Journal of the Study on Religion and History (JSRH)

No. 2 (2025): JSRH
Articles

Merely Eros? Rethinking Love Discourses in Pseudo-Dionysius

PDF
  • Qita CHEN
Qita CHEN
Sun Yat-sen University

Published 2025-12-29

Keywords

  • Pseudo-Dionysius (Dionysius the Areopagite), love, eros, philanthropy, communion
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Merely Eros? Rethinking Love Discourses in Pseudo-Dionysius. (2025). Journal of the Study on Religion and History (JSRH), 2, 142-164. https://doi.org/10.30250/JSRH.202512_(2).0005

Abstract

Scholarly work on love in Pseudo-Dionysius has predominantly focused on elucidating eros as a divine epithet. Interpreted through a Neoplatonic lens, Greek eros thus appears to be the cornerstone of Dionysius’s conception of love. However, a closer examination of the Dionysian corpus reveals that two related concepts–notably philanthropy and communion–remain understudied. The two notions are integral to Dionysius’s treatment of the triadic structure of love: providential care, mutual love, and the return of love. This article contends that philanthropy and communion are essential for understanding Dionysian eros. By situating Christ’s philanthropy and the loving communion in the middle term of mutual love, we can better grasp the rich connotations of eros within Dionysian theology.

PDF

Counts

Views: 43 / Downloads: 3

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Corry, Patrick. 2022. Erōs, Ecstasis and Silence in Dionysius’ Mystical Theology. Pro Ecclesia 31, no. 3: 302–320.
  2. De Andia, Ysabel. 1996. Henosis. L’Union à Dieu chez Denys l'Aréopagite. Leiden: Brill.
  3. De Vogel, Cornelia J. 1981. Greek Cosmic Love and the Christian Love of God: Boethius, Dionysius the Areopagite and the Author of the Fourth Gospel. Vigiliae Christianae 35: 57–81.
  4. Dodds, E. R., ed. 1992. Proclus: The Elements of Theology, A Revised Text. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  5. Festugiere, Andre-Jean. 1954. Personal Religion Among the Greeks. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
  6. Forsberg, Juhani. 2010. Afterword: Finnish Luther Research since 1979. In Two Kinds of Love: Martin Luther’s Religious World. Tuomo Mannermaa, translated by Kirsi I. Stjerna. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, pp. 89–103.
  7. Gersh, Stephen. 1978. From Iamblichus to Eriugena: An Investigation of the Prehistory and Evolution of the Pseudo-Dionysian Tradition. Leiden: Brill.
  8. Golitzin, Alexander. 2003. ‘Suddenly, Christ’: The Place of Negative Theology in the Mystagogy of Dionysius Areopagite. In Mystics: Presence and Aporia. Edited by Michael Kessler and Christian Sheppard. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 8–37.
  9. Hathaway, Ronald F. 1969. Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius. Martinus Nijhoff: The Hague.
  10. Heide, Daniel. 2019. Divine Eros: The Providential and Perfective Ecstasy of God in Dionysius’ Divine Names IV. Dionysius 37: 44–59.
  11. Heil, Günter and Adolf Martin Ritter, eds. 2012. Corpus Dionysiacum II: De Coelesti Hierarchia, De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, De Mystica Theologia, Epistulae. Berlin: de Gruyter.
  12. John of Damascus. 2003. St. John of Damascus: Three Treatises on the Divine Image. Translated by Andrew Louth. New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
  13. Jones, John D. 1980. Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite: The Divine Names and The Mystical Theology. Milwaukee: The Marquette University Press.
  14. Kupperman, J. S. 2013. Eros and Agape in Dionysius the Areopagite. Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition 3, no. 25. Website content: http://www.jwmt.org/v3n25/kupperman.html (accessed on 23 Oct. 2024).
  15. Louth, Andrew. 1989. Denys the Areopagite. London, New York: Continuum.
  16. ———. 2007. The Origins of The Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys. New York: Oxford University Press.
  17. ———. 2022. Divine Love and Platonic Beauty in Dionysius the Areopagite. In Platonic Love from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Edited by Carl Séan O’Brien and John Dillon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 153–170
  18. Majercik, Ruth. 1989. The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Leiden: Brill.
  19. Meyendorff, John. 1969. Christ in Eastern Christian Thought. Washington: Corpus Books.
  20. Nygren, Anders. 1953. Agape and Eros. Translated by Philip S. Watson. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
  21. Osborne, Catherine. 1996. Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  22. Perl, Eric D. 2007. Theophany: The Neoplatonic Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite. New York: State University of New York Press.
  23. Pseudo-Dionysius. 1987. Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Translated by Colm Luibheid, note by Paul Rorem. New Jersey: Paulist Press.
  24. Rhodes, Michael Craig. 2014. Pseudo-Dionysius’ Concept of God. International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 75, no.4: 306–18.
  25. Rist, John M. 1966. “A Note on Eros and Agape in Pseudo-Dionysius.” Vigiliae Christianae 20, no. 4: 235–43.
  26. ———. 1999. Love, Knowing and Incarnation in Pseudo-Dionysius. In Traditions of Platonism: Essays in Honour of John Dillon. Edited by John J. Clearly. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 375–388.
  27. Schäfer, Christian. 2006. Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite: An Introduction to the Structure and the Content of the Treatise On the Divine Names. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
  28. Shomaker, Ben. 2016. An Eternal Incorrigible Metaphysician: Decoding the Christology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Studies in Spirituality 26: 105–56.
  29. Smith, J. Warren. 2012. Divine Ecstasy and Divine Simplicity: The Eros Motif in Pseudo-Dionysius’s Soteriology. Pro Ecclesia 21, no. 2: 211–227.
  30. Suchla, Beate Regina, ed. 1990. Corpus Dionysiacum I: Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, De Divinis Nominibus. Berlin: de Gruyter.
  31. Trismegistus, Hermes. 2000. Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation with Notes and Introduction. Translated by Brian P. Copenhaver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  32. Turner, Denys. 1995. Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs. Massachusetts: Cistercian Publications.
  33. Vasilakis, Dimitrios A. 2020. Eros in Neoplatonism and Its Reception in Christian Philosophy: Exploring Love in Plotinus, Proclus and Dionysius the Areopagite. London: Bloomsbury Academic.