John D. Jones

An Absolutely Simple God?: Frameworks for Reading Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite

A LARGELY NEGLECTED in the West during recent centuries as formative for philosophy and theology, the writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the Corpus Dionysiacum (CD), exercised substantial influence during the Western Christian medieval and Renaissance periods. John Scotus Eriugena, John Sarracen, Robert Grosseteste, and Marsilio Ficino produced some of the major Latin translations of the corpus. Albert the Great wrote commentaries on all the major works of Dionysius; Robert Grosseteste wrote commentaries on several of them. Aquinas wrote a commentary on the Divine Names and in addition refers directly to Dionysius in nearly 2200 texts-more references than to any other authors except Aristotle and Augustine. Dionysiuss influence continued to be felt through the Renaissance period among thinkers such as Marsilio Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, Meister Eckhart, and Dante. The writings of Dionysius have enjoyed an enduring formative status in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Dionysiuss writings are central to the Byzantine tradition that runs through the Cappadocian fathers, Maximus the Confessor, John Damascene, Gregory Palamas, and into the twentieth century among thinkers such as