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THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTICAL TRADITION This page intentionally left blank The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition From Plato to Denys 2ndedition ANDREW LOUTH 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork (cid:1)AndrewLouth2007 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished1981 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServicesLtd,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN978–0–19–929140–3 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Preface Theoriginofthisbookwasaseriesoflectureson‘MysticalTheology in the Fathers’ given in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford.ShortlyafterwardsMotherJane,SLG,verykindlyaskedmeif I would repeat the course at the Convent of the Incarnation in OxfordforthebenefitofthoseSistersoftheLoveofGodwhowished tohearthem.Agratifyinglylargenumberdid.Sincethenthelectures have been revised and rewritten and later stages of the book have beengivenastalksattheConventoftheIncarnation,andalsotothe Sistersof thePreciousBlood, atBurnham Abbey. Iowe avery great deal to these opportunities of sharing my thoughts with them and respondingtotheirquestionsandcriticisms.Thecircleofindebted- ness extends much wider, but there are various particular debts of which I am especially conscious. In the chapter on Philo, I received help and encouragement from Dr C. T. R. Hayward, now at the University of Durham, and Robin Lane Fox, now at New College; Dr O. M. T. O’Donovan, now at Wycliffe College, Toronto, read an earlyversionofthechapteronAugustineandmademanyacuteand helpfulobservations;SisterJocelynMary,SLG,gavememuchhelpin understanding the doctrine of the Dark Night in St. John of the Cross. Naturally, none of them is responsible for the use I have madeoftheirideas.Iwasalsogreatly helpedbybeing abletocount on the accurate and intelligent typing of Mrs Anne Borg. But my greatestdebtistoSisterEdme´e,SLG,whohassufferedallthestages of the fashioning of this book: I owe more than I can tell to her encouragement and criticisms, which have saved me from many asperitiesofstyleandobscuritiesofthought. The final form of the book retains one particular feature of the original lectures: extensive quotation from the philosophers and Fathers discussed. This was intended to give the original hearers some sort of feel for the thought and vision of these ancient vi Preface writers. I beg the reader not to skip them: they are the most important part. Oxford, FeastofSSCyrilandMethodius, 1980. AndrewLouth Preface to the Second Edition The text of the second edition is virtually the same as the first. All Ihavedoneistotaketheopportunitytocorrectafewmisprints.To do more would have been to embark on rewriting a book now a quarter-of-a-century old and, as the afterword makes clear, this would have resulted in a very different book, and not a second edition at all. One change I would have introduced in a more extensiverevisionwouldhavebeentheuseofmoregender-inclusive language,butinmyexperiencethisinvolvesmorethananintroduc- tionofchangesto‘man’and‘mankind’andwould,Ithink,haveled into deeper waters of revision that I have neither the time nor the inclinationtoembarkon.Ibegthoseoffendedbytheseusagestobe indulgent. Durham FeastofSt.NicolasKavasilas, 2006. AndrewLouth Acknowledgements The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproducethefollowingcopyrighttranslations: JohnBurnaby:ExtractsfromDeTrinitate,BooksVIII–X,XIVandXV from Augustine: Later Works, vol. VIII, The Library of Christian Classics (1955). Reprinted by permission of SCM Press Ltd., London,andTheWestminsterPress,U.S.A. F. H. Colson et al: Extracts from Philo’s Works (10 vols. 1929–62). Reprinted by permission of The Loeb Classical Library (Harvard UniversityPress:WilliamHeinemann). F. M. Cornford: Extracts from The Republic of Plato, translated by F.M.Cornford(1941),by permissionofOxfordUniversityPress. R.P. Lawson:ExtractsfromOrigen: TheSongofSongs,Commentary andHomilies,(Vol.26,AncientChristianWritersSeries,1957). Reprintedby permissionofthePaulistPress,NewYork. StephenMackenna:ExtractsfromPlotinus:TheEnneads(1969). ReprintedbypermissionofFaber&FaberLtd.,andPantheonBooks, aDivisionofRandomHouse,Inc. Extracts from From Glory to Glory by Jean Danielou, translated by Herbert Musurillo. Copyright (cid:1) 1961 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Reprintedby permissionofthepublisher. F. J. Sheed: Extracts from The Confessions of St. Augustine (1944). Reprintedby permissionofSheedandWardLtd. Contents Introduction x I. Plato 1 II. Philo 17 III. Plotinus 35 IV. Origen 51 V. NiceneOrthodoxy 73 Athanasius 75 GregoryofNyssa 78 VI. TheMonasticContribution 95 EvagriusofPontus 97 TheMacarianHomilies 110 DiadochusofPhotice¯ 122 VII. Augustine 128 VIII. DenystheAreopagite 154 IX. PatristicMysticismandSt.John oftheCross 174 DivineDarknessandtheDarkNight 176 X. TheMysticalLifeandtheMysticalBody 186 PlatonismandMysticism 186 TheCommunionofSaints 194 Afterword(2006) 200 Bibliography 215 ExtraBibliography 221 Index 223