The Crucified Lord of Glory: Apophatic Theology as Transformational Mysticism, 2021
Forward by John Betz.
This monograph pursues three goals:
1. Articulate the Christocentric and ex... more Forward by John Betz. This monograph pursues three goals: 1. Articulate the Christocentric and experiential mysticism of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology by drawing on research into Second-Temple era apocalypticisms and mysticisms and other forms of ancient Jewish and Christian mysticism. 2. Analyze the philosophical problems of recoveries of Patristic and Medieval apophatic theologies that attempt to discursively demonstrate that the Creator is beyond the necessary limits of thought and/or sense and theologically diagnose the temptation to look away from the Crucified Christ to discover divine transcendence. 3. Persuade readers that a Christocentric and experiential ascetico-mysticism is rife with possibilities for constructive theology.
In this article I argue that apophatic theology is present in the Scriptures and that it is Chris... more In this article I argue that apophatic theology is present in the Scriptures and that it is Christological tout court. I interpret both New Testament Christologies and Dionysius the Areopagite’s apophatic theology through resources provided by studies of ancient Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism. What this shows is that central to the New Testament—especially the New Testament’s reception of certain Old Testament texts—and the Areopagite’s theology is the ineffable, anthropomorphic theophany that incorporates and deifies visionaries. Jesus Christ is identified as this theophany in both sets of texts. In other words, the New Testament and Dionysian theology converge at the point of Christological apophaticism. The New Testament names the deifying theophany with a number of terms, “Glory,” “Image,” etc., and Dionysius refers to it as the “theandric energy” of Jesus. One of the insights this connection makes possible is that the apophatic experience of Christ is more fundamental to the Scriptures than discursive doctrines, even those of creation and monotheism.
This is a draft of an invited response to a paper on the pedagogy of the "common good" in the Rel... more This is a draft of an invited response to a paper on the pedagogy of the "common good" in the Religious Studies department of the University of Dayton. In the paper I reflect on the challenges of teaching college students about "the common good" under the conditions of Neoliberalism. I use ancient ascetical and therapeutic theologies and schools of post-Kantian radical critique as ways to figure the neoliberal experience of the self as an entrepreneurial project and how difficult this renders teaching and appropriating traditions of the "common good." I also suggest pedagogical ways forward given the situation as I have analyzed it.
Draft of entry for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Apophatic Theology, 2024
Apophatic theology is relevant to Christian spirituality today as a form of Christological asceti... more Apophatic theology is relevant to Christian spirituality today as a form of Christological ascetico-mysticism. This entry demonstrates the spiritual pertinence of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology through its connections to Scriptural Christologies and its opposition to specific formations of the self in the context of neoliberal capitalism. Studies of 2 nd Temple apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticisms facilitate bringing New Testament Christologies and the Areopagite's theology into surprising focus. They show that certain New Testament Christologies are forms of apophatic mysticism and the Areopagite's apophatic theology is a Christological mysticism. For both, the crucified Christ is the incomprehensible and anthropomorphic theophany revealed in the heavenly and ecclesial liturgies and the incorporating body of deification. Apophatic theology, therefore, is ascetical life in which Divine-Humanity is attained not only through the negation of concepts, but through the denial of the self. This asceticism contrasts with the entrepreneurial relationship to the self fostered by the cultural dominance of neoliberalism. The entry concludes that the self-as-entrepreneurial-project is the source of anxieties and despair characteristic of the present time but that the Christological unselving of apophatic theology may serve as a healing therapy for these same miseries.
The Crucified Lord of Glory: Apophatic Theology as Transformational Mysticism, 2021
Forward by John Betz.
This monograph pursues three goals:
1. Articulate the Christocentric and ex... more Forward by John Betz. This monograph pursues three goals: 1. Articulate the Christocentric and experiential mysticism of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology by drawing on research into Second-Temple era apocalypticisms and mysticisms and other forms of ancient Jewish and Christian mysticism. 2. Analyze the philosophical problems of recoveries of Patristic and Medieval apophatic theologies that attempt to discursively demonstrate that the Creator is beyond the necessary limits of thought and/or sense and theologically diagnose the temptation to look away from the Crucified Christ to discover divine transcendence. 3. Persuade readers that a Christocentric and experiential ascetico-mysticism is rife with possibilities for constructive theology.
