Thomas Aquinas's In Librum Beati Dionysii de Divinis Nominibus Expositio

Abstract

The prolonged journey of the Dionysian corpus from the fifth century Eastern Roman Empire brought an often distorted picture of the Dionysian synthesis and occasional condemnation to his new adherents in the twelfth and thirteenth century Latin West.

Thomas Aquinas, who quotes the mysterious Dionysius on 1700 occasions in the course of his own work[1], expended considerable effort in arguing the consistency of the Dionysian corpus with Christian truth. It is, therefore, appropriate to undertake a detailed exploration of the content of Aquinas's previously untranslated In Librum Beati Dionysii de Divinis Nominibus Expositio. It is, however, no less necessary to begin with a consideration of the background and logic of the Dionysian corpus as a whole, and the controversy surrounding its arrival in the West.