Dionysius
Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite (c.500). The name given to the author of a corpus of theological writings; until the end of the 19th cent., their authorship was generally ascribed to the Dionysius whom Paul had converted (Acts 17. 34).
Four of his works (The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, and The Mystical Theology) and ten letters are extant. The central characteristic of these works is the synthesis of Christian and Neoplatonic thought. The leading theme is that of the intimate union (henōsis) of God and the soul, and the progressive deification of the human (theiōsis), by a process of unknowing in an ascent to God through the three ways of the spiritual life: purgative, illuminative, and unitive.
Dionysius exerted a profound influence on Christianity. See also NEOPLATONISM.
Four of his works (The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, and The Mystical Theology) and ten letters are extant. The central characteristic of these works is the synthesis of Christian and Neoplatonic thought. The leading theme is that of the intimate union (henōsis) of God and the soul, and the progressive deification of the human (theiōsis), by a process of unknowing in an ascent to God through the three ways of the spiritual life: purgative, illuminative, and unitive.
Dionysius exerted a profound influence on Christianity. See also NEOPLATONISM.
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Dionysius