In this article I argue that apophatic theology is present in the Scriptures and that it is Chris... more In this article I argue that apophatic theology is present in the Scriptures and that it is Christological tout court. I interpret both New Testament Christologies and Dionysius the Areopagite’s apophatic theology through resources provided by studies of ancient Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism. What this shows is that central to the New Testament—especially the New Testament’s reception of certain Old Testament texts—and the Areopagite’s theology is the ineffable, anthropomorphic theophany that incorporates and deifies visionaries. Jesus Christ is identified as this theophany in both sets of texts. In other words, the New Testament and Dionysian theology converge at the point of Christological apophaticism. The New Testament names the deifying theophany with a number of terms, “Glory,” “Image,” etc., and Dionysius refers to it as the “theandric energy” of Jesus. One of the insights this connection makes possible is that the apophatic experience of Christ is more fundamental to the Scriptures than discursive doctrines, even those of creation and monotheism.
This is a draft of an invited response to a paper on the pedagogy of the "common good" in the Rel... more This is a draft of an invited response to a paper on the pedagogy of the "common good" in the Religious Studies department of the University of Dayton. In the paper I reflect on the challenges of teaching college students about "the common good" under the conditions of Neoliberalism. I use ancient ascetical and therapeutic theologies and schools of post-Kantian radical critique as ways to figure the neoliberal experience of the self as an entrepreneurial project and how difficult this renders teaching and appropriating traditions of the "common good." I also suggest pedagogical ways forward given the situation as I have analyzed it.
Draft of entry for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Apophatic Theology, 2024
Apophatic theology is relevant to Christian spirituality today as a form of Christological asceti... more Apophatic theology is relevant to Christian spirituality today as a form of Christological ascetico-mysticism. This entry demonstrates the spiritual pertinence of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology through its connections to Scriptural Christologies and its opposition to specific formations of the self in the context of neoliberal capitalism. Studies of 2 nd Temple apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticisms facilitate bringing New Testament Christologies and the Areopagite's theology into surprising focus. They show that certain New Testament Christologies are forms of apophatic mysticism and the Areopagite's apophatic theology is a Christological mysticism. For both, the crucified Christ is the incomprehensible and anthropomorphic theophany revealed in the heavenly and ecclesial liturgies and the incorporating body of deification. Apophatic theology, therefore, is ascetical life in which Divine-Humanity is attained not only through the negation of concepts, but through the denial of the self. This asceticism contrasts with the entrepreneurial relationship to the self fostered by the cultural dominance of neoliberalism. The entry concludes that the self-as-entrepreneurial-project is the source of anxieties and despair characteristic of the present time but that the Christological unselving of apophatic theology may serve as a healing therapy for these same miseries.
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This monograph pursues three goals:
1. Articulate the Christocentric and experiential mysticism of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology by drawing on research into Second-Temple era apocalypticisms and mysticisms and other forms of ancient Jewish and Christian mysticism.
2. Analyze the philosophical problems of recoveries of Patristic and Medieval apophatic theologies that attempt to discursively demonstrate that the Creator is beyond the necessary limits of thought and/or sense and theologically diagnose the temptation to look away from the Crucified Christ to discover divine transcendence.
3. Persuade readers that a Christocentric and experiential ascetico-mysticism is rife with possibilities for constructive theology.
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Drafts
This monograph pursues three goals:
1. Articulate the Christocentric and experiential mysticism of Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatic theology by drawing on research into Second-Temple era apocalypticisms and mysticisms and other forms of ancient Jewish and Christian mysticism.
2. Analyze the philosophical problems of recoveries of Patristic and Medieval apophatic theologies that attempt to discursively demonstrate that the Creator is beyond the necessary limits of thought and/or sense and theologically diagnose the temptation to look away from the Crucified Christ to discover divine transcendence.
3. Persuade readers that a Christocentric and experiential ascetico-mysticism is rife with possibilities for constructive theology.