Comments on: The principle of necessary mediation http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-principle-of-necessary-mediation Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:17:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian Hamilton http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7956 Brian Hamilton Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:57:43 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7956 <p>Oh, I didn't know the Coakley volume started out as a journal issue! It's in book form now, and I've been wanting to get a hold of it all semester, except that it's checked out at the library. I'll have to go looking for it once I'm back in Indiana. Thanks for the tip!</p> Oh, I didn’t know the Coakley volume started out as a journal issue! It’s in book form now, and I’ve been wanting to get a hold of it all semester, except that it’s checked out at the library. I’ll have to go looking for it once I’m back in Indiana. Thanks for the tip!

]]> By: Michael http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7955 Michael Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:34:49 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7955 <p>You should ignore my last post, except my apology. I would recommend the issue of Modern Theology on this which Sarah Coakley edited (vol. 24, issue 4); this might help shed some light, especially Mary-Jane Rubenstein's article.</p> You should ignore my last post, except my apology. I would recommend the issue of Modern Theology on this which Sarah Coakley edited (vol. 24, issue 4); this might help shed some light, especially Mary-Jane Rubenstein’s article.

]]> By: Michael http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7954 Michael Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:03:09 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7954 <p>Ah! That makes more sense and seems a much tougher question to answer... I knew you had Dionysius' philosophical background pegged!</p> <p>Bear with my stupid questions: Are there other Christian neo-Platonists contemporary with Dionysius who might provide explanations for necessary mediation? Do you think the answer might ultimately go back to Jesus who mediates divinity bodily?</p> Ah! That makes more sense and seems a much tougher question to answer… I knew you had Dionysius’ philosophical background pegged!

Bear with my stupid questions: Are there other Christian neo-Platonists contemporary with Dionysius who might provide explanations for necessary mediation? Do you think the answer might ultimately go back to Jesus who mediates divinity bodily?

]]> By: Brian Hamilton http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7952 Brian Hamilton Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:41:31 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7952 <p>Yeah, Dionysius is definitely getting the basic structure from the Neoplatonists--Proclus, apparently, above all the others--but naming sources doesn't quite get to my question, which is how to explain the <em>necessity</em> of mediation. I don't know much about the Neoplatonists firsthand, but from what I understand they do attempt to give specific reasons, at least at the highest levels, for why the emanation progresses the way it does--why the One <em>must</em> give rise to Intellect, which <em>must</em> give rise to the World Soul, etc. At the level of the angelic hierarchy, Dionysius doesn't offer this kind of specific justification, and what's more, he changes the situation entirely by speaking of <em>willing beings</em> as the most immediate emanation of divinity. This seems to me to require a different kind of argumentation that I don't see Dionysius explicitly providing--that I'm not sure, ultimately, <em>can</em> be provided.</p> Yeah, Dionysius is definitely getting the basic structure from the Neoplatonists–Proclus, apparently, above all the others–but naming sources doesn’t quite get to my question, which is how to explain the necessity of mediation. I don’t know much about the Neoplatonists firsthand, but from what I understand they do attempt to give specific reasons, at least at the highest levels, for why the emanation progresses the way it does–why the One must give rise to Intellect, which must give rise to the World Soul, etc. At the level of the angelic hierarchy, Dionysius doesn’t offer this kind of specific justification, and what’s more, he changes the situation entirely by speaking of willing beings as the most immediate emanation of divinity. This seems to me to require a different kind of argumentation that I don’t see Dionysius explicitly providing–that I’m not sure, ultimately, can be provided.

]]> By: Michael http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7950 Michael Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:08:51 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7950 <p>Correct me if my cheat sheet of philosophical identifications is off, but aren't these just indications of Dionysius' neo-Platonic philosophical leanings? These kind of hierarchical mediations seem to me to be the combination of philosophical models (i.e. Plotinus' concept of the One spilling over to constitute the Nous and the World Soul) and justifying Scriptural characterizations of angels as messengers.</p> Correct me if my cheat sheet of philosophical identifications is off, but aren’t these just indications of Dionysius’ neo-Platonic philosophical leanings? These kind of hierarchical mediations seem to me to be the combination of philosophical models (i.e. Plotinus’ concept of the One spilling over to constitute the Nous and the World Soul) and justifying Scriptural characterizations of angels as messengers.

]]> By: ben http://www.bdhamilton.com/articles/the-principle-of-necessary-mediation/comment-page-1#comment-7795 ben Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:42:35 +0000 http://www.bdhamilton.com/?p=638#comment-7795 <p>you anabaptist!</p> you anabaptist!

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