Overview

Dionysius the Areopagite exercised immense influence on medieval theology. This study considers various ways in which his doctrine of union with God in darkness marked the early Albert the Great and his student Thomas Aquinas. The Mystery of Union with God considers a broad range of themes in the early Albert's corpus and in Thomas that underlie their mystical theologies and may bear traces of Dionysian influence. These themes include the divine missions, anthropology, the virtues of faith and charity, primary and secondary causality, divine naming, and eschatology. The heart of this work offers detailed exegesis of key union passages in Albert's commentaries on Dionysius, Thomas's Commentary on the Divine Names, and the Summa Theologiae questions on Spirit's gifts of understanding and wisdom. The Mystery of Union with God offers the most extensive, systematic analysis to date of how Albert and Thomas interpreted and transformed the Dionysian Moses """"who knows God by unknowing."""" It shows Albert's and Thomas's philosophical and theological motives to place limits on Dionysian apophatism and to reintegrate mediated knowledge into mystical knowing. The author surfaces many similarities in the two Dominicans' mystical doctrines and exegesis of Dionysius. This work prepares the way for a new consideration of Albert the Great as the father of Rhineland Mysticism. The original presentation of Aquinas's theology of the Spirit's seven gifts breaks new ground in theological scholarship. Finally, the entire book lays out a model for the study of mystical theology from a historical, philosophical and doctrinal perspective.

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9780813229157

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Reviews

A highly detailed study. Ample in scope, richly documented, and equipped with an excellent bibliography and indexes, Blankenhorn's erudite study will be a worthwhile addition to any academic library that supports an advanced program in theology/ -Catholic Library World Blankenhorn brilliantly renders the great service of addressing the much-neglected role of St. Albert the Great, whose influence on his better-known student, St. Thomas Aquinas, is oYen acknowledged but seldom explored... This book provides much-needed insight into the intellectualist strand of medieval Dionysian reception, running parallel to the affectivist strand in such authors as Thomas Gallus and St. Bonaventure... Blankenhorn's interpretation also attends to the theological assumptions, implications, and perduring significance of this thirteenth-century Dominican tradition of mystical theology, thus rendering it available for fruitful contemporary engagement. -Boyd Taylor Coolman, Boston College Bernhard Blankenhorn's book is a welcome addition to the study of high scholasticism. He gives us a well-researched account of links between the work of Dionysius, Albert the Great, and Thomas Aquinas on the question of union with God. Blankenhorn offers a fresh point of entry for the study of Thomas's theology, as well as expanding significantly our understanding of his sources, showing how the context within which Thomas's thought developed is richer and more complex than is oYften allowed. -Vivian Boland, OP An erudite work that renews our understanding of Albert's and Thomas's mystical theologies. The analysis of 'union above mind' is truly masterly... Blankenhorn beautifully shows the integration of metaphysics, epistemology, Trinitarian theology, Christology, and eschatology within Thomas's doctrine of mystical union. -Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg.

An important contribution to the research on Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, especially concerning the reception of Dionysian theology. Based on a broad selection of texts, the Dionysian Mysticism in these authors is presented in an extensive manner. Fills a gap in the scholastic research."""" - Dr. Maria Burger, Albertus-Magnus-Institut, Bonn, Germany

Author Information

Bernhard Blankenhorn, OP is associate professor of theology at the Ponti'fical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

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