Pseudo-Dionysius' Influence on the Angelic Doctor

 

Sorry for the long hiatus. I will be blogging more regularly from now on.

I have just ordered a copy of Fran O'Roark's Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Aquinas, published in 2005.

The Aristotelian focus that Etienne Gilson and his disciples have emphasized receives a fair balance by more recent scholarship on the Neo-Platonic aspect of St. Thomas' work. Here O'Roark pays special attention to the way that St. Thomas tries to harmonize the Dionysian tradition with the new learning brought about by an Aristotelian renaissance, and how the two do not contradict each other. Given Pseudo-Dionysius' dominance in the faculties of theology in the burgeoning universities of the West, it is no wonder that St. Thomas should pay such detailed attention to the ways in which Dionysius and Aristotle engage in a conversation in his Christian metaphysics. We must keep in mind that in the medieval universities, disagreeing with the Areopagite was just not done.

I will be interested in seeing how the issue of being and existence is seen within the broader Dionysian vision of the chain of being and the various cosmic hierarchical perfections. How does the Dionysian notion of the chain of being, and the apophaticism it ultimately comes to, contribute to a robust Thomistic notion of natural law?

Stay tuned!

Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Possible Inspiration for St. Theresa of Avila's Reform of the Carmelite Order?

While visiting the Shrine of St. Theresa of Avila in the town of...well...Avila, I visited the small museum in the undercroft of the Carmelite chapel, and came across something very intriguing. It seems like I came across, behind a glass enclosure, a copy of what I recognized as The Lives of the Desert Fathers. This particular book was the possession of St. Theresa, and there are copious notes on the margins which she wrote.

This sparked a question in my mind: To what degree was this book influential in her reform of the Carmelite Order? What are the patristic sources of such reform?

I hope the docens of the monastic museum will allow me the privilege of looking through it.