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Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius

A Study in the Form and meaning of the Pseudo-Dionysian Writings

  • Book
  • © 1969

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Authors:
  1. Ronald F. Hathaway

    1. University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XXV
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  2. Part One

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. The Historical Significance of the Letters

      • Ronald F. Hathaway
      Pages 3-36

    3. The Metaphysics of Hierarchy

      • Ronald F. Hathaway
      Pages 37-60

    4. The Hierarchic Design of the Letters

      • Ronald F. Hathaway
      Pages 61-83

    5. The Models of Order in the Eighth and Ninth Letters

      • Ronald F. Hathaway
      Pages 85-125

  3. The Letters of PS.-Dionysius

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 127-127
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    2. The Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius

      • Ronald F. Hathaway
      Pages 129-160

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 161-180
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Keywords

About this book

N eoplatonism begins explicitly with Plotinus in the third century of our era. The later Neoplatonism of the fifth and six century schools at Athens and Alexandria was both the continuation of the philosophy of Plotinus and also a pagan ideology. When these schools were closed, despite attempts at compromise at Alexandria and as a result of direct and indirect political pressures and actions, pagan ideology died. Many philosophers, such as Isidore, Asclepiodotus, Damascius, and Olym­ piodorus, must have foreseen the danger to philosophy, and their extant writings are sprinkled with forebodings. Would the death of pagan ideology, in the form of pagan worship and the Homeric and Orphic traditions, bring about the death of all genuine philosophy as well? One answer to this great question is found in the enigmatic writings of Ps. -Dionysius the Areopagite. Purposing to be the writings of the Athenian convert of St. Paul, they fall within the province of a multitude of so-called "pseudepigraphic" Christian writings. 1. GENERAL ARGUMENT I embarked on the study of Ps. -Dionysius' Letters with two goals in mind: (r) to grasp in clear detail the unknown author's philosophic intentions in writing his famous Corpus and the way in which he set about writing, and (2) to attempt to see with precision the reason for the absence of a political philosophy in Christian Platonism. The Letters provided a richness of detail and information bearing on the first subject which was wholly unexpected.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Ronald F. Hathaway

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius

  • Book Subtitle: A Study in the Form and meaning of the Pseudo-Dionysian Writings

  • Authors: Ronald F. Hathaway

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9183-8

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1969

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-011-8468-7Published: 01 January 1969

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-011-9183-8Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 180

  • Topics: Classical Studies, Classical Philosophy

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