DIONYSIUS ANDREAS FREHER: AN INQUIRY INTO THE WORK OF A FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTOR TO THE PHILOSOPHIC TRADITION OF JACOB BOEHME

283 Pages·013.339 MB·English

by  MUSES, CHARLES ARTHUR

Copyright by
Charles A. Muses
1951
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DIONYSIUS ANDREAS FREHER
An Inquiry Into The Work
of
A Fundamental Contributor
to the
Philosophic Tradition
of
JACOB BOEHME
by
Charles A. Muses
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
in the Faculty of Philosophy,
Columbia University.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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PLATE I
Prom the PABADOXA., EMBLEMATA ...
(Courtesy of the British Museum)
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CONTENTS
Page
Preface .....................................v
Acknowledgments ................... vlii
Abbreviations .... x
CHAPTER ONE
DIONYSIUS FREHER - His Life, Circle and Influence!
CHAPTER TWO
A DISCUSSION OF WORKS, Including some Reconstruc­
tion in Philosophical Bibliography 68
CHAPTER THREE
THE NATURE OF DIVINITY AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 113
CHAPTER FOUR
POINT, CENTER, AND CIRCUMFERENCE ........... 159
CHAPTER FIVE
THE SEVEN PROPERTIES AS A KEY PRINCIPLE OF
EXPLANATION .... 200
Appendix................................... 237
Bibliography ............................24-3
Illustrations and Diagrams:
Portrait of Freher, frontispiece
Sheet of Freher1 s Handwriting .... 67a
Schema for transfers of BMS, WMS,PMS..102
Schema for transfers of CMS and ChMS..103
Figures from the ParadoxarEmblemata...:-
Flg.#3 ...........................17
5 18
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CONTENTS
Page:-
Illu st rat i ons (C on t1 d)
Fig. #7 ....’..i.............................. 112
10 116
12 ... ................................. 117
13 .................................... 118
16 .................................... 119
17 120
23 121
2 5 122
31 .................................... 123
47 .................................... 124
56 .................................... 125
64 .................................... 126
65 .................................... 127
66 133
69 .................................... 134
79 .....................................135
100 .................................... 216a
1 2 4 .................................... 136
128 ..................................... 218a
139 ..................................... 231a
140 .................................... 176a
143 .................................... 177a
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PREFACE
This study, as the title indicates, purposes to con­
cern itself with Dionysius Andreas Freher(1649-1728).
Freher*s writings have been quoted in only two printed
works(*) since his day, although one of the most recent
book-length studies of Boehme, Brinton’s "Mystic Will"
(1930), as well as the most modern editor to date of
Boehme*s works in English, C.J. Barker, affirm Freher to
be Boehme*s great expositor.
This neglect becomes more understandable when it is
considered that freher*a works still exist only in manu­
script, with the exception of the printed extracts from
some of them to be found in Walton, op.clt. However, the
present writer hss had all the manuscript works of Freher
that are in the British Museum collections either photo­
stated or microfilmed, representing over seven thousand
pages of closely written material which has been very
rewarding to study(**). It was the writer’s long-standing
interest in Boehme which led, by what might be termed a
natural teleology, to the investigations culminating in
the present work.
(*) C. Walton, "Notes andMaterials...," London, 1856; and
A.J. Penny, "Studies in Jacob Boehme," London, 1912.
(**) We have also had microfilmed those works of Freher not
in the British Museum which are to be found in Dr.
Williams' Library, London. See Bibliography.
v
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vi
With regard to procedural minutiae. the pagination
of the Freher MSS is often dual, some of them having been
paged consecutively by a later hand. Thus in the "Five
Conferences" each of the five parts was originally separ­
ately numbered in the British Museum manuscript, while a
later owner has numbered the pages of all the five con­
ferences sequentially throughout. In all such cases the
continuous pagination is herein adopted for purposes of
reference. In many portions of the MS. books, the number­
ing is by folios, marked in the upper right-hand corner of
the right page. In these instances the quotation may be
located easily enough without further specificity, thus
rendering all references to the manuscripts mutually con­
formable, with an MS. number followed by a folio number.
In the interests of easier reading, sources for quo­
tations will be largely included in the text, foot notes being
reserved in general for comments of a more extended nature.
Abbreviations used inreferring to Boehme1s and Freher1s
works are explained in the list of titular abbreviations,
q.v.
Freher himself, although German was his native lang­
uage, nevertheless in his writings in English quoted Jacob
Boehme also in English for the sake of greater continuity;
we shall follow the same policy, subtending, hoxyever, the
German text in addition where we feel it lends essential
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vii
clarification. All English quotations from Boehme herein
used are from the reliable Sparrow-Ellistone translation
(Barker's excellent re-edition wherever available), unless
another be indicated. All German quotations from Boehme
are from the 1715 Hamburg edition (2 vols. 4to) edited by
ii
Glusing.
It remains only to add that the present work — the
first to be devoted wholly to Freher— appears now upon the
tricentennial anniversary of his birth. Thus, perhaps, it
may appropriately serve to awaken a deserved interest in,
andto express some of the appreciation too long withheld
by time, of a true philosopher and a worker for greater
understanding among men.
Charles A. Muses
New York, 1949
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vili
ACKN OWLEDGMENTS
First of all it is my wish to record my sincere thanks
and appreciation to Professor Irwin Edman, Chairman of the
Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, for his hav­
ing made it possible, through his permission, for me to
pursue my pre-doctoral research with Boehme*s philosophy
as the general topic, and for a continued genuine interest
in-my plans and work of research.
Acknowledgments are also due Professors Horace Leland
Friess, James Gutman, and John Herman Randall,Jr., of the
Department of Philosophy for their time and trouble in
reading through the typescript and for the suggestions
and recommendations adopted in casting this dissertation
in its present form.
I am particularly indebted to Professor Friess for our
conferences and discussions since 194-6, not only in connection
with the prosecution of this dissertation, but with my prior
master's essay; and I realize no presumption in feeling that
his counsels have been those of a friend as well as a philosoph­
er.
Due and grateful acknowledgments are herewith rendered
to the British Museum, the trustees of Dr. Williams* Library,
London, and to Mr. Manly P. Hall, founder of the Philosophical
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ix
Research Society Library, L03 Angeles, for their ready co­
operation in regard to the photostating and microfilming
of manuscripts in their collections. My acknowledgments
in this resepct are tendered also to the authorities of
the Columbia University Library.
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