andtranslationcollaborationbyPaulRoremprefacebyRen矇RoquesintroductionsbyJaroslavPelikan,JeanLeclercq,andKarlfriedFroehlich“IndeedtheinscrutableOneisoutofthereachofeveryrationalprocess.NorcananywordscomeuptotheinexpressibleGood,thisOne,thisSourceofallunity,thissupraexistentBeing.Mindbeyondmind,wordbeyondspeech,itisgatheredupbynodiscourse,bynointuition,bynoname.“Pseudo-Dionysius(5thor6thcentury)TherearefewfiguresinthehistoryofWesternSpiritualitywhoaremoreenigmaticthanthefifthorsixth-centurywriterknownasthePseudo-Dionysius.TherealidentityofthepersonwhochosetowriteunderthepseudonymofDionysiustheAreopagiteisunknown.Eventheexactdatesofhiswritingshaveneverbeendetermined.Moreoverthetextsthemselves,thoughrelativelyshort,areatpointsseeminglyimpenetrableandhavemystifiedreadersoverthecenturies.YettheinfluenceofthisshadowyfigureonbroadrangeofmysticalwritersfromtheearlyMiddleAgesonisreadilydiscernible.Hisformulationofamethodofnegativetheologythatstressestheimpotenceofhumans’attempttopenetratethe“cloudofunknowing“isfamous,asishismeditationonthedivinenames.Despitehisinfluence,relativelyfewattemptshavebeenmadetotranslatetheentirecorpusofhiswrittenintoEnglish.HereinonevolumearecollectedallofthePseudo-Dionysius’sworks.EachhasbeentranslatedfromtheMigneedition,withreferencetotheforthcomingG繹ttingencriticaleditionofA.M.Ritter,G.Heil,andB.Suchla.TopresenttheseworkstotheEnglish-speakingpublic,anoutstandingteamofsixresearchscholarshasbeenassembled.ThelucidtranslationofColmLuibheidhasbeenaugmentedbyPaulRorem’snotesandtextualcollaboration.ThereaderispresentedarichandvariedexaminationofthemainthemesofDionysianspiritualitybyRen矇Roques,anincisivediscussionoftheoriginalquestionsoftheauthenticityandallegedheresiesintheDionysiancorpusbyJaroslavPelikan,acomprehensivetracingDionysius’sinfluenceonmedievalauthorsbyJeanLeclercq,andasurveybyKarlfriedFroehlichofthereceptiongiventhecorpusbyHumanistsandsixteenth-centuryReformers.+
