Early Interfaith Dialogue: Pseudo-Dionysius vs. the Pseudo-Contemplative

The Set-Up: From Outsiders to Mainstream Culture

Welcome to the fourth century. Christianity has come a long way. The Jesus-followers are no longer a first century sect of Judaism struggling to define their faith. After a couple centuries complete with waves of persecution, the Edict of Milan (313 AD) significantly decreased the likelihood of martydom. Some of the contemplatives (ahem–Origen fans) were bummed, but the vast majority were probably quite pleased. And with Constantine as a Christian emperor (at least by name), the church’s cultural and political influence only grew. For better or worse, the outlaws became the inlaws of the political order.

In other 4th century news, the Council of Nicaea established an official creed and (mostly) stomped out Arianism. A few decades later, The Roman empire fell. Christianity could swing with the punches and continued to rise, taking under its wings the tribal invaders of western Europe.

As the curtain rises on this next phase of contemplative Christianity, the former underdog is an organized religion with a distinct structure, a relatively settled creed, and power over the politics and culture of the time.

Into this established church enter two contemplatives: Augustine and a surprisingly impactful “imposter,” Pseudo-Dionysius.

Augustine: Mainstream Mystic

Over the course of church history, most of the Christian mystics (after the apostles) were, as Richard Rohr describes it, “on the edge of the inside”. Some, like the Desert Fathers and St. Francis, desired an escape from the mainstream versions of the faith and culture. These almost-outsiders pushed the boundaries of current thinking with their ways of life. Others, like Thomas Merton and Teresa of Avila, lived faithfully within the boundaries of the monastic orders. These mystics reached the hearts of others through both their writing and the power of their inner transformation.

St. Augustine may have wanted to be on the “edge of inside,” but he was, quite literally, thrust into the mainstream against his will. Thus, he set himself apart in a different way.

Pseudo-Contemplative?

As the formal judge of all things contemplative (haha), if Augustine doesn’t qualify, he comes pretty darn close. Take his most famous line fromhis Confessions: “Our heart is restless until is rests in you.” This one sentence beautifully encapsulates the journey of the contemplative. Let’s do a quick run-down of his other qualifications to see if he should be in the club:

• followed the path of renunciation to better commune with God
• lived apart from the world for a time
• had an “unexplainable” experience
• meditated on Biblical truths, the will of God, etc.

However, unlike other contemplatives, Augustine stayed within his mind. He let go of the world, but not his attachment to his thinking and ideas. This significantly limited his ability to reach the depths of peace and rootedness from communion with God that other mystics spoke of.

Augustine’s deep thinking sets him apart. Augustine’s thought became the measure of “orthodox Christianity” for almost 1,000 years. His definitions of grace and original sin, as well as his emphasis on Christian unity, formed the foundation of mainstream Christianity even to this day.

From Mama Monica to Almost-Monk

Augustine had distinctly mystical experiences. While discussing the lives of the saints with his mother, Monica, they together experienced the touch of God.

“Our minds were lifted up by an ardent affection towards eternal being itself.  Step by step we climbed beyond all corporeal objects and the heaven itself, where sun, moon, and stars shed light on the earth.  We ascended even further by internal reflection and dialogue and wonder at your works, and we entered into our own minds.  We moved up beyond them so as to attain to the region of inexhaustible abundance where you feed Israel eternally with truth for food.”

Confessions (IX.x)  

However, as noted in the wording in the previous passage, Augustine’s intellect limited his highest experience of union with God. But, sometimes things take time, and Augustine desired to put that time in.

He strongly desired to pursue a life of deep contemplation and greater union with God. Following his mother Monica’s passing, Augustine returned to his family’s home in Thagaste (in present-day Algeria) and formed a monastic community with several close friends. For the following three years, he lived a life of simplicity and prayer, withdrawn from the outside world. Perhaps if this lifestyle had continued, Augustine may have at last gone beyond the mind to commune more fully with the Spirit within him.

However, in 389, while visiting Hippo to advise a friend interested in setting up a lay monastic community there, he was physically pushed to the alter and pressed to become a priest. Later, he would serve Hippo as Bishop.

Let It Go…

Augustine desired strongly to strike a balance between service and prayer/meditation. As he explains towards the end of his life, though he was physically shoved into the priesthood, he served willingly.

No one should be so given to contemplation that in this condition he gives no thought to the needs of his neighbour; nor so given to activity that he allow no time for the contemplation of God…

City of God–Augustine

As the Desert Fathers before him, service to his fellow man overcame his desire to devote himself fully to the monastic life. Augustine’s impact on the Christian tradition and on the value of contemplative thought is indisputable. As a result of his service, we are blessed with hundreds of Augustine’s sermons and several wonderful books filled with his wisdom.

And yet, Augustine falls short of the depth of peace and joy that many of the contemplatives who follow him experienced. Much of Augustine’s writing comes from intellectual effort rather than direct revelation of experience of God.

In the passage following the sentence quoted above, Augustine uses the word “contemplation” to describe an intellectual exercise. He uses the terms “love of truth,” “searching out and looking into truth,” and “delight for learning” to describe his understanding of contemplation of God. Augustine wrote The City of God towards the end of his life. Even at that stage of his life, Augustine still strove to reach God through his mental faculties.

He just couldn’t “let it go.”

Early Interfaith Dialogue

Though Augustine’s thinking eventually was used to define mainstream Christian belief, the foundations of his faith were “pagan”. Yes, I’ll say it. Some of our “fundamental” Christian beliefs stem from interfaith dialogue. This integration of Greek thinking with the truth of the Gospels was relatively common in the early church. It began as early as Origen…Augustine just joined in the party.

The Greek philosophy the contemplatives drew from is neo-platonism. Neo-platonism melded the tenants of Plato (surprise surprise) with those of Aristotle. Plotinus developed the philosophy, the last of the influential “pagan” philosophies, in the early 3rd century.

Before you get too upset about this perhaps surprising origin of portions of our faith, consider this perspective: Greek philosophy intellectually “proved” the existence of the divine and strove to explain the main facets of its nature. However, Christ revealed this divine being to us. Christ provided a way to have a personal relationship with the Father.

Neo-platonism

Neo-platonism emphasized the existence of a reality beyond what we can experience with our 5 senses. Here are the main tenants of the philosophy:

1. God is infinite, unchanging, and outside of time
2. All things exist within this infinite God
3. A person must turn inward to find God, who is one with the soul
4. Evil does not exist, only varying degrees of goodness. Thus, everything that we experience with our senses has various degrees of divinity/goodness expressed within it.

Augustine became familiar with these doctrines of neo-platonism prior to his conversion to Christianity. He knew of its tenants independently, as well as from Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, who held neo-platonist views. Augustine’s familiarity with the philosophical basis for God paved the way for him to intellectually accept the truth of the Gospels.

Cherry-picking

Augustine didn’t embrace all of the neoplatonist views. The third premise (a person’s soul is one with God) listed above was embraced by the Eastern churches and many contemplatives. However, Augustine felt that the Christian faith required a divide between God and the human soul. As previously discussed, most (not all) of what Augustine believed became greatly respected by the larger church. Thus, while the Eastern church continued to hold to these neo-platonist views of the soul, Augustine, and the Western church with him, drew a divide between God and the spiritual core of the human.

From the Pseudo-Mystic to Pseudo-Dionysius

The second highly influential contemplative of this time period lived more than 100 years later, most likely at the end of the 5th or early 6th centuries. Known as Pseudo-Dionysius, this man was a mysterious character. We know little about this contemplative. Historians first referenced his work in the early sixth century. His work references ideas of the Nicene creed (late 4th century), so he (though I suppose there’s nothing preventing this contemplative from being a “she”) most likely wrote between those two time frames.

Pseudo-Dionysius, like Augustine, was influenced by the neo-platonists. However, while Augustine was merely inspired by the Neo-platonists, tweaking the philosophy to match what he saw in scripture, Pseudo-Dionysius was all in.

Dionysius wrote under the persona of St. Dionysius the Areopagite of the New Testament (Acts 17:34), a member of the Athenian council and a convert of St. Paul. Choosing a persona to write under was normal for Dionysisus’ time. The choice of Dionysius the Areopagite, a historical Greek converted to Christianity, captured well the integration of Greek neoplatonism with the truth of the Gospels.

Christians of his time took the impersonation of the New Testament Dionysius literally. As a result, they held his work in high regard. “Lil D” as I will proceed to call him, had everyone fooled for centuries. It took until the mid-1400’s for someone to pick up on his false identity. Thus, Dionysius’ work was highly respected and became a highly influential work in both the Eastern and Western churches.

Christian, Platonist, or Both?

Lil’ D’s neo-platonic views ran deeper than Augustine’s, or even Origen or Gregory of Nyssa‘s. However, he strongly rooted himself in Scriptural truth and strove to enhance both by the integration of the two. Not everyone was amused by this move. Martin Luther stated, “Dionysius is most pernicious; he platonizes more than he Christianizes.”

East Meets West

Lil’ D, as best as we can tell, considering we don’t know who he/she is, did not interact with practioners of Eastern faiths. However, when I first read his work, the similarities between his thought (rooted in Neo-Platonist thinking) and Hindu belief and practice struck me.

I know…whoa…this blog is getting out of line. Growing up, I believed the Hindu faith the furthest from Christianity out of the mainstream faith traditions. However, after studying the faith further, this assumption revealed itself to be unfounded. The core of Hinduism maintains a single Supreme being who is present in all of creation. Though hinduism allows for this being to manifest as lower minor divinities, the faith draws much closer to contemplative Christianity than I originally thought.

Whether Hindu thought influenced the Greeks or Platonic thinking evolved on its own accord remains unknown. However, as we unpack the themes in his writing, the similarities shine forth. Let’s start with…

Yoga

No, don’t drag out your yoga mat. Though I love a good yoga workout, a genuine Hindu practioner would scoff at what we Westerns have done with it. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “yuj” meaning “unite”. Yoga entails getting the senses and the mind under control so a person can unite with God, who resides within all life.

Read the above line again and replace “yoga” with “Contemplative Christianity”. Yes, with regard to contemplative practice, the faiths are nearly identical

There are four primary types of yoga, and none of them require a single downward facing dog. There is karma yoga, or right action (think service), raja yoga, or meditation/self-discipline (where hatha yoga–the one with the yoga mat, has its orgins), bhakti yoga, or devotion to God, and jnana yoga, or seeking knowledge of the true nature of reality.

It shouldn’t be hard to see any of the first three types of yoga in the practice of the early Christian contemplatives. The contemplative draws close to God out of deep love/devotion (bhakti) and releases all attachments through meditation and self-discipline (raja). However, as we saw especially in the Desert Fathers and St. Augustine, the Christian mystic also remembers to prioritize service to God and others (karma). Up until this point in history, the contemplatives danced around the final element: deep inquiry into the heart of God, who lives within each of us. In Pseudo-Dionysius, the heart of jnana yoga shines forth.

Jnana Yoga

…It breaks forth, even from the things that are beheld and from those that behold them, and plunges the true initiate unto the Darkness of Unknowing wherein he renounces all the apprehensions of his understanding and is enwrapped in that which is wholly intangible and invisible, belonging wholly to Him that is beyond all things and to none else (whether himself or another)…

Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology

“The Darkness of Unknowing”–Here Lil’ D attempts to give words to what is beyond the scope of human thought and language. The essence of the divine is “darkness,” meaning that it is beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend. The only way to access this knowledge of God is through a process of “Unknowing,” letting go of all concepts of God.

In fact, for Pseudo-Dionysisus, emptying the mind replaces traditional renunciation practices. For him, union with God starts with purification (of the mind–do not confuse this with asceticism). Following this comes illumination/enlightment (once you get outside of the mind). Finally, the soul experiences union with God. This progression parallels Evagrius Ponticus‘ suggested multi-step path, featured in the previous post in this series. (I’ll award anyone who writes a 2 page paper comparing and contrasting the two 50 imaginary extra credit points).

The purification path is a continual realizing that God is “not this” and “not that.” Once the mind completely empties of any expectations, the door is open for God to reveal Himself as He is. This practice is virtually identical the jnana yoga practice of “neti neti” (Sanskrit for “not this, not that”).

Creation Sings the Glory of God

“[The Cause of All] is ‘all in all‘, as scripture affirms, and certainly he is to be praised as being for all things the creator and originator, the One who brings them to completion, their preserver, their protector, and their home, the power which returns them to itself, and all this in the one single, irrepressible, and supreme act”

(On the Divine Names 1, 7, 596c–597a).

With the deep integration of neo-platonic philosophy comes a weakening of the dualistic mindset. God infuses all of creation with his glory. As a result, God’s creation draws us back to God. And, as vessels of the divine (our souls), God draws us back to Himself.

As the centuries roll by, the contemplatives gradually shift from a dualistic (world: bad, spiritual: good) worldview to a beautiful understanding that the divine infuses everything with creative power and glory. Pseudo-Dionysisus describes a God who creates out of the overwhelming power of love. God’s touch marks all creation and the created to be reunited with the creator. Lil’ D likes some Bhakti with his Jnana.

Though not the emphasis of this post, Lil’ D’s other works that are Bhakti-focused are also worth a read. The Eccleastical Heirarchy teaches the church’s role in drawing us to God. Meanwhile, The Divine Names explains how the created world displays God’s glory.

Releasing the World, Drawing Near to God

Ultimately, whether through the path of renunciation (as recommended by the early contemplatives), through deep intellectual work (as favored by Augustine), or through the emptying of the mind (as taught by our friend Lil’ D), we must go within to find the deepest possible relationship with God.

Though God is manifested in the created world, he is closest to us in the silence of our inner being. So, “be still, and know that He is God.” Let go of what you expect to find there, and let the God of the “divine Darkness” introduce Himself to you.

The View from the Summit

As demonstrated in both Augustine’s and Lil’ D’s work, Greek philosophy helped to amplify the early Christian faith. Instead of fearing other ways of thinking, early Christians drew on Greek philosophy to more deeply understand the Gospels.

Also, without even having conscious awareness of it, the early contemplatives paralleled contemplative Hindu thought.

Perhaps we modern Christians can learn from their example. Instead of judging other ways of understanding the world/drawing near to the divine, we can work together to one day worship together “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:23).