Afterword On the Question of Influence in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Abstract The sections on the questions of medieval influence in the five parts of this commentary have touched upon exceedingly diverse topics-from hierarchy and allegory through the choirs of angels and the aesthetics of Gothic architecture to liturgical hermeneutics, philosophical theology, and medieval mysticism. In adding to my own commentary these five sketches about the medieval uses of the Areopagite's works, my primary intention has been simply to introduce some of the material and to assemble bibliography on those points. Perhaps it is rash to venture into dialogue with experts in so many historical and theological specialities, scholars who can and should point out errors or misleading generalizations. Nevertheless, the Dionysian corpus and its legacy simply transcend modem specializations, and its readers must do so as well if they wish to appreciate its integrated character and multifaceted influence. The encyclopedic interests of medieval thinkers like Albert the Great point the way. "Study everything," said Hugh of Saint-Victor-and everything to do with the Dionysian corpus is worth studying. In addition to tracing the varying uses of the individual treatises on specific topics, as attempted above, the story of the Dionysian legacy in the Middle Ages could also be told as a unified narrative about the corpus as a whole, at least until the thirteenth century. Since few Western readers were able or courageous enough to examine Dionysius in the original Greek, most of them sought the help of the translations, paraphrases, comments, and commentaries that gradually constituted the Latin Dionysian corpus. At each stage a stratum of interpretation was added, which then influenced the next layer. Thus the influence of the medieval Dionysius cannot be appreciated from the Greek text and a modem translation, but only from these Latin translations and aids. Since many of them are not yet carefully edited or widely available, the full picture of Dionysian influence requires much more work.