The Complete Works
Paulist Press
1987
 |
| Acts 17:34 |
The Divine Names
Chapter One
1.
Only it alone
gives an authoritative
account of itself.
It is the syntactical
measure of all things measured.
2.
Trying to apply
The Divine Names and notions
to God is nonsense.
All that we can do is use
theological grammar.
3.
What is beyond thought
and beyond being is the
Source of every source.
To those far away it calls
them back to begin again.
4.
The diversity
of what we are leads us to
divine unity.
This explains the energy
of our own fecundity.
5.
It encompasses,
circumscribes, and embraces
each and everything.
It also so eludes the
grasp of each and everyone.
6.
We praise the nameless
by every name, knowing the
inner irony.
Since it is so wonderful,
why do we seek to speak it?
7.
The unnamed goodness
causes all and contains all
things within itself.
This is why it transcends all
and is named by all that is.
8.
Hierarchical
law leads as we study the
conceptual names.
The uninitiated
remain in their lawlessness.
Chapter Two
1.
Through perversity
one denies that the grammar
shows the Deity.
When it comes to scripture, it
is all and nothing at all.
2.
When we watch over
the scriptures, we are also
watched over by them.
By guarding them, we will be
guarded and grounded by them.
3.
The unified names
are trinitarian in
their formal essence.
All the transcendental terms
terminate in the Godhead.
terminate in the Godhead.
4.
Divine unity
and differentiation
must be understood.
The total union of lights
does not contain confusion.
5.
Theology deals
with what is beyond being,
life, wisdom, and gifts.
Circles and seals are only
constructive comparisons.
6.
The prime example
of differentiation
is the human Word.
The Father and the Spirit
simply do not share in it.
7.
We are at a loss
concerning the flowering
of the transcendent.
We can neither represent,
let alone scent, its bouquet.
