Paul Rorem - Böcker

Dionysius the Areopagite is the peudonymous author of an influential body of early (about 500 AD) Christian theological texts. The Pseudo-Dionysian writings offer a synthesis of Christian dogma and Neo-platonic thought. Their leading idea which has made them the charter of Christian mysticism, is the intimate union between God and the soul and the progressive deification of man. In this book, Paul Rorem examines and elucidates these difficult texts and explores their profound influence on medieval theology both in the East and west. As Rorem shows, the Pseudo-Dionysian writings were regarded almost as a "Summa Theologica" in the Eastern Church. In the West, they were commented on by virtually all of the great medieval theologians. Thomas Aquinas alone cites Dionysius is some 1,700 places.Rorem is co-translator of the 1984 edition (Paulist Press) of the complete Pseudo-Dionysius (the first English-language edition in modern times) and provided the notes, indices, and bibliography. The present book will make these texts more accessible to both scholars and students. A comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources will be included.

Born in Saxony in 1096, Hugh became an Augustinian monk and in 1115 moved to the monastery of Saint Victor, Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life, eventually becoming the head of the school there. His writings cover the whole range of arts and sacred science taught in his day. Paul Rorem offers a basic introduction to Hugh's theology, through a comprehensive survey of his works. He argues that Hugh is best understood as a teacher of theology, and that his numerous and varied writings are best appreciated as a comprehensive pedagogical program of theological education and spiritual formation. Drawing his evidence not only from Hugh's own descriptions of his work but from the earliest manuscript traditions of his writings, Rorem organizes and presents his corpus within a tri-part framework. Upon a foundation of training in the liberal arts and history, a structure of doctrine is built up, which is finally adorned with moral formation. Within this scheme of organization, Rorem treats each of Hugh's major works (and many minor ones) in its appropriate place, orienting the reader briefly yet accurately to its contents, as well as its location in Hugh's overarching program of theological pedagogy.

Born in Saxony in 1096, Hugh became an Augustinian monk and in 1115 moved to the monastery of Saint Victor, Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life, eventually becoming the head of the school there. His writings cover the whole range of arts and sacred science taught in his day. Paul Rorem offers a basic introduction to Hugh's theology, through a comprehensive survey of his works. He argues that Hugh is best understood as a teacher of theology, and that his numerous and varied writings are best appreciated as a comprehensive pedagogical program of theological education and spiritual formation. Drawing his evidence not only from Hugh's own descriptions of his work but from the earliest manuscript traditions of his writings, Rorem organizes and presents his corpus within a tri-part framework. Upon a foundation of training in the liberal arts and history, a structure of doctrine is built up, which is finally adorned with moral formation. Within this scheme of organization, Rorem treats each of Hugh's major works (and many minor ones) in its appropriate place, orienting the reader briefly yet accurately to its contents, as well as its location in Hugh's overarching program of theological pedagogy.

John, the sixth-century orthodox bishop of Scythopolis in Palestine, was the first of many authors to comment upon the highly influentional Pseudo-Dionysian writings (such as The Mystical Theology). Here translated and interpreted, John's Prologue and Scholia (marginalia) have only recently been separable from later comments. They present his complex theological and philosophical observations on the Dionysian texts. The book begins with the general outlines of the appearance and reception of the Dionysian corpus in the sixth century, followed by an overview of the career and works of John of Scythopolis. Written around AD 540, John's own comments in the Prologue provide the outline for introducing the concerns dominating his Scholia: biblical, classical, and patristic sources; liturgical terminology and context; orthodox and heretical doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, creation, and eschatology; Dionysian authenticity; Neoplatonism and John's unacknowledged quotations from Plotinus. Most of the Scholia and all of the Prologue are translated and annotated in order to present the first of many layers of Dionysian interpretation